Catching Up

Well, we have been disconnected from the internet since 4th January (and still are, in fact, but I am using the Neighbourhood Centre access).

I've been finding and polishing my small stones every day, so here now are a whole lot at once!


The child at the concert ...

The child at the concert
lifts up her arms and plays
a violin made of air.
Her expression is very serious.

5-6/1/11


Program

Because I have a reason now
to want to recall my dreams
I begin to recall them
more each day.

First fragments
then whole scenarios
remain with me at morning
gifts from the depths of my mind.

6/1/11


At nearly 82 ...

At nearly 82
he is reading a book on fairies,
on real encounters with fairies.

He looks up,
smiling with dancing eyes.
Later he sleeps like a baby.

7/1/11


Concert

The singer sings of love
to the man on stage beside her.

‘He can hack it,’ she says,
as he feigns embarrassment,
‘He’s a Leo.’ And they laugh.

For a moment my eyes fill with tears
in memory of another Leo man.

8/1/11


Wet Weather

On this grey day
the sky outside
shrinks in close,
while here inside
the light expands.

9/1/11


Chimes

Rain keeps falling.
No respite.
A bell in the wind:
my chimes by the front door
strike a cheerful note.

10/1/11


Acknowledgment

On the ramp at the shopping centre
a stranger meets my eyes and smiles,
lifting her gaze from the pentacle I wear
around my neck, with a quick little nod.

11/1/11


Luck

On the high side of the hill,
although my herb garden is a jungle
and the lawn squelches underfoot,
this home is still the sanctuary
that so many others were not.

12/1/11


Wet Season

I notice the recurring mould prefers
(as I do) untreated leather and wood.
So living organisms flourish best
in natural environments. Is this always good?

13/1/11


Vignettes
(Today I was presented with more than one small stone)

Stopped at the pedestrian crossing,
we watch a woman pushing a shopping trolley
with two joyous puppies bouncing inside it
alongside her handbag and parcels.
The mother dog walks beside her on a leash.
What trust these dogs must have in this woman!

*******************************************************

‘Oh Lord,’ I mutter, stuck behind slow people
at the entrance to the ramp in the shopping centre.
Some are fat, some sick, some elderly.

Then I decide to be glad that I can still,
despite my 71 years, overweight and arthritic legs,
move up that ramp quickly, straight-backed.

****************************************************

Strutting across the road,
an obese magpie.
Must be good worming,
after all this rain.

*******************

What is that rooster doing,
crowing so loud
in my neighbour’s yard
in the overcast middle of the day?

14/1/11


At Home

Warble of a magpie somewhere near,
a sunny streetscape after long rains
and nowhere to go this lazy Saturday,
nothing to do but be here, sweet here.

15/1/11


Colour

The red poinsettia
draws all focus
to that one point
of my green garden.

16/1/11