{"id":"69c579aa948ce0defd0a5273","title":"Poetry Corner","path":"publications/annual-reviews/2022/poetry-corner","contentMarkdown":"# Poetry Corner\n\n## Hollows to Valleys\n\nIt begins under the float of a sea mist\nbeading jacket and sleeve,\nwhile, under our boots, iced hollows\nsnare unwary walkers.\n\nOur pale breath vanishes, puffs\ninto a ghostly haar.\n\nWhere rain has pooled\nin lower edges under banks,\nthe path is claggy,\nclogged, no longer the crust\nor apple crumble\nof sweetly scented autumn.\n\nInstead, from chestnut coppices stark\nwith cold, a pheasant clatters,\nsquawks, shatters the silence.\n\nOn either side the path,\nsloping fields run west, run east\nbefore the knife-edged northerly\nas we bear south, wind\non our backs for a winter walk\nwhere downlands are folded\nin great valleys like grooves\ncut by giants —\nsweeping, swooping low.\n\nNow under our feet lie\nthe curve & curl\nof rust & chocolate\nwaves & weaves —\nof furrows still gleaming\nfrom the plough-blades' cut.\n\n*Lizzie Ballagher*","contentHtml":"<h1>Poetry Corner</h1>\n<h2>Hollows to Valleys</h2>\n<p>It begins under the float of a sea mist\nbeading jacket and sleeve,\nwhile, under our boots, iced hollows\nsnare unwary walkers.</p>\n<p>Our pale breath vanishes, puffs\ninto a ghostly haar.</p>\n<p>Where rain has pooled\nin lower edges under banks,\nthe path is claggy,\nclogged, no longer the crust\nor apple crumble\nof sweetly scented autumn.</p>\n<p>Instead, from chestnut coppices stark\nwith cold, a pheasant clatters,\nsquawks, shatters the silence.</p>\n<p>On either side the path,\nsloping fields run west, run east\nbefore the knife-edged northerly\nas we bear south, wind\non our backs for a winter walk\nwhere downlands are folded\nin great valleys like grooves\ncut by giants —\nsweeping, swooping low.</p>\n<p>Now under our feet lie\nthe curve &amp; curl\nof rust &amp; chocolate\nwaves &amp; weaves —\nof furrows still gleaming\nfrom the plough-blades&#39; cut.</p>\n<p><em>Lizzie Ballagher</em></p>\n"}