Postcard

 

It had been hot on the bus, cramped and crowded with day trippers. Now the sky spreads overhead, limitless blue daubed with puffs of white cloud. The path through the field is hard and sun baked, steadfast beneath our feet. Grasses wave around us, the meadow ripples with life, splashed with red poppies and blue cornflowers. You squat down to take a closer look, your wide-brimmed hat with the dinosaur print shading your small face. There is time to stop, I don't have to hurry you on from ladybird spotting, we have all day. My eye wanders to the horizon, that hazy line where green meets blue. I breathe in and my chest expands, a lungful of fresh air for a change. We are surrounded, contained and supported by the landscape. We have found a place to be, if only for today.

No time for writing this Monday, there is an exam and an appointment that will overwhelm all else. So instead I include this short piece I wrote during a nature writing workshop at Bristol Folk House on Sunday. Liz asked us to choose a postcard as a prompt and to write a response that created a particular mood or emotion. A very enjoyable morning and the workshop will run again in August.

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