Category: Poetic Leanings

I saw the future today
from a beach promenade
filled with people and music.

In the future
people –
some people
will be happy
and you will always be dressed inappropriately.

Sometimes,
sadness
settles
in your chest
an unmovable thing
choking you
when you are not looking.

But now
On your way
to the next big thing
you look in the mirror
to pin a navy blue scarf to your head.

And you see it –

settled in your eyes
colouring everything you see.

And all you can do is
pull the scarf off your head
and collapse against your brother’s black chair.

While she lay

Suspended tenuously between life and death

We chased a marching band down the street

We giggled with Glee, stopped traffic

And then we prayed

All of us together

Our heads bowed in silence, respect, an uneasy anticipation

We prayed

We laughed

She made us laugh one last time

And between the kitchen and her room

To and fro

So many people

A few hundred cups of tea

We prayed together

Family and friends, family and well-wishers, family and strangers

We sat together around her bed

Listening to the whirr of the oxygen machine

Passing around strips of Sour Punk

Stifling giggles at our own impertinence

And then we went back to praying

Together.

For her.

With her.

“Don’t forget me,” she said.

Even before you learn to go around
and
around
and then
back around again
you have to fall
scrape your knees
bruise your bum
bleed a little
bleed a lot
but you get back in the saddle
again and again

and dammit

yes, again, again
hoping there’ll be less blood
until you learn to ride a bike in a cul de sac.