Tag Archives: Poetry

Her thing

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It was so very cold to hold
I looked forward to the end
When I no longer had to bear
This burden of a thing

But instead I took it walking
Out into the eery night
I spoke soft words into it
In case the dark core came to light

Not a tremble or a murmur
Exuded from its shell
I had to share it with someone
What can this be, pray, tell?

This cold thing you carry all round
You ought to wear some gloves
Protect yourself until you can
Find another whom it loves

So able now to make attempt
To crack it to its core
I chipped and broke off little bits
But it just grew some more

Tenderly carrying for years on end
Just drop it, what is it anyway?
It’s unlikely to be worth a thing
the passersby would say

So let them pass while i protect
The cold and fragile core
Of something that of unknown worth
Someone just might adore

Master of Selection

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Even though she had the mouth of a sailor
She turned every ear in the room in
to hear her joviality, no upper-deck grooming
She was one of the best friends I ever had

Even though he tells people wrongly
That I was the only girl he ever kissed
Truly it was another, but his memory is amiss
He was one of the best friends I ever had

Even though the tongues were wagging
When it was I who drew the smilies on her cheeks
As she flashed the crowd, drew stares for weeks
She was one of the best friends I ever had

Even though he was lost and searching
For any warm heart a king to crown him
And I was all out at sea and drowning
He was one of the best friends I ever had

Even though the memories long and aching
Fill the void in our silences and stares
Not one single other vow do I declare
He is one of the best friends I ever had

Even though practically some other person
So long now that I’ve forgotten to look
Into the whites of his eyes, dare not mistook
Him for one of the best friends I ever had

Even though she’s like a whisper in the night
Never sure what’s good or what ails her
Not even sure of her and I, if it’s a failure
She is one of the best friends I ever had

Bones

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I reject the senseless notion
That I am but a rock
A tiny gravelly pebble
Buried deep in someone’s sock

Instead I lay beside
All the tossing and turning
Through one squinted eye
I see the levelling and yearning

For underneath the floorboards
There’s a shudder and a creak
Of all that’s buried deep within
The memories of the weak

For what we all do crave days end
Is softer ground to lay our head
A quieter rest and patience deep
On rock the wise do tread

Isaiah 32:2

How is it that you know?

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How is it that you know
Every time and place and space
Where I wander near or far
When I long to see your face

How is it that you know
All the things to say or not
Whether silences or smiles
When I take to talk a lot

How is it that you know
All the things I long to do
The very yearnings of my soul
The restlessness to soothe

How is it that you know
How to prod my weary heart
How to make my mind conspire
Right back to the very start

How is it that you know
The inner caverns of my soul
How you navigate them effortlessly
And nod at things untold

How is it that you know
All the weapons you can wield
To make a minor mark of mine
Bleed out on potter’s field

How is it that you know
What I don’t about myself
And tell me like the weather
That I’ve been left upon the shelf

How is it that you know
How to avoid all this and such
And keep it to your chest
And never reveal much

How is it that you know
All of this and more of love
Is it that you are born of same
As I and told of things above?

The Madrigal Facade

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Partnered to a boy
Set to music like a dance
Keeping time and motion steady
Not daring a single glance

Palms hot and sweaty
Reluctantly hold to fingers
Pimpled brow and sticky fringe
Eyes cast down as left foot lingers

Whirled around awkwardly turning
To each partner in a row
Blushing when his eyes point toward
My dress and its untidy bow

A secret delight we keep pace
Do they notice my dread?
With all the music and haste
I am enjoying it instead

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Oil of Thieves

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He came to me in the dead of night

And lured me out of my gown

We cut across paddocks, streets and tracks

Rode the trains all over town

 
 

They gathered in numbers on the silent beat

The spray of coloured mist met with frowns

Like lightning each they left the scene

Parted ways and regained underground

 
 

A den of thieves stealing the night

Stealing freedoms and rights and spaces

Hovering round seedy back-street doors

Wiping smiles off people’s faces

 
 

The smashing and tinkling and gasps of delight

Footsteps pounded then far away faded

Under dim street light in some nowhere place

The spoils were greedily traded

 

It was all up for grabs, no one was spared

Even those who met heavens bright gate

Would get there much lighter and in brilliant haste

Without the wares of the world to take

 
 

But one of them bolted and cringed with shame

Not a single word or a known name

Between them were strangers on a silent beat

Kept together only by the pace of their feet

 

If only, if only, a secret to share

Of life anointed to save them, to spare

Just a few of those grounded by their fits of despair

Turn those vacant eyes to an upward stare

 
 

No earthly remedy could be bought or sold

This secret brings generously, sevenfold

The silent beat would forever be told

As the work of the Master’s mould

 

 

The Legend of the Four Thieves

Photograph by Jim Furrer: Street Lamp Arc

Fight or Flight

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Delight

like the Blackwood down by the creek

or the apple tree fallen free

broken limb blossoms in the winter sun

 

Light

Like a beam for my feet at night

Winter solstice, the dead of night

and your moonbeam to ‘luminate my heart

 

From the youngest child my heart beat wild for an answer

And my ears kept near to the silent sigh

and gave me wise eyes

 

Night

Put to death by the breaking dawn

And a haven for wide-eyed ones

blinded glow of the headlight

 

Flight

Saw you launch in the sky that night

Took up wings for a better life

Just to breathe in and rest beneath the skin

 

From the youngest child my heart beat wild for an answer

And my ears kept near to the silent sigh

and gave me wise eyes