Blowing in the Wind by Robert Nisbet

The poem is called ‘Oak Wind’. The poet Dyfan writes of the warm Westerly winds which blow into the deepening greens of the West Wales countryside in these months of May and June. Oak and chestnut and sycamore.

Last Saturday, on Epsom downs in the heart of the English countryside, a country’s length away, racehorses called Percussionist and Salford City ran in the June classic, the Derby. The poet Dyfan had each-way bets on these horses and they came in second and third. With prices of 7 and 8 to 1, this will give him a return of just over five pounds. The hooves of Percussionist and Salford City thundered, their sleek coats gleamed and the poet wins a five pound note. Poetry is sometimes chance is sometimes poetry.

As Dyfan walks into town, to the betting shop and to the post office, he passes a group of children flying kites in the playing field. The kites are an orange-brown, a pale green and a blue, and the blue one has a strewn-out paper tail of dark blue ribbons spinning out behind it. The spin of kites and ribbons, the drumming of dark brown hooves and the soughing of that warm Welsh wind.

Dyfan walks on into town and collects his winnings from the betting shop. But now he will walk on to the post office and things will all cycle and turn and spin.

Poetry is sometimes change is sometimes poetry. Dyfan will send his poem ‘Oak Wind’ to a competition run by a magazine in the United States. At the bureau de change, he passes over that five pound note (O dark blue paper trail behind that kite) and he buys a five dollar bill, the poem’s talisman, its entry fee, on its journey to a foreign land.

Still, as he walks back up the hill, the kites are flying high, the blue one so very high in the warm June wind as its dark blue ribbons stream and spin. Last Saturday, two horses drummed their hooves across the deep green turf of Epsom downs. The poem will soon begin its flight.

 

Robert Nisbet is a poet from Wales who has over 500 poems published in Britain and the USA, in magazines like San Pedro River Review, Third Wednesday and Burningword Literary Journal. He is a four-time Pushcart nominee.