Apple Croft - A Foundation Poem
(for Jonny Barton and Wendy Smith)
Here,
in this place
where once five crofts stood
benath a widening sky
harboured in a benevolent bowl
the land, rolling, fecund, beguiles
Here,
in this place
where one of five once stood
Jonny and Wendy embrace
a natural world
and build a better future
with many willing hands
Here,
in this place
Jonny circles back
to the land that grew him
high above us a sea-eagle searches
for the place to begin its nest
© John Mackie, Apple Croft, Blacklaw, 2009
Johnny Barton reading this poem to Wendy Smith just before
the original
was placed under the first bale to be laid
in the build of their pioneering corn-straw bale house
on 4th October 2009 as Duncan Macbeth, expert straw
bale house builder and teacher, prepares the spikes to
receive the bale.
Photo by John Mackie