Jan 2019
SHADOW PLAY
The shadow
(it seems)
creates this stone
that I
(motionless & still)
sit upon
as if it were the centre
of this world.
It is the summer
of my childhood
& the world
is making itself
known
to me.
My mind
hungry to learn!
My own shadow
chained to me
like a soul
to a body
longing to escape
my mortality.
It lies
like a fallen angel
thirsting for a Heaven
crestfallen at my feet.
Shadow plays
hide & seek
amongst the leaves
sunlight laughingly
chasing it.
Birds write
the notation of themselves
upon the telegraph lines.
Sounds morph
into each other
the moo of a cow
becoming the murmur of a bee.
I try
to understand
the existence
of a me.
The five-bar gate
prints its shadow
on the lane
smiling at its own
distortion.
Wild roses
ramble from hedge to hedge.
Honeysuckle
climbs upon its own scent.
I sit amongst the milk churns
gleaming with the silver
of their laughter
as if I were one
of their number.
Waiting for a tractor
to escort us to
a faraway dairy.
We three wise monkeys
(seeing) (hearing) (speaking)
no evil
in this
the innocence
of my new
& only
world.
The shadow
(it seems)
creates this stone
that I
(motionless & still)
sit upon
as if it were the centre
of this world.
It is the summer
of my childhood
& the world
is making itself
known
to me.
My mind
hungry to learn!
My own shadow
chained to me
like a soul
to a body
longing to escape
my mortality.
It lies
like a fallen angel
thirsting for a Heaven
crestfallen at my feet.
Shadow plays
hide & seek
amongst the leaves
sunlight laughingly
chasing it.
Birds write
the notation of themselves
upon the telegraph lines.
Sounds morph
into each other
the moo of a cow
becoming the murmur of a bee.
I try
to understand
the existence
of a me.
The five-bar gate
prints its shadow
on the lane
smiling at its own
distortion.
Wild roses
ramble from hedge to hedge.
Honeysuckle
climbs upon its own scent.
I sit amongst the milk churns
gleaming with the silver
of their laughter
as if I were one
of their number.
Waiting for a tractor
to escort us to
a faraway dairy.
We three wise monkeys
(seeing) (hearing) (speaking)
no evil
in this
the innocence
of my new
& only
world.
**********
MILK CHURN
Like one of
the three wise monkeys
I sit amongst
the milk churns
sitting on their
little pedestal
waiting to be taken
away to the dairy.
My aunt
casts a long shadow
standing right
in front of me
calling my name
& cursing me.
' Where is that boy? '
Somehow I am
invisible to her.
I have somehow
blended in
& she doesn't see
I am the milk churn
in the middle
...the 2nd wise monkey.
I place my hands over my eyes
until she disappears.
I sit on in the sun
on my own
happy
as a milk churn.
****
The same poem written a year apart with just the imagination coming in at a slightly different angle and changing the entire mental landscape of the poem. You can't step in the same stream twice!
MILK CHURN
Like one of
the three wise monkeys
I sit amongst
the milk churns
sitting on their
little pedestal
waiting to be taken
away to the dairy.
My aunt
casts a long shadow
standing right
in front of me
calling my name
& cursing me.
' Where is that boy? '
Somehow I am
invisible to her.
I have somehow
blended in
& she doesn't see
I am the milk churn
in the middle
...the 2nd wise monkey.
I place my hands over my eyes
until she disappears.
I sit on in the sun
on my own
happy
as a milk churn.
****
The same poem written a year apart with just the imagination coming in at a slightly different angle and changing the entire mental landscape of the poem. You can't step in the same stream twice!
(Guildford)
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