A Poem a Day (102): Past present

Written for 2minutesgo. If you fancy writing some flash fiction or poetry, and getting/giving feedback, or just reading other people's creations, head over to JD Mader's 2minutesgo website. It’s a great place to go and write whatever is in your head. Cheers.

Past present

We gather our skirts,

            Posies marking the fields

                                Like breadcrumbs.

     It drains

          Skies, kicking,

                 Bent in showers,

            Wrought iron

         Tearing.

                        These bars no longer suffice

                                    To hold,

                                    To bend,

                                To strip identity from a face,

                                                            To seek disgrace

                                                       In error.

The cattle low

In forest nights

‘Gainst an ever-distant light,

Playing without sound.

           

And still we stand

                                                As trees dismembered,

                                                            Branches scattered

                                                                                    On the wind.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, August 3, 2019x

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: hope

I haven't posted one in ages, so here's a poem :)

The optimistic side of me

Likes to dream

That rainbows follow rain.

There’s a little girl

I used to know,

Fair-haired and wide-eyed

Imagining elves and giants,

Ghosts and goblins,

Chasing the wind unseen

Her whole life unlived -

Does she still wander freely

In her dreams?

copyright Vickie Johnstone

Sample Sunday: from Kaleidoscope

We ride in cars

We ride in cars
Slow to ride
Our comic days
All drowned in wine
In the stifling heat
We ride in cars
With windows down
Singing to strangers
Who cannot sing
Hold the tune
Against the summer breeze
With the dog’s head bobbing
He laps it up
The speeding cars
And the lingering lights
The ripped out trees
Shouting our sights
We ride in cars
Chase the tyre tracks
From dawn til dusk
We hold our fire back
And we scream and laugh
In the silencing
As the dark draws near
And we pretend to sleep
Keep the fires burning
As the dog nods on
In the piercing light
Of the summer sun

copyright Vickie Johnstone