Primary Colours – Twickenham Early Morning
Poets have always responded to war by writing poetry — it’s what we do. Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on 24th February this year people started sending The Friday Poem their poems about the war — poems about resistance, poems of protest, and poems about specific individuals affected by the fighting. These are stories of courage, grief and hope. We decided to publish some every week as Friday Poems for Ukraine. Here’s ‘Primary Colours – Twickenham Early Morning’ by Simon Rees-Roberts. Slava Ukraini!
Primary Colours – Twickenham Early Morning
The tree tops fill with crows … after the early warmth
as the yellow sun climbs a cobalt sky.
The mist thins then vanishes and all is pin-sharp.
Two Canada geese quell the wail of an ambulance
as they swerve across the river where thought drifts
then land where the breeze puckers the surface to ruched satin
and ripples the blue and yellow flag on the boathouse.
There is no red in this landscape. It has to be imagined.
