The Yellow Room

With Easter coming up I’m going flower-crazy. It’s spring … time to go a little nuts, spread a little zaniness around. This is when skipping ropes come out, baseball diamonds get busy, people shop for swim-suits … I think sunshine …

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THE YELLOW ROOM                                    

tomorrow I will paint
the ceiling with tulips
splash butterflies on the walls

hang a chandelier of
daffodils and roses
to dance in buttercup winds

the dazzle will stir
sunlit pedestrians to waltz
in a blaze of French horns

then earth will grow yellow wings
fly up into the stratosphere
and set fire to planets

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first published in Hudson View

Twice-Shepherd Ballad

The moon and tides are so linked by fact and myth that my imagination goes wild with them. There are stories that connect them, and I create my own, some from a drift of thought, a snatch of sound, or a stray comment from a friend. I’ve no idea where my wilder ideas come from …

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TWICE-SHEPHERD BALLAD                                

she sat on a moonbeam
knitting wisps of rain
into scarves for sheep

came a shepherd
counting stitches
“twelve”  he called
and one she dropped

the stitch unravelled
down rows of waterfall
into ocean, blue
beneath her swinging feet

“drowned in salt”
called the shepherd

the moonbeam bent
beneath the weight
of knitted rain
and she slipped down
to stand breast-deep
in waves that skirled
above the faces
of her deep-water sheep

Sail Away

Children use tables for all kinds of things: dens, castles, and sail-boats?
Try this one for an adventure on a day when there’s not much else to do
except watch wind ruffle puddles as the rain comes down.

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SAIL AWAY                                                                  

I turned the table over -
hung sails from the legs

rigged mainsheet
halyard, boom and tiller

and sailed to the prairies
one moonlit summer night

the prow divided wheaten oceans
left a wake in whitening grain

I swept the horizon with my glass
in search of other ships

to my view the sky was empty
till, with the dawn, a fleet of chairs

skimmed flattening waves
to join me for a feast

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first published in Spire

She Played Banjo

I love to hear and see buskers around the harbour. They play, sing, juggle, dance … no end to the variety of performances. And why not in March, to keep us cheerful and dreaming of what might happen …

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SHE PLAYED BANJO

on Granville Street Bridge
in the snow
caught a rainbow and swung out                                    
over frills of water

she lassoed a canoe
to paddle down False Creek
chanting Hallelujahs
to parading gulls
flags streaming from their feathers

she dropped the banjo overboard
went ashore and built a sand-bird
complete with lemon beak
and pumpkin claws

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Wind in Branches

March roars round corners, turns umbrellas inside-out, tosses hats over house-tops …
has fun … March is when there are Cherry Blossom Festivals in Japan, Tango Festivals
in Argentina, and we go green for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the season of daffodils,
rabbits, when earth breaks free of winter, and birds battle winds …

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WIND IN BRANCHES                                    

the curve and loop of wind
when doors bang shut
gusts move fabric
pluck leaves by the fistful
frittering greenery
over the world

finches cling to the feeder
impervious to the thrust
and force against
the rise and dip of wings

wind blusters songs
in microscopic throats
seeds of meaning
blown down channels of song
into rushing air

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an earlier version of this poem appeared in 7Beats Here and Now

Algebra

We can’t know the totality of anyone, least of all
the person/people we live with: there’s always a surprise, the
unexpected … I think I know someone and then they leap over
the moon, decide to keep tarantulas, or solidify the cosmos …
Expect to be amazed!

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ALGEBRA                                                               

an equation gets written
between us
the unknown always x
Multiplicands
a and b
followed by
two parallel lines
equal the sum of our parts
a constant inconstant

for we switch
b for a
c for d
and d for c
in our uncalculated
relationship

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first published in Iota

The Cutting Edge

Relationships are tricky, no doubt about it. We struggle, at
least I do, to keep stress out of relationships with friends and family.
It doesn’t always work, but I keep on trying to avoid the
pitfalls, focus on the pluses, and enjoy the people.

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THE CUTTING EDGE                                      

turn your head until sunlight
cuts the edge of sight
without burning -
easy to gauge

not like love
where, if you shift too far
ice cracks under your feet -
too far the other way
and powder snow
suffocates the self

the secret is to find
the angle of tilt
and hold it
balanced on light

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first published in Ink Sweat and Tears