on time

well beyond midnight
not a star, full moon obscured
owls scratch at silence

~

CLP 05/06/2023

on time

Remember walking?
Sun breaking through fresh-formed leaves
Ancient paths through oaks

~

CLP 28/05/2023

14th May

See what happens?
You finally make an effort
To shrug off Winter's grim shroud

Music, dancing
smiles, joyful tears
and yes, the swifts

Swooping and slicing
through the humid air
skimming chimney pots

Their shrieking and screaming
is, I suppose,
what they excuse as singing

~

n.b. No guarantee of a good summer.

CLP 15/05/2023

thunder storm

In false warmth of May
Anvil clouds pile up
Eclipse the blue
Cast down hail stones
Lightning spearing the gloom
Basal crashes shaking the old town
Stair rods rattling on the streets

Don picks up his bedroll
Seeks shelter
In the cathedral porch

Jean stumbles to the library
Her mismatched clothes
Selected from chance finds
And what she stuffed into a rucksack
On escaping home

Aaron sweats in his black bin liner
String pulled tight
Around his wasting waist
Half asleep
Half aware
Half under a hedge
His sore feet wet

In coffee shops
Talk of weather percolates
Through the Americano chat
How miserable and on my day off

If only Don had a day off too
And Jean and Aaron
And all the people who a warm dry day
Was all they hoped for this cruel May

~

CLP 11/05/2023

Leaves

I hear
Trees trembling
Before I feel
A droplet
Cold on my brow
Before I see
Dark spots
Marking the path
Before I choose
To walk on
Under shivering oak leaves

~

CLP 10/05/2023

on train windows

I forgot how raindrops
Run in ribbons
Across the pane
Coalesce, bursting through
The meniscus of droplets
Which are then swallowed up
By bigger drops
Which swell at each impact
Until the tension becomes too great
And they peel away
To form a drunken line
Plotting the relationship
Between the train's velocity
And the pull of gravity

~

CLP 06/05/2023

April Showers

ancient paving smooth as mirror
underfoot as slick as ice
reflects back mountainous clouds
rolling around the fenland skies

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2023. Day 15. Prompt: feet of clay. Beyond me today.

CLP 15/04/2023

Tempest

Caps of Atlas

deafened by clattering hail storm



sheep up and run

seek the stone shelter



leaving the flowers

gulping fresh water


~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2023. Take a poem, or fragment that was written in a tongue unfamiliar to the reader and write an original poem in English based on the sounds and rhythms of the original language.

Here is the original, a short piece of 'Bloodhoof' by Gerdur Kristny of Iceland, that was published by Arc in 2012, with accompanying translation to English by Rory McTurk.

This publication is full of beautiful poetry. The fragment I have taken is found on p67.


Ég kafadi

undir kletterætur



skausr upp úr

skorningum



gekk yfir

járnfrosna jökla


~

CLP 06/04/2023

on Ukraine

another Spring dawns
war without clear beginning
with no end in sight

~

n.b. The men in Moscow prefer a war economy to something better. Ukraine is being steadily reduced to the new Flanders Fields, where the prospect of better weather, leads to the prospect of increased conflict.

CLP 29/03/2023

on time

afternoon walkers
enjoy last warmth of the day
life's ageless pleasure

~

CLP 23/03/2023