who are you kidding?
all the better to feel joy
reminders of pain
~
CLP 29/12/2022
on life
Tag Archives: Poem
Smile Returned
There is a Smile of Love And there is a Smile of Deceit And there is a Smile of Smiles In which these Smiles meet
~
The opening lines of The Smile by William Blake c.1803
Smile Returned
i.
sun-break pulls in shadows from Vathi’s quay
pelican’s ankle bracelet roped to cleat
bitter glykos, breakfast cake, crumb sparrows
fisherman puttering back from sea
Kolpas Vatheos throws up briny spray
waiter with eye for me, claimed it his name
your throaty laugh at Greek’s ambiguity
my innocence resumed once sleep took us
achy limbs from the heat of last night shared
There is a Smile of Love
ii.
airport lounge, slow rotation of ceiling fans
silver glitter flecks deep Aegean blue
landing strip in mountains’ shade, cicadas
couple from hotel, sit stony silent
both damning lack of mobile coverage
heads held aface, no more connection
he steps out, one last smoke, holds phone aloft
catches a glimpse of signal, message pings
answers her 'Who's that?' with a sweet nothing
There is a Smile of Deceit
iii.
our fingers not yet comfortable in gold
work their way to warmly combine, settle
in row eight after late embarkation
the airport two sat by us beyond talk
snap metal buckles, pull tight nylon belts
stewardess bobs down congested aisle
wearing her third-flight-today-happy face
four hours to Gatwick, everyone keep nice
if you’re not happy, please would you stow it?
And there is a Smile of Smiles
iv.
charter flight departs loaded with cheap memories
it’s all we could afford, such cramped rigid seats
accompanied by strangers to each other
who remain English-polite to bitter end
she beside you, while he beside himself
in 8D, his surly silence deafens
How was your holiday? she reaches out
for a conversation line to cling to
Wonderful! Yours? Her eyes betray her heart
In which these Smiles meet
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Three prompt is to write ‘una glosa’, i.e. answer another poet’s quatrain in four stanzas, (one per line), ideally each stanza of ten lines with equal line lengths (syllabletically), with the last line of each taken from the originally selected quatrain.
n.n.b. In writing this poem, I discovered that the Greek word for ‘bay’ (Kolpas) is also used for the gap between waves, the breast fold in women’s clothing, and vagina – correct me if I am wrong, please.
CLP 03/04/2022
on time
there's plenty of it lining pockets filling cups its the dark I hate ~
CLP 31/08/2021
Dream #20
you know, this thing that didn’t happen
anywhere but my head, seemed real
I remember everything about it
conversation, colours, the amazing food
all the personal touches
every sensation, but smell
smell? nothing.
I thought nothing of it until I was asked to leave
as I said, it seemed real
but without a scent of the place
without that, I knew something was wrong
I thought I could smell a rat
~
CLP 16/06/2021
On Dreams xviii
Not entirely sure
what actually happened
I was fast asleep
~
CLP 23/05/2021
On Dreams xv
these people are all
wrong faces on known bodies
pantomime horse shit
~
CLP 20/05/2021
On Water iii
great crested grebes dance
like that Sunday afternoon
when our hearts dove-tailed
~
n.b. Somewhat hidden by the willow branches, but they are there…promise.
CLP 12/04/2021
Customer Service Enquiry
Dear Charon,
Have you updated payment systems
for your ferry on the Styx
to allow ‘contactless’ payment,
or do you still insist on coins
complete or in bits?
.
(Just asking for a friend)
Yours truly,
Mort, A.L., esq
~
Dear Mr Mort,
For me, it as a rare treat indeed
to have a customer letter to read
letters about death are usually left
for the eyes of the newly bereft
.
and not for the ferryman
~
With respect to the tech
and with all due respect
despite combustion engine invention
there seems no intention
.
of providing one for the ferryman (I still have to row, row, row my boat gently down the stream).
~
In regard of cash or card
this may seem a trite hard
but the answer’s ‘no way’
will I change how souls pay
.
I just need to know who will pay the ferryman
~
I look forward to meeting you.
Yours in expectation
Charon
Styx River Ferry Corp. (Registered in Delaware, Malta & Gibraltar). No returns. No change given.
And now for our (optional) prompt. This is a twist on a prompt offered by Kay Gabriel during a meeting she facilitated at the Poetry Project last year. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a two-part poem, in the form of an exchange of letters. The first stanza (or part) should be in the form of a letter that you write either to yourself or to a famous fictional or historical person. The second part should be the letter you receive in response. These can be as short or long as you like, in the form of prose poems, or with line breaks – and of course, the subject matter of the letters is totally up to you.
~
CLP 11/04/2021
On Numbers (Infinity)
Everything we do
today can make tomorrow
a day worth having
~
n.b. God, give me strength to do the right thing.
~
CLP
On the Street vii
~
Grey, cool rain persists
Days run together down drains
Mingling with lost years
~
CLP 06/10/2020
Journey of Words 