In Midwinter


The hot air balloon's
grey deflated canvas lies
like a patch of snow
in a field of snow.

Around and about
from the distance it surveyed
people come hither
as hopeful as thaw.





Transcendence


A wrist watch handcuffs
The indifferent wearer
To mortality…
 
Emperor of air,
The ghost of a bird flashes
Like sun-light on steel…
 
For a time at least
We loiter in the Margins
Of Eternity

......................
......................
......................
 
Soul, a ball rolling
With us, with our years, our days…
When it comes to rest
 
On the night-time bed
Beside us, glows with a face
Strangely familiar
 
......................
......................
......................
 
The world is never
Enough for the believer
Or the atheist…
 
Who has a nose for
Such smells? The poet, the poet
Sniffing transcendence.





Cattle


red oasis
desert lotus
point a finger
cross the cactus

lose the drover
scent the water
restless cattle
come together

stir the water
feed the pool
find reflected
steer and mule

~

helpless orphans
in the shallows
on the surface
buoys of roses

~

red oasis
desert lotus
point a finger
cross the cactus

lose the drover
scent the water
restless cattle
know it’s over





The Cataract


   The flow of blood… through water fascinates…
it billows like smoke… or cloud…
unexpectedly… blooms with perceptible movement in abstract shapes
      like time on holiday…
creates rare flowers…
   reaches out with curiosity
in search … of further depths… further heights…
                  for what exactly… is possible...
 
 ...visibly…  it hangs in suspension as it unravels
in slow attenuation of motion…
wraith-like veils… draperies… roses… poppies…     loosening ribbons…
flounces in clusters…        flows and fades
… lighter… lighter and…lighter…
… clearer…    and clearer… and further…   and...            further...
and fades.. fades into…                  the ether of water