Category Archives: Poetry
Eikon
No mirror to reflect, no voice, only dust, sculpted by hands, crafted by plan. No self-stirring spirit, no knowledge, no thrust, only dust, fingerprinted, moulded – with tears and with blood and with sweat – now we stand, heart and body, earthenware image, dust reflecting in praise.
Diakonos
Gather dust. Run, speedy feet, and kick up dust. Kick up, gather: dust we are. O dust, return. Be turned. Gather, sheep. Be gathered, sheep; make ready feet. Unglamorous and matted, poor: gather all. All dusty sheep, return. Gather us. You gather dust, reviving us, and send us out, in cloud ofContinue reading “Diakonos”
Big Sky
Charcoal smudge and ochre-stained cotton buds line the open eye scanning ghost grey and brown wrinkled skin. Smile. Hopeful tears explode; white tears evaporate in the silence of the day; in every way the earth whispers retreat into evening grace. Wide ground opens arms as far as sight can be. Trust gathers memories. Hand-in-hand wanderContinue reading “Big Sky”
Northbound at dusk
Jeffrey Smart painted this dying day: burnt orange in floating smokestack steam, needle-lights stretching in fluorescent dream, the sojourn of light sinking in silent sway. Daytime paints its canopy away and minutes pass in inches as we glean each moment, weigh each instant gram by gram. Apologies buy flowers; much to say, yet time isContinue reading “Northbound at dusk”
Homecoming
Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel? (William Shakespeare) To the untrained eye, nothing has changed: smoke still billows from chimneys; mornings are dark; alarms wake too early; the mad prince still fools the diplomat with his madness, the sane with his sanity. To the untrained eye, all these cloudsContinue reading “Homecoming”
Expect Delays
The sky is clear but in the distance clouds gather in manifold metallic tones. The road lies open, save the lane where a car met a day that ruptured its way, crushed its bonnet, its schedule; we mouth our complaints. Red messages warn that soon we too will be disrupted. Slower than usual, noContinue reading “Expect Delays”
Count It Loss
Whether misplaced or stolen, the effect is the same: the search, the panic, the retracing of steps, the sense that not an object but an organ, not a possession but a position, has vanished, without trace. Whether passing or lasting, the search seems boundless. The mind must run to what-ifs because you never know: theContinue reading “Count It Loss”
Music for children’s choir
Headphone-bound, children sing as I round the corner. The nonchalance of late morning traffic greets a flutter of flight – black and white feathers – painting the street in uncontrolled strokes: a rise, a swoop, a leap, a fall. Ballet-graced, yet deadly in its implications: too wild, too close to the turmoil of wheels.Continue reading “Music for children’s choir”
All the birds of the freeway
I journey between factories and billboards and trees; needles of light pierce the morning sky, and in the east the vermilion city wakes. Spanning the distance, birds fly in sequence, sweeping sheets, kites, giant gulls across the horizon. When I arrive I will be static, and spark at friction from those who start their dayContinue reading “All the birds of the freeway”
The Consolations of Writing 