You got her from the tailors
All neatly wrapped in pink tissue
Plenty of pretty dresses
But he did not attend.

The phone calls appeared promising
In the beginning, even excited
But then it was always six o'clock
And inconvenient.

Loving can't be part-time
Need is a regularity
Not a hundred pouches of food
When you promised to be around.

Bluebell smiles in the silver bracelet
A trophy baby for a quiz night
And you can't move on
Because your lighter is broke.

And you can't see in the dark
Because your scared to death
Because no one knows
Bluebell wriggles her toes.

Love Grandma ***

Said as simply as any words
Means so much that is unheard
Tells a story in one line
The nature of which is undefined.

Hidden meanings, secrets kept
Hopes and dreams around you slept
Youngest daughter plan your day
So that love is here to stay.

Meet each Sunday in a special way
Be not lonely in anyway
Fill the time with gentle hours
Your value is in your power.


Love Mum **

After sixty years have past,
I feel that same ache beneath my heart
As I did as a child of five
It slept by me in the dark
Searched for in the day
The wanting of return for loss
Which translates but does not go
Remains a relentless longing.

Love Mary **

Those silver ***** were my favourite
Placed sequentially on piped scrolls
Round the circumference, sparkling;
With Robin and Snowman greetings.

Tied, two inch wide, red satin ribbon
Around decorated cake on silver base
Marzipan and apricot coating under a
Stage of shimmer hardened royal ice.


Love Mary  xxxx

Every morning she went out for a walk
To find where the fallow meadows swept
And one bright clover peeped its head
In the foliage of wild leaf and green grass.

This part of the day was the beginning of joy
As far as she could look back and see her way
The lovely land dew wet on the leather shoes
And little Alfie to remember passing his way.

Love Mary ***

Twilight fell on me
Changing gold to tawny brown
Gathering the ripples in my shirt
To undulating shades
Of greens and violet
And my socks turned grey.

In front I stretched out
Long, thin and faded
Merging into the dusk
And the trees
Accompany me
But without strides.

Love Mary x

Bluebell  and Blossom were two little girls
One had straight hair the other curls
Their eyes were different shades of blue
And they both loved going to the zoo.

Bluebell liked the Panda bears with soft tummies
And lots of fur
Blossom's favourite was kangkeroo, she fed it leaves
And a chocolate chew.

They got on the red train and raced around
Faster and faster till they found
The cage with the Giraffes big and small
Sticking their heads through the open roof floor.

Back to the train then the pelican's van
Pink and prissy making a stand
Then the penguins joined in the fun
Lots of fishes for their tums.

Two little girls growing tired
Their feet wobbled, and heads bowed
Time for home with cake and cheese
And a drink of milk if you please.


For Evelyn and Florence
Love Grandma ***

The snow berries are out tonight
In corded rows of silent lights
They decorate the tallest hedge
Float across a mission to address.

Little people stop and stare
Their wonder full of mystery
Then home to gather round tree
A yearly Christmas fantasy.

Love Mary ***


Love Mary x

I wonder where I was all those years ago
Not a twinkle in a soldier’s eye
Nor the girl who took the guides
To them I became a surprise.

I lay down on grasses green
With Pooh and Eeyore
In Hundred Acre Wood
Hope Eeyore has his balloon.

In my mother’s bookcase
Is where I would be born
In the names of wildflowers
And the songs of the birds.

My father’s walks in London Town
Hyde Park Corner, The Serpentine,
Visits to family in Chester Road.
This is where I would learn to know.

All those years ago I never knew
Who I might be coming to
But never was there a single regret
The couple that loved me were the best.

Love Mary ***

I could not vote for you
My heart was with the lame
Pretty maids in open frocks
I could not but fuel pain.

So in shocked surprise my vote
Was cast ruefully
And where perfection danced
My vote ran away.

Love Mary ***

Down at Portleven where the harbour
Watches
Day in, day out, filling with small craft
I sit in the sunshine
Legs crossed and sketch
These rocking cradles
Sleeping.
Blue netting tangles the edges with orange buoys
Draping the nursery in a softening
Becoming gentle rhymes
The air sits still
And today my drawings
Hang on a wall.

Love Mary x.

Today the Summer lets go of its hold
Dripping rain drops from the trees
Swaying its closure of green growth
The tips of the Acer turning reddish.

The dance of ends splits my heart
Leaving sarratteted round its edge
Autumn’s promise of golden days
The Foxglove leaf a fallen emblem.

Love Mary

Flap, flap two black wings staggered
On two yellow clawed feet after stormy
Weather and the tufts of cats fur left
Like a white collar on emerald green.

Inside the cardboard box with soft lining
And scraps of bread, cheese and water
On a little polythene transparent oblong
There was chirping to be heard from within.

On varnish floor he skids and skates about
Putting newspaper down his legs got strong
After a few days of feeding he began to fly
Just a little spinning around the front room.

Bright eyed with yellow beak eating worms
He was nearly ready to be allowed outside
To find his strength and freedom with others
Tearily he was carried to park and released.

A few days later , looking in our garden tree
We saw him sitting on a leafy branch chirping
And singing a thank you song of gratitude for
A life he may never have lived without our help.

Love Mary ***

The rustling of girls in nylon underskirts
And shoe buckle in bejewelled highlights
With presents so wrapped and tied bows
For bolero in angora to complete the show.

Love Mary x

The ballet stage was not a place for me
Late at night this child not too bright,
Stepped out
All forlorn
In long nightdress
Frilled all round
With red candlestick
And there on stage
At Sadlers Wells
She did propose
To dance composed
But having not an ounce
Of spatial sensé
Missed the placement of her feet
And at the end
As the audience clapped
She curtsied with her back
So none could see
This shining star
With her
candlestick
A flame
Just
The long and flowing hair
Which got her further
By far
This beautiful
Falling flower.

Love Mary ***

If you are four and wait at the door
The sun will rise and bring a surprise
For now its your birthday and school
Everything with be bright and new.




Love Grandma xxxx

Inside the church garden of St Mary’s
We ate our egg and cheese sandwich
A child came out dressed as an angel
Clothed in white with a frown
The boy cried because he was not Mary
Great droplets of tears from black globes
And there they stood the play not begun
My two lollipop friends
The photograph now in my room.


Love Grandma Xxxxx

In a garden far from home,
Sits a gentleman on his own,
Reading in the Summer sun,
A friend's letter that has just come.

Finding things to fill his days,
Which keep him active and engaged,
The trees need pruning, bushes cut,
And must not forget the special plot.

I bought this man a birthday gift,
A waterproof, patterned tablecloth,
So sitting in the Summer sun,
Can be, for him, a bit more fun.

Love Mary x

She fell out of heaven
Like a Bottichelli angel
With a smile as appealing
As any Fragonard or
Boucher cherub.

Gliding across the floor
on padded feet
She decides to smile at all .

Love Grandma xxxx

Here you are, our baby
So wanted, not expected
A little son, quietly there
In your cot, just by me.

And daddy lifts you
Bright in the morning
To see your first day
Over the chimney pots.

You are our newness
Opening the world
With your tiny hands
And we welcome you.

To Arlo
Love from Mummy and Daddy

Streatham's White Garden lies between a walled Old English garden and a small orchard in the Rookery, once the grounds of a large house dating back to 1786, and now an historic Grade II listed public garden. The elegant double borders, backed by trees and climbers and edged with lawn, echo each other down the length of the garden, with white benches marking each end. Still the only white garden in any of London's public parks, the White Garden pre-dates Vita Sackville-West's famous grey, green and white garden at Sissinghurst by at least 30 years.

Local volunteers under the leadership of Kew-trained designer Alison Alexander and project co-ordinator Charlotte Dove (both working for the Friends of Streatham Common, who successfully raised funding for the project from the Heritage Lottery Fund) carried out the recent restoration. The restoration was based on archival research and visits to other historic gardens, and is faithful to the spirit of the Arts and Crafts-inspired Edwardian original. Many of the plants in the new design have been chosen for their historical associations, including shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), and a white cultivar of the old-fashioned English rose, Rosa spinosissima – all plants that would have been as familiar to the leading lights of the movement, such as William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll, as they were to the Edwardian gardeners who planted up the original garden.

This is a serene place, much loved by visitors. But serenity is not the whole story – determination also plays a role in the history of this garden. Streatham residents fought a public campaign to rescue the Rookery grounds (the house itself was demolished in 1912) from the wave of suburban housebuilding that reached a peak in the years before the First World War. The gardens were laid out by Major Philip Maud of London County Council (LCC), and opened in 1913.

The concerns surrounding cramped urban living conditions that gave rise to the public parks movement in the nineteenth century remain a reality today. Open spaces are a necessary release valve: an escape from the pressures of city life, and proven to have a positive effect on mental and physical health. It is no coincidence that the LCC designs for other public gardens designed in the period (including the Old English garden in nearby Brockwell Park) were also influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement: it was a style ideally suited to the purpose, being itself a reaction to the negative impact of industrialization, and an expression of nostalgia for an idyllic imagined past.

Despite the pressures of the city, horticulture has long been part of this area's heritage, and for much of last century it thrived: amateur and professional gardeners alike participated in fruit and flower shows organised by newly-formed clubs and societies, well-maintained civic parks delighted visitors and residents, allotments flourished, and local nurserymen like John Peed of West Norwood produced lavish catalogues of the latest horticultural discoveries.

As government funding for green spaces has decreased, however, gardens like the Rookery have suffered from reductions in maintenance budgets: as late as the 1970s, seven gardeners were dedicated to the Rookery alone, but today only two contractors are based there. Once again local residents have responded, developing community groups, volunteer-led projects and local fundraising, and working closely with the Lambeth Parks Service. One such community group, the Streatham Common Co-operative (SCCoop), aims to take on the gardens and increase the number of gardeners. Applications for outside funding have been productive: most of the plants for the White Garden restoration were purchased with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association providing a grant for new white roses. But resources are finite, and – in the best tradition of ecological planting – the new plants for the White Garden have been chosen to suit the prevailing conditions, and to flourish with minimal maintenance. Gardens have always thrived on both innovation and tradition, and the restoration of the White Garden at Streatham Rookery is a tribute to those who are prepared to find new ways of looking after treasured open spaces.

Love Mary ***

I went with a numbness, and sense of doubt
Dropped at the doors of strangers
But pleased to have been asked.
We all gave our presents to the birthday child
Watching the discarded paper fall and the pile
Fill out the large cushioned arm chair.

Not coming from wealth my present simple style
But always liked, it appeared, much as any other;
Coats taken and placed upstairs.
A quick glance at the other children’s party attire
Mine often a cream jumper and tartan pleated skirt,
Brown leather Clark’s sandels, sensible.

The chocolate game was my favourite
Eating with knife and fork,
As many pieces as able, real fooling about.
Then there was musical chairs that
Put me in despair, as some one always out
And lots of standing about along the wall.

Not very good at general knowledge so forfeits
Left me in tears.
But Oh! for pass the parcel
Always fun had here.
Then to the tea table we went
With eyes bigger than tummies.

All that blamange and strawberry jelly
Sparkly fairy cakes with silver *****
Discarded plates of uneaten sandwiches
Crusts scattering the floor, dropped,
Lastly, milk chocolate fingers galore
And a tiny decorated craker to take home.

The End

Love Mary

You soldier and civilian
Rememembered with red and white
Poppies
We today commence this
Remembrance Sunday
Proud still of our nation
Who seeks to save
Who lost so many
In the bombs and the blitz.

May we learn in these hours
What sacrifice means
What love is and trust
And seek that this world
Endeth not in tatters.

Love Mary ***

Lemon drops and Jam face
Were two rather unusual little girls
They spent their days in a tree house
In their rather small garden
With a single white rose
And an upturned flower ***
With a plant called the ‘Bride’
An unwanted Christmas present
Yet to be planted by their father.

The two old cats had recently died
Which created a few weeks of sadness
And a house without paws or biscuit
Trays and an empty end of the couch.
Christmas now over the girls took
Some toys to the tree house
Including their iPads and drawing paper,
Pens etc...

Lemon drops had long fair bunches
And was very thin with big blue eyes
She did not like new foods and spat
Them out sometimes she was always
Drawing funny people and loved fluffy
Animals. She had a papier mâché
Enormous ladybird on her bedroom wall
She wanted to be an artist when older
Like her two grandparents.
Grandma Mary had bought her a Sasha
Doll which she had dressed once
In silver pixie boots and a red school
Dress, blue hat and cardigan.
They both loved each other.
Daddy was her best toy.

Jam cheeks bounced about with
Long golden ringlets and a big happy
Smile. She wore baby suits and a striped
Floppy hat in yellow and black.
Mummy was getting
Her some shoes to wear to avoid
Wet feet in the garden.
She loved eating her food
And made people laugh
Including mummy who she
Kissed and cuddled a lot.

To be continued...

Love Mary Grandma xxxx

Laying upon the grass black as soot
Tangled wings, feathered broke
I gaze down upon your yellow beak
And hope that you might speak.

Jewelled in the grass where
Primroses Spring to life
I bend slowly to one knee
And listen for a sound or two.


Peering into your sparkling eye
Hoping you can still see
Knowing that I love you bird
Treasure this last minute still.

Lifting you softly from this spot
I see you are quite new
With days ahead where singing led
I bent and kissed you.


Love Mary x

Down the lane under the trees
Reaching the latch first, lifted it carefully and quietly not to
Disturb the reverie of the place but he and it was always a he
Came barking and bouncing full pace to see who intruded
No bigger then a foot high, like a bundle of curled white wire
He protestested.
Waiting for a retreat, seduced by his water bowl
Finally peace was restored.
Some days he was out on his walks.
Then the garden lit up without fire.
And we two children were the ones running wild.

Love Mary x

I am dying of gangerine
But as we have only Brexit
And Teresa May to play
No one gives attention
To the unrelenting penetrating
Blackness inside my head
Soon I will be dead.

Love Mary **

Evelyn loved her seahorse
Popped it in a bowl to swim
The seahorse liked the water
Made the little girl grin.

After all that playing
She wrapped it in a towel
Put it in a casket
To sleep for a while.

Evelyn watched her seahorse
Until it was time for tea
She gave it fishes on a plate
The seahorse was so pleased.

Now in the land of seahorses
Anything can be
So Evelyn found it a friend
Now there are three.

The seahorses have their own castle
With shells and flowers and beads
There are mermaids to look after them
But they can do as they please.

When Evelyn goes to bed
The seahorses are quite good
And never make a noise
This being understood.

For you are more perfect than a sunrise
More blessed than all saintly wisdom
In your openness the world stretches
Out, and finds love’s longings received.

For Arlo love Grandma x

Two leaves in a puddle of rainwater
On the steps of the Maplin Gallery;
Photographs of ****** disarmed
Floating in a time of experiment
These two images combine
To ask questions of how art
shows the way we lived in the
1990s.

Love Mary xxxxx

Of all the things inside my head
I wonder which I’d choose
The shiny saucers on my wall
With patterns on them all.

Some painted by Susie Cooper
With dainty flower heads
And others Brambly Hedge
With hedgehog tucked in bed.

Then in blue and white china
And Churchill on the back
Picturesque moments of bridges
Willow chintz and that.

Finally the many flower fairies
Their delicate floaty wings
Sitting on a tree branch, Cicily Mary Barker
Who loved all tiny things.

Love Mary ***

The ladybird queen in spotted black
And dark wings floating down her back
Leant leisurely over the bedroom frame
This ladybird might one day leave home.


She lifted gown of crimson silk
And hopped around as if bespoke  
The dress stretched to her biggest toe
And golden hair about her glowed.

Oh darling ladybird I do love thee
To see you dancing fair and free
On your highest bedroom wall
A special insects for us all.

Love to Evelyn ***

You linger in the long grass
Holding tightly to a tree
Dreaming of a somewhere
That you’d like to be.

Love Grandma

On a stage in the middle of a wood
Stood a young girl who knew she could
But as it happened she did not
Pushed the young boy
And he got off.

Now when it’s dark
And the owls do hoot
You won’t find this young girl
Out in the woods
Even though she could.

Love Mary x

The road lay empty down the lane
No bird flew out across the sand
Alone this trampled world goes by
And dancing hours beneath me call
But in this place that is no more
The latched gate closes once and all.

Wild morning glory
Ties the world in knots
Pigweed or Aramanth
Appears in late Spring.

A ****, simply
a plant,
A long term survivor
A carrier of germination.
Dandelion and Burdock.
Marshmallow and nettle,
Purslane, clover and Mellow.
Eating weeds,why not!

Love Mary ***

The beginning begs to be noticed
Uttering simple syllable phrases
But you know those touches flow
Into the silent parts of me like you
And our ownernership is so new
The over folding of a pair of wings.

Love Mary  x

Enter down concrete steps
To the basement flat
Iron railings
Black door
Red painted hall
Condensation on the floor.

Two up, two down
The basement flat
Scrunched together
Back to back
Three sisters, mum and dad
Then the brothers quickly had.

Grandad's face always stern
Impeccably dressed
In shirt and vest
Roast dinners
were the best
Plates on a dresser rest.

Out the back a concrete patch
To play a cricket bat
Across from that
These tenement stacks
Elm trees give a screen
To this suffocating scene.

Street life was the choice
It gave freedom a voice
The boys gathered out late
Playing football with their mates
Fathers called from indoors
Time to stop that ****** noise.

A mile or so stood the hoards
Of Wormwood Scrubs' prison floors
Then there was the track
White City and greyhound backs
Chelsea loved by all the boys
Arsenal just upped their score.

The skyline filled with birds
The trains go rattling by
And yet from this place
My father took himself a pace
Up the street and far away
On a bright and sunny day.

Mary x

I never knew
Or asked the questions
When young enough
To change fate.

Just kept blowing
Out the candles
In their frilled holders
Until all was too late.

Love Mary ***

I cry a little harder now
The tulip season ends in rain
As silent petals fall at dawn
With tears reflected in the sky
Oh summer please don’t come too soon.

Love Mary x

The rowing boat gave you half an hour
On a murky lake in the middle of a park
After waiting in a line for quite a time
One took the paddles and jumped inside.

The boat it rattled and rolled, the paddles
Clanked as each backwards move pulled
Fingers floated wide stretched in the leaf
Sycamore seeds dust meniscus shimmer.

Autumn holiday glitter in St James Park
Where the Serpentine under arch bridge
Eating sandwiches and waiting for City
Christmas lights to brighten Selfridges.

Love Mary **

In the middle was Evelyn
Shyly peeping out
In front was James
And behind Rose.

She hang up her coat
On a red metal peg
Put her snoopy box
In the wire basket.

Then Breton cried
For her Mummy
And was comforted
By Miss Petershore.

All the children
Played outside
On the grassy slopes
It was fun.

Evelyn liked her day
Did a picture
Of her family
It was put on the wall.

At three-thirty
Parents collected
She pushed into daddy
With a big smile.


Love Grandma xxxx

We climb the downs with outstretched arms
The heather long and heady in,
The scratched and battered dung filled breeze
And wool and sheep spread o’er the land
And yet in hope this day breathes still
With tortoiseshell on mountain hill.


Love Mary x

Travelling with me were two friends
An elderly gentleman and She
They stretched out four hands
In a beautiful glance
And took me with them
On an unusual dance.

One full of snow and bluebell’s bulbs
The other carried words taken down
From his shelves
We shared the sunlight on a good day
And visions of loveliness to treasure
Always.

Love Mary ***

Roast beef steaming on a plate
Baked potatoes gravy laced
Yorkshire puddings
Round and brown
Carrots and stuffing
At Christmas found.

Gathered with our festive cheer
Mum, dad and brother near
Laughing in our paper hats
Holding napkins on our lap
Patterned crackers, motto inside.

Sometimes on the floor does slide
A silver plated ring or plastic guide
The pudding rich and fruity bake
Spoonful of single or double take
And Neopolitan ice cream to taste.

Now to go and watch the box
Someone help to do the washing up
The snow is soft on our lawn
Throwing crumbs from garden door
Blackbird and sparrow spy them all.


Love Mary ***

I tried but the deafeating sound of death captured me
Tore away the shreds of dignity laying peacefully
And I screamed to the damp grasses to let me free
But they withered away in cunningness for sanctuary.

So next day I got up and washed my hands and face
Found a pretty, party dress with contemporary lace
Bought a raspberry cake filled with artificial cream
And danced with dear Batty, Foggy and a spoon.

Life breaks hearts and fills this world with pain
It was in the beginning and still is just the same
But Pooh and Piglet, walk down a country lane
And Hundred Acre Wood is a lovely place to play.

Love to all Mary ***

The day went  backwards
With memories straddling
Over all those fiery years
When I was fit and healthy.

And gaiety swung me around
Like a roll of coloured hoops
Never forgetting how I loved
All that this world presented.

I clipped the rose buds, slowly
Closing the secateur’s fastening,
Putting happiness in folders
For others to open their joy.

Love Mary x

In the middle stopped by the breeze
A collection of colourful annual seeds
Filled out a butler sink wrestling with time
Solitary, silently completing seasonal rhyme
Regular rhythms of perpetual chime.

Love Mary x

My father was a man of integrity
He taught me right from wrong
He did it with a gracious hand
That was always warm and strong.

Everybody knew him
Tall with an elegant stride
A smile for everyone
A kiss on the lips goodbye.

I never met someone more wholesome
Who knew the ways of folks
Grew out of a poor background
With love in every root.

His word was his trust
An anchor in the dark
A whistling bird of the lane ways
The sunshine of my heart.

Truth and beauty followed him
A kindness to the poor
An honour made more noble
And yet a footstep sure.

I carry what you gave me
In all the hours we grew
The pavements that were walked
I knew you through and through.

I am my father's daughter
Not always quite as bold
But fight I will for justice
It is our greatest goal.

For my dad Love Mary x

I saw you fill the park
Tall and grey
Like Gandalf
A book of spells to hand
And cloaked against the rain.

Long strides across grass
Pink shirted king
A circular crown
Shoes trodden down
Waiting for the Wedding to end.

Love Mary for Roger ***