Looking Forward

Address

I have a parcel for ee my luvverr
said the delivery man on my doorstep

I admired his accent, asked which bit
of Cornwall he came from - No more
n'undred yards from ere my luvver

He said, Dunno bout ee but no way
I could live anywhere other -

I didn't say he was right.  I didn't
say there were ways and faraway places
where living could, theoretically, be done.

Looking Back

Poetry Lunch on the Helford


for Penny and Caroline

Be good, said the man to his beagle
Be quiet, said the woman to the seagull

Move, said the wind to the water
Stay, say the roses to the old wall

Walk, said my mind to my feet
Come, said the path, stop, said the fence

Remember, say the poems, remember, remember
Listen, says the wind hearing our voices

Leave, says the boat
Let them go, says the wind, moving away

Stay, say the roses on the cottage wall
Hush, says the water to the wind

Blue, green and black says the sky to the river
and all this time, the good beagle said nothing at all.

drafted 15th September 2010

New Year's Day 2011

Three Times Two, MMXI

In our Christmas photo -
my mother, aunt, sister, neices
four women, two small girls,
two of us bleeding with the moon

Three of us fair-haired, three dark –
all our days moving in and out of darkness -
love lighting our faces on this day
in the winter dark, the six of us

look into the light of this moment
that flickered and disappeard
like the Christmas candles, also
gone, also kept from darkness
in a Christmas photo.

Victoria Field