When the mind as in the moon takes waning phases The melodies and tunes stay undefined Edging closer to its pages The book stays closed tethered leaves on branches intertwined Then Spring will rush the head and bud the blossom Deep within the soul the spirit calls Lending colour to the brightening day time Breathing…
heartbeat
Heartbeat …….. Here are jumps that miss my heart beats that chase the dust our feet disturbed drops of time that leak and we so meek when the time is ripe we feast on love devour the hollow of the mind and be so kind to think of those who have no one, no other…
united
United Today left behind by my thoughts I caught a glimpse The light stretched long shadows on love I blinked and it passed the warmth onto my skin and from within I smiled Love that shone through generations and put all else in shade It made years of transgression disappear trust will do the rest…
seven or eight
seven or eight to ‘Aunty’ Wanda Kiel-Rapana, who knows the source of such things seven or eight i had that dream that wrenched me in mid-sleep days or months apart it came a dream so strong I woke to the bedroom curtained dawn from it and shut my eyes again to burrow back into…
The Dry Season
In the season of drought, the sky was black. It filled and filled with grave cloud that heaved up from the south, and it hung and then rose and from within a cold wind stirred, but it bore no rain. The farmer drew himself up, put his wide hands on the gate, settled his…
Kiss Curls
The dog’s hair rises in soft waves, twisting and curling from nose to ear, tan and grey and flooded with white; little moustaches – the English gent, the rangy wind-tossed bushman, each wave a story, fleck of character. As he sleeps he twitches, waking with a fluttering roving brown eye. And at rest he pushes…
The Ladies Man
He wore a robe and a smile, a jaunty man with jokes and a shiny creased face. Tea? He poured and his companions became girls. Yes, please, they said, slid the china cups closer. Then he unrolled his jokes and they giggled and fluttered and he ran a hand up the length of his tie…
Mute to the Chatter
He knew he was spoilt But there came a shadow of envy behind every gust of wind Green through their metaphors of meaningless pastures Encapsulating their distaste to his silence Brick walls of silence Travelled the road long into his forgotten past A cost that stood the defectors ignorance So simple in their eyes Would…
Land’s Lament
Scoop the soil in cupped hand and watch it fall grainy grey; bend on one knee so that the corded pants are tight at the knee, then lean in and down, to smell the soil’s goodness; close your eyes to heighten the joy of its sweetness. Sow the seed, feel the dust rise and see it…
What Is That Book About?
1. It is about the lightness and delicacy poets use to detect the real in Reality— there, while under the weight of the Rolling stones, those sponges of gravity, is the minuscule sound of the tiny grains too small to be affected by the roller smoothing crystal gravel for the seal. 2. The little book…
swing
I swing upon the hour until midnight stills the soul and I am nothing but lumpen flesh, still breathing. Morning out my window flowers bloom; but afternoon rolls so slow and I’m blown. If lucky I’m there til the evening fills me; like sea air. Turn in, nothing’s here: tread soft the wooden…
Feathered Chains
Your ankles dangle in the water held fast by the passage of time kicking hard against the ripples the future carving saintly lines Forgotten pride pulls your skin flakes off as age wears you down to drift there among them corpses the sacred deeds and the sorry drowned Weighed down by a thousand links feathered…