Present – a poem by Julie Leoni

Present

If you sit still and quiet in the same place, 
time and time again, you will get to know its 
folks. 

Robin, chaffinch, blackbird, collared dove, 
cleavers, nettle, red campion, blue aconite, 
ant, bee, woodlouse, worm, orange-tipped 
butterfly, tadpole, toad, rock, moss, 
sycamore, blackthorn, willow, ash.

If you are still and quiet often enough, they 
will get on with being a bird or a plant or an 
insect, right up close to you. Right up close 
so you can see their eyes, their feathers, their 
petals --

their tiny, ordinary, intricate beauty.

Julie Leoni lives on the Welsh Borders where she teaches yoga, swims in the river at the bottom of her garden and raises raspberries, rhubarb and her children. In 2024 she was announced the winner of the Bournemouth Poetry Prize, shortlisted for the Cinnamon New Voices Award, and again for their pamphlet award, the Mslexia Poetry award, and the Fish memoir prize. Her first collection of poems Farmotherlands will be published by Hedgehog Press in Spring 2025. Meanwhile she blogs and runs family retreats in community settings. Her PhD means that she gets to teach interesting courses at a number of universities and schools. She is also the author of three non-fiction books which can be found at www.julieleoni.com.