Wednesday 16 March 2016

Sunken

All of it happened
All of it finite, all of it gone

Yet here’s me
trying to rearrange the chairs
on the long-submerged deck
as if there is still a chance
of rendering the shipwreck bearable, somehow

Many leagues beneath this futile activity
Abundant life blooms in the stillness, undisturbed.

(Better sailors know when to jump ship)

Thursday 10 March 2016

Eve Was A Realist

I feigned ignorance (until that first touch)
But mercifully my spell in Eden was brief;
I tumbled from the garden bruised, but ever-grateful
that we can’t unknow what we know

Surely we’ve all bitten into the apple a little too eagerly at times,
intent on proving our innocence?

Eve was a realist
She knew it was time to blow the whistle
on all Adam’s fig-leaf cover ups
And like all good messengers, she got shot

In the silence, I hear her whisper:
Tree or no tree, you already know how naked you are
So stop pretending otherwise.


Wednesday 9 March 2016

We Are Land, Too

This is not the time to break:
Much as I long for the refuge of the waters,
that headlong dive into brokenness,
we are made of stone, too, and can contain
all that flows
Holding our shape, the granite of our bones such a necessary strength
If we’re to avoid a drowning

Mammals of land and sea
Shallow, deep
Liquid and solid
We are beyond yet needful of both
As dependent on one as the other

Study the charts:
Sometimes it’s wiser to answer the Sirens’ call
And bask on the rocks a while
The wind and sun drying our skin
Our contours once again defined

Trust me, the depths will reclaim us soon enough.