Below is an extract from Greencombe by Ella Duffy, recently published by Hazel Press. Greencombe consists of twenty-nine interlinked poems which walk the paths through the titular woodland garden in Exmoor.

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from Greencombe: A poem in paths

– – – – – – – – main path

You’ve walked through gardens
where a bench is an invitation
to face out towards a further view.
Behind you, the garden engaged in a game
of grandmother’s footsteps;
slow creep of plant-life,
all the insects lifting their feet.
Here, the benches face inwards.
To rest is to turn to the garden.

– – – – – – – – water channel

Path of stones doing the work of a stream.
Rain wakes the stone from its hard sleep,
slicks it alive. Grey-quick; it tricks
the light to the shape of an otter.

– – – – – – – – badger path

Watch and wander. Walk
this downward path,
past the four-faced bed.
Eye of spore; of wing;
of bark; of seed

– – – – – – – – squirrel path

What grows in acidic soil?
Azaleas, pink
to jumpstart a thought.