Wonderer - Hello Poetry

You think you can rule the roost You think you're so tall you're above it all You think your solitude just gives you a glow? Well we'll make it show Then we'll up the game we'll fan the flame of pain We're dropping the wall We'll show you rock bottom This is how small we can make you You think your Medusa's curls make you strong? Hell well you're wrong We're hacking them off one by one You think your projections are helpful and harmless? An extension of you A way to be two Your blind man's fingers Well here's how it is: We’re slicing them off We’re dismembering you Now feel your way in the dark So now honey how are you doing? Do you still think exile a thing of the past? Don't make us laugh We'll remind you again and again

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Jun 27, 2025

Jun 27, 2025 at 4:28 AM UTC

Wonderer

Community

You think you can rule the roost You think you're so tall you're above it all You think your solitude just gives you a glow? Well we'll make it show Then we'll up the game we'll fan the flame of pain We're dropping the wall We'll show you rock bottom This is how small we can make you You think your Medusa's curls make you strong? Hell well you're wrong We're hacking them off one by one You think your projections are helpful and harmless? An extension of you A way to be two Your blind man's fingers Well here's how it is: We’re slicing them off We’re dismembering you Now feel your way in the dark So now honey how are you doing? Do you still think exile a thing of the past? Don't make us laugh We'll remind you again and again

24

In Amsterdam in transit you have to pass security a second time (You do not belong here you do not belong) Short of precious minutes I had the urgent answer to his question ready ‘My mother is in hospital’ He asked (have they been trained?) Is she ok? Time notwithstanding, keen not to let this opportunity slip by of putting border policing in its rightful place next to human suffering I answered No. She’s dying. It worked. He shifted in his seat and looked uncomfortable, a bit ashamed The ground I’d occupied and thought was safe sloped suddenly away (Don’t feel it. Do not let him in.) Hairline cracks appearing everywhere I said ‘But no one lives forever, right?’ Uncertainty. Dark hesitancy in his eyes. The thought of what to lose a mother might perhaps be like. Not good. I glimpsed then the significance of mother to a man. And then I ran.

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May 4, 2024

May 4, 2024 at 9:32 AM UTC

Wonderer

And then I ran

In Amsterdam in transit you have to pass security a second time (You do not belong here you do not belong) Short of precious minutes I had the urgent answer to his question ready ‘My mother is in hospital’ He asked (have they been trained?) Is she ok? Time notwithstanding, keen not to let this opportunity slip by of putting border policing in its rightful place next to human suffering I answered No. She’s dying. It worked. He shifted in his seat and looked uncomfortable, a bit ashamed The ground I’d occupied and thought was safe sloped suddenly away (Don’t feel it. Do not let him in.) Hairline cracks appearing everywhere I said ‘But no one lives forever, right?’ Uncertainty. Dark hesitancy in his eyes. The thought of what to lose a mother might perhaps be like. Not good. I glimpsed then the significance of mother to a man. And then I ran.

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My mother’s nurse’s eyes : two suns from another universe I do not comprehend them I think she likes my mother How can it be so? Her stubborn angry upset Her absolute determination not to take her pills Everything is upside down and back to front her head is lower than her back Yet still her backbone bristles The taproot is long My mothers nurse’s eyes hit me like a truck a shock I think she likes us I do not understand This sad, difficult and grey-haired daughter This confused and angry, crying mother half the size she was battling with her fate The struggle pulses all around the cord between our hearts pulses also this unfathomable tender twine Perhaps she noticed perhaps she heard the twang perhaps it’s what was singing, dancing in her eyes This unfathomable light in spite of all

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Mar 16, 2024

Mar 16, 2024 at 7:00 PM UTC

Wonderer

My mother’s nurse’s eyes

My mother’s nurse’s eyes : two suns from another universe I do not comprehend them I think she likes my mother How can it be so? Her stubborn angry upset Her absolute determination not to take her pills Everything is upside down and back to front her head is lower than her back Yet still her backbone bristles The taproot is long My mothers nurse’s eyes hit me like a truck a shock I think she likes us I do not understand This sad, difficult and grey-haired daughter This confused and angry, crying mother half the size she was battling with her fate The struggle pulses all around the cord between our hearts pulses also this unfathomable tender twine Perhaps she noticed perhaps she heard the twang perhaps it’s what was singing, dancing in her eyes This unfathomable light in spite of all

29

I know - now - the winters of your soul how long, how cold how your dog still barks plaintively for your return Yet still you kept a pitcher at the gate to slake the thirst of travellers Your nightwatchman still tends his flame The hearth lit The table decked for my return And now at last - the all but very last - I have the measure of your pedestal imprisoned there on high any move would break you But serendipity has granted me the key I know the craft, I have the tools, I will not rest until I have you. Come gentle soul, come fiery soul, come soul of alabaster and of platinum It’s time. Let’s sit. You have this table so very richly laid in welcome

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Mar 12, 2024

Mar 12, 2024 at 5:22 AM UTC

Wonderer

Alabaster soul

I know - now - the winters of your soul how long, how cold how your dog still barks plaintively for your return Yet still you kept a pitcher at the gate to slake the thirst of travellers Your nightwatchman still tends his flame The hearth lit The table decked for my return And now at last - the all but very last - I have the measure of your pedestal imprisoned there on high any move would break you But serendipity has granted me the key I know the craft, I have the tools, I will not rest until I have you. Come gentle soul, come fiery soul, come soul of alabaster and of platinum It’s time. Let’s sit. You have this table so very richly laid in welcome

22

You stole the gold Your coins were counterfeit It was no fair exchange. To say the (very) least Off with his head, they say. Not the head but the tongue say I Those golden words that promised all delivered none And so: The tongue

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Mar 12, 2024

Mar 12, 2024 at 4:55 AM UTC

Wonderer

Fair exchange

You stole the gold Your coins were counterfeit It was no fair exchange. To say the (very) least Off with his head, they say. Not the head but the tongue say I Those golden words that promised all delivered none And so: The tongue

9

It is that time of mellow fruitfulness when all your acts of care and love not few and far between but clustered, sweet and pregnant are ripened to the point of no return about to fall Your tendrils did their youthful seeking sensing and encircling quickening the pace they grew a scaffolding for life latching and attaching to the people, places, pleasures that made sense and held you up so love and life could ripen In turn, all the moments of encounter with the vine of your being The thing not said, the turn of your head to the side when privacy is kinder Your phrases and asides The way you never see the beauty of your profile The way you even think it humdrum (How strange. How very very strange) These moments of encounter hold me up And so we wove the scaffolding, the tapestry entendrilling each other in the reach for life savouring the moments before the final fall But what a view from here What a view from here

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Oct 17, 2023

Oct 17, 2023 at 3:54 AM UTC

Wonderer

Scaffolding

It is that time of mellow fruitfulness when all your acts of care and love not few and far between but clustered, sweet and pregnant are ripened to the point of no return about to fall Your tendrils did their youthful seeking sensing and encircling quickening the pace they grew a scaffolding for life latching and attaching to the people, places, pleasures that made sense and held you up so love and life could ripen In turn, all the moments of encounter with the vine of your being The thing not said, the turn of your head to the side when privacy is kinder Your phrases and asides The way you never see the beauty of your profile The way you even think it humdrum (How strange. How very very strange) These moments of encounter hold me up And so we wove the scaffolding, the tapestry entendrilling each other in the reach for life savouring the moments before the final fall But what a view from here What a view from here

34

When you splintered shards of your glass lodged in me I can still feel their contours The heart is a muscle Every beat has accommodated these sharp edges At first it hurt so much I thought I would die Perhaps I did Perhaps there is no one at home but my lodger

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Aug 18, 2021

Aug 18, 2021 at 2:46 AM UTC

Wonderer

Accommodation

When you splintered shards of your glass lodged in me I can still feel their contours The heart is a muscle Every beat has accommodated these sharp edges At first it hurt so much I thought I would die Perhaps I did Perhaps there is no one at home but my lodger

10

I was ravenous I thought the sea was bottomless and dark I thought the deep went on forever But now I know Your soft green fingers grow everywhere the light falls And when you go to sleep forever as we all must some while from now not yet not yet these tendrils will intertwine with mine and softly line the seabed of my cavernous heart

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Aug 18, 2021

Aug 18, 2021 at 2:45 AM UTC

Wonderer

I was ravenous

I was ravenous I thought the sea was bottomless and dark I thought the deep went on forever But now I know Your soft green fingers grow everywhere the light falls And when you go to sleep forever as we all must some while from now not yet not yet these tendrils will intertwine with mine and softly line the seabed of my cavernous heart

13

If I write you a poem it will be too much if I don't it won't be enough If I give you something it will be too open if I explain it will be too closed If I mention strength and beauty you might run a mile if I don't I won't have shared that inner smile that might light your way a while But if I name my dilemmas you might see them as true as true as I see you Perhaps true will do

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Mar 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 at 6:22 PM UTC

Wonderer

Dilemmas

If I write you a poem it will be too much if I don't it won't be enough If I give you something it will be too open if I explain it will be too closed If I mention strength and beauty you might run a mile if I don't I won't have shared that inner smile that might light your way a while But if I name my dilemmas you might see them as true as true as I see you Perhaps true will do

12

I found a piece of China said my son in his sleep he was only little Last night I found a piece of China too under a Pisces new moon I dropped into the cellar of my soul under those dank dark vaults I was surprised to find an ocean It was all your doing I thought my sorrow would drown us both water lapping at the high Georgian ceiling barely air to breathe but you found those little orange armbands and as the water started seeping under the old sash windows past the poorly fitting door into the streets below you taught me how to swim It is slow here under the surface of a sunlit sea seaweed swaying and there on the bottom is my treasure chest at last gold glowing pearls trailing If only I could show you what then....

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Mar 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 at 3:45 AM UTC

Wonderer

Fear of gold

I found a piece of China said my son in his sleep he was only little Last night I found a piece of China too under a Pisces new moon I dropped into the cellar of my soul under those dank dark vaults I was surprised to find an ocean It was all your doing I thought my sorrow would drown us both water lapping at the high Georgian ceiling barely air to breathe but you found those little orange armbands and as the water started seeping under the old sash windows past the poorly fitting door into the streets below you taught me how to swim It is slow here under the surface of a sunlit sea seaweed swaying and there on the bottom is my treasure chest at last gold glowing pearls trailing If only I could show you what then....

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