Beach Glass

Emotions are beach glass
sharp and dangerous new
slowly, slowly, smoothed
by the relentless push-pull
of life’s tidal flows

Eventually, sharp shards
of hatred, envy, love
feel pebble-sleek
appear as aquamarines
refracting harsh sunlight
into gentle pools of blue

February: 2007

750 Pieces

You left me shattered.
I might as well
be in my box.

After all that effort.

First my edges;
the straight bits.
Then right to my middle;
the tricky bits.

Then,
when there was nothing
left to learn from me,
you had my whole picture,
no challenge anymore,

time to go looking
for a woman
with a thousand pieces.

May : 2007

Pigeon Man

Propped against the gate he stands,
His miner’s hands clasped
To counteract dizziness
Staring skywards, his gaze
Arcing, like wartime searchlight
Following the morphing squadron
Now arrow, now curve, now square

Pride and wonder in his eyes
His smile, his heart
The tight formations
Like iron filings drawn
By a giant magnet behind
A blue paper sky
Funnel at last to the loft

October: 2007

Ice Box

How remote you appear
Snow capped peak
From my sunburnt valley
Somehow wrong, somehow false
Visible, unattainable
Dazzling, perilous

And here’s a little piece of you
Stored behind a secret door
A crystal world where tiny glaciers
Await my fizzing glass

August: 2007

Canvasses

Minds are canvasses

Some postage stamp small
Though even these can take a daub
Of chosen colour
Or thumbnail sketch
By miniaturist

Some studio wide
A frightening prospect
To find ideas to fill
The extent of whiteness

But yours came landscape sized
In one-to-one scale
No artist can fill

Space
For the whole world
To come in
As is

 August: 2007

The Unknowing Tease

She wears her condition like a medal
Belly exposed, gravid breasts unfettered
How could she know, a pride so fine
so natural, would torture me?

Pregnancy and Birth – I scan her glossy prize
adorned with glowing fecundity, smiles
cradled abdomens - tight as drums

I mirror her contentment, in expression.
crying, yearning within
to share what is not mine

We are in different dimensions
I so close, she over that fleshy hill
and far away

June: 2007