A Poem a Day 2015 (17): Roar

I've written today's poem just now for the PAD challenge on Monthofpoetry.wordpress.com. Today's challenge is to write a personification poem, where you give human feelings or actions to an object, animal or idea. I love the sea, so mine is about that. 
How I'd love to be beside it in the sun! 
Cheers :) 

Roar

It roars and plunges

Smashing against the sea wall

Built to withstand time

Seeking to push inside

The cracks it split long ago

Crawling back, it ploughs on

Tugging at the sandy shoreline

It seeps inward, creating dips

Building bridges over pools

Wreaths of seaweed it throws

Tearing driftwood to pieces

As it polishes stones smooth

Swooping, dipping and flying

It slips, then crashes backwards

Carrying luminescent jellyfish afar

Towards the faint, blurred line

Of the pink-streaked horizon

Where a shadowy ship sails

Shivering and twisting forth

It shoots misted specks flying

Up towards dipping seagulls

Swooping down in hope to feed

Only to soar up high again

Escaping the clutch of the sea

Blown, bubbling surf bounces

Catching a fish in mid-thrall

Tosses a bright orange buoy

Always plunging and wrestling

Ever changing, ever sublime

Surging to the edge of the world

Copyright Vickie Johnstone

A Poem a Day 2015 (6): Kid Summer

Kid Summer

Lost in days

strewn in sand

feet twitch

caressed by water

flooding in

the in between

lost on a horizon

pinkly lit

seagulls swirl

a dance in time

with the tide

beating a rhythm

playing to none

streaks of white

lost in the rays of

an egg-yolk yellow

summer - we played

a yodel in glee

skipping puddles

grey crab wakes

shakes a claw

laughter cracks

a dizzying spray

salty to taste

lips cracking

in the heat

scrubbed by sand

like lobsters

so red we are

smelling of the sea

and salted earth

trying to fly

this blood-red kite

it swoops and churns

scaring the gulls

squawking dismay

the wind carries

us forwards

jumping, leaping

before diving

into the blue

lost and found

as we emerge

currents drift

ebb and flow

a courtesy call

this fish swimming

an orangey speck

wiggling our feet

swooping our legs

circling our arms

we float

in the place

we cannot live

like flying almost

where the gulls dare

losing us

to the here below

earth bound

sea legged

spitting salt water

only to gulp again

the same

laughter spreads

driftwood catches

giving a rest

to weary limbs

it carries us in

back to the voices

of the sunned shore

a line of colourful

stripey towels

blowing windcheaters

our mothers wave

licking ice creams

the chocolate gone

as the first delight

waving and swimming

we laugh and play

the day fading out

in the summer’s way

an echo of pink

on the horizon’s back

towards the end

of the earth

flows the sea

til it fades to black.

copyright Vickie Johnstone

A Poem a Day (59): Footsteps

A five-minute poem for you... 

Footsteps

it’s the footsteps that remind me

walking 

in the snow

ever falling in dancing clusters

it makes me think

remember, recount

the numerous events

ending in this day

where the ocean roars

carrying me ever forward

I can begin again

just here

in this endless drift

of petals swimming

towards a darkening

only I can see

and so I exist

where these footsteps tell me

I am walking backwards 

into my past

copyright Vickie Johnstone

A Poem a Day (50): Fishing

This grey ocean flicks and turns

Writhing, the current strong;

Strips of cloud roll across

Thrown by an invisible hand

Piercing this picture

A majestic eagle cuts the wind,

Swift at break-neck speed,

Sharp talons outstretched

With powerful dark wings raised

It breaks the surface rippling,

Sinks into the chilled depths

To scoop a silver fish

Wriggling to win freedom

It senses the uselessness

Gripped between these feet

Rising into the yawning sky

copyright Vickie Johnstone

A Poem a Day (45): Slide

Slide

I wonder walking

ever sliding

never needing

in the quiet

between the walls,

it smiles.

Drawing a picture

of life it reveals

the immaterial you

of the ages spent,

the coffee rhymes

in curls of steam

where fingers loop

darting around

and around.

Comes the evening

it expresses this

and even footsteps

mirroring the echo

I believe in

as I walk

ever listening

in this bubble

of me.

It’s the sounding

staring into concrete

lives lived here

once resurrected

redrawing things anew -

were they spent?

I forgot

was this me or you?

let’s pretend to rhyme

in time

with the falling rain.

It thunders again -

hear it falling

like the dew of morning.

I do not think.

Instead it feels light

as though everything

is lifting

like a cloud blowing

in the breeze.

I listen clear

to the shells singing

the ripple of the sea

pulling outward

towards the line.

Shimmering like heat

it shakes hands

with the sky,

never mourning

what is forgotten.

Like a dancer turning

these waves spin,

plunging themselves

in this fit of life

so sudden -

so like this breath

escaping me.

A cloud in the sky

staring down,

what do we hear

ever listening?

In this way

I tread these boards

looking, touching

where fingertips

play on ivory

So I can begin again

where it stopped.

Sinking in the rain

only to roar

upon the silent sea

that twists

in toppling sound -

here it falls

so listlessly

this rain,

this new day.

copyright Vickie Johnstone

A Poem a Day (16): In the blue

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Mine was pretty busy and lovely! Also ate too much chocolate! :)

Here's a five-minute poem for A Poem a Day...

In the blue

We rise with the tide

Sink with the ebb

Flowing within

A splash of blue

It takes me down

Into the unknown

Spinning in circles

Caressed by waves

Treading water

We chase bubbles

Of incandescence

Reflecting white

Rays from above

Into the unknown

Spinning in circles

Caressed by waves

The sun breaks

This surface film

Finding us here

Where we swim

Diving deep down

Copyright Vickie Johnstone

Sample Sunday: poems from Kaleidoscope

Happy Sunday to you!

For Sample Sunday, here are two poems from my book, Kaleidoscope. Hope you enjoy reading.

Vickie

The sparkling sea

The sea came and sat with me

Laughs in sighing ripples cast away

Lies with me as I sink into its depths

Icy fingers caress my hair, softest flow

Down into the deep where darkness plays

And shadows dance in eerie cacophony

Where silent tears are as silent cries beneath

The loudest crack that rips the heart in two

Is but nothing, only dreamt awhile

My footsteps carry me in their deepest prints

Chasing me down the length of the beach

Softest wet sand tingling between my toes

Dancing momentarily beneath my feet

Never-ending waves stretch before me

Tearing their way into the darkest night

The moon echoes its solitary dance, hovering

As though about to plunge and scoop me up

But the beach lays bare, no shadows stray

No lines mark its purity but my own steps

Straying thoughtlessly away from me

Tracing their own path away into the night

Where the bats chase and dive and flutter free

Into the tops of trees so spectre thin and bare

I’m reminded of the shuddering chill of cold

That wraps me up in its lifeless limbs so old

And in the silence I can trace a solitary song

That passing faint and wild it cries and falls

Out towards the sea’s outstretched blue hands

And cuts down, slices through, down into the deep

Where silence lives and nothing stirs or creates flight

No echoes chide the place in time so bereft

Faint nothingness, its heart stripped cold of sound

Laid bleak and bare in the darkness lit by moonlight

So cursed, so bold, it carries me so far beyond

Everything that stands before me and the deepest sea

And so it comes to sit beside me ebbing forth

To carry me away into its darkest secretive heart

I don’t mind

I don’t mind

If you stare

Or paint the room in blue

While I sleep

I don’t mind

If you walk a while

Or smile in your style

And mimic your expression

I don’t mind

If the urge to be is too much

Or the strength to see is gone

While I dream

@ Vickie Johnstone

Sample Sunday: Moon beams

From Kaleidoscope



Moon beams

Distancing the days
In her fragile accolade
The moon reaches down
Towards coloured boats bobbing
Twinkling she shines
Lighting the way
For every stranger passing
And old friends returning
She travels the skies
In a silvery glide
Always remembering
The shortness of time



copyright Vickie Johnstone

Sinking

Sinking

In a stream of bubbles

Light, white, bright

The air flies above

Restless

I dive

Down

Down

Deeper in the dark

No light beckons

No thoughts cry out

I dive

Deeper

I feel the lightness

The weightlessness

 Of falling

No safety chute

 Just me

Light as a feather

In the warm glow

Of the summer

sun

I fall

Sliding into the void

Where we like to play

As the bubbles

Dance

Around my head

Waking

A dream

Of swimming like a fish

With scales

Of orange

Slipping and sliding

Out of reach

I breathe now

The bubbles drift away

I watch them

Float free

Breathing

Breathing

copyright Vickie Johnstone