Blackbird

From the window I watch a blackbird drink from next door's pond, dip its bright orange beak into the water, then tilt its head back.

Beck

I stand between the beck and another small stream, its tributary, which comes cascading down to meet it. My ears fill with the sound of fast-moving water over stone.

Play

A small boy presents me with a red balloon, invites me in his own language, to play.

Steam

Steam from a condensing boiler blows out of the side of a house on the bend in the road, makes a swirling white cloud which I drive through.

Tent

Through the train window I see a man emerge from a tiny black tent pitched on a muddy patch of grass in the shadow of a tower block.

Hair

The hair fairy came with clippers and scissors and mirror, her own hair bleached blonde and standing up in a mild version of a Mohican. My hair in drifts on the red kitchen floor.

8.10

From up on the Heights Road I look down into the valley, see a string of tiny cars on the A646, their red tail lights like shiny beads.