A shimmer of silver poemslights up the map of my heart. I hope they are not tarnishedas they cartwheel and dart across the page, turningfrom platinum to sterling, to a gentle silver mist, thenshadowing in battleship grey until blackened silver letters playand meander into words, form lines, rhymes, stanzas, odes,leading us down lanes and roads, […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
rosary of words
i use words like beads to tellthe stories that haunt methey are strung on shadows of whati know is poetry and the gist of it while you sit and planeach word and line toan accurate death that’s what you dokilling your words with the sharpness of your newspaper prose while I am […]
Something Blue
like the small patch of skypeeking through a crack in the clouds or the twinkle in a lover’s eyethat you can pick out in any crowd. Blue like a host of forget-me-nots,a surprise among nettles and long grass. The blue that ties your tongue in knotswhen you remember something from the past. Something small like […]
Let Me
Let me walk by a river without hurrying,let the wind and water chill my fears.Let me walk by a river without worryingabout pollution; let serenity still my tears. Let me walk across meadows of wildflowers,let the sun caress my hair and skin.Let me walk across meadows in sun and showers,embracing nature and storing it within. […]
Bride with a Fan
The blueness is not sadness or regret,nor the colour of a teardrop. It is not a reflection, not the depth of her eye,nothing like the blue of the sky. The fan does not keep her cool,but hides the imperfect smile, the chipped tooth behind her lipsthat snags on words she does not say. Even the […]
A Room that Breathed in Stitches
Morning light streamedthrough roughly-woven curtain, glided across wallsand gilded the bed, picking out ochre stitchesin the knitted blanket and the lime green patternof the cotton pillowcases. A room of fabricsbreathing in stitches, stirred by the chilly breathof a breeze, a subtle alarm – a reminder to take advantageof the quietude, embrace the shadowslingering in corners […]
Beyond Blue
She spotted her on the ebb tide,in the narrow water of Dublin Bay, in the early morning crepusculeof an ordinary day, with tangles of sea foam in her hair – a mermaid or a water fay. She’d always wanted a soul sisterwith whom to dance and play; she wouldn’t feel so lonely,if she could convince […]
Cry of a She-Wolf
A flash of amber eyes in the forest twilight—I answer with a growl. In the crepuscular dawn of teenage-hood,I am tainted with the tang of menses moon, a howl of hair sproutingin unexplored places. Nobody told me about the sweetnessof explosions in the darkness, lit only by moonlight on wolfish teeth.Will I be a good mother? […]
Song of the Pick
choreographed and synchronisedfeet placed firmly, picks held highabove ochre earth, stark and barea moment hangs in the stifling airwhile muscles tense and then releaseearth is shattered, so is peacerocks split and stones flymetal sings and souls crysweat glistens, teeth are clencheddust encrusted vests are drenchedthe man just stands hat on headhands in pockets nothing’s said […]
Where Does Love Go
Did it evaporatewith the last remaining traces of his scent or with the smoke from the cigarette,the last from the crushed packet he left behind? She couldn’t stomach breakfast,and there were hours to cross until the island of lunch, and a rainy afternoon to get through,the rest of the day with only a stormcock for […]
writing in north norfolk 