goenchi

February

2012-02-05T22:27:00.000Z

You come to me with the wind,
The child of new beginnings -
Grain rain, fog
A hint of sunlight within.

Yours is not the glory of the first
Nor the hope of spring -
You hold your slightly compressed space
Bringing an urgency in.

February, you are my birth-month -
I prepare to meet you
Every year, with new lists
Of achievements and dreams.
And yet, you keep surprising me
With new realities.

Original Power

2012-01-24T11:34:00.000Z

If I know where you come from
I can make our interactions
Carry the full force of your past.

If I know where you've been
I can call up those places
And make you dance to their tunes
My tunes.

If I know what you've been doing
I can make you doubt yourself
What were you thinking?
Here - let me show you the way.

If I know where you're going
I can come along for the ride
And plot a few diversions
Along the way.

Dover

2012-01-04T07:01:00.003Z

Here, at the fractal battle
Of angled land and slippery sea
Time unveils its infinite endgame:
Polished cliffs, spliced shafts
Clean-cut and salt-washed
Stand ready to take on
The next spray of gentle foam.

Tropical Night

2012-01-04T07:01:00.000Z

Into the backwaters
On the top of a little boat
We roamed the quiet waterways
Lying face up to the sky.
Twin slivers of life
Between the expanses –
We asked our questions, and waited
Patiently for the answers to dawn.
The palms swayed us on, and soon
The wind dropped
In silence at sunset.
No one spoke, but the first star
Glittered its response.

Autumn

2012-01-04T06:59:00.002Z

My colours break through
Just as the sun
Has finished having its say:
I drink in warmth, all summer long
And hold my leaves in stormy rain.
And now, as the chill
Begins to weave its sting
My veins stand up, in high flame
To sing
A joyous answer to the wind.

London Town

2012-01-04T06:58:00.002Z

We came hungry
To make a living, and to carve out
Space enough for our dreams:
We rode your buses, trains and planes,
Moving, constantly.
Each day seemed to grow
Its own bylanes of crazy names,
But still, each night we crashed in bed
And looked out on to your silent stream.
Soon, our daily ebbs and flows
Seemed to join your constant roar
And we learned to rush,
But still make time
For coffees by the bridge.

Beach

2012-01-04T06:57:00.002Z

Warm sunsets that leave behind
The salt-drenched tang of a day
Spent entirely by the water :
Dust out the sand
Make a beeline for the shower
Bring on the glam,
It’s cocktail time.

You and me

2012-01-04T06:56:00.003Z

Stay awhile with me
While the water smiles
These benches of smoothened stone
The softness of the grass
Are ours now –
If just for a little while.

Midnight Return

2012-01-04T06:56:00.000Z

We walked this way once
By the light of a half-full moon
I remember the whispers of the shadows
And the steady beat
Of questions in my heart.

Glide

2012-01-04T06:54:00.002Z

The water looks blue and shiny
But I work it for a living –
My heart beats warm
Against the chill of the river,
The silk of my feathers
Screens my being
Guarding, holding, carrying
Me smoothly through my element.
I make my own ripples
Each circle, my very own doing
And through them my eyes scan
For signs of counter-movement.

Waterfall

2012-01-04T06:53:00.002Z

The water shines as it falls
Roars as it strikes rock,
Foaming in delight
As it blends with air.
I stare at the smooth unity
As it fragments itself and shouts
Exultant at the bottom
Over and over again.
Then, I take to the air.

Attraction

2012-01-04T06:51:00.001Z

I burn yellow and orange
A whole astronomical unit away.
You rise up by night
To meet the white light
But remember
I keep you warm.

Journey

2012-01-04T06:49:00.000Z

You said you would sail away
With me into a new dawn
We didn’t know how much
Work we were taking on.
You said we’d hold hands
And watch the water flow past –
But someone had to do the steering
And someone else had to look out.
We sailed into the inlet
For a rest at end of day
It was dark before we found
A mooring place for the night.

January

2012-01-03T08:35:00.009Z

There is a stillness here, at the beginning
Before words have brought about
What we will call reality.
Before plans are conceived
Before ideas take form
Before time starts its tick
Before awareness
Before me, them, us.

Gathered to the infinity within
The seed can wait out eternity.
And yet, at the slightest touch
Of water or warmth
Remember,
And set out on its journey
To become its own expression
Of the tree, the shrub, the flower
It was borne upon.

Marine Drive

2011-07-13T17:00:00.003+01:00

Rain has never quite been the same
Since I left that monsoon city
Of tetrapods that hold back the tide,
And curving roads, sprayed every afternoon
By a glittering, restless sea,
As umbrellas battled the wind.

Music has never quite felt the same
Since thunderstorms changed to summer rain
And arguments, chased by milky chai and spicy snacks
Gave way to poems, with espressos and dark chocolate.

But I daren't tell those mad melodies
That rise with every cloudburst,
Poised to break into sunshine
A moment later -
There are no gulmohars here.

Port City

2011-01-21T08:25:00.004Z

They built me around the water
With the waves lapping my bones
Commerce crowded my streets
And pride raised my spires high.

Generations since have toiled
Fought, bought and sold themselves
By the water, adding to my glory
One wave at a time.

You, tourist, searching for an angle
To frame my sea and sky
Take a picture,
But be sure to leave behind
Your own story, between my cobblestones
Where they rise up to meet the sky.

A Covenant (Mumford on my Mind)

2010-12-06T06:11:00.006Z

And I will keep the promise I made to myself:
I will keep the sea by my side
I will launch every dream, every friendship
I will delight in the waves churning,
Turning my life.

And I will hold the centre true
Those words that should not be spoken
Will find their voice
However hesitant, they will be heard
Even set to music
As wild and alive.

And I will love with all my heart
And hold those friends by my side
I will feed them, and watch them thrive
They will hold me close:
My life will be their strength
And theirs will be mine.

To My Sisters in Chores

2010-08-19T00:49:00.009+01:00

When you clear up, you conform:
Dust away detritus
But also, let the tide wash away
Footprints
You once put all your weight upon.

When you clear up, you efface
Mess, clutter, toys -
All the stuff
Memories used to be made up of.
Imprints, impressions, doodles -
Everything that life insists
On washing up to the shore, eventually.

So - bear the mess, let the dust lie
With all the stories that sleep within.
Laugh awhile, at yourself
Trust, love, dream.

An Exploration

2010-07-11T17:05:00.008+01:00

Still, distill those feelings in your heart

Look straight upon the emotion – does it have a face?

And when you look at it, does it dissolve, or emerge with a smile?

The one is fear, the other, grace.

Take away all that you have been taught

Stand face to face

With every emotion that has ever moved you

Call them up, stare each in the face.

There is nothing more to do.

The impostors will disapparate.

All that remains, is pure essence of

You.

Winter Morning

2010-02-14T12:34:00.002Z

Morning darkness, snow on the ground

Street-lamps pooling yellow light

On silent waiting roads.

The sun will take its time today,

But we, bound to the clock

Must get on

And perhaps, meet it half-way.

Speak

2010-01-07T07:31:00.002Z

Speak, it is your voice that needs to be heard
Your life that needs to be lived
Your story that needs to be told.
Speak, for the world is over-full
Of cliches, and excuses, and reasons not to be
There is much that is precious – you see it, and think it can wait
And perhaps it can, but will you take that chance?
Speak when no one is listening
Speak when your heart is full
Speak when the day glows, when the night is young
Speak when silence is easy
Speak to quell the fear.
Too many voices?
Then why are they still listening?
In this crazy bazaar where everyone flogs their wares
Our voices are still all we have
To announce ourselves to our friends.

Sky Map

2009-12-21T18:48:00.001Z

Three stars blinking through time
Touchstones for human fantasy -
Through smoggy tropical skies and
Cold mists on the Thames
They've trapped me in mute wonder over the years
But given away
None of the ancients' dreams.

Now, with a red star map
Pointed at the sky
I see the lines: warrior arms
Raised in pride,
Legs astride the dream-filled sky
And holding me still, one more time
The unflinching glint
Of Orion's belt.

Autumn Morning

2009-10-14T08:15:00.003+01:00

Season of things coming apart:
Disposal trucks, disconnections, breakages, disruptions,
Lights that go out, windows that shut
And lamps that come on
Earlier every day.

Summer is at an end,
The orange leaves proclaim.
But what exactly has begun? we wonder
Through the withdrawal, the gathering up
And the letting go.

Saronno-Como

2009-07-29T11:09:00.002+01:00

Returning from the heat of the plain
On a rattling, temperamental suburban train
Cigarettes to compress each delay
Digitised music to counter the whine
Yet the skin-tight films of layered black
Light up in an easy smile
For lost tourists in sandals

Gestalt

2009-07-24T09:06:00.003+01:00

Who was it that taught you
To be ashamed of your anger,
Hold back indignation,
Bite in frustration?

Where did you learn that an outburst
Was anything more than itself?

How will you learn
That your anger,
Even more than joy or sadness
Is the line that twangs
From the depths of your
Stillness?

"Change occurs when a person becomes what he is, not what he is trying to be."
So said Fritz Perls, one of the founders of Gestalt Therapy. Gestalt Therapy tries to integrate conflicting polarities within personality by using playful techniques in a therapy setting - allowing the full expression of gestures, movements, feelings that have become 'stuck' through years of habit. This expression, and the resulting shift in awareness, is what Perls believed would allow a person to recover his lost potential - by 'waking up from the nightmare of his existence'.

On the Underground

2009-07-21T08:44:00.003+01:00

I want to smudge her make-up
I want to tell him that his shoes don't matter,
But they do -
They tell me that he doesn't care.
And that she does.
And I, unrelated, care most of all.

Summer Solstice

2009-06-24T11:49:00.006+01:00

Masses of slow cumulus on the move
And all is stillness in the sunshine:
Green and yellow, innocent of orange hues,
A gentle yes in the breeze.
Branches yield easily
And birds chirrup their sweetest tunes.

Sabbatical

2009-06-15T09:39:00.002+01:00

Stagnation is under-rated:
Sometimes it's important to lie fallow
To let yesterdays dry out.

Breathe in stillness
Exhale momentum
Submerge expression.

Build up a thirst.

Attachment Theory

2009-04-30T12:51:00.003+01:00

There I was, looking for role-models again
Forgetting that the one whose shelter
I grew up in
Was already imprinted, and working hard
In my mind.

There I was, cursing the lack of strong women
To show me the way,
Only to find that you took up your place,
Right beside me, long ago -
And have been patiently
Waiting.

There I was, fighting to breathe,
Lashing out to keep my head above water,
Until my eyes opened to see
That I have always been swimming
In the ocean of your love.

Siddhi Vinayak

2009-03-17T08:33:00.007Z

Fiery optical abyss
That has consumed the pleas and promises
Of generations of wheedling devotees:
One look at you
And you rip away every thought, every ounce of rationality
And leave me exposed.

So, in the middle of the heaving, pushing throng,
I add my plea to the rest,
Make my own bargain,
And look for a way
To take an ember home.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T10:23:00.009Z

Winter leaves in its wake
Frozen memories of companionship:
As twigs start to show their budding bumps
We pull our plans together
And head out, in search of spring.

Full Circle

2009-02-02T18:36:00.004Z

Today I declare me
Complete.
Whole, healthy, perfect
In the same way as the sky is
Or the sea -
Whole, complete, itself
Perfect in every way.

Every wave, every whim
Exists for a reason:
To declare its joy for a second
Or a season.
And today, every mole
Every blemish, every lump
Every doubt
Will declare itself part
Of the complete, perfect
Whole that is
Me.

Axis

2009-01-22T15:41:00.008Z

As I turn you upside down
Take in:
The whoosh of air,
Stomach in your mouth,
Legs giving way
To gravity,
The rush of blood to your head -
The need to cling to upside-down things
Just because they are close to the ground -
And use it all
To swing yourself back up
Hair askew,
Eyes on fire
From that momentary glimpse
Of an upside-down world.

Cuban Reverie

2009-01-02T09:34:00.004Z

As long as we continue
To look away
From someone else's misery;
As long as we continue
To take what is given
Without once asking
Who else might be as deserving;
We should be ready
For the occasional riot,
And the eventual
Revolution.

"What is the most important quality in a revolutionary?"
"Love. At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality."
Che Guevara

Do You Care?

2008-12-15T12:33:00.014Z

Caring is big business these days:
If you need help, listen
As we spin out positivity, and free will and responsibility
Which must serve
As respect
For authentic experience breaks down.

And if your spirit should stumble,
Constricted, contained,
Confabulated in platitudes and denied
Its own resolution?
We shake our heads, and step away from its fall.

Ethan Watters: Crazy Like Us

Drum Beats

2008-12-12T11:37:00.002Z

Make no mistake
We live in a time of war
The difference is that the draft
Is not a letter calling able men to the front
But chance, with no respect
For the trained and ready median.

Make no mistake
We live in a time of war
And because the new soldiers
Have never had the benefit of uniforms and rituals
Each of us has started to call our own gatherings
Of mourning and honour.

Make no mistake
We live in a time of war
And for those of us who have not seen it before:
Hope is more important than fear,
Grit will hold its value with gold
And our coming together is an instinct
As deep as, and rooted in
Survival.

Bombay Diaspora

2008-11-26T21:01:00.016Z

Apparently, since we left you
We have learnt to be afraid.

The city that taught us to find solitude in a crowd,
Breathe in water-logged air,
Celebrate the fury of the monsoons
And the victory of jasmine over smoke,
Has been ruptured in an "unprecedented way"
Yet again.

And as the shooting goes on
We start to worry
About the who, and the why, and the what it all means -
Instead of being brave, and defiant
And carrying on for tomorrow
As Bombayites are supposed to do,
We watch paralysed -
In silent anger and tears.

Bombay Meri Jaan

The Leaf

2008-11-12T08:14:00.013Z

The leaf, the falling leaf:
Orange and yellow and green and brown
Smeared with summer stories and the jokes
Of spring tomfoolery,
Who would have thought that deep green
Cured by sun and the dry, cold wind
Would turn its heart to gold?

The leaf, the falling leaf:
Perched on high to face the sun
Angled with grace to craft its space
Who could have seen this outreached palm,
In the persistent stub of spring?

The leaf, the falling leaf:
The bare tree has been adorned
In bounteous beauty for a whole season
And now it is time
To let go.

A Winter Dawn

2008-11-10T08:20:00.005Z

Yellow light, giving way to white:
Stark, but bright, honest, clear.
At the bottom of the garden, a bird flies low
Over the lazily swelling river -
White flash
Soon gone
A reminder
That the murky, green-brown tide
Is teeming with fish.

Weavers of Silence

2008-11-10T08:15:00.004Z

First the breath:
Room and time enough to exhale.
In the light-headedness that follows,
Sounds emerge, as vision shuts down
And the wooden clacks make their pace known.

Time, always time, to match the breath
To the systematic, unforgiving pace.
And then, as vision returns
With extended range and sharpened focus
The question-needle makes its way
Silently through the fibres of the loom.

Talking Therapy

2008-10-15T07:11:00.002+01:00

Things can be okay, even though they're not fine yet,
Things can be good, and still there may be
A need for calm, confident, clear control
Things can be groovy and yet, they could
Lurch that little bit, before you learn
To relax.

November Yankee

2008-09-07T11:02:00.007+01:00

At first look they'd call you boring:
Scruffy, and a bit past the fun-loving times.
And you're dark, almost closed to light
-Knowing you've done your time?
But you come into your own
On the long, black highway
Gleaming through the wet night:
And I know I can trust you to make it
A safe journey home.

Pulling Back

2008-09-06T08:26:00.017+01:00

Counting never came so easily
Or with so much strain.
Now I must learn to let go
Of individual strands
To admire the weave:
Perhaps one day
Even step back enough
To admire the richness of the fabric itself.
And then
Who knows how that fabric is cut
Or if there is a Weaver?

Mystic Smile

2008-09-05T10:12:00.005+01:00

In the beginning was the smile:
Warm and bright with understanding
And the vision of one possibility
Chosen out of a limitless multitude.

Then, there was the will:
And the will drew its power
From the choice to create.

Then, there was the Word.

September Healing

2008-09-02T11:08:00.003+01:00

After the laughter and the tears are done
And the scars have almost settled in,
There remains still
The quiet sharing of confidences
Built up over long, silent absences:
September healing
For friends parted through the summer.

Fiesta

2008-08-29T12:03:00.015+01:00

Full and heavy with the juices
Of a season of lengthened days,
Dark branches hold high their festive bounty:
The rude, unruly blossoms of August.

Maltese Summer

2008-08-16T14:06:00.004+01:00

A slower breath, a sweeter sigh
A time to take away for measure:
Swimming in heat, feasting on water,
As silence softly unfolds its treasure.

White light, blue haze,
Movements distilled of pace by distance
And then they come, the whispered stories
Tumbling across time together.

Valetta

2008-08-16T10:52:00.007+01:00

Age has not been kind to you:
Your stories have settled into scars,
Your colours peel in layers, and even
The bullet-holes of street-battles
Resemble natural holes in the limestone.

And yet, as we walk through
Your carefully preserved streets,
A quiet calm descends upon us:
Your balconies, still holding out their wrought curves
Against the onslaught of plastic toys and washing lines
Pass on their grace
In the narrow cool shade.

A Childhood Story

2008-07-09T17:43:00.012+01:00

Soft, needy fingers that begin to linger
A few seconds too long:
The expectation of an unknown, unspoken
Connection, then
A mounting sense of intrusion, silenced
By smooth presumption.

A boundary evident only in breach:
His fractured scream drops
In jagged, shining shards
Into the carefully folded layers
Of soft, faded muslin -
It will keep.

Not at home

2008-07-09T15:49:00.006+01:00

Where were you when the lions
Started to circle the infant?
Where were you when the vultures
Struck terror, choking the words
Of a still young population?

Where were you when the armies
Pitched battle in distant lands?
"Gang-war in the desert", you said
And turned away to read of housing bubbles
And a not too distant crash.

Summer's Heart

2008-07-01T10:01:00.006+01:00

July, you're a woman
Long in love, strong in light
Yours is richness to bind
And surfeit of golden sweetness to mind:
Leave the frippery to June
And innocence to May;
You are the month before
August burns, and September brings on
Declining days.

To Restlessness

2008-06-13T21:34:00.014+01:00

The stillness is inside
You do not need to create it:
It rides on your conviction
Radiates from your passion
Goads you on to richer pastures -
And sometimes,
Teases you with hunger.

Impasse

2008-06-02T07:06:00.007+01:00

The wise judge does not need to pronounce his thoughts.
He leaves it to the inadequate soul
To pass damning judgement on itself -
Then steps in, to mediate.

Daylight Saving Time

2008-05-31T09:51:00.010+01:00

Yellow flowers beam within the green
Setting themselves up to receive the sun -
The rain is nourishment these days,
The grey sky a silver screen
For the luminescence
That is everywhere:
Scrunching up nights, lighting up dust
Filling the leaves with a deep green,
And the soul
With the beguiling light of May.

The days of our years

2008-04-24T12:33:00.009+01:00

Days that beckon green and fluttering,
Days that seduce with subtle longing;
Days of desire, days of boredom,
Days that keep the wagon rolling;
Days open to wide exploration,
Days of closure, books in bed;

Days that change their colour,
Days that hold their peace;
Days that remind, days that dream:
- Bring them on, it's summertime.

Timshel

2008-04-24T12:32:00.005+01:00

Independence is a curse
Because it comes from strength.
Strength is a curse
Because it comes from knowledge.
Knowledge is a curse
Because it creates levels of awareness,
And self-awareness is the original
Curse and promise.

Closing Time

2008-04-21T08:10:00.006+01:00

Drunk with fear, I lurch
From one lamp-post to another,
Seeking pools
Of soft yellow light, only to find
That they cannot light up the night
Or take me home -
For that I will have to sober up
And befriend the road.

Diversity Training

2008-04-18T08:04:00.007+01:00

The first myth is origin:
"Where did you come from?"
The second, experience:
"How long have you been here?"

Insight pokes its head where it will -
Favouring the prepared ground
But asking for no more
Than the willingness to believe
That everyone speaks their own truth;
And the ability to listen
To the carefully unspoken.

Impatience

2008-04-16T09:37:00.006+01:00

This is the space between the seasons:
Blossoms pretty on dark brown branches
Green rosebuds shut to the cold,
The stormy stillness of January
Yet to be overcome
By the soft, warm potential of June.

This is the space between where we were
And where we hope to be:
Held in, held back together against the cold
Waiting to head out and take our chances
- If only the rain would stop.

Black Sun

2008-04-15T09:00:00.004+01:00

Black sun of dawn and dusk
Stripped of rosebud pink and the balm of amber:
You would be awesome if you did not also
Strip the sky of blue, the earth
Of the abandon of green and brown and violet.

But you will not leave us to stare
At shifting textures, patterns in fog
For long: our minds will succeed
In finding form,
And even make substance
Of unforgiving grey.

Espresso Mornings

2008-04-10T08:37:00.004+01:00

I like my distractions
They keep me sane, open
To possibilities.

I like my down time
It keeps me rooted,
Helps me anchor into moments
That might have passed unnoticed
Softly into eternity.

I like being on the edge
It brings me focus
And the clarity of primary colours.

And then, there are espresso mornings
that compress
all three
In a gorgeously bitter shot.

Morning Walk

2008-04-09T07:53:00.006+01:00

Man on a bench
Bent with age, huddled against the cold
Waiting patiently on the green
As his dog gets on with the busy work
Of poking, pawing, sniffing, testing,
Running between invisible posts,
And checking back for approval.

A Response to Panic

2008-04-08T15:39:00.026+01:00

You come to me with your eyes on fire.
The blood high in your veins, your hands flailing,
Gesticulating.
Your voice steels up, about to break:
The world has conspired against you, and there is no escape.
The fear crackles through to me
Like no appeal ever could.
I rush to stem the flow:
Of course I'll help out!
(Hold off on my plans a little bit longer,
Disrupt my life, slightly reconfigure
my dreams.)

But something broke today:

Maybe you insisted on that little bit more
Maybe I woke up on the right side of the bed
Maybe I decided to give myself a chance, for once
Maybe the sun was out:
I rehearsed the words and said them out loud:
Sorry, but this time, you're on your own.

Dawn on the flight-path

2008-04-02T08:53:00.005+01:00

Waiting for daylight, to sleep
Waiting for the night to melt away,
Waiting for mundane noises to
Drown out
The insistent beat of
What if and how,
When and why not.

Waiting for
Birdsong and traffic,
The flight to come in, the phone to ring
The world to get on with
The day, the week, the month -
Just so I can exhale, nose into pillow,
And slide into the day
With the alarm on sequential snooze.

A moulting

2008-04-01T10:56:00.010+01:00

We use fear to set boundaries
And feel proud of the cocoons we weave:
Tightening the thread to the knot in our gut,
Forgetting
That the moth we are trying to protect
Was destined to fly.

The thing about fear of course
Is that it never quite finishes having its say.
If one threat isn't big enough
It can always conjure up
Another one to take its place:

Being lectured by you on trust
Is like tasting brackish water -
For all the thirst in the world
No one should have to do that.
And yet, I find it hard to dismiss
The bitter caution in your words -
I know it's the fear-poison again
Labelled as experience.

I do not know how you've lived
With that bottle by your bedside all your life -
I do know that I do not want it
Anywhere near mine:
I get myself a drink
Of cold, clear water from the tap,
Turn to Larkin and try to sleep.

For Narelle

2008-03-31T09:34:00.007+01:00

That flowers can bud on a tree
Before it has brought on its leaves
Must be one of the miracles of spring:
That life can jump to beauty
Without following a logical progression
Holds hope for every passion
Battling with human frailty
And refusing to be bound.

Black

2008-03-27T09:56:00.012Z

The black streak that covered the colour
Splashed on with such care,
Was meant to frame the picture.
But it seized control of the image -
First by providing boundaries,
Then using them to push itself in and across:
Negating,
Emphatically reshaping
What the artist had started out to say.

Windows

2008-02-27T08:09:00.003Z

Ones with a view, ones that used to have a view,
Ones to let the light in, ones to keep the world out;
Looking out over water, over parks,
Over busy roads or tidal rivers;
Divided with polyester net
Or draped with heavy silk and velvet:
They look out, let the world in -
But most of all give us a way
To work the interfaces.

Stillness

2008-02-26T11:15:00.002Z

The stillness is inside.
Spark it off, but it will not stay -
You will need to tend it.

Do it right and it will grow:
Starting with the slightest flicker
Then a shudder of warmth
Then waves and waves of lassitude
Until
You let go
And allow it to surround you.

Walk in its warmth:
Easy strides,
Centered, swinging, free...

Woodloch Pines

2008-02-24T09:00:00.007Z

Bring me your calm acceptance of the cold
Your ability to sway, barren in the wind
Your rooted abandon:
Glorying in the seasons
Swaying in the harmony of wind and water,
Sun and rising sap.

Don't look now...

2008-02-10T16:35:00.002Z

Bare branches in the sunlight against an innocent blue
Cold green lawns covered with frost
Cardigans worn open, gloves sticking out of pockets
Long walks, smiles of greeting, a hunger suddenly ravenous:
Winter, going on spring.

The Mule and the Firefly

2008-02-09T12:39:00.001Z

“And who are you?” asked the Mule
“Explain your status, your purpose, your kin –
Fifty words only, we don't need a story
Just a way to slot you in.”

“We are wanderers, never at home
dreaming up purpose, one day at a time
creating a life, then watching it fall
then another, and another, at will…”

Gunnersbury Footbridge

2008-02-09T07:18:00.003Z

Mother and child eagerly await
On high for the train to appear:
This way, or that? - Is that a rumble I hear?

The commuters on their journey
Pass below. Immersed in newspapers, the day to come,
Or the night before.

Meanwhile, above them, a little child laughs in glee.

Retrospective

2008-01-23T22:52:00.000Z

A birthday - time to remember
The people you've been, and the people you've been with
Old journals, snapshots, emails surface,
Rifling through the years, you arrive at yourself
And wonder if the journey could have been shorter, or very different.
You think about your companions, and wonder if those that became friends
Think the same way of you.
And then wait for the wishes to come through -
Friendships distilled by distance.

To Bobby

2008-01-23T18:27:00.002Z

Hold me to yourself
And tell me that I can ride the storm.

Hold me to my words
And make me play them out
One by one.

Hold me to my life
And don't let me get away
With giving you the reins.

Another Way

2008-01-23T18:23:00.001Z

Hubris was meant to let us dismiss
the forces of change:
In the midst of mayhem, let us believe
That we alone could hold off the murky waters
Stay sheltered from the wind
And survive, intact.

So we go about building castles
in the sand, web-worlds in the air
Until the storm comes and hits us
As we should have known it would.
And we blame life, or the gods, for being unfair.

But could we instead
Harness the turbulence?
Heed warnings of the storm, but look
For thermals and waves to ride:
Dance, in the face of destruction?

Interstices

2008-01-23T18:21:00.000Z

That stilling of the beat, that soundless throb,
That pause between words and thought,
Chased usually on reams of paper
Came to me through exercise today:
Mindless drudgery, prescribed movement
Created, somehow, a sweet cessation -
A softer space for roots to hold.

To long-lost friends

2008-01-23T18:11:00.000Z

Across the oceans and decades and life-changes and age, we compare
Parents who need our care and illusions of youth
Children who beckon, expecting to be born - this year?
Work, that undefined sink of time and identity
And free time, to travel, detox, revive!
And yet a coffee (or a chai) lingers
Untasted, uncommitted, undone
Holding connections that survive
Across the oceans...

Hope is scary

2008-01-23T17:57:00.000Z

The door opens, throwing light on corners that have long been left alone
Dust motes flicker in the light, forcing a re-appraisal:
The curtains that have faded and never matched,
The floor we meant to redo,
The furniture that suddenly seems to be
At all the wrong angles.

We could tweak it all, and get a little more comfortable in the dark.
But the door and the voices beyond beckon:
Promising sunshine and open air, yet requiring a willingness to trade
Forgotten aches for stabbing pain
Comfort for uncertainty
Shadows for the spotlight
Death for life.