January 2023
Bio Note: I live with my wife in a village on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. I’ve had several poems published in Australia, the US, the UK and Canada, including in Red Ogre, GAS Poetry, Art and Music, and American Diversity Report. An excerpt from my poem 'Christmas Presence' was recently included in the 'Raining Poetry In The Regions' project poems, which appear on footpaths only when it rains. Raining Poetry in the Regions: Poet Announcement - Writers SA
A Promising Future
I promise you
no more promises
than those from claret lips.
I promise you
no more safety
than icebergs promise ships.
I promise you
no more honesty
than my most truthful lies.
I promise you
no more loving
than cowards would think wise.
But promise me
no more agony
than words of sweetish sting.
And promise me
no more jealousy
than a movie idol fling.
And promise me
no more argument
than keeps me on my toes.
And promise me
no more husbanding
than suits my public pose.
An Uncommon Future
Since the elders told me I only remember myths or dreams,
I'm not sure what past I share with you.
Often enough, until now,
I assumed a shared memory space,
a common time.
But if none of it was real
it means we can be anything,
now and in the future,
because the past is only what we make up
from hatred and desire.
The challenge now is to grab this thing,
this weightless freehold,
this rule change,
and enter this corridor of a thousand doors
and dare to knock on them all.
I want in my remaining years
to say the unsayable and deliver the unaddressed
and release the never-to-be,
before it can hide in safe corners,
waiting for something-to-turn-up.
Never again will I wrap my tiny fortune,
like a sixpence,
in the corner of my childhood hankie,
waiting for the tuck shop to open
and fulfil my desires.
For time is the only kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
And if we have no common past
we must have an uncommon future.
©2023 Doug Jacquier
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