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on friendship
at nights’s darkest pointI woke knowing you were hereit 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 →
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Voice
It started with a kissit was uncalled foryou called me outwho was I to dare lean in?how dare I presume intimacyyour anger gave you voiceyour voice at last had found youyou had plenty that you had to sayplenty more to come when that was saidgenerations of mothers spoke through youwhat these mothers spoke was truthpreviously →
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Swan
This feather floating on the lakeIts hollow shaft so strong, so lightBarbs and barbules do combineTo form the vane of shining whiteIs this us so gently curledRachis perfectly holding shapeBarely touching the water’s skinLike your lips that kiss my napeCausing shivers of the spineThis feather came from heaven aboveLifting my spirit from lockdowns’ painThis feather →
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Aisling of the millpond
unseasonable warmthpetite cloudswhite buds pinned to infinite bluefine grass blades grass by the millpondprick my pale winter skinmy flat weight crumples daisies in cool shadeof the willow’s weepingtumble of the waterwheellow hum of bumble beeschiffchaffchiffchaffchiffchaffwith eyes closed I see allthe birds I hearfrom within this sonorous wallsoft notesa woman’s songso tiredso tiredso tiredmy head so →
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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 →
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Pigeons
Coops balancedagainst each otherdefying gravityalong the embankmentlike sentry boxesfacing southmarking the entranceto Sunderlandits beachin April offereda slice ofSiberia Roker Parkthe taste of bitterdefeat ~ n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-three prompt: a poem in the style of Kay Ryan. My kind of poem. I love April, when spring is vibrant, the weather cruel and football reaches →
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Pillow Talk
Where were we when you saidIt is okay for me to say “tu”?I could not reciprocate, there is nothingin English to convey such subtle changeThat step from formal to familiarFrom mannered speech to intimateIt exposed the Anglo-Saxon in me tooMy lack of ease dealing in greyMy lack of language to expressEmotions too layered for me →
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Office
One of the darker monthsThe phone rarely rangHer typewrite ribbon freshThe keys unimpressedCartridge paper laid in the trayGathering a carbon copy of dustOnce the post was checkedOrders filed and queries placed in pendingShe’d roll the chair under its deskLie on the floorAnd sleepNext door, under neon I sat each dayWriting out lists of prospectsFrom Kelly’s →
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Pork Chop’s Revenge
The bit I enjoy?When hot fat drips on best dressRuins the evening ~ n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty prompt: anthropomorphise food. CLP 20/04/2022 →
Journey of Words 