|
Fortune Cookies
It's amazing
How a chink can expand
To a chasm,
And then a gulf,
Verging on war.
A single gesture,
Ill-timed but pressing;
Pushing begets pushing,
With two souls bound
In moral combat.
On two high horses,
Heels firmly dug,
Entrenched positions clash:
The thrust and parry
Of cutting words.
We retire hurt,
Astonished or astounded,
Licking our wounds
When we'd rather just
Lick each other's.
Time's a great
Gap, where anything
Might happen,
The unstoppable and immovable
Make an objectionable force.
Our wilful ranks
Face out the other,
Waiting across fields
Full of promise and doubt.
And here's me thinking
You look even better
From a distance.
Hold out your finger my friend,
And touch the tip of mine;
Feel it warm and gentle,
And tremble but still hold the bond.
Open your palm to mine,
And press it close,
Losing yourself in its size,
But held there with carpal love.
Set your eyes onto mine,
And open the gates;
From oceans of joy and of pain,
I will weather the flood.
Lay your head on my chest,
And hold the heart safe;
Feel the warmth and the strength
In trust and embrace.
An orchard ripened,
Reached and plucked,
Pulled down the fruit
With tenderest touch.
Soft fingers rub grain
To meld sweet flower
With fat as it needs
And make it cohere.
With heart of fire,
Transform food so humble
To senses fused deep,
And make me crumble.
Undo your makeup bag lady
And peel off the shell,
Draw back those careful lines
And show how you've lived.
In this unprinted fabric
Bear to show your self,
And stand here naked,
A rose in full blush.
Such open bare faced cheek
Afronts some other blooms
Whose breaths may scratch and scar
A petal soft and loose.
So cover your face from the storm
And blend with the pack,
But know where beauty safely lies,
It's in the bag lady.
The softest rain that ever touched my skin
Fell slowly from the sky this afternoon,
And barely wet but lightening to the soul
To stroke my face and fade away the frown.
The brightest sun that ever lit my eye
Shot through the mist and lifted up my head
To see blue skies with bare a whisp of cloud
And cast new light upon the deepest need.
The darkness of the clumsy night before
Washed clean away by dawn of this fresh day,
But hurt that's out and well beyond recall
Still stands its ground and may not fade away.
A shell's a thing that covers for good cause:
The soft and bright may only show themselves
When safe outside lets spring the inner flow,
Not summoned up with loud kerranging bells.
On not being there to protect you
From violence slipped under the radar;
On taking my eye off the ball,
And watching for just sticks and stones;
On all of this verbal ju-jitsu,
While deaf to the words that could hurt you;
On not seeing how what you needed
Was safety from threats subtly covered;
On seeing how fragile you are
After the damage was done;
On choosing to give you support,
When you'd rather just hide from the fight;
On believing your own self-defence
Would protect you from more than just men.
That will stay with me
For at least as long
As you don't.
A heart is open for business,
Down a small alley,
In a little-known quarter
That eludes the usual
Tourist trails.
Resisted the fast-food fatuous,
Searched out new roots
From curious grocers
Who carefully peel their
Watchful eyes.
Recipes tried, tested, discarded,
Some great ones lost,
Fingers burned and bandaged
Or held under long
Running taps.
The lost and aimless drifters
Drop in for a seat,
A chat and a biscuit
With a pick me up
Cup of tea.
And ever so ever so rarely,
A bold adventurer,
Seeing beyond the obvious,
Stops to look over the
Bill of fare.
Enters and tinkles a small brass bell,
Hesitates, then sits
At crisp white linen
And prepares to savour a
Feast for the soul.
Parked up for a year or so,
Took the handbrake off,
Senses tuned out
By an over-loud radio.
Never quite noticed how
The jolts you gave me
Touched the gas,
Deafened to the engine's growl.
Parked up for a year or so,
Took the handbrake off,
Hurtled forward,
Hit a wall,
Stalled.
When fortune smiles she takes away my fears,
The love she gives can keep me strong for weeks,
And in her laugh a fanfare for my ears,
But when she cries each bone within me weeps.
A hardy shell she offers for the world
To chance a bite and break a wisdom tooth;
Invincible cloaks her fine frame enfold,
So softly centred is her beautiest truth.
This lady is no feat of easy luck,
No random walk wherever fate may stray,
And craft with kindness out of tougher stuff
To guide her aim and truly light the way.
An aimless chancer's just a spinning wheel,
But king and queen in hand will steal the deal.
Caught the clock off the chime,
Made it skip a beat;
My tick tick to your tock tock
Feels like two left feet.
Gears unmeshed, one running loose,
The other driving on,
Shifting slowly closer to
The pace where they belong.
Springtime snow and winter sun,
Seasons out of time:
Bring the summer sun to reign,
Come to fall in line.
Tall trees entwined support each other's boughs
And keep their tops held firm against fierce gusts;
Apart, themselves, but knowing they are joined
By touch and smell and time spent growing trust.
Mere saplings wave and glance each others' trunks,
An accidental meeting, leaf to leaf,
A brief tickle then blown off by a wind
To tickle other leaves that catch the breeze.
To go out on the limb's a dangerous sport,
Perchance to find support the other end,
Or risk the chance that it's so long and hard
That it will hold and knows not how to bend.
So give the tender branch and take my weight,
This tree so close is worth the chance to fall
To touch the outer leaves a hopeful sign,
But just beyond my reach the softest bloom
Now blow strong winds and flex the tree my way,
And show in topmost bow its inner yield,
That I may reach my arms and keep it safe,
So give me faith to leap and find what's real.
Go gentle, good knight,
Speak soft and carry a staff:
Fortune is with you,
No need to bluster and boast.
The rage of the Welsh
Is ready and willing to fight,
But holds itself in
Waiting to fight for what's right.
So tangle with me
In joy and feel all my love,
But do it for ill
And see how fast my staff can move.
Or hurt those I love
And feel it a thousand times more,
But stay by my side
And let my arms hold you all night.
This poet is costing me enough,
Just to show how much I love
The things you do and what you say,
But it's a price I'll gladly pay.
Each foot he writes just shames my mouth,
My tongue won't let the truth come out.
I fear it's so long overdue
That he will fall in love with you.
My money back I must demand,
This charlatan will force my hand
And thrust it strongly on my heart
To say 'I love you', that's a start...
Damn! It slipped out, that's a pain,
I'll never get it in again;
The thought of you still fills my head:
This poet is either dead or red.
The baggage we carry,
Either handbags or trucks,
Would never make customs:
It's not packed by us.
If we know where it came from
We're half way there;
The family trinkets
And hand-me-down wear.
We carry it proudly
With what little we know,
We are where we came from
With a fair way to go.
I see that your baggage
Is not quite like mine,
But fits with it nicely
Like lemon and lime.
Let me study your case,
But sit on the lid
When you don't want it open,
And what's inside hid.
My bag has no catches
But labels enough;
It's been a few places,
And some of them tough.
So let me board with you
And travel the world,
Without any porters,
Just a boy and a girl.
The Cat's Whiskers
Pepper pukes periodically,
And my hands are full.
But today's hairballs
Are gone tomorrow,
So what's a little dirty wool?
Does this mean I love her less,
This pussy I adore?
And will she yet
Reject my love
For throwing on the floor?
Love comes like a weapon
Battering at the walls,
Shattered on the castle
Or foundered in the moat.
Love comes like a wood horse
Through the gatehouse doors,
Waits a night or longer
Then drowned in boiling oil.
Love comes like a whisper
Whistling low and deep,
Blows upon you sleeping
And stays to guard the keep.
These lips
Are wasted
On tea, cigarettes and wine;
Flying from ashes,
Just passing the time.
These lips
Are wasted
With stars and gossip and bile;
Talking off hind legs
With a seaside smile.
These lips
I've tasted
In my head with uttermost bliss;
Fleeting yet steadfast,
Waiting for this
I will be your rock
But reserve the right to roll
Over and with you
Lift you and tease you
Scare and surprise you
Touch and arouse you
Send you into orbits
Through galaxies of ecstasies
To fly the furthest reaches
At speeds beyond conceiving
And all through time
Be with you
Holding close
Holding distant
Flying with you
Flying past you
Turning and grinning
Winding you up
Winding you down
Stroking your back
Kissing your neck
Touching noses
Touching mouths
Touching touching
Barely breathing
Peeling
Panting
Sweating
Laughing
Brewing
Sleeping
Snoring
Nudging
Holding
Smiling
Rocking.
That was the moment
Someone said you'd make a great mother,
Nursing a scalded finger
Under a cool tap.
Never knew your name;
It passed with barely a trace
But the echoes increase as
Moment on moment harks back.
That was the moment,
Over a glass of something red,
You said all you wanted
Was a small family unit.
Perhaps it was the grief talking,
But I saw in your lost eyes
And held you
As if to show my assent.
That was the moment
You wished folk looked deeper,
Pitying the fools
Who fell for your look,
While waiting and hoping
For those who might see,
But lacking the depth
To see who looked deep.
That was the moment
When your bare shoulders told
More than your quick words
Could ever reveal.
The beauty in your body
Hid itself there,
And gave me a hunch
I knew who you were.
That was the moment
I was shocked at your frailty:
The painful sight
As you failed to parry,
While a fragile flower
Took blow after blow,
Seeing your faith crumble
In your own sex and mine.
That was the moment,
As I saw you approach
And you saw me seeing,
Negotiating a few silent paces.
Until we hugged
In a polite sort of way,
And you rubbed
To show you had no need.
|
