At sea, in sound, in silence

For Bob

I knew you in the deep soft silences

between the staggered chimes and tocks and ticks

of all those clocks you lived with, tended, wound.

I don’t recall the room, only the sound

and unexpected closeness, which was odd,

coming after weeks cooped up, on board.

We sailed a thousand ocean miles together

shared a shifting deck, night watch, bad weather;

led a fading wake across the Channel;

found wild wind off Africa, that funnelled

strong and warm between volcanic crags.

We stirred up phosphorescence, felt its magic.

Our courses crossed. I trust we both have marked

The point of intersection on a chart.

Christmas Stills

Tinsel and lights turn this grey-lidded month

Starry-eyed, sparkly-cheeked, made up.

Santa’s bounty fuels children’s thoughts

As they make lists.

                             This is the time that sorts

The planners, well-prepared and organised

From panickers, last-minute-ers, who sigh

As they queue up to post late cards, in bursts,

Remembering only those who sent one first.

For some, a missing card, or gift-wrapped box

Brings to mind an absent love, one lost.

Gift-garlanded, the costly feast approaches.

Relatives draw near in cars and coaches.

The wise know joy and pain will surely strike

Not on demand, at church, but on the quiet

Maybe in the kitchen, uninvited:

Where sheer force of family-reunited

Stuns the in-laws, tensions marriage ties

Til something snaps.

Good cheer loosens lies,

Springs secrets, opens wounds.

No wonder all

Find reason to escape: to text, to call,

To walk the dog, to smoke.

        To find release,

We look up to the stars and search for peace.

Mapping Myself

Why, I have forgotten much of my life,

what went before.  All those scenes

on beaches, in parks or foreign cities,

those unfathomable entanglements

with people. Great flats of my past

are deforested.

Sometimes, catching moments

of a film I’ve seen, or re-reading a poem,

I re-ink the place where it struck me

before, the same cells responding,

forming a known part of me,
briefly.