The rain has fallen
Earth shed tears of joy last night
Flowers celebrate
Category: poetry
Concocted
Concocted
Dear Ray,
I am a meaning-making machine,
I concoct my own reality.
Conjunctivitis rules,
this teabag doesn’t work.
I am my body,
raspberries for all.
God bless the tea.
I am at home,
it leaks sometimes,
I have fallen asleep here.
Do I mean too much for my own good?
Without Rosetta Stone we wouldn’t be where we are.
And the fire in my brain
has burnt an imagination
to cinders.
It is the morning of the day,
this is my way.
There is now an interlude…
Battle Cry
Battle Cry
I’m a flag-bearing woman
I’m waving all the time
I’m a flag-waving human
You better stay on the line.
It’s time a star-bearing woman
Wore her stripes and gave a damn
Before the sun settles down
Before my face starts to frown.
Because, I’m living in a magic world
Because, I’m walking in a dreamscape
Because, the truth is flying free
Because, the news repeats my plea
Because the truth is flying free,
I’m a flag-bearing woman
I’m a flag-waving human
You better stay on the line.
It’s time for Stars and Stripes
Memories of Stars and Stripes
Stripes and stars forever
Stars and stripes forever.
Ah let’s arise to the side of children in the cages
Fire, fire, flag-bearing waving woman
And we’ll rise from the dust with settlers’ wagons on the trail
Fire, fire, flag-bearing waving human
Ah, we’ll tear down that dark wall, we’ll welcome children in
Pull back the curtain, show the promised land
Memories of Stars and Stripes, we’ll welcome freedom in.
Flag-waving women extend a helping hand
It’s time for Stars and Stripes
Memories of Stars and Stripes
Stripes and stars forever
Stars and stripes forever.
I’m a flag-bearing woman
I’m waving all the time
I’m a flag-waving human
You better stay on the line.
__________________________
Note:
There’s an audio version here – it includes some of my thoughts about the piece.
[Image Source]
Insidious
Insidious
I was walking along a couple of roads,
one turned to the sea, the wave, the water, the tide …
one sloped to the mountain, the scree, the rock, the peak …
I followed a breath like a hunter.
There were distractions,
high like eagles,
busy like bees,
imaginations
like sugar,
addictions,
paradise,
a sweet-shop shining
scent of fish
nectar,
pollen,
ice.
I was walking along a couple of roads
when the earth gave birth to twins,
and twins to twins
I followed a breath like a hunted fox.
Children
[Image- painting – by Robbin T Milne – with permission]
Children
No matter how tall the leaves of grass grow,
the snow will fall again on the field.
The rabbits are running now,
nettles feasting on sunshine,
and the bees are minding their own business,
somewhere else.
No matter my friend has lost his friend,
there will be friends again.
There is a cancer in the fields,
long shadows over hedgerows,
birds I cannot name sing without melody,
and life growing underfoot.
How are the children now? Who are the authorities?
Are there any youngsters without tears flowing,
without tears repressed, stifled?
There are shards on the road, and dust,
buttercups and dock leaves,
foxgloves, and infants on the roads.
An iron gate opens,
an iron gate shuts,
a horse looking for attention,
a gray standing still,
maybe there are fresh eggs.
Why were the children born?
There is horseshit everywhere I look
Clean it up, someone – I’ve said enough.
God bless America,
The horses have bolted,
who’s in charge here?
The leaves of grass are growing,
whether we like it or not.
NEARLY THERE LOVE
Nervous.
Edgy
Almost in a dream
Realising it must be true
Loving what I’m hearing
Yippee.
Thank goodness
Here comes celebration
Every warm heart voted YES
Ridding us of fear
Everyone hurray
Live without hypocrisy
Outstanding voices
Victory over lies
Exclaiming
UNDECIDING
DEAR UNDECIDING
I’ll dither my way to salvation
– the grey man said.
I’ll stand idly by,
blown by the wind.
I’ll keep my powder dry,
sit on the fence
until the cows come home.
I’m in love with everyone and none
– the dithering woman said.
I am a little lemming,
a lap dog in the crowd,
you’ve nothing to fear from me.
you’ll never know whom I am,
withholding my love.
a neutral heart,
throbbing without desire
This is your issue,
(I have my own).
I wish I’d never heard your stories.
I am a man.
This is for women .
Who am I to interfere?
I am a woman.
This is for more worthy minds
I wish I’d been deaf to your stories.
Wake me up
when you’ve decided
what world we should live in.
PS The polls are open now.
REPEAL
REPEAL
Repeal the silence
Repeal the secrets
Repeal the shame
Repeal the road to Liverpool
Repeal the sin
Repeal the guilt
Repeal the pain
Repeal the first
Repeal the second
Repeal the third
Repeal the fourth
Repeal the fifth
Repeal the sixth
Repeal the seventh
Repeal the 8th
Heal
Heal
Heal
REPEAL
Yes
I will vote. Yes I will vote with my body. Yes I will vote with my mind. Yes I will vote with a heart that has a right to life. Yes – we have a right to vote for what is right, for what is love, for what is precious, for what is ordained to be true. I will vote, yes vote for what my conscience knows is the right thing to do – to make Ireland great again – to bring back the love into the fabric of our kind, considerate society – wholly Irish, wholly wholly wholly true to the one true faith, our faith in human dignity, human nature, human life.
I shall vote.
Yes I shall vote
With all my might
With all my right
Dear dear people – vote – whatever you do vote.
Yes you have won the right – to vote with love.
Yes to vote with love in your heart.
You’ll never vote alone.
Oh yes, oh yes – bless you
The 9th of May
Once upon a memory…
Punctuation passed
Moments missed
Glimpses gone
A flicker of fantasy
Lightning daylight
Now no more
I wish I’d paid attention
The 9th of May
The 8th of May
Once upon a way …
Shadows were strong
Nothing came easy
Earth worms slept
In the aftermath
A fox slipped
Across the main road
The 8th of May
The 7th of May
Once upon a century …
A cloud of imagination
met an undergrowth of agitation
grafted to roots of inspiration
grown from seed harvested
in a rotten apple core
close to the home of a Queen wasp
busy delivering
The 7th of May
The 6th of May
Once upon a line …
Jackdaws rock and thrush
A brush with life
Glad I didn’t miss the mist
Scenery
blossoming greenery
The 6th of May
The 5th of May
Once upon a mouth …
A glass of wine
Blood Blind Body
We are corpses
waiting for therapy
aching for a sign
The 5th of May
The 4th of May
Once upon a mind …
A hospital today
A friend away
Tests tests tests
I must arise and go now
and put on shoes that match
The 4th of May.
Add Verse
I have no poetry in me
No melody, no song
I am bereft of fluency.
My hummingbird attends,
I’m doing research
Lurching from sleep
Thirsting, cursing:
“It’s always been this way”
My hummingbird smiles.
Prague Spring 2018
Prague Spring 2018
A castle bare, tapestries
gone, no battle left to fight,
stained glass in a cathedral
surrounded by cobblestones
– a national museum
A Square that’s a rectangle
where you catch tram number nine,
M and S underwhelming,
Grand Hotel renovating
– a national museum
All the beer has disappeared,
dumplings, sausages, mustard,
replicas stand on Charles Bridge,
remembering a Kingdom
– a national museum.
And all the while Jan Palach burns …
Moanbaun Wood
Moanbaun Wood
I found my spectacles on the path
retraced my steps
thankful.
I wanted to see the recording.
the man in the green coat and black hair
came here by night
crisp clear sight
a lantern on his forehead
he said some dogs were trained here
maybe search and rescue.
how many shades of green are here?
this is a place to stumble into lines
into phrases
even stanzas.
rocks and puddles
jays, blue jays.
on this trail I met a chaffinch.
she sang
to me
of light.
she flew with an open air
across the trail
above the trees
above the pines
she spoke to me of days to come
and I walked on
with a lighter step.
on the bench
sat a magpie
she did not fly
away
she looked me with her sharpened eye
she called to me of days gone by
immobile days
one for sorrow…
she did not sing to me
she wrote a note of silence
in that resting place.
I walked away
she stayed with me
she never left my shoulder
her grip
firm
solid
muscular.
she was no tenor.
that magpie had a nest nearby
I could see why she picked me.
where has my chaffinch gone?
she’s not so strong.
when will she rise again?
when will she lay her eggs?
around the corner
downhill
there are songbirds.
drops
raindrops
hang
from twigs.
ah that song
again.
this is the way.
Broken
Broken heart
Broken mind
Broken spirit
Broken images
Unbroken heart
Unbroken mind
Unbroken dishes
Unbroken feathers
Unbroken veins
Unbroken arteries
Unbroken breath
Unbroken nerve
Broken sleep
Unbroken dreams
Unbroken thirst
Broken bristles
To be broke
to be human
to be live
I Love Women
For International Women’s Day today – I give you this celebration of women.
I love women
I admire women
I am jealous of women
I am enriched by women
I have been saved by women
I love the shape of women
… the flaws of women
I am infuriated by women
I love cooking for women
I am irritated by women
I despair of women
I am tickled by women
I write for women
Women have made me a man.
From Bath to Cork with baby Grace 