tanka

2011-06-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

gone
long before
daylight
the smooth coolness
of a white sheet

a stranger in the crowd

2011-06-05T13:05:00.001-07:00

the sweetness
in the call of one bird
amidst the flock
was also in the voice
of a stranger in the crowd

the moments
we spent together
raindrops
falling into the river
and being swept away

after he'd gone
I left the windows
open
to let the wind and rain
into my dreams

2011-06-05T13:04:00.001-07:00

that wild exuberance
I couldn't capture it
and so
I've never said
a word about it

2011-06-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

I said I wanted
to explore the dark side
in the early hours
waking to the brightness
of the harvest moon

2010-09-19T03:58:00.002-07:00

eye of the storm
I find myself romantically
becalmed
while all around me
are being shipwrecked

2010-09-19T03:58:00.001-07:00

as the sky shades
deeper and deeper blue
tiny lights
in the windows
of an incoming plane

2010-09-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

bitter cold
the path that used to be
safe and familiar
threatens to bring me down
with every step

2008-09-11T03:39:00.001-07:00

gazing
at a basket full
of lemons
after one more
disappointment

2008-09-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

the hills
in a mist of rain
softly
the truth spoken
in quiet glances

2008-09-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

a line of trees -
beyond the fifth the world becomes
uncertain
starting a journey
on a winter day

2008-09-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

blown to us here
in our safely sheltered bay
the sound of waves
crashing against rocks
further down the coast

2008-09-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

even though I know
that we may never meet
I hope
my words might touch you
as yours have touched me

2008-09-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

even though I know
that spring follows winter
after all these years
the blossom comes as
such a sweet surprise

2008-09-10T04:34:00.000-07:00

can't think of
anything we have
in common
a white bird
in sunlight

2008-09-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

passing through
the town where
we first met
the pale stone darkened
by warm spring rain

2008-09-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

a moth
from the shade
of a curtain fold
the memory
of last night's dream

2008-09-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

the evening sun
shimmers
in a child's paddling pool
some kind of thirst
that can't be quenched

2008-09-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

this sense
of something missing -
the place
where the mirror
used to hang

2008-09-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

just a dream
that faded as dreams do
but halfay
through the day a sense
of something special lost

2008-09-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

a hot wind
through the long grass
whispering
to the dark green
shadow of a man

2008-09-10T04:25:00.000-07:00

in the wavering light
of a candle lit much earlier
familiar words
begin to take on
different meanings

2008-09-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

old diaries
in my desk drawer
I'm surprised to find
there are things
that still surprise me

2008-09-10T04:22:00.000-07:00

Easter moon
at the front door
but the garden
is lit by
the evening star

2008-09-10T03:52:00.000-07:00

after
the sound of our voices
the rain
falling quietly
into the night

2008-09-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

at last
understanding
that summer has gone
the way a leaf falls
on a windless day

2008-09-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

heavy clouds
pass over without rain
we talk
deliberately
of other things

2008-09-10T03:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T03:09:00.000-07:00

moonlight
on waves
the ebb and flow
of the sea that joins
your island to mine

2008-09-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

waking
from one more dream
of your absence
I reach out to touch
the shadow of leaves

2008-09-10T03:05:00.000-07:00

news
of a pre-emptive strike
out of the night
the clank and rattle
of a heavy chain uncoiling

2008-09-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

a flock of starlings
bank and turn above
the setting sun
the one whse course I chose
to follow veers away

2008-09-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

recalling your silence
as I pass through a valley
full of mist
I wish that I could
lose myself in it

2008-09-10T02:55:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:55:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:54:00.006-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:54:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:54:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:54:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:53:00.007-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:53:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:53:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:53:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:52:00.004-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:52:00.003-07:00

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

Mutus Liber

2008-09-10T02:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:51:00.007-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:51:00.005-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:51:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:50:00.007-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:50:00.005-07:00

I would have
given
anything
but you chose
freedom

2008-09-10T02:50:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:49:00.003-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:49:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:46:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:45:00.003-07:00

outside
a bird is singing without
pause for breath
and still I hesitate
over what to say

2008-09-10T02:45:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

the early daffodils
were beaten to the ground
if I could only
give up hope then I could
give up disappointment too

2008-09-10T02:42:00.000-07:00

shirtless and white skinned
in the first real heat they carry
Asda bags of beer
through the haziness
of a city-centre park

2008-09-10T02:41:00.001-07:00

halfway
through the last day
the dull sky darkens
towards the end
of a year of endings

2008-09-10T02:40:00.003-07:00

first night
under the winter quilt
dreaming
of someone dreaming
of someone else

2008-09-10T02:40:00.001-07:00

winter almost over
I rewind the film to see
the whiteness
of the actor's costume
up against the skin

2008-09-10T02:39:00.004-07:00

waking
from a dream of flying
I wonder
what I might have left
behind upon the earth

2008-09-10T02:39:00.003-07:00

the most casual
of gestures can betray
a tenderness
so strong it almost
pierces the heart

2008-09-10T02:39:00.001-07:00

it never lifted me
too high - an inch at the most
just a lightness
a welcome counterbalance
to relentless gravity

2008-09-10T02:38:00.003-07:00

if I had wings
I would land
in a flurry of feathers
on your lawn
one sunset

when you
came to see
what caused the sound
I would gather you up
in a feathery embrace

I would
carry you away
over the hills
across the borders
to a land between

in a place so strange
a girl with wings
would come alive
because you could
believe in her

when I brought you
home
I would beat my wings
like birds do
when coming in to land

2008-09-10T02:38:00.001-07:00

I was falling
but someone caught me
and brought me
ever so gently
back down to earth

2008-09-10T02:37:00.005-07:00

If I could share it with you
breaking it
by hand
if necessary
bread would do

2008-09-10T02:37:00.003-07:00

a summer shower
shivering the surface
of the sea
and all the colours
darken in the rain

2008-09-10T02:37:00.001-07:00

their argument
ends in silence
beside the war memorial
a sparrow perches
on the stone lion's ear

2008-09-10T02:36:00.004-07:00

writing on eggshells
recording words on skin
with a finger tip
across the misted
window of a train

2008-09-10T02:36:00.003-07:00

the sun
and moon and stars
are all just pictures
in a children's
story book

2008-09-10T02:36:00.001-07:00

a leaf
in autumn, drying out
takes on a twist
that reminds me
of a wry smile

2008-09-10T02:35:00.001-07:00

something's missing
but maybe I will find it
even yet
spring sunlight
on old stones

2008-09-10T02:34:00.004-07:00

dear muse
even in the dark hours
the bird
you awakened
is still singing

2008-09-10T02:34:00.003-07:00

at 50
much to my surprise
my muse
takes on a definitely
human shape

2008-09-10T02:34:00.001-07:00

the pauses
in her side
of the argument
we pass through Sheffield
under a steely sky

2008-09-10T02:33:00.001-07:00

I want to take
this crude ache and twist it
bend it, force it
into a shape so exquisite
that I can make a gift of it

2008-09-10T02:32:00.001-07:00

wanting
and not wanting
to know
how the story
ends