2022 prompt/hour 11: “In memory of Helen”

2022 prompt/hour 11: “In memory of Helen”

 

I walk there, to see her – taking a folding chair

I cannot go in  – between covid and cancer treatment it isn’t safe

I sit beneath her verandah – she on her own chair, well above

Telling her stories of the very odd and strange things that happen at work

Telling them as well as I can from a ‘safe’ distance

Telling the stories with the uglier parts buffed out

Telling them with a pleasing light shone on the more amusing elements

Knowing it’s worth it …

Her face scrunching in joy

Her shoulders beginning to hunch and shake …

Her head then releasing back as her joy is shared with the sky

There were fewer of those days

As time wore you down – but I appreciated them all 

Though I do recall that one with the most fondness

The clear, true sound in your voice at the absurdity of life

I shall not forget it

I miss that sound

I miss you

 

Merry – LordCricket 2022 poetry marathon

At the arena

The ikoro

Summoner of the kindred

You have called

And here we are

Gathering,

Humans and spirits alike.

Here we are at the sacred Grove.

You have never summoned us in vain.

We are here, men and women,

Our ears awake and waiting

To hear what the new year has in stock for us.

 

1st Musician

The sound rose and fell

like a distant chime,

echoing in the still air.

There was a certain gladness in it, a sparkle if you will.

It made the hearers

crinkle up their cheeks

till their eyes disappeared.

Mouths opened wide

and notes and lilts fell out

to play side by side

in the air.

The Odd One Out

You are too clever

You are too dark

You are too strong

You are too hard

 

Always the odd one out.

 

I am so alone

I am so desolate

I am so stark

I am so empty

Always the odd one out.

 

 

 

 

company

back in crowded rooms

should feel uncomfortable

but with the right people

discomfort turns to friendship

Mystic Cattle

Cattle seem indifferent

when they enter the slaughter house

marching compliantly to their death.

Perhaps they know

and just don’t resist.

Perhaps they hold some cosmic secret

about the next life

or their karmic reward.

Perhaps their seeming indifference

masks a deep mystic certainty.