3 Poems
Sam Henley Smith
Sam Henley Smith is a Bibliotherapist living by the sea near Southampton, England. She has worked for many years as a teacher and psychotherapist and has poems published in a variety of places including Ice Floe Press, Green Ink Poetry, Anthropocene and One Hand Clapping. Sam has been Commended by Jacqueline Saphra in the Winchester Poetry Prize, and was recently thrilled to have a poem selected by Mary Jean Chan for the inaugural edition of Propel Magazine. For enquiries regarding poetry or bibliotherapy, email sam@samsmithbibliotherapy.com
Tobliathon
Bloodgood
It was an Acer that showed me
how to wear grief.
Look what life has thrown at me she says.
I have been ripped from my home of mountains and blossom
just like your heart has been separated from its umbilicus
and I can still dance.
Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' is a large bushy deciduous shrub with deep red-purple leaves turning red in autumn. Small purple flowers are followed by red fruits. One of the best purple-leaved Japanese maples.
Royal Horticultural Society
Tequila Sunrise
It’s your birthday, and this morning
unsure what to do I took your secateurs,
pruned Tequila Sunrise to cheat the deer
of next year’s blooms.
Now, cup of tea in hand I sit and drink
a November sky adorned with gold;
left-over leaves of Silver Birch hang like
cocktail charms, forgotten promises
waiting to come true.
They will not drop today. Today
they are defiant, daring the world
to notice beauty.
I have lost the sun but at least there will
be roses, Mum.
At least
there will be roses.
