excerpt from Farm by the Shore

Thomas A. Clark

small oats rye bere barley ripe harvest in late summer a shallow ploughing grazing and fallow in rotation

corncrake and corn bunting great yellow bumble bee oystercatcher lapwing golden plover orchid vetch and clover

when no one is home the strawberry roan stands in the rain forlorn

mattress of heather of bracken or eelgrass pillow of cottongrass stuffed with a down of coltsfoot or reedmace floor strewn with bog myrtle

strong rope of heather honeysuckle bridle twisted birch bark tether fish trap of sedge purple moor-grass anchor rope