Silence of the sea
nothing satisfactorilyexplains why we’ve come to view
this last transference of light on clouds –
at the couple pictured
we carry with us
stories & chants of forests & deserts - of sod villages –
people - who live by peat & stone - we are
killers & lovers - druids & cult figures
surrounded by winter fires
how far the morning seems
how far the city - which pulses with the buoyancy of children
trees rustle - small conversations
i grapple to understand the purpose
of your body close to mine - i want
to suffocate the spaces between us
squeeze out the folds of wildness
despite difficult intentions
we need to walk these gardens - these parklands
we need to pause for a time
to feel the silence of the sea
The late-night girls
send me to the town’s
bruised core
to the late-night girls
caught out by the early sun
an implosion of grace
& the last owl - tunnels home
the first magnolia opens
let me find
alternative routes - lived-in dioramas
souls dyed in red iridescence - fag-ends
attached to the mouths of brothers & sisters
like a born prodigal – i walk
through kaleidoscopic patterns
that bedazzle paths
that keep halving - quartering
*
curled up in my hand - a message
stains & smells - won’t rub off
a person unknown - reads to me
amputations of sagas washed up on a beach
Bionote
Iain, an Aotearoa New Zealand poet, has published several collections of poetry, mainly in the UK. Poems have been published or are forthcoming in Harvard Review, Poetry, The New York Times, Poet Lore, Wild Court, New Humanist, The Scores Journal, Stand, Agenda, New Statesman, Prototype, The Fortnightly Review, Poetry Wales and Poetry Birmingham. THE INTAGLIO POEMS was published by Hesterglock Press (UK) 2017.
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