Solitude is where writers
chatter best

a soothing static—
the ambulatory, admit it, happy
ticking over

like this afternoon
in the sweet green cold London
spring
I watch a tall grey heron
stomping down its reed nest
that's sprouting everywhere
like garden-sheared hair

and all my living
and all my dead 
run up my arms 
like squirrels.

—Dorothy Porter

Rights & Access

Dorothy Porter, “A Walk in Kensington Gardens” from The Bee Hut, published by Black Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Dorothy Porter.

Used by permission of Jenny Darling & Associates on behalf of the Estate of Dorothy Porter.

  • Dorothy Porter

    Dorothy Porter (1954-2008) was an acclaimed Australian poet, lyricist, and librettist. Her eighth poetry collection, The Bee Hut, was published posthumously in 2009.