Blossom was a pavement artist

Blossomise: Simon Armitage

The National Trust commissioned Simon Armitage to write poems inspired by the blossom season, as part of a Blossomise project. A beautiful little book was the result. It is a collection of poems and haikus written by Simon and illustrated by Angela Harding. (More information can be found on the NT website, where there are a selection of the works and links to some videos of Simon reading some of them.)

When I was in the Piece Hall Bookshop last week i found copies of the book (signed copies), so of course I bought one. What I had not fully realised was that some of the poems were used as lyrics and were performed as part of the concert we went to see later that evening. 

Here is one haiku and its illustration. Of course I realise that the background is not blackthorn, but I did like the words and the illustration. The blossom I photographed this morning is almost finished and really this is one of the messages of the poems - blossom goes quickly so make the most of it - a metaphor for life.