When all is said and doneAt the end of the dayAt the end of the tetherWhen a thing is what it is Tell me there is a spaceBetween seeing and unseenBetween held on to and let goneWhere all things are many things And all thoughts flungMid-air and not oneLighter than another
Poems
Sewing seaweed
to Ogier The truth you spoke at parting, on the presentBeing kind, resented then, I now accept. For that day from the car I sawHawthorn trees on either side stoking flames of gorseYellow lamps in sunlit windows next to a yellow doorCorrugated iron sheds with palm trees standing guardDogs drunk on wind and surf racing […]
The Question of Happiness
The question of happiness threw meAs did your attention to the magnolia treeThough I had seen the wideness of your chestThat some call heart and some soul And upon thought I’d venture to say thatThe chest is where happiness residesWhere light and dark conspire to create Or resolve the dragging weight of thought. And I […]
Daybreak in Dublin
It’s a hotel I’d almost recommendIf only you’d remember to not drink the water,Keep your nose from the dust off dry-cleaned towels,Leave on your socks at night,Plug your ears and draw the curtainsAgainst the encroachment of light. At daytime the location affords views onto the back ofThe Custom House but next to no peaceIn the […]
Nocturne
Shooting stars? O spare me Dying planets like our own and their light already spent When they deem to grace our eyes Call me uncouthBut I too have crossed the tropic of jealousyWith desire that no moon can purge As if love was ever selflessAnd a just and gentle god shone his countenance On our […]
All the Right Questions
Peering into prams my grandfather would askIs it boy or child? artless, without articlesHis strange tongue veiling well the mischiefOf a kind, discerning mind He died too soon, and had no childrenAnecdotal evidence is what I have of him Raised among men who didn’t care for childrenI cared for dogs and horses, lead and leatherWaiting […]
Advice (the body speaks)
For this aberration in your hormonal setupI claim responsibility:I refuse to produce that particular substanceThat could make you covet motherhood,Courting it with the determination our sex and age demand,Or so they all say. But really, I think I might be spared the exertion of procreationSave up my powers for the hike aheadAnd make hay while […]
Dear Friend
I’m holding space for you.No display of emotion, no exuberanceof spirit, no spur-of-the-moment talknor your worst best-guarded silencecan gnaw away at the wall I build around it. You’re an accident waiting to happento yourself. Alarmed I watch as you career down railroadtracks unsuited to such high-speed trains of thought,headed for derail. Embarrassed of myself, andhappy, […]
First Refusal
to Lisa Sometimes the beauty of knowing someone for a long timeCan erupt in your pocket like a firecracker on New Year’s Eve We hung up since decorum demanded that two hours Scratched the limit of what a partner could well be expectedTo wait for with dinner also it was your turn to walk the […]