Waiting for Godden: Poem: 'Dog Days Done' + Fundraiser for Beirut

Dog Days Done

Now is that moment

the first time you notice

summer lift her skirt

revealing a turn of

amber leaf and yellow

summer takes her time

to pack her belongings

weary butterflies

thirsty bees

and somewhere

in a distant field

summer writes

goodbye letters in gold

on hay and corn

and chestnut

and you

the morning after

the thunder storm

you open the window

and smell it changed

wafts of old grass

and late summer

this end is a beginning

make hay, make time

bilberries and blackberries

a feast for the sparrows

dog days done

Sirius goes south

the last burst of roses

for a lughnassadh table

the tomato harvest

the fruits of August

red, ripe and colourful

in Septembers hands

feeding our autumn

and all tomorrows hopes

(c) Salena Godden / London / 2020

*photos from my yard, tomatoes, rainy sunflower, rose, lavender and flowering mint

Dipped in Song

An evening of poetry in solidarity with and fundraising for Beirut

Sunday 30 August 2020 – 5.30PM (UK) / 7.30PM (Beirut)

Out-Spoken Press, together with Lisa Luxx, present Dipped in Song, an evening of poetry in solidarity with and to raise funds for relief efforts in Beirut following the devastating explosion earlier this month.

The event will be a ticketed Zoom, hosted by Joelle Taylor and will feature readings by, and conversation with, Lebanese poets and those connected to Beirut, as well as from other poets who stand in support and solidarity.

Featuring readings by Zeina Hashem Beck, Vahni Capildeo, Caroline Bird, Hala Alyan, Riwa Saab, Salena Godden, Raymond Antrobus, Lisa Luxx, Rewa Zeinati, Richard Georges & Anthony Anaxagorou