Fitting me
better than I expected
- my mother's swimsuit
Late night taxi rank
a row developing
- I grip father’s arm
Pink bracelet
left behind –
the sparkle of her laughter
Drumming to a slip jig
the cigarette ash
moving closer to his lip
Perched on the block
of fiddler’s resin
- a cherry tomato
Grapefruit moon rises
above airport building
- seat belts snapping shut
Close to tears
I go instead to swim
in the Mediterranean
On my return home
a sunflower -
just like the one in the Metro
At the salad bar
one man, one woman
apple on the side, untouched
Drying the champagne glasses
I smile again
at the good news
I start to cry
he reaches for the tissue box
- empty
Airport security
a woman frisks me
undoing your hug
After the misunderstanding
I find the two roses
in my weekend bag
A congregation
of lapsed Irish Catholics
singing for Jesus
Applause for the dead woman
lasting
from the altar to the church door
Neon fish swimming
oblivious
as I cast my vote
Tap water falling
a sink full of ice
melting into itself
Late evening light
silhouette of a jogger
in the park, jogging
Whistling in the rain
the cyclist, too, is
whistling in the rain
Hare Krishna restaurant
I use the “Awareness Through Movement” leaflets
to steady the table
Rush hour traffic
a boy on the bus
reading “On The Road”
A YEAR ON THE WEIR
Autumn
Noises of traffic flowing
west along the road
east on the river
Low tide
fishermen wading
sunset on the lines
Preening himself
on the full moon tide –
a mallard
Waning moon
reflected in the river -
such a cold night!
Floating past
one green leaf, one brown
twigs, spittle
Autumn leaves flying
golden in the light
alighting on the river
September night
I shake out the damp sheet
- a lone swan drifting
Winter
Ducks, geese, swans on the river
inside, he watches
wildlife on TV
Winter fog
over the river
moving with it
Waxing moon
Ringed with fog
- too cold to stay outside
Full moon's reflection
dispersed in the flow
- stillness
Waning
moon
in the south-east
sky
who moved you from the west?
Spring
Sunny spring morning
Perched on a river log -
two
cormorants
Wind blowing upstream
sharing good news
- high tide
Fish surfacing here and
there
the ripples increase
-
it's starting to rain
Through the
raindrops
through the
rainbow
- the opposite
bank
Rain on the
river
two pairs of passing
geese
- his voice
Icy wind
geese moving quietly
- spring tide
Summer
A shoal of mullet
disperses, splashing
as I turn the deck light on
Swallows
glancing the river's surface
- midsummer
The sun's eclipse
reflected, ripples
a lone duckling swims
Torrential downpour
startling me and the ducks
- a slow thunderclap
Rain easing into drizzle
two duck hens
move slowly by the island.
Summer hailstorm
on the window-ledge
an earwig escapes
Half-way up the stairs
the full moon, perfectly framed
in the square window.