JIGSAW HEART

My heart's a jigsaw Eschered with small hearts:

Poets: Donne, Arnold, Hopkins, Eliot, Cole – 

Ancestors: captured, wed while on parole –

Family: formed from wandering in wild parts –

Bits of my heart. A house, view of the sea –

Rain-lilies, poincianas, jasmine scent –

Azaleas, goldfish, owls, field grass rain-bent –

Cafe on loud street – quiet library –

My jigsaw's nearly done, a work of heart!

But where’s that long-lost girl-shaped piece…

Lost, it prevents the whole, prevents my peace…

I circle endlessly for that lost part,

The missing statue for the purposed plinth,

That girl lost in some Escher labyrinth.

Published: The Lyric, USA, January 2016

EIGHT LEGS

Odin had a spider

In a web above his throne.

“Out!” he said; it came to him.

“And up!” he said; it grew.

“Legs go this way, legs go that!”

The wind began to moan.

Odin touched a spur to Sleipnir,

Through the storm they flew.

Published, Anima, UK, No.2, 2016

THE EXHAUSTED MINE

In the hard granite of a human chest

Love’s small explosions blast a cavity.

While pumps and sluices clear ore and debris,

Miners create a cavernous heart divest

Of wealth gone out. There may at times unfold

Sad tales of miners trapped by falling stone,

But life demands the risky work go on:

This treasure chest of granite’s veined with gold

The world demands be brought into the light.

A huge cathedral of the spirit’s left,

Caverns of empty worship, dream-bereft,

The treasures claimed by others as their right.

But flecks of gold still glitter in the gloom,

The heart remembers glories in its tomb.

Published, Anima, UK, No.2, 2016

GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME

The wide world has its glories

In a rich complexity

But sitting watching the sun set

Is good enough for me.

Canada has six time zones

From sea to sea to sea

But one tide lapping where I sit

Is good enough for me.

The muezzins in the Saudi mosques

Wake all to pray and pee

But a rooster crowing in the bush

Is good enough for me.

And Singapore is lush and green

And managed prettily

But scrub grass and a sandy beach

Are good enough for me.

All – good enough for me.

Published online: Snakeskin 225, January 2016