before miso

2008-09-09T14:18:00.001-07:00

the way
his hair falls
for a moment
I forget
his age

2008-09-09T14:17:00.001-07:00

the winter sun
enough to melt
a hard frost
why do useless attachments
last for a lifetime?

2008-09-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

you tell me
all your news and that
you're happy now
in a tone of voice
I hardly recognise

2008-09-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

on the telephone
we talk of
email
how easy it is
to hide behind words

2008-09-09T14:13:00.001-07:00

tattered remnants
of something caught up
in the wire
the no-man's land
beyond caring

2008-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

windscreen wipers
brush aside the evening rain
some things
that will never be
forgotten

2008-09-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

I would have
given
anything
but you chose
freedom

2008-09-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

a small shell
from another summer
spirals around
what used to be
a secret sanctuary

2008-09-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

another day
has passed
without a word
I trim the dry fronds
from a boston fern

2008-09-09T14:03:00.001-07:00

pale blossom
swirled by a chill wind
in the rose beds
the deeper red of summer
held tight within the bud

2008-09-09T14:02:00.001-07:00

a flash
of lightning then
the long wait
for the cormorant
to resurface

2008-09-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

having fallen
all that we can do is
hope
that we can
learn to fly

2008-09-09T08:33:00.001-07:00

almost spring
a goldcrest restlessly
explores bare twigs

2008-09-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

driving rain
one snowdrop leans
against another

2008-09-09T08:30:00.002-07:00

a winter walk
the frozen footpath
ridged over roots

2008-09-09T08:30:00.001-07:00

spring dusk —
the neighbour's vacuum cleaning
ends with a sigh

2008-09-09T08:29:00.002-07:00

clear cold blue —
all the things I've wanted
but couldn't have

2008-09-09T08:29:00.001-07:00

spring freshness —
a naked mannequin
in the ski-shop window

Mind the Gap

2008-09-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

There's something
very wrong
with everything,
some cosmic equivalent
of a missed connection
at Cardiff Central,
or a derailment
outside Crewe,
a passing of ships
in the night,
captains staring
intently
the other way.
You stretched out
your hand
for the shell
just as it was taken,
by the tide,
beyond your grasp
and nothing
in the world can fill
the gap.

Lost Property

2008-09-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

you must have
left it with me
by mistake
maybe you put it down
to pick up
your coffee cup
many years ago
when we were younger
and less careful
we sometimes
let our paths cross
with those of strangers
as if
we didn't know
the dangers
I've tried not to
let myself think of it
as mine
but I've become
used to
having it around
it's grown a little faint
over all the years
I've kept it
just in case
one day you need
this hope

Mutus Liber

2008-09-09T08:07:00.002-07:00

something in the turn
of his head seen from
a distance
in his eyes
before he speaks

catching
a sideways glimpse
of the winking out
even the stars
are mutable

before he said a word
I knew him, and do still
and always will
the way he raised his hand
as if to emphasise the point

the final stroke
of a church clock
echoing
things left
unspoken

conversations
lost in morning mist
but the unsaid things...
much older
than the hills

between the lines
something shimmers
like first light
on the pages
of an open book

2008-09-09T08:07:00.001-07:00

words
I never said
to you
the song of a bird
in a bitter wind

2008-09-09T08:06:00.001-07:00

for years now
he's been pretending
it's too late
to do the things
he should have done

2008-09-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

dreamed of him
again last night
that man
whose face
I never see

2008-09-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

a ring
around the moon
tonight
missing something that
was never mine

2008-09-09T08:03:00.002-07:00

a few words
with a stranger passing
on this road
everyday precious things
are scattered in the wind

2008-09-09T08:03:00.001-07:00

older now
I dream that you still
sing to me
and that I write
poems for you

2008-09-09T08:01:00.001-07:00

its no use
asking them to stop
they're pitiless
trees in blossom
in the park

2008-09-09T07:59:00.002-07:00

watching
the storm tossed trees
through glass
afraid to let myself go
where the wind would take me

2008-09-09T07:59:00.001-07:00

looking out
of an old photograph
my younger self
gives me a coolly
disapproving stare

2008-09-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

the accusation
in your voice as we exchange
polite evasions
the lingering bitter taste
of so many unsaid things

2008-09-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

frost
on dry leaves
brittle with age
the gentlest touch
can break the skin

2008-09-09T07:56:00.004-07:00

sun
on the sea between
dark clouds
the tiredness in your eyes
even as you smiled

2008-09-09T07:56:00.003-07:00

the chain
that joins the white boat
to the sea
drawn to it but then we stand
uncertain on the margin

2008-09-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

closing
the bedroom window
to keep out
the new coolness
I turn on the radio