Day 79
Lorraine
My dearest friend
Who I don't see enough
Who I forget to tell enough
How important she is to me
How loved and respected.
Lorraine,
Pottery in jolly colours and shapes
Made by her gifted hands,
Mugs of warming, soothing tea
Buckets of healing laughter,
Walking Ollie the dog in Scottish countryside
As Ben runs on ahead
as creative and caring as his Mum,
Shopping for trinkets and the unusual
Gossip and dreaming shared over
A pint or coffee and cake,
All the small things that mean so much
Shared with my friend, bring me joy!
80
I stoop towards the flowers
Secreters poised, ready to snip
I rummage amongst the pale green blades
Of leaves, searching for the base of a stem
When suddenly
Pounce!
A cat leaps Out at me,
eyes flashing emerald in the sun
The soft grey panther disturbed from her lair
Stalks off across the lawn, tail high.
81
Pain
Jagged white
Barbed wire tight
Digging into my wrist
And waking me at night
At other times
Gun metal grey ache
Keeping me awake
Not letting me knit
Or forget about it.
Pain please go away!
82
Head spinning
Heart racing
I'm not pacing
My work load
Event organising
Stress rising
Ministers, MPs
Other local dignitaries
Meeting points, ETAs
Bus panel overlays
Press release and twitter feed
Developments rocket at light speed
The world and it's dog all have their say
But, wait, stop take a deep breath
It will all be over by this Friday
82
Bitchiness
Words
clatter
fragments
spilled
carelessly
Mind you don't cut yourself
On that throw away remark,
As it lies in shards on the floor.
Traps set
hidden meanings
in every turn of phrase
every compliment
hides a trip wire
every syllable a bullet
trajectory well planned
I'm too old and too tired
for this kind of battle
plus when I put my mind to it I always win,
which is actually quite boring.
83
Ribbon
Green silk slithers
Through my fingers
Discarded from a present
Snaffled by me
For my magpie collection
Of haberdashery.
84
4AM stillness in Kings Cross
Just as London briefly pauses
A blackbird flourishes his song
Lifting my spirits across the rooftops.
Not woken by the singing but by pain
Aching like the grey dawn bleeding
Through the night sky, glimpsed
Through hotel curtains that don't quite meet.
Watching light quicken as traffic trickles
Back on to the roads surrounding,
Rumbling trains and nearby buses
Are felt even up here in the eves of this hotel.
The day's activities are still before me
But right now, wrapped in this duvet
There is just me, the rooftops
And the blackbird's sparkling song.
85
Restless
Time scraping
Dragging raggedly,
My consciousness
Uncomfortable
Insomnia stretching
Ahead of me
Through the darkest hour
Into the greying
Last breath of night,
Day laps towards me
Soft and foggy
Only now wrapping
Me back to sleep.
86
Don't forget that the clocks spring forward by an hour tonight
Losing some sleep is the price we pay
For an extra hour in the evening of light
And making the most of the lengthening days!
87
Long lazy Sunday
Sun slanting through glass
Casting a triptych in light
Across the living room floor.
Cats laze,
their snoozing snuffles soothing me
As I read Stephen King on my kindle.
Outside a salmon pink tulip,
The first of the year,
Gradually unfurls it's pale petals
Exposing its dramatic heart
Of crimson and black.
88
In 4 days time I turn 40
Causing me to pause
And look back
At the many places I have lived
11 houses, 3 flats and 1 static caravan
I've been surrounded by trees
Enthralled in the city,
On a hill looking down,
In the flat, big-sky, arable land
And I've lived at the seaside.
I still don't know where is home
As the years pass it seems to matter less
Home is where I want it to be
Right here or a million miles away
Home is more a feeling than a place
It's a sense of comfort and of rest.
89
The surgery
Anxious people sit and wait uncomfortably
Sighing and shifting and looking at their feet
Or the brown speckled carpet,
That Drs voice, the booming one
Reaches us muffled but forceful
From the room downstairs
Like a father lecturing his kids
None of us speak. The patients.
Heads bowed, eyes low
Waiting to be summoned.
90
Soft wedding dress gauze
Veils the morning sun
Against a sky of pastel peach
Saharan sand suspended in air
Brings ethereal beauty
Mellow mists and air pollution.
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