"lino" poems
Pick up teeth from the carpet,
hide under eggshells in the bin,
cancel the appointment with the dentist.
Mop blood from the lino,
straggles of cloth sprawl in pink water,
scrub the memory with bleach.
Ask the girl at the counter
which foundation is best for a blemish,
get it home and sponge over bruises.
Catch the reflection crying
preen her til she’s quiet,
gag with flowers freshly arranged.
Smile on the school run
pretend the kids are happy,
(she thinks it's the reason she stays).
Dec 18, 2010
Dec 18, 2010 at 7:40 AM UTC
one morning, Jack awoke with a distinct feeling
that something was not quite right.
as he peeled his eyes from a crusty sleep
his suspicions were further aroused by a marked loss
of sight from his right eye
as though he was peering through
a thick charcoal jungle
he clutched his hand towards his face
and was alarmed to find
a rather substantial lock of hairs
protruding from his right eyebrow.
wondering if perhaps he might
still be in a world of waking dreams
where one couldn’t really trust one’s intuitions,
he wandered over to the light switch,
flicked it on/off a couple of times.
having reached the conclusion that
he was definitely not dreaming,
and that his retinas
(or his left one, at least)
were definitely receptive to fluctuating light levels
he made his way to the bathroom
to inspect his face, with one hand
bemusedly fondling his recently grown eye-brow fringe.
in the bathroom he stumbled
across his wife sitting on the toilet.
on catching sight of her hairy husband,
she let out a deranged scream.
"darling, you'll alarm the neighbours" said Jack.
but his wife, who did not seem
to be sufficiently worried about
alarming the neighbours,
or anyone in her resident universe
continued to make strange warbling noises.
so, Jack instead decided to study
his growth in the kitchen sink.
although not made from
exemplary reflective material,
the sink was able to confirm
his impression that his right eyebrow had,
overnight, been subject to an alarming rate of growth.
his wife appeared in the doorway.
“I’m sorry for screaming.
it was only because I thought you were a pirate”
she said. and though he knew
that this was just one in many
of a long string of inter-marital lies
that bounced between them,
he let it pass. a decision having
been decided upon in perhaps
not the most democratic manner possible,
Jack's wife fetched the kitchen scissors
from the drawer by the dishwasher.
as she snipped away, chunks of black
fell soft like feathers from sunburnt wings
and landed on the Lino.
Jack felt inexplicably sad.
they went off to work as usual,
and no one noticed
the jagged edge of his once pirated-eyebrow.
Apr 19, 2012
Apr 19, 2012 at 5:11 AM UTC
Yo, para todo viaje
-siempre sobre la madera
de mi vagón de tercera-,
voy ligero de equipaje.
Si es de noche, porque no
acostumbro a dormir yo,
y de día, por mirar
los arbolitos pasar,
yo nunca duermo en el tren,
y, sin embargo, voy bien.
¡Este placer de alejarse!
Londres, Madrid, Ponferrada,
tan lindos... para marcharse.
Lo molesto es la llegada.
Luego, el tren, al caminar,
siempre nos hace soñar;
y casi, casi olvidamos
el jamelgo que montamos.
¡Oh, el pollino
que sabe bien el camino!
¿Dónde estamos?
¿Dónde todos nos bajamos?
¡Frente a mí va una monjita
tan bonita!
Tiene esa expresión serena
que a la pena
da una esperanza infinita.
Y yo pienso: Tú eres buena;
porque diste tus amores
a Jesús; porque no quieres
ser madre de pecadores.
Mas tú eres
maternal,
bendita entre las mujeres,
madrecita virginal.
Algo en tu rostro es divino
bajo tus cofias de lino.
Tus mejillas
-esas rosas amarillas-
fueron rosadas, y, luego,
ardió en tus entrañas fuego;
y hoy, esposa de la Cruz,
ya eres luz, y sólo luz...
¡Todas las mujeres bellas
fueran, como tú, doncellas
en un convento a encerrarse!...
¡Y la niña que yo quiero,
ay, preferirá casarse
con un mocito barbero!
El tren camina y camina,
y la máquina resuella,
y tose con tos ferina.
¡Vamos en una centella!
1.5k
One up the curtain,
Another at my feet,
Another climbing up my leg,
And the others took my seat!!
The eldest is outside,
Searching for his prey,
He’s been missing over a week,
I hope that he’s okay.
The one climbing up the curtain,
Well now he’s torn it down,
He’s gone to hide in the bathroom,
While I hang it up and frown.
The one at my feet is now asleep,
Curled upon my lap,
His sister’s come to join him,
They’re both taking a nap.
The one that’s on my seat,
Well now he’s at my feet,
Playing with a toy he’s found,
Squeak, squeakity, squeak!!
The patter on my lino,
Of these beautiful five cats,
Let’s me know that I’m at home,
And where my family’s at!!
Jun 21, 2010
Jun 21, 2010 at 2:02 PM UTC
Pull the cord.
Click click.
Plunge into night.
Next-door’s light is oil on a puddle
through the dappled window -
bubbles on brown tiles.
Folded towels on toilet lid,
clothes crumpled on lino.
Skin pricked in frozen air.
Knotted hair falls,
shoulders lower into the tank,
steam rising from cold tin.
A baptism - of sorts.
Astreamofbreath.
Open mouth, choked,
soaked in this womb,
this tiny ocean.
Lungs searing,
eyes stinging,
light specks dart.
Water’s skin unbroken.
Mar 12, 2013
Mar 12, 2013 at 6:09 PM UTC
Passing a property I felt compelled to the gate
something had drawn me to stop!
An irresistible urge to go inside the property
having to bang on the red door.
Waiting unable to move from the spot
on that nice day I was cold not hot!
I tried to move how I wanted to run
but my body wouldn't move!
The screams were trapped in my throat
why was I frozen here?
Shuffling noises from within approached
as my space was encroached!
I could now hardly breath as the door opened
a wrinkled old woman stared.
With deep black sunken eyes that glared
the pierced your soul!
As my body was drawn into the room
nearby was a witches broom!
Then it turned into a grim putrid hovel
as other witches appeared!
I lost consciousness at that very moment
waking up on a lino floor.
A middle aged lady staring down at me
as I looked up embarrassingly!
Helping me to a comfortable armchair
she told me I was not the first.
Who had been drawn to her front door
on this spot once it was said.
An evil witches coven had been found
but was burnt to the ground!
Seven witches were caught and put on trial
by the frightened villagers!
And here where the place now stands
they were burnt at the stake!
Saying they cursed the villagers evermore
descendants would knock the door!
As they alone would detect the witches call
realising I was caught here.
My mum gave me a locket I had to wear
said never take it off.
Unless I was compelled into a dwelling
and this story a lady telling!
Only then should I open the hinged locket
that contained the ashes!
Of the seven that died throw them it's face
then run and not look back!
I did as I was told running until I was tired
so long as now I'm retired!
It was a big story in that town I use to live
a mystery fire had caused.
The destruction of the historical cottage
it was never solved.
But I gather there was no more trouble
a locket was found in the rubble!
The Foureyed Poet.
Jan 21, 2012
Jan 21, 2012 at 11:01 PM UTC
It seems to me that I can never be two
Every circumstance labeled as absolute
Black Or White
Yes Or No
But this isn't how I live
Not only do I possess my strength and courage
Not only can I be gentle and sweet
Not only do I roar across the tundra
Not only do I lay in the meadow quietly
I am not one nor am I the other
I am both the lion and the lamb
This isn't an unfortunate case of division
Yes, you could argue that I'm at war
But I'd rather live with my own opposition
That not know at all what I could live for
Not only do I roar across the tundra
Not only do I lay in the meadow quietly
I am not one nor am I the other
I am both the lion and the lamb
How can I choose sides in a world without limits
How can I deny either of my halves
One can only hope that the ends meet perfectly
One can only hope to rise after the storm
One can only hope to be who she really is
When I roar across the tundra
When I lay in the meadow quietly
I am one and the other
I am both the lino and the lamb
May 13, 2013
May 13, 2013 at 11:40 PM UTC
Mientras haya
alguna ventana abierta,
ojos que vuelven del sueño,
otra mañana que empieza.
Mar con olas trajineras
-mientras haya-
trajinantes de alegrías,
llevándolas y trayéndolas.
Lino para la hilandera,
árboles que se aventuren,
-mientras haya-
y viento para la vela.
Jazmín, clavel, azucena,
donde están, y donde no
en los nombres que los mientan.
Mientras haya
sombras que la sombra niegan,
pruebas de luz, de que es luz
todo el mundo, menos ellas.
Agua como se la quiera
-mientras haya-
voluble por el arroyo,
fidelísima en la alberca.
Tanta fronda en la sauceda,
tanto pájaro en las ramas
-mientras haya-
tanto canto en la oropéndola.
Un mediodía que acepta
serenamente su sino
que la tarde le revela.
Mientras haya
quien entienda la hoja seca,
falsa elegía, preludio
distante a la primavera.
Colores que a sus ausencias
-mientras haya-
siguiendo a la luz se marchan
y siguiéndola regresan.
Diosas que pasan ligeras
pero se dejan un alma
-mientras haya-
señalada con sus huellas.
Memoria que le convenza
a esta tarde que se muere
de que nunca estará muerta.
Mientras haya
trasluces en la tiniebla,
claridades en secreto,
noches que lo son apenas.
Susurros de estrella a estrella
-mientras haya-
Casiopea que pregunta
y Cisne que la contesta.
Tantas palabras que esperan,
invenciones, clareando
-mientras haya-
amanecer de poema.
Mientras haya
lo que hubo ayer, lo que hay hoy,
lo que venga.
1.1k
Chair scrapes lino
Dark eyes gaze
Over every facet
Of smokey haze
Spearing the duck
Pursing your lips
Yell in your head
Your voice unzips
A fraudulent noise
A family poised
Dinner.
Feb 9, 2013
Feb 9, 2013 at 1:30 AM UTC
El son del viento en la arcada
tiene la clave de mí mismo:
soy una fuerza exacerbada
y soy un clamor de abismo.
Entre los coros estelares
oigo algo mío disonar.
Mis acciones y mis cantares
tenían ritmo particular.
Vine al torrente de la vida
en Santa Rosa de Osos,
una medianoche encendida
en astros de signos borrosos.
Tomé posesión de la tierra,
mía en el sueño y el lino y el pan;
y, moviendo a las normas guerra,
fui Eva... y fui Adán.
Yo ceñía el campo maduro
como si fuera una mujer,
y me enturbiaba un vino oscuro
de placer.
Yo gustaba la voz del viento
como una piñuela en sazón,
y me la comía... con lamento
de avidez en el corazón.
Y, alígero esquife al día,
y a la noche y al tumbo del mar,
bogaba mi fantasía
en un rayo de luz solar.
Iba tras la forma suprema,
tras la nube y el ruiseñor
y el cristal y el doncel y la gema
del dolor.
Iba al Oriente, al Oriente,
hacia las islas de la luz,
a donde alzara un pueblo ardiente
sublimes himnos a lo azul.
Ya, cruzando la Palestina,
veía el rostro de Benjamín,
su ojo límpido, su boca fina
y su arrebato de carmín.
O de Grecia en el día de oro,
do el cañuto le daba Pan,
amaba a Sófocles en el Coro
sonoro que canta el Peán.
O con celo y ardor de paloma
en celo, en la Arabia de Alá
seguía el curso de Mahoma
por la hermosura de Abdalá:
Abdalá era cosa más bella
que lauro y lira y flauta y miel;
cuando le llevó una doncella
¡cien doncellas murieron por él!
... Mis manos se alzaron al ámbito
para medir la inmensidad;
pero mi corazón buscaba ex-ámbito
la luz, el amor, la verdad.
Mis pies se hincaban en el suelo
cual pezuña de Lucifer,
y algo en mí tendía el vuelo
por la niebla, hacia el rosicler...
Pero la Dama misteriosa
de los cabellos de fulgor
viene y en mí su mano posa
y me infunde un fatal amor.
Y lo demás de mi vida
no es sino aquel amor fatal,
con una que otra lámpara encendida
ante el ara del ideal.
Y errar, errar, errar a solas,
la luz de Saturno en mi sien,
roto mástil sobre las olas
en vaivén.
Y una prez en mi alma colérica
que al torvo sino desafía:
el orgullo de ser, ¡oh América!
el Ashaverus de tu poesía...
Y en la flor fugaz del momento
querer el aroma perdido,
y en un deleite sin pensamiento
hallar la clave del olvido;
después un viento... un viento... un viento...
¡y en ese viento, mi alarido!
1.2k
She denied the note
with a wave of her hand,
a harsh slice of the independent woman,
right there next to the bookshop stand.
I could tell, you could tell,
the whole ******* shop could tell
that this couple was very much in love.
It was the constant kisses on cheeks and
that rubbing of the palms with thumbs,
that gave their game away.
Tucked beneath wet raincoat pit,
a brochure protruded and hit
every close contact enemy.
It was a bible of new houses;
psalms of yet-to-be-wet-feet-on-new-lino-floors,
prayers of neutral-coloured-baby-room walls,
proverbs of shall-we-frame-this-poster-or-just-BluTac-it-up-and-hope-for-the-best?.
They left the shop back into the rain
to the sound of several sighs,
thank goodness for the gray
dangerous clouds of the sky.
Feb 21, 2013
Feb 21, 2013 at 4:17 PM UTC
Iremos a buscar
hojas de plátano al platanar.
Se alegra el mar.
Iremos a buscarlas en el camino,
padre de las madejas de lino.
Se alegra el mar.
Porque la luna (cumple quince años a pena)
se pone blanca, azul, roja, morena.
Se alegra el mar.
Porque la luna aprende consejo del mar,
en perfume de nardo se quiere mudar.
Se alegra el mar.
Siete varas de nardo desprenderé
para mi novia de lindo pie.
Se alegra el mar.
Siete varas de nardo; sólo un aroma,
una sola blancura de pluma de paloma.
Se alegra el mar.
Vida -le digo- blancas las desprendí, yo bien lo sé,
para mi novia de lindo pie.
Se alegra el mar.
Vida -le digo- blancas las desprendí.
¡No se vuelvan oscuras por ser de mí!
Se alegra el mar.
985
Creyeron que era pálida, luego
la encontraron más viva que el
susurro colorido de un árbol de almendra,
estaba ahí llena de figuras de luz
paseándose como cisnes por su frente, entre
la gente, la espesa llama clara de sus pasos
fue inspirando a cada músico, a cada pintor
a cada hombre de traje de lino que caminaba
por el bulevar de los ángeles rotos, creyeron
que su voz era débil, mas cuando la escucharon
una trompeta de caballería anuncio su coro,
tenía tanto esplendor que hubiera dado le vida
a los hombres de piedra, y susurrar sus nombres
era el sabor de un almendro en los labios llenos
de ocasión para el disturbio de la inspiración,
en sus manos se formaban espigas de trigo
lleno de miel, de su espalda podían nacer
tanto gladiolos como destellantes oxidianas suaves,
creyeron que estaba dormida, pero ella ya andaba volando.
Jun 18, 2014
Jun 18, 2014 at 6:24 PM UTC
I wrestle you out of the cupboard under the stairs
Every weekend
Scaring the ******* out of the cat
Who by now knows what is happening,
Perceived as a fight to the death
Filled with electric noise, until finally
I tame the monster and put it to bed
He elects to hide
In the kitchen, under the table.
We dance the waltz of cleanliness
Over carpet, lino, round litter trays
Up stairs and across bookcases
Just you and I, an odd couple
Locked in a battle against dirt and dust
The build up of bacteria (yuk!)
Cleaning away the footprint of a week
On the possessions of our life.
My wife doesn't know about us
You and me and our OCD
We share for an hour, or so, while she's out
Shopping, drinking coffee, with her mum
Ours is a secret affair
******* cat fur out of the crevices,
When I am done we part company
Hiding our passion behind closed doors
Until we meet again, next saturday
My love.
Jun 17, 2019
Jun 17, 2019 at 6:28 PM UTC
O mamma, o mammina, hai stirato
la nuova camicia di lino?
Non c'era laggiù tra il bucato,
sul bossolo o sul biancospino.
Su gli occhi tu tieni le mani...
Perché? Non lo sai che domani...?
din don dan, din don dan.
Si parlano i bianchi villaggi
cantando in un lume di rosa:
dell'ombra dè monti selvaggi
si sente una romba festosa.
Tu tieni a gli orecchi le mani...
tu piangi; ed è festa domani...
din don dan, din don dan.
Tu pensi... Oh! Ricordo: la pieve...
quanti anni ora sono? Una sera...
il ***** era freddo, di neve;
il ***** era bianco, di cera:
allora sonò la campana
(perché non pareva lontana? )
din don dan, din don dan.
Sonavano a festa, come ora,
per l'angiolo; il nuovo angioletto
nel cielo volava a quell'ora;
ma tu lo volevi al tuo petto,
con noi, nella piccola zana:
gridavi; e lassù la campana...
din don dan, din don dan.
849
In the glass I glimpsed her eyes
they flitted over dappled cream,
but expectation became a cloud
and so fogged her face from me.
I glanced about my forgone haunt
of candy stripe and lino check,
a board on which I could predict
the movements of her interest.
You cannot taste frozen chocolate
or those rainbow splinters.
Yet she was snared in naive thought
and caught in coloured winter.
They make it all round back you know,
But actually they don’t.
They make a cracked kaleidoscope,
its sight is skewed and bitter.
Mar 11, 2013
Mar 11, 2013 at 10:51 PM UTC
La sutil hilandera teje su encaje oscuro
Con ansiedad extraña, con paciencia amorosa.
¡Qué prodigio si fuera hecho de lino puro
Y fuera, en vez de negra la araña, color rosa!
En un rincón del huerto aromoso y sombrío
La velluda hilandera teje su tela leve.
En ella sus diamantes suspenderá el rocío
Y la amarán la luna, el alba, el sol, la nieve.
Amiga araña: hilo cual tú mi velo de oro
Y en medio del silencio mis joyas elaboro.
Nos une, pues, la angustia de un idéntico afán.
Mas pagan tu desvelo la luna y el rocío.
¡Dios sabe, amiga araña, qué hallaré por el
mío!
¡Dios sabe, amiga araña, qué premio me ****
701
Chittering, flittering, spiky legs skittering, black crickets sneak underneath the back door -
Skidding on lino and diving for cover as broom bristles sweep them across the smooth floor.
Hiding in crevices, antennae waving, they creep out when I’m dozing off in my chair -
launch at my night light, their whis'pry wings whirring, to tangle their crooked black feet in my hair.
Apr 7, 2017
Apr 7, 2017 at 11:27 AM UTC
The insomniatic somnolence coats me.
16kHz of sound running through my eardrums.
Empty words written on the walls of bathroom cubicals.
The lifes of people who come and go,
Snagged on the emtpy soap dispensers.
***** lino floors folded at the edges.
The rattling sounds of doors locking around me.
Plastic seats flipped down to carry weights,
Of the people who come to just sit down.
The rusted hinges on doors I can't seem to leave through.
This is both my prison and my safety.
Apr 29, 2018
Apr 29, 2018 at 9:51 PM UTC
Yo soy la movediza perenne; nunca dura
en mi una forma; pronto mi ser se transfigura,
y ya entre guijas de ónix cantando peregrino,
ya en témpanos helados detengo mi camino,
ya vuelo por los aires trocándome en vapores,
ya soy iris en polvo de todos los colores,
o rocío que asciende, o aguacero que llueve...
Mas Dios también me ha dado la albura de la nieve,
la albura de la nieve enigmática y fría
que cae de los cielos como una eucaristía,
que por los puntiagudos techos resbala leda
y que cuando la pisan cruje como la seda.
Cayendo silenciosa, de blanco al mundo arropo.
Subí, vapor, a lo alto, desciendo al suelo, copo;
subí gris de los lagos que la quietud estanca,
y bajo blanca al mundo... ¡Oh qué bello es ser blanca!
¿Por qué soy blanca? En premio al sacrificio mío,
porque tirito para que nadie tenga frío,
porque mi lino todos los fríos almacena
¡y dios me torna blanca por haber sido buena!
¿Verdad que es llevadera la palma del martirio
así? Yo caigo como los pétalos de un lirio
de lo alto, y no pudiendo cantar mi canción pura
con murmurios de linfa, la canto con blancura.
La blancura es el himno más hermoso y más santo;
ser blanca es orar; siendo yo, pues, blanca, oro y canto.
Ser luminosa es otro de los cantos mejores:
¿No ves que las estrellas salmodian con fulgores?
Por eso el rey poeta dijo en himno de amor:
"El firmamento narra la gloria del Señor".
Se tú como la Nieve que inmaculada llueve
Y yo clamé: -¡Alabemos a Dios, hermana Nieve!
724
Time,
passing the bread down the starvation line
nothing changes but nothing
and nothing's the thing we have got,
Time,
a ***** spot on the lino
fine for the wino
because
he doesn't care
no mothering there
no gentle touch
nothing
much at all.
I'm fed up and hungry
disgruntled and angry
nothing
changes
not even change
it stays the same
we
just give it another name
progress?
oh please
I think I'll **** myself if
someone mentions that.
Time's just the flatline
we're all dead anyway.
Nov 10, 2016
Nov 10, 2016 at 4:17 PM UTC
Un prado de coral sobre las lises
y en forrajes, praderas de metales;
al este de la luz, los manantiales
del viento, siempre en coro de aprendices.
En la hincada raíz de los maíces,
sobre el lino plural de los perales,
los ángeles despiertos, miel y sales,
que han de bruñirme días más felices.
Vegetal esperanza que me adviene
de la tierra feraz, aya mestiza
que a su pezón jugoso me sostiene
como una negra aya advenediza,
arrulladora y fiel, alma de aurora.
bajo la oscura piel que el tiempo dora.
649
The door was ajar to a pokey room
All gloomy and morbid inside,
It gave off an air of despair and gloom
Not joyful, befitting a bride,
The couple arrived as I wandered by,
But she with her eyes on the ground,
While he simply glared as we passed on the stair
As if to say, ‘See what I found!’
I wasn’t that curious back in the day
For couples, they came and they went,
Those pokey apartments so full of decay,
They’d be better off in a tent.
But these two had stayed there much longer than most,
She rarely came out in the light,
And he placed a padlock from door to the doorpost,
Whenever he left in the night.
Whenever he left, and he certainly did,
He’d leave her in there on her own,
Though where he would go, I now think that he hid
For sometimes I heard the girl moan.
I’d feel the floor shudder, and hear the walls creak
While out in the hall it would whine,
And I would go searching, like hide and go seek
To be sure it was nothing of mine.
One night with a rumble behind their front door
I heard someone dragging a case,
That terrible screech on the lino, at least
In that something was dragged out of place,
Could that be a trunk, was he doing a bunk
With her body to sink off the coast?
I called in the cops as I thought she was lost
And they blocked the door off, he was toast.
They opened the trunk, took the padlock away
And that’s where she was, true enough,
When they questioned him why she was locked up inside
‘She’s a penchant for travelling rough.’
They said did she mind and to this she replied
The woman, whose first name was Joyce,
‘He showed me the padlock and said it was wedlock,
I thought that I had little choice.’
David Lewis Paget
Mar 1, 2016
Mar 1, 2016 at 3:40 PM UTC
and i sat there,
alone im your company
on two chairs
in a dingy cheap restaurant
watching
you.
your blue rimmed hazelnut eyes
ticking around
surveying, tallying, everything.
everything that wasn't me.
the beige monotony of the floors, ceiling and walls.
lino, plastic, sterile, lustless.
the ethnically transplanted food and workers,
cooking distaintly behind to doorway
sweating their ambitions out in the steam gushing out like blood from their childhood pipeline dreams.
me
my eyes
searching for a flicker of affection
not even love.
mere company?
a loneliness cure?
quicksand that you can't back out of now?
in my eyes a canyon of unspoken truths and uncertainty gaps across the table.
the weeded arguments budding their
ugly discordant leaves among the flora.
the canyon swallows my nerves and leaves them to plummet,
down into the blackhole, where the rest of me will go.
is this bad karma for all the string-boys i kept?
that i would become your string-girl!
bearing baskets of love
terrifying, alien love.
only to be haunted by your gaze.
your ticking gaze.
ticking time bomb.
searching for an escape root?
as i fall into you.
Sep 6, 2015
Sep 6, 2015 at 12:50 AM UTC