Liberté, Égalité, Humanité
May. Rain so intense it hurts
like February.
Two tall men stood
on the corner outside
the mini-mart by the station.
.
A ham and cheese sandwich
with a note shared
stories of losing fathers
in youth. Two lives
navigated by guesswork.
~
CLP 14/05/2021
I wake to laughter
your smile, those beautiful eyes
mine dare not open
~
CLP 07/05/2021
bent double by grief
sadness enough to birth rivers
path shadowed by tears
~
CLP 04/05/2021
you learn fast of special places
and special days, as a child
some you already know
for some you wait; some lie await
beyond teenage-wise horizons
in your embroidered dreams
.
and some are yours
that no one else must see
until that supposed special day
when you are adult-free
.
one day you’ll leave home in your heart
you’ll know exactly what this means
a celebration, a cutting off, an escape
your day to marque the Earth
different days you’ll share
.
you learn slowly of special days,
when adult and work and life
consume so much
days explode with joy or sorrow
until that lightning strike when you celebrate today
no more waiting for tomorrow
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty-five prompt: Occasional poem.
~
CLP 25/04/2021
timing was never more important
than opportunity when hungry
we ate out, or would grab something
maybe just an amuse-bouche
at the bus shelter, a first course perhaps
irrespective of weather
because hungry is no respecter of climate
we always ate together
we rarely went without without
in sun, the rain, the snow
until naturally our routines began to drift
into more regular meal routines
before economy and fate peeled us apart
eventually
I returned one midnight
to oranges, not as a ravenous teenager
body craving any food or fruit every hour
these midnight oranges were rarer
at first a self-indulgent treat
until our segmentation complete
meant for awhile midnight oranges
were the only food
that I had to eat
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty Two prompt: metonymy – midnight oranges. Good luck looking that up.
~
CLP 22/04/2021
I was frightened, of course, when we took to the air,
I’d never flown over the German Ocean before,
but I was reminded as I looked across to my right
of safety in numbers in this bomber flight.
.
The Sun was still licking the line of the Norfolk shore
as we wheeled inland toward Coltishall.
We were so many and you just one of The Few,
me at my station by the bomb door
.
It didn’t take long to win your fight between dogs
then you wheeled left to turn your cannon on us
I was in perfect health, had family and friends
but when my plane hit the trees all that came to an end.
.
No one survived to answer where was I last seen
only my enemy found me, un-named, not missing
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo Day Eight prompt: monologue from the grave, after ‘Spoon River Anthology’ by Edgar Lee Masters, Gutenburg eBook. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1280/1280-h/1280-h.htm#chap137 (Accessed 08/04/2021)
I found the above gravestone in the village cemetery on the outskirts of Scottow village, Norfolk. How, I wonder, does someone die and get buried without being known? The German airmen buried around him were all identified. I thought it a thoughtful touch that he was buried with named graves either side.
`
CLP 08/04/2021
The early evening cloud forms a shape reminiscent of the Horsehead Nebula.
The national news today is confirmation of the murder of a young woman unknown to me. My heart aches for her loss, her family and friends.
~
CLP 12/03/2021
What relief there is
to know our confusion’s past.
For that I’m grateful.
~
n.b. In a complex world, establishing a little bit of peace, love and understanding is always a good thing, however long it takes to get there.
~
CLP 21/02/2021
Retrograde movement
an optical illusion
Orpheus, don’t look!
~
n.b. Apparently there is a bit of thing when Mercury is backsliding for nostalgia. Being grateful for the good things is one thing, wallowing in the past – meh.
~
CLP 17/02/2021
After the pancakes
I resolve to abstain from
life’s little pleasures
~
n.b. I think that I may have run out of things to give up since the first lockdown, but I’ll give Lent a go, I have nothing left to lose.
CLP 17/02/2021
