She is surrounded by patchwork fields as vivid as an artist’s impression: here and there a stone church or umber farmhouse scattered across her apron stained with hues of olive, grape, tomato, and scented with rosemary, basil, oregano, zesty lemons and aromatic espresso. She stretches her limbs along the Arno, terracotta roofs reflecting heat and […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
My Feline Muse
I did not choose my muse, the god Bastet owned me; I fell for the sunrise in her eyes, her tamed ferocity, soft fur, and her full throttle purr. She favours my chest and hip as the spots on which she sleeps, riding the waves of dreams with me, kneading us into shape, a comforting […]
A World of Order
I like lists and ticking off items when complete, the regularity of paving stones beneath my feet, avoiding cracks and walking firmly in the squares, so as not to be eaten by predatory bears. I like to peg laundry neatly on a washing line, different coloured pegs for your clothes and mine. I like arranging […]
Corona
It came in the guise of a gaseous envelope in the sky of sun and other stars. No eclipse this time – just a pearly glow around the muted disc of moon. Chinese New Year celebrations were cancelled and Italy’s strict lockdown won’t be lifted soon. How appropriate that this is the year of the […]
Lips
I was never one for painting my lips red, although I sometimes fantasised in bed about a scarlet slash against white teeth tempting you to meld our lips and breath, a colourful seduction in a bed gone quiet. But then I realised that instead of a riot of thrashing limbs and pounding chests we both […]
The Clarity of Lunacy
Dark clouds lift and take my soul; daytime solitude, taunted by spring sun and blossoms, fades into clair de lune, madness hugs and kisses the moon, her friendly face the soft pale blue of porcelain glaze. I stand at the window and gaze at a night-blackened empty street, no cars pass, no people strolling by, […]
Sea Howl
While walking with my dog along the beach, I found a seashell different from the rest, a torrent of waves filled with Neptune’s speech. Spellbound, I contemplated every word enunciated on the ocean’s breath – a poem or the cry of a seabird? Savouring it like salt upon my tongue, the foam like fishy kisses […]
Apple-ogia
They are our atonement for the half-eaten cores tossed from dusty, finger- smeared train windows, sprouted into hoards of apples, sparkling orbs, railway siding orchards. They’re a feast for birds, burnished rosy and russet, worm-holed and sweetly rotting to the fading drone of wasps drunk on the sadness of sugar. In spring, wind-fresh blossoms flutter […]
Delicious on my Tongue
you cooked me a meal so delicious I barely stopped between mouthfuls the richness of its flavour imprinted on my tongue oblivious to the knowledge that it wouldn’t last for long I wiped my lips on a napkin wishing for another taste ignoring the red wine in my glass in case the piquancy went to […]
Tulip Fields
I am a Middle Eastern beauty, a migrant of the sixteenth century, a gauzy turban of petalled secrets. Some prefer me dressed in scarlet, sprung from droplets of blood, a ruby flood of perfect love. My yellow flower’s glow is cheerful, the power of my white’s forgiveness, while my purple robe is royal. My orb-shaped […]
