Orchard Summoning
By Gordon MacLellan
Bring me a beetle,
A chafer, rose or noble,
A dark shimmer of green,
A maybug blunder in a spring twilight.
Bostock Orange and Haggerstone Pippin.
Bring me a yaffle,
Ant bathing and talkative,
The warm apricot blush of bullfinches,
Feasting on the buds of April.
Bring me the roe, the chestnut ghosts
Slipping without sound, shadows within shadow.
Bring me the bats of the deep night,
A flicker of moth and hunger.
Millicent Barnes and Moston Seedling
Bring me the children who steal
The windfalls from the wasps,
Bring me the laughter under the leaves,
Picnics sprawling between sun and shelter,
Bring me the tales knotted into the roots,
Of the oldest trees
As Apple Tree Man whispers through the branches.
Acklam Russet or Cornish Gillyflower
Bring me sharp apple juice and sweet,
The delicate scent of quince,
Bring me bitter rowan and dripping elderberry,
Well jellied for a winter feasting.
Bramley’s Seedling will bake me a pie
Bring me those branches,
Twisted by centuries of skill.
Bring me an orchard to feed
Body and soul and story.
Bring me it all.
Victorian black and conference,
Grenadier and quince,
Damson, bullace and sloe.
Mabbott’s Pearmain, Gascoyne’s Scarlet
Tydeman’s Early, Rossie Pippin
Fillbasket and Qarrenden
No.
Bring me nothing,
But let me share,
A joy, a hope, a bounty.
No.
Bring me nothing,
But let me offer
Strong arms and a willing heart.
Bring me nothing
But let me offer my love
Victorian black and conference,
Grenadier and quince,
Damson, bullace and sloe.
AFTERWORD:
A leaf of explanation: the names in this poem are old varieties of British orchard fruit - apples, pears and plums mostly. The names always feel to me like a feast of words in themselves…please read them (and maybe the whole poem!) out loud!
Yaffle = a Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis
Roe = Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus
Gordon is a storyteller and artist based in Buxton, Derbyshire, UK. As “Creeping Toad”, he works with groups to find ways of celebrating the relationships between people, places and wildlife. Recent work has included the Creativity Conference, the Faith Plans initiative, the Orkney Storytelling Festival, Nairn Book and Arts Festival, Littleborough Arts Festival, Buxton Festival Fringe and ongoing work with Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.
Previous publications include Sacred Animals (Green Magic Publishing, 2023), Old Stones And Ancient Bones (Creeping Toad, 2015), Homecoming #1 and numerous magazine pieces
Website: creepingtoad.blogspot.com
Ig: @creepingtoad