White Goddess

Three times she came to visit me,

three times she looked into my eyes;

maiden, mother, ancient lady

singing pretty lullabies

and, on the fourth, in starlight dance,

she howls one wolf into the skies;

leaps astride another branch

and flies.

In the quiet coach,

 a fellow sporting golden earplugs

with spaghetti down to a black snug

box the size of this packet

of playing cards in my jacket pocket,

- kings, queens, reds, blacks; faces and backs –

suddenly starts to sing ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’

in a screechingly smiley voice like a

backing singer – until I catch his eye

and grimace, turn to write a poem’s

smiling, silent speech – and hum.

2D or not 2D

 I dream of old an old man in a boater

sailing East to West across a page

and, when I turn the paper he still floats there,

a silhouette, a china man, serene.

I dream a rocket takes off into space-time,

climbs across the page from South to North;

black, these silhouettes, like paper puppets

long to turn their souls into 3D.

New Year

 Rainfall in the winter

hits a rooftop, grey,

- a momentary treasure

clattering crazy slate
but, hey,
it’s running to the centre

of wells inside the garden
glassy, level, cold
until a human grasps at
meniscus, aims to cup
it up,
swigging for their pleasure

but when the pleasure’s ended
and hands have wiped a mouth,
how far that person gazes
to east, west, north and south,
for truth
and seeking purer water.

A poet,

 lost in words, sits on a train’s

deluded rails that seem to converge

like wrinkles on his hands and face

 - before and back - through time and space.

Avoiding headlines

but chasing a hunt

for every letter

 - like sperm - in word - and sound.

Riding rails,

narrow minded,

cliché trip

up a track:

wondering and gazing,

secretly alive

One morning, lost, he

sits exhausted in an airport
hoping for a pretty sky;
hearing words from nations’ update,
jumble into purple sky.

Every word intends connection
- hopeful – casting line and fly.
Once outspoken, lost in motion,
kisses in a pretty sky.

Yes

When the world's abundant

I pick the flower, yes.

When the world’s connected,

I reach for a handshake, yes.

When the world is loving,

I hug the answer yes.

When the world’s deciding,

I bet the answer yes.

When the world is dawning,

look up, the answer’s yes.

When the world is learning,

sorry, the answer’s yes.

When the world is teasing,

yes, the answer’s yes.