Sean

Swallow

Gardener Turned

Poet

Attention to Nature

Originally from suburban Cheshire, in the ​north west of England, Sean (he/him) is a ​poet and garden maker with a lifelong ​connection with rural Wales.


His poetry explores nature with a gay ​sensibility, and hopes to subvert traditional ​pastoral themes.


Sometimes feeling like an outsider, he ​navigates themes of identity and belonging, ​with poems that pay rapt attention to nature.


Photograph by Charlie Hopkinson

Life in Books and Gardens

Sean earned his BA (Hons) in English Literature from ​The University of Liverpool.


In his twenties, he worked as a bookseller in London, ​managing an independent bookshop. Later, he ​transitioned into garden design, and his work quite ​regularly appeared in the national press.


He developed a garden style that "seemed natural," ​focusing on creating wildlife habitats through ​planting hedgerows, woodlands and hay meadows. ​This style later came to influence his poetry.

He furthered his craft in 2014, by studying poetry ​and form online with Oxford University Department ​for Continuing Education.


.In 2017, two of Sean’s poems (under the pen name ​CB Green) were published in The Rialto (88).


Sean’s debut public reading was at The ​Cheltenham Poetry Festival in 2018. He also ​completed his MA in Creative Writing (with ​Distinction) from The Open University in 2019.




“Being different, or ‘feeling queer’ from a young age, could be viewed as an advantage because I came to habitually question predominant narratives.”

Something to Celebrate


Sean’s first memory is staring up at a foxglove on the edge of the school ​playground. And, as an older child, his favourite book was a Thesaurus, given to ​him by his father.


Gardening is something he now does part time, as the writing slowly takes over. ​Sometimes his back and brain both ache but he still finds both occupations are ​pleasurable.


And both integrate the different aspects of ourselves with one another, and ​connect us to the environment we all share. In which, with playful insistence, he ​always finds something to celebrate however damaged we and the world might b​e.​

Poems

Hangover


April is winter weighted with new brightness.

Blue flowers under rusty trees in the frozen yard

and shit up to the door. I reach through branches

to hidden empties. Hunger is our problem,


haylage was a price and now we rent

fields of winter beet. The frosted lambs get up

from sleep-melted circles, one squeak from the gate

and they pour off the hills. Farming is about waking up


one thing and not another yet it all grows at once:

ewes with rotten cloves, brassicas with moths,

oil on the shed floor, blood from a cracked face,

the Off Licence miles off. Last night thaws.


Had I tacked the chainharrow to the Landrover,

spun around the fields, music banging as lambs

foamed in hedgerows? Neglected, they all come to look,

I mean I, we, they, all come to look the same


This poem was first published in The Rialto Magazine 88.


I bead [biːd]


Bead; any strung, sewn object

made of seeds, crystals, beans.

Beadwork; in embroidery,

threads repeated to make patterns

for clasp bags, bishops’ capes.

Unbeaded; a quick hand

on a décolleté catches a necklace,

pearls scatter across the slate.

He unbeads hair extensions

and runs his weightless head

under a tap. Beader; one who beads

and is always right, deftly selecting

the next bead without thought.

The formation of beads of sweat,

the porosity of resting athletes.

Beady-eyed; blackbirds, yet not

unfeeling, Rembrandt’s eyes,

plummy sea urchins in marine light.

Prayer Beads; continuous yet discrete,

as fingertips count along the string

and find a beading soul right there.



Garden Design

With over twenty years of garden-making experience, Sean continues to create and care for cleints’ gardens, mainly in south Wales. ​Although writing takes precedence, Sean is open to new projects and has a year-long waiting list for his services.

Hillside, Wye Valley

Pond Garden, Welsh Borders

Walled Garden, Forest of Dean

Garden Gallery

Photograph by Charlie Hopkinson

Contact Sean

hello@seansean.net