pretty, isn't it?
yellow with a tint of red
opening petals
~
CLP 17/05/2022
on colour
Tag Archives: Love
on time
alone hours tick by
everything doubles when shared
all is relative
~
CLP 15/05/2022
on Ukraine xxiv
children of Bilohorivka
taught to shelter under desks
went to school as children do
registered as children must
each morning and for every class
were among those registered again today
in the rubble, broken glass and dust
~
n.b. Sixty people sheltering in a school in the neighbourhood of Luhansk were killed on 7th May. Today, 8th May is Freedom Day across Europe, including Ukraine and Russia. I urge you to read President Zelinkskiy’s address that marks this anniversary.
~
CLP 08/05/2022
on light
If I can't see it
does this mean that I am blind
or you've dreamt it up?
~
n.b. We cannot win arguments about beliefs, it is a well-known fact.
CLP 03/05/2022
on fear
does everything change?
is it for better or worse
or is life affirmed?
~
n.b. How do we decide, by taking the opportunity, or by taking a risk?
CLP 03/05/2022
on time
it is all we have
yesterday is not today
we shape tomorrow
~
n.b. The hands of time are in our hands, the sands of time run through our fingers.
CLP 02/05/2022
Collateral Damage
what would we do if he dropped bombs here ? as we saw it fall we'd know it's all over for us ! would we make up where we could offer necessary apologies long overdue balance our consciences play music say one final I love you ?
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-eight prompt; Concrete poem. I have to admit to having had such thoughts lately. Day twenty-eight of NaPoWriMo 2022, but day Sixty Three in Ukraine.
CLP 28/04/2022
on friendship
at nights's darkest point
I woke knowing you were here
it wasn't a dream
~
n.b. How strange and lovely it is to feel another’s presence despite their absence. I woke, reached out and realised this presence was in my heart. I smiled, returned happily to sleep.
CLP 28/04/2022
Swan
This feather floating on the lake
Its hollow shaft so strong, so light
Barbs and barbules do combine
To form the vane of shining white
Is this us so gently curled
Rachis perfectly holding shape
Barely touching the water's skin
Like your lips that kiss my nape
Causing shivers of the spine
This feather came from heaven above
Lifting my spirit from lockdowns' pain
This feather you, elegant love
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-six prompt: extended simile. I live in hope, obvs!
CLP 26/04/2022
Svetlana Polkadotova
Smart, like a slap to the face.
She suffered fools the way a cat strips feathers from a blackbird hauled indoors through the cat-flap.
When she spoke she held a man's attention, like a foot soldier's attention holds when the Field Marshall approaches down the line.
We'd met by chance, the kind of chance you'd have crossing Interstate 495 in rush hour wearing a blindfold.
It had to be a set-up, the kind of set-up Kasparov would only use on a fellow Grand Master.
I was suspicious obviously, the kind of suspicious a cop gets seeing a rucksack left on the subway.
But there was something about the dame I liked, something akin to the strawberry jam you find on top of Devon clotted cream on a warm scone that you hear about from Limeys.
Maybe it was the blue in her eyes, a blue you would normally only see in a mural when touring the Sistine Chapel?
Or was it that laugh that disarmed me like a Muhammad Ali left jab to my jaw?
Underneath I sensed a heart, albeit hidden the way an eye lens dropped in the Great Plains is hidden.
I managed to hold my nerve, the way a catcher holds a fastball from a Hall of Fame pitcher.
But inside I was shaking; palm trees in hurricane season shake less.
I was putty in her hands that day, putty moulded by a glazier after a bomb-blast.
She held me, not unlike ransomeware holds a bank database.
I knew if I stayed I would end up paying a price, a price only an Atlantic City loser would ever understand.
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-Four prompt: Raymond Chandler similes.
CLP 24/04/2022
Voyage des Mots 