Under the Meteor Shower
Should she pink the smile,
dream of a villa, wait for the one?
Cling to the first pair of trousers
passing by to tell her
the perfect length of her hair,
shape of her soap, size
of her breasts? Be a slave
in his shadow, have holes
gagged with his whims?
Or should she study a rock face,
its cruxes, lead a climb,
balance along the brittle ridge
above the raising mist,
cheeks slapped by wind,
bivouac in a bitter night
next to the stars,
press on to the summit?
Originally published in The Stony Thursday Book (IR), No 14 Autumn 2015
Galway Ghazal
Window catch faulty
do not open the window.
New tax on grave openings.
Please close the door to conserve heat.
Abortion: a woman’s right.
More fiction around the corner.
Have you made your will?
Note: incidents may be recorded.
The Mysterious Future Revealed under 5 minutes.
Shorts are not appropriate uniform choices.
You can help –
start a small group in your paris[h].
Please do not circulate during service.
Join us on the road to Bethlehem.
Sunshine Aluminium.
Edible Christmas decorations.
Tribal cleaning. Therapeutic flying.
These will be my memories of you.
Originally published in Skylight 47 (IR), Issue 6, Winter/Spring 2016
The Great Dark Spot
Someone else will have to
answer your letter.
I am busy conferring with
Cassiopeia about
expansion of the sky
summer rearrangement
of exploding stars.
I am tired of telling you
what burns inside
what dies
about feeding the fire
watering a single plant.
I return to myself
my strength
the centre of all beauty
I repaint the Great Dark Spot
relocate the Asteroid Belt.
You are a page
torn out of a star atlas
rustling in the distance
a speck of astral dust
in no one’s eye.
Someone else will have to
tell you it was not us.
First published in Stand (UK), 14.3 Autumn 2016
One Short Prayer
She started praying yesterday
walking along the Seine.
Some say a single god is enough –
she prays to the Aztec gods
the Etruscan gods
to the Egyptian gods
the Slavic and pre-Slavic gods
to the Nordic gods
the Greek gods and Roman gods
Zeus absent when she visited his home
(where are you angried people
gathered at the Mt Olympus)
the local gods
the cornerstone, milestone, millstone gods
the river gods
the stone bridge gods
the no-echo gods
the smell and taste gods
the rising fog gods
the meeting of eyes gods
the walk tall gods
the gods of lost and found
the gods of the horizon and the missing sky.
Originally published in Poetry Wales, Issue 52.2, Winter 2016
Reading Bilingual Poetry Edition
ordinary silence
freezes wayward thoughts
chill sips of green tea
its leaves wide open
sweet bitterness on the palate
bouncing stanzas from
English echoes
back to the source again
between pages white stitches
— dashes of homeland —
merging universes
Originally published in Poetry Cornwall (UK), Issue 41