Life's a Beach - a new summer poem !

                                                                        

                                                                       Life’s a Beach

 Bukowski meets Eliot

 

 

 And the thought dawned upon me;

What if God takes the same delight in people watching?

On the beach in Italy, of course.

And then suddenly that thought made me truly see…!

 

After all, I could sit there on a deck chair watching all day

People watching under the ombrellone

With perhaps the odd beer and cigarette

Watching the people passing by;

 

The middle- aged man with a sad gut sucking on a fag

And beside him the three middle-aged women

Bronzed like old leather statues

 

In turn looking enviously at the young

Girls and women all of whom are out to sea,

Their whole lives lost out there,out upon the open  horizon…!

 

 

Ardgillan Sequence

 

                                                                                 

                                                                              

Ardgillan Sequence

 

For my daughter

 

 

 

 

1.  

 

Rebecca

 

 

she runs upon

 

the open green

 

the Black Hills

 

as a back drop

 

with a field

 

of crows

 

for company

 

 

as she chases them

 

all six years

 

of her

 

pell-mell

 

under the sun

 

 

the burst of wings

 

takes flight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.

 

 

Oak Leaves

 

 

 

 

the small green

 

palms

 

of the outspread

 

hands

 

 

float above

 

you

 

 

the branches

 

upright

 

moor the vessels

 

upon the blue

 

craft

 

of the sky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.

 

 

 Lichtung

 

 

 

 

the slender trunks

 

in legions

 

are elephant

 

 

above the

 

spiralling cymbal

 

the sun

 

crashes through

 

the top-most branches

 

flooding the floor

 

of the forest

 

in a riot

 

of shapes

 

and shadow

 

 

there

 

all manner

 

of stories

 

 

 

and tales

 

are born

 

 

 

to animate

 

future

 

generations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.

 

 

The Citadel

 

 

from the verdant

 

tower

 

of the top-most

 

dwelling

 

the polyphony

 

of the chirps

 

warbles

 

and chatter

 

sing

 

 

the sky dwellers

 

in winged symphony

 

offer air-ward

 

the news

 

 

that the petals

 

and leaves

 

are fall

This poem cycle first appeared in The Gladstone Readings Anthology ( 2017)