There are places in my mind I will
not go to,
perhaps a void
or a place of pain,
of unbridled longings,
even a fistful of sunshine,
or surrender to some secret gods.
There are places in my mind I will
not go to.
Flying over the Hindukush mountains
with the soft bloom of apricot
valleys,
acrosss rivers, ravines and ridges
through deodar forests,
past ancient monasteries,
beyond icy passes and snowy peaks,
perhaps to a point of no return.
August 21
Dance, to keep old age at bay,
they keep saying, since my last birthday.
You hate skiing, and you hate swimming,
your mind and body’ll start ageing.
Here’s some reggae, they say, just sway,
sashay your hips, it’s fun, like play.
Foxtrot and tango? I could, I would,
but a snooze on the sofa is just as good.
August 2021
the weekly street sweeper
--faded tattered dress
fresh black eye--
rattled our garden gate
to refill her water bottle
‘he got drunk again’
--flat tone
straight back--
avoiding the insistent gaze of blue marks
peeping through my silk scarf
august 21
there is a battlefield of shadows
just beyond me
sparrowhawk and sunbird duel in the whirlwind
buttercup fields smile, shrouded by a
pair of empty eyes
light and dark tangle in a necklace of joy, then pull apart
the future, a dreadful fear, dances timeless destruction
teardrops pound soft mud into diamond
my limbs are caught in the crossfire
tall bare branches escape a square hole
reach for the sun
June 2021
‘It’s a small world’, I’ve often been told
It’s not what I’ve found, as I grow old and bold;
the world keeps opening, fold after fold
giving me treasures more precious than gold.
Yes it’s a small world
if I build a close wall,
keep face down and crouch
fail to see the sprawl.
If life throws us together
when we had been so far
it’s the thousand steps we took
the doors we kept ajar.
It’s a huge world to search
when I lose something held dear,
I meet a kindred spirit
and find yet one more sphere.
My mind is a world, an infinite space
of countless beings and thoughts to embrace
scaling mysteries I come face to face
with courage, compassion, joy and grace.
March 2021
Thoughts
ever greedy
for more
and more
rake roots
scour for deepest desires
scan skies
seize mystery, majesty
fearless fancy
flight of frenzy
scuttle, steal
the wanted
and the unwanted
hue of rose
whiff of sandalwood
sting, venom
ingest, digest
sundrop on frost
sacred in silence
hurt, healing
love, loss
peacock plumage
of oil spillage
on still waters
stun guards
sail through gates
light as air
thick as thieves
Feb 2021
My mother’s
ultimate comfort food,
soft spongy white bread
soaking up the milk like
fluffy marshmallows
melting in the mouth
warmth and sweetness oozing through;
scraped knee
spat with sister
schoolgirl crush,
all sobbed away
into a bowl of bread and milk.
I tried this remedy for lockdown
blues,
spent a good few weeks in a blissful snooze,
then, bored, decided to switch to booze,
got nicked on the tube for trying to schmooze.
May
2021
