Skeleton treePicked clean as a boneBranches white against the darkening sky High aboveBirds are flying homeTo hideaways where leaves still cling Note: This was inspired by a tree I passed on a walk to Paddington Old Cemetery. Unfortunately none of my photos could do it justice. In writing this poem, I found myself wondering about …
Category Archives: Poetry
Graveyard Walk
There is a signJust inside the gatesSpray-painted in bright yellow:A picture of two bodiesAnd an arrow between themLabelled ‘6 ft’. It looks like a traffic marking.Strange to see thisOn consecrated ground,Where stone angels hover,And carefully-chiselled datesBook-end the livesOf the sleepersUnder our feet. Someone passes,Chasing their dog.A woman in exercise gearDoes lunges In front of gravestones.A …
Colour and pattern
The thing about knittingIs you have to choose:Colour or pattern? A beautiful textureWill only showWith a solid colour.Likewise,A vibrant, multicolour yarnWill get lostIn a busy pattern. I’ve learned thisFrom careful observationAnd the sharp edgeOf experience. No sweaterCan holdEvery colourI think is beautiful;Or every patternI want to seePlay out.Trying to cramEverything inOnly endsIn a tangled mess. …
Chrestomathy
Everything familiarOnce started As something foreign. We nibble atThe unknown,Chew and digestEach tiny bite. And gradually the tasteOf something strangeOr unpalatableBecomes somethingThat we crave. There was a timeWhen the thingsThat you love mostWere crypticAnd befuddling.Can you remember? Take a momentTo be gratefulTo the onesWho packaged experienceInto delectable parcelsTeasing us with the promiseOf bigger mysteries. Reading …
Tiny steps
Yesterday, you reached out for my hand,Without even looking,Sure that I would be there. And for the first time,Instead of stepping forward to reassure you,I took the tiniest of steps away. Your hand reached out,But beneath it was air,I waited, and watched, just out of reach. You stood on the end of the playground slide,Where …
How do we heal?
How do we heal? When we are torn,We know that invisible forcesWork to put us back together again. We look at the changesAnd think it is just the magic of time,When really, a million microscopic momentsAnd tiny actions have come togetherTo create a web that holds our bodies together,To repair what has been broken,To restore …
Blackberries
I was too prickly, too wild,Too thorny, too demanding,Too aggressive,Too unruly,Too chaotic,Too big. Maybe if I hadn’t grown quite so high,Or foolishly trailed my branches down to the ground,Maybe if I had stayed exactly at eye-levelIn easy reach… Maybe if I had smoothed away my sharpness,Pared back my leaves,Plumped my juicy fruit,Or curled appealingly into …
Lest we forget that we are animals
Lest we forget that we are animalsI run my fingers through your silky furI feel the heat from where our bodies touchAnd nestle close to hear your rumbling purr Our lives are bound by rules and promisesBy forms and customs, cunningly designedWe follow patterns hidden to our eyesAnd seek our own path, carefully divined But …
I want to bloom where I am planted
I want to bloom where I am plantedBut these stones are far too rough.I want to send forth searching rootsBut oh, this ground is tough. I want to blossom verdantlyBut the soil is parched and dry.It all seems such a struggleAnd I can’t understand why. For all around me flowers bloomIn vibrant, luscious hues.Why can’t …
Diving
For Zachary I lost myself yesterdayDrowning in the ever-oncoming wavesMy head slippingSlowly but surelyBeneath the surfaceNothing but waterAs far as the eye can see When you appearedI thought you would pull me to shoreBut instead You filled my mouth with breathFrom the metal tank carried on your backYou took my handAnd said with a twinkle:“Come …