A huge white question mark
stalks a field outside Bassersdorf. Black mourning tips folded back, a softly red bill probes the earth. The legendary bringer of babies, your blessed image hangs above those more fortunate doors. Ours creaked open a few times, but you were always scared away by those sudden violent slams. Still, it is great to tick you off my boyhood bird-watching list. The boy gaups at your grandeur, but not the adult behind the door. Published by Ink, Sweat & Tears on November 28th, 2020.
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Phoning Delta to cancel a plane ticket.
Have to say my surname. No choice. Tastes of self-doubt tickles the tongue. I sigh as I say Friday, expecting the normal reaction. The half-awake man, mimicking a computer, ripples with soft laughter and speeds up. ‘That’s a great name, brudda, great. I’m always tinking about Fridays, always.’ We compare notes on the World Cup, England’s misery, hopefully third place. That other English occupation, the weather, deserves comment. Stunning blue sky here in White Salmon, WA. Jamaica? Very sweeeet here in Montego Bay. We wish each other well, ticket refunded, name accepted, Jamaica appreciated. Published by Origami Poems in the The Best of Kindness Anthology 2020. Two teenagers, first date or
flirting friends, wait for the streetcar on the curb at Fisherman's Wharf. Two deaf teenagers, first date or flirting friends, gesturing with such intensity, absorbed. in each other's faces and hands buttering thoughts, patting each other urgently to insist, interrupt, press silent words into eyes. She gulps the air with the flurry of thoughts, her face reacting with every emotion from reeling indignation to beaming approval, some final sounds kissed, other completed with gasping laughs. She, a girl grasping at womanhood. iPhone sticking out of denim shorts, flowery over-the-shoulder purse. He, an older boy, olive skinned, black hair spiked, first beard neatly lined, leather jacket despite the July heat. The gathering crowd watch them talk, engrossed by the bubble of their romance spelt out in blurring hands and fingers. Published in #59 of The Journal, October 2020. Whale Rock
Blasting of the rocking waves, a suggestive hiss of volcanic steam– the first sign. We point, wait… has the long-feared earthquake arrived? Then the surface of the sea cracks open with gasps: surely this is the seabed itself, thrusted skyward by a tectonic fist rolling around in the water in a barnacled lump of softened rock smoothed over centuries of subjunctive rubbing. As quickly as it rose, the sea bed slice sinks back down again to the bottom, bubbling back into geology, leaving a tsunami of wonderment. Published in Inlandia Journal, November 2020. |
Poetry Biography:I have had over 70 poems published in the following worldwide magazines and literary journals: A Handful of Stones, Acta Victoriana (Canada), All the Sins (UK), The Amethyst Review (USA), Amsterdam Quarterly (NL) The Blue Nib (Ireland), Bolts of Silk, Borderless Journal, The Brasilia Review (Brazil), Bushfire Literature & Arts Review (US), Cadenza, Cake Magazine, Carillon, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), DASH (USA), Clackamas Literary Review (USA), Cooch Behar Anthology, Dawntreader, Dreamcatcher, The Dillydoun Review, Earth Love, The Ear (US), Eastlit (East Asia), Erbacce, Envoi, Finger Dance Festival, Ginosko, Gloom Cupboard, Hidden Channel, Inlandia Journal, IS&T (Ink, Sweat & Tears), Into the Void (Canada), The Journal, The Lakeview Journal (India), Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Lunch Ticket (USA) The New Writer, One Hand Clapping, Orbis, Oregon English Journal (USA), The Passage Between, Prole, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Sonic Boom (India), Third Wednesday (USA), Of Nepalese Clay (Nepal), New Contrast (South Africa), One Hand Clapping, Opportunity Publishing, The Oregon English Journal (USA) Origami Poems Project (USA), The Paddock Review (USA), Panoplyzine (USA), Paper Swan Press, The Passage Between, The Peacock Journal (USA), Pens on Fire, Poetry Salzburg (Austria), Potomac Review, (USA) Prole, Pulsar Poetry, Rear View Poetry, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Qutub Minar Review (India), Red Ink, Shiela-Na-Gig (USA), South Bank Poetry Magazine, Stand, Waterford Teachers Centre, (Ireland) We Are a Website New Literary Journal (Singapore), Weber - The Contemporary West Review (USA), Windfall (USA), Writing Magazine, Words for the Wild and Verbal Art (India). Archives
March 2024
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