Polesworth Poets Trail
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    • Listen...
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    • Phase Two >
      • Along The Canal
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  • The Poets
    • Garrie Fletcher
    • Penny Harper
    • Sarah Armstrong
    • Mal Dewhirst
    • Jonathan Morley
    • Gill Learner
    • Jane Holland
    • Helen Yendall
    • Janine Warre
    • Raymond Hendy
    • Phase Two >
      • Peter Grey
      • Gary Longden
      • Sarah James
      • Dea Costelloe
      • Barry Patterson
      • Gina Coates
      • Margaret Torr
      • Bernadette O'Dwyer
      • Barry Hunt
      • Marjorie Neilson
      • Janet Smith
      • Gary Carr
      • Janis Kind
      • Terri Jolland
      • Hench-4
      • Jacqui Rowe
  • The Trail
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    • Phase Two
    • The Original Polesworth Poets
  • Get In Touch
  • Links
    • Polesworth Parish Council
    • Polesworth Abbey
    • Pooley Country Park
  • Home
  • The Poems
    • Gods Dance Within Us
    • Osanna
    • The Polesworth Pact
    • Squab
    • Song 13 (Drayton Dub)
    • Listen...
    • The River Anker
    • Famous Men
    • Power
    • Memories of Pooley Mine
    • Phase Two >
      • Along The Canal
      • Collaborative Poem
      • Pooley Country Park - Mining
      • Pooley Country Park - Environment and Nature
  • The Poets
    • Garrie Fletcher
    • Penny Harper
    • Sarah Armstrong
    • Mal Dewhirst
    • Jonathan Morley
    • Gill Learner
    • Jane Holland
    • Helen Yendall
    • Janine Warre
    • Raymond Hendy
    • Phase Two >
      • Peter Grey
      • Gary Longden
      • Sarah James
      • Dea Costelloe
      • Barry Patterson
      • Gina Coates
      • Margaret Torr
      • Bernadette O'Dwyer
      • Barry Hunt
      • Marjorie Neilson
      • Janet Smith
      • Gary Carr
      • Janis Kind
      • Terri Jolland
      • Hench-4
      • Jacqui Rowe
  • The Trail
  • News
  • About
    • The Poetry Trail
    • The Project
    • Phase Two
    • The Original Polesworth Poets
  • Get In Touch
  • Links
    • Polesworth Parish Council
    • Polesworth Abbey
    • Pooley Country Park

Squab

They call me Squab,
the live tithe of clipped snow feather,
who brought life back to Noah,
and now roosts among the watching eaves,
as the slow, tired arrival of grain wains rattle,
carrying corn and wheat, bramley and wine,
to fortify Winter learning and Christmas prayer,
until the last tenth of these Summer acred fruits,
is achingly stacked, secured, harvested.
​
Thunder for thirty miles, Michaelmas dust is stirred,
a riot of muscles gather to secure a frostless keep,
badged in butterfly knots, cow tassle and nosegays,
jostling, squabbling, pushing for hire positions,
their wings clipped by chance of birth,
weary wanderers with the scorched thought,
that whether Squabbling or Hireling,
flesh or muscle, quill or bone,
we are all to be consumed.
Mal Dewhirst
Location: By the Tithebarn / Dovecote

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This website is managed by Polesworth Parish Council

Address:
The Clerk, The Tithe Barn, Hall Court, Bridge Street, Polesworth, B78 1DT

Telephone:
01827 892320