To watch me reading the poem aloud and showing you the painting, please press link below:
Poem and Art cołlaboration
Video
The Things we Love
Sussi Louise Smith, Inspired by the community of followers on Instagram)
Butterflies and forest bathing at dawn
Dandelions in the sky
Oceans, puddles, the sea and all things river
Grass covered in morning dew moving like wandering waves too
Friends in all places
Both high and here
Puppies and cooking, but not cooking puppies
Rainbows in chakra style
across waterfalls and tender hearts
all the children asleep but still holding hands
and my grandchild’s arms around my tired neck
Rainy skies and skies stuck in trees
Masks on masks unmasking
Nature at its grandest and
above all, the sea, the sea, the sea
cliffs and rocks in open spaces
The sun all set to set again
The joy of books and books with books on top
And a perfectly symmetrical sandwich
next to a tall gin and tonic mid afternoon
Waking early and walking into the blue across the moors
and in the middle of the open roads
music every step Sibelius seducing us in Finlandia,
nodes gently caressing my soul, then waking me with
Vaughn Williams and a spot of Ella Fitzgerald
Laughter of true belonging mixed with the calm scent of morning coffee
The sweet smell of a baby’s head and
Sunshine on already warn asphalt
Shaping like the petroglyphs on Ilkley Moor
Long-lasting love, new love, the love, all the love
And lots of mugs of tea
From a thermos, poured on the forest floor
On the edge of the heather
The comfort of friends, the family kind
Sharing the bliss of that open road
Taking us to the sea, the sea, the sea
The soothing sound of a lover’s voice
And the kids out barefoot to get in trouble
They feel the freedom too
Wonder women on peace patrol
Long baths when I am home alone
While Optimus Primes guards the universe
We are all safe now
Silky knitting in my sofa corner
Big wooly jumpers comforting smoke in the air
Drunk honey bees too tired to swarm
Cuddles on the sofa
Some say puppies are happiness, some say cats
but it is books, we all know it
And the sea, the sea, the sea
A thousand shelves, with thousands of books
Painting all the colours of love, the love, all of the love
Paintbrushes, panes, pens and markers
Blank canvases and those with stories to re-tell
Memories and soft dreams
Freshly ironed sheets on my freshly made bed, and me in it
That sense of autumn
The ‘just right’ kind of decay,
The type that smells of possibilities and hope
Or chocolate
And some even long for the perfectly shaped cacti
Me, I long for you, you by the ocean at sunrise
Cornish rolling hills
Rolling straight into the waves
The dunes the beaches the river beds
Blackberries in my babies’ hands and on their happy faces
more in their bellies than in their basket
That perfect garden bench, in that perfect spot
Looking at the village fair on a sunny day
The circus full of magic
Like new moons and bluebells in early spring
And did I say, the sea, the sea, always the sea
