
don't be afraid, look back
there's water, other stuff too
bridges have been crossed
~
CLP 19/06/2022
Liberté, Égalité, Humanité
don't be afraid, look back
there's water, other stuff too
bridges have been crossed
~
CLP 19/06/2022
close to midnight
twenty two degrees
roof open
we roll down the windows
roll down the strip
cruise control on
twenty mph
can't find the music
shuffling through the dock
warehouses, flood lights, cctv
cobbled streets, Trafalgar Square
depeche mode
an abandoned town film set
a lone riotous pub on the quay
we roll on
laughing
not street racing from the lights
we're up to sixty, plus
we head West by North-west
sea-salt thickening our hair
fair skin pinked
all the youth
we lived apart
in an evening
~
CLP 18/06/2022
who needs Las Vegas
buried deep in a desert
when you've got GY?
~
JS & CLP 18/06/2022
take a walk with me
rising Thames and dappled shade
South Bank setting Sun
~
CLP 21/05/2022
preening, pouting, posing
snapping pictures beneath plastic peonies
for instant posting
images presented for impressionable
previously unknown people
now known as friends
~
n.b. Much of what you see in the photo above is fake something. Any further comment necessary?
CLP 19/05/2022
unseasonable warmth
petite clouds
white buds pinned to infinite blue
fine grass blades grass by the millpond
prick my pale winter skin
my flat weight crumples daisies
in cool shade
of the willow’s weeping
tumble of the waterwheel
low hum of bumble bees
chiffchaff
chiffchaff
chiffchaff
with eyes closed I see all
the birds I hear
from within this sonorous wall
soft notes
a woman’s song
so tired
so tired
so tired
my head so heavy it cannot turn
my eyelids stuck down by pinks and blues
my arms so heavy they will not move
my legs feel bound they cannot run
my voice clasped tight within my throat
I hear her singing
she sings of lilac
yet to bloom
she sings of lambs
not yet sprung
she sings of hedgerows
nestlings yet to fledge
she sings of the stream
yet to flood
she sings of oak
still to leaf
she sings of the summer
yet to burn
she sings of two lovers
yet to meet
she sings of harvest
we’ve yet to reap
she sings of apples
we’ll collect
she sings of mists
that will rise from dew
she sings of the plough
that will tear the earth
she sings of crows
that will draw in the night
she sings of frost
that will veil the soil
she sings of the fireplace
as autumn leaves
so tired
so tired
so tired
slowly I wake
remembering
how far I must go
before I finally reach
my home
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-five prompt: write an aisling.
CLP 25/04/2022
you held my hand
in the crowd
I led you gently
we walked through Saturday
saw the city
opening like tulips
we shared our food
in Brick Lane
Brasserie
you slept
on the train
head on my shoulder
it felt like love
tasted like love
looked like love
~
CLP 24/04/2022
Where were we when you said
It is okay for me to say "tu"?
I could not reciprocate, there is nothing
in English to convey such subtle change
That step from formal to familiar
From mannered speech to intimate
It exposed the Anglo-Saxon in me too
My lack of ease dealing in grey
My lack of language to express
Emotions too layered for me to grasp
Our travelling to and fro
Became too much
From me to you and you to me
To be apart meant to ache
To be together meant knowing
We two would soon have to part
When we reached where the way divides
We knew we'd take two different paths
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Twenty-Two prompt: Repetition.
CLP 22/04/2022
New moon over the lake
Perseids showering the peaks
Sheer
beauty
of
Creation
You had to be there
So very silly
Like children repeating
Poo
Wee
Willy
Bum
You had to be there
In the Arrivals hall
After unexplained delay
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting
You had to be there
At the station
Unstoppable
I thought it strange
We had
had
a
plan
You had to be there
Lockdown over Europe
My body burned for you
Sunshine
spring
flowers
birdsong
You had to be there
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Eighteen prompt: five answers to a single (unstated) question.
CLP 18/04/2022
with no particular place to go
spring-heeled Jack waltzed along the lane
caught a falling white feather
brushed it soft on his lips
remembered the love
he'd cruelly spurned
clutched his heart
fell down
dead
~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Nine prompt; write a nonet.
CLP 09/04/2022