A Poem a Day (194): Counting unicorns

Counting unicorns

My imagination runs riot

And I see purple in grey,

Faces in the bark of trees

As clouds form creatures

Floating in a silken mist.

I draw lines across the sky,

Dance with spiky hedgehogs

And dine with unicorns

Until the seas run dry,

But precious little changes.

We take turns in praying

And yet we don’t believe.

Can you hear what he says?

Do the numbers tally?

They change their tune daily.

The man in a suit waters tears

As his mouth dribbles pounds.

He bullies a clear plastic bubble.

Things cost far too much today

And no one wants to pay.

I hear people dying in thousands

But the government rambles on.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, June 30, 2020

A Poem a Day (193): Fire and elk

Fire and elk

The days spin out

And I try to catch them

In a gateless yawn.

It is the end of summer

Stumbling into silence.

A trip never taken.

I gather up this spillage

And sweep the firey ashes.

This morning wrestles me,

But it cannot be heard.

The herd brays on.

A lady charms candles,

Her words more powerful

Than she’ll ever realise;

Her gift of destruction.

I yearn for the wandering

Of the majestic elk

And this unbearable

Temptation of freedom.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, June 29, 2020

A Poem a Day (192): Beyond sight

Beyond sight

He sees beyond the ordinary.
This insight pigeoned out of sight,
An observation of languid trees,
Tall in lines of khaki seen.

They slip on words they disallow,
Not listening as friends speak,
Shouting for quiet rather than hear
Their inconvenient truth.

He contemplates the scowl of man.
These eyes creep and crawl out,
Ants in files carrying jellied irises
In a hunt for truthful sight.

We seek to bend back joy
And preserve it for the forever.

This tunnel of light grows narrow
And soon we’ll all be inside
This gathering dark.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, June 29, 2020