Jean Watkins
Reading. UK

Jean Watkins was born in West Yorkshire but has lived near Reading for many years. She taught children with specific learning difficulties and after gaining a BA in English Literature at Reading University, attended creative writing poetry classes. Jean’s poems have been published by Mslexia, Magma Poetry, South Poetry, The Sunday Telegraph, Acumen and many anthologies. Her first collection Scrimshaw was published in 2013, and her second, Precarious Lives in 2018, both by Two Rivers Press.

Poem completed 23rd April 2020

April 2020

Heat has fast forwarded the spring –
daffodils have shrivelled,
shy wood anemones are crowded out
by bluebells leaping into bloom.
 
Celandines star our verges
hawthorn hedges have already darkened,
trees rush to unpack their leaves, even
sleepy beechwoods rouse into green.
 
Gusty winds blow cherry blossom petals
into porches, on to windscreens,
tulips struggle to stand to attention,
forget-me-nots make a land grab.