Rose Mary Boehm
Rose Mary Boehm is a German-born British national living and writing in Lima, Peru, and author of two novels as well as eight poetry collections. Her poetry has been published (and rejected) widely in mostly US poetry reviews (online and print). She was several times nominated for a ‘Pushcart’ and ‘Best of Net’. Her eighth book, LIFE STUFF, has been published by Kelsay Books (November 2023). A new chapbook is about to meet readers. https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/
Nostalgia for Times Lost
The honeysuckle that overwhelms the evening air,
and the walnut tree that tries to kill us with small missiles.
Gustavo, Donner, Laika and Maxi wagtail
any would-be burglars. Still, they do look large and fierce,
however much they smile and slobber.
The sudden, short, heavy, warm summer rains
bomb little holes in the yellow sand (shipped all the way
from Andalucía) that covers the entrance to the garden.
Petrichor; the weeping willow, her lowering branches
even more ponderous from the welcome downpour,
diamond droplets forming and falling from the feathery
fingers of the Spanish pine.
The wood-burning stoves glowing in the winter, warming
all walls, the outhouse decked to the ceiling with leña, firewood.
Skeletal fruit trees and vines, stripped of their fineries
but exalting in their nakedness, covered from head to toe
in the fine, white veils of an early frost.
Orion on the southern horizon, Cassiopeia almost overhead.
A pot-au-feu cooking gently, the bread rising in the oven.
The green hue surrounding most trees and branches,
just a hint of what is surely to come. The most daring of blossoms,
the ones that festoon the almond trees, are betting on sunshine
and warmth. The swifts are back, whooshing, chattering
and flirting. There is freshness in the air, hope,
and the secret knowledge of repeat and rebirth.
In our world death does not exist.
