Melinda Lovell (Lindy), born Clare Chesterman, was brought up in Shire Lane and now lives in S W France. She has written a series of poems about her childhood in Chorleywood, and one, Rituals, published in the current issue of Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine mentions ‘frogspawn in spring oozing generously in Chorleywood Pond’ We felt her poem about sledging down Shire Lane was more apt for December !
Main Photo – © Sledging on the Common: Andrew Bungard
Four drawers, two earmarked for woolly hats and mittens,
in the kitchen table long as a church pew. As it snowed,
and all the trees up the lane lost their shapes
becoming stalking white mysteries; as the familiar
was softly chalked out, details smudged by new snow,
from next-door-but-one my friend Dee would come round
and she’d be gum-booted and got up for sledging, even if it
happened to be only skidding down the hill
on your bum on a tea-tray.
Did you remember gloves?
Well we did, but after just one go down the reckless slope
they were sodden, making our hands more numb
than if we had never put them on. Still, we all wore a pair
and it was years before ski mitts appeared, waterproof,
in the last drawer. Before that, even rolling up one snowball
and your hands were paws of ice, raw fingers not moving at all
and the snow crystals dissolving into sheep-smelling wool.
This was our first thawing. And why
to snowmen and snow-bears we were next of kin
Melinda Lovell
“Poetry preserves what is of value – a moment, a person, a garden, a way of life, the spirit of place. Many of my poems have memory as a strong theme, both individual memory and collective memory.” Melinda Lovell
‘Sledging and more Chiltern poems in Melinda’s collection Walking The Hillside, publ Waterloo Press from drsimonjenner@gmail.com
Left: Lindy as a toddler in the Shire Lane woodland garden with Granny Chesterman. 1951.
I
2 Comments