Oh Summer

Oh Summer, here you come!
The girl from the cold south isle
who lives in me still
remembers your warm arrival
after months of frost
after fog in the lungs
after the limbs’ paralysis.
Even the brain went numb
even the blood was chill.

So now my heart lifts and swells
once more like the rising ocean
sparkling blue and the air
rich with new hints
of blooms and fruits to come.
Here they will be
mangoes and frangipannis.
There, I scented loganberries,
nectarines, and the hum
of rapturous bees in the blue ceanothis.

No wonder I forget
how far north I have come.
Here in the big dry
that will be summer,
already the fires begin.
Nevertheless I sing
as the sky wakes up
the light expands, and I feel
your first soft touch on my skin.

Tweet poems for July 2009

#13

Bright bud renews/the straggly rose./Older blooms loosen untidy petals/curling at the edges/ready to fall.

3/7/09


#14

Who goes out/through the wind/through wind-blown leaves?/A glimpse, a shadow, an imagining,/a memory, a momentary dream?

5/7/09


#15

A dream v light that z all music. A dream v music that z all light. I stand n th Temple v Illuminatn forming around me tangible song.

9/7/09


#16

A flash of shade/from a swinging branch/and I think a bird’s wing/has crossed my window.

12/7/09


#17

Sleek black/my cat lies against me/placed just right/for caresses.

17/7/09


#18

we roam th night sky/where stars are flowers//by rivers of light/we sing to th moon//she is golden, I’ll never/relinquish your hand

17/7/09


#19

Big sea darkening/heavy grey, churning /to white over black./Soft pink sunset/on soft blue sky./The moon/already radiant.

18/7/09


#20

Two cats asleep on the bed/lying apart, curl/in identical shapes.

20/7/09


#21

Th path to th beach/is closed after storms,/th gentle ramp to th sand/a cliff now, barricaded/with broken branches/barbed like wire.

27/7/09


#22

What invisible out in the dark/fascinates my cat with fear?/He peers through the glass/arching his black back,/slow tail switching.

28/7/09

Tanka on Tuesday: July 2009

(Reposted from MySpace)

7/7/09

cold morning
cats warming the bed
birdsong outside
fresh and bright as dew
and the light widens

Tasnka
Tuesday’s departed
young goddaughter who lives far
here for just one day
then my old uncle’s passing
peaceful farewells with soft tears


21/7/09

sprawling on the bricks
I dig out weeds from the cracks
stabbing them sadly
the lesser of two evils
the landlord wanted poison


28/7/09

two cats and one man
sprawl asleep on the big bed
as the sun warms up
cancelling a wakeful night
exploring their pleasures late