Poems

EARLY JANUARY SNOW BLUES 

There is a calmness
Like a Buddhist prayer
On the road
When it snows
And cars are afraid
To come down it.

There is softness
In the trees rustling
When the wind
Shakes it off
Which reminded me
Of my father
When he used
To shake off his boots
Before he stepped back inside
After gritting
The front path.

And as it gets softer
Like Andrex paper
Before getting crushed
Into ice
Leaving a hush in the sky
Of slight fog
The moment is mesmerising.

But I am still glad
When it is all gone.

(FROM 'RETURN TO KEMPTOWN')

***

TICKET TO RIDE

Random moments
bring portals of memories.

Random moments
bring fragments of peace.

On dust covered dunes
lost in the drones of the sea,

or looking at you
looking aimslessly out of the window.

Watching Candy Floss
dance across the sea.

Listening to bus wheels
stutter like stray thoughts.

Looking for seagulls
like clues to a great mystery.

Clues across the closed pier,
and the chaos of the severed sun
looking for a ticket to ride
as it chases the bus
past an aloof Arcade
before you find the answer
in my arms. 

(FROM 'A MEANS TO AN END')