Welcome.......

Welcome to my 'small stone' blog.
I hope you find
something here that will touch your heart. The poems here will all be very short, some will be a Haiku style, and were prompted by the 'a river of stones' project: http://ariverofstones.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-small-stone.html
Please sign my
guest book, your comments will be much appreciated.

Thursday 14 November 2013

The fire without


The fire without,
red eyed
with the dying of the sun,
looks into the windows
and sees
its reflection.
It is putting on its make-up
for the night.

Wednesday 6 November 2013

The tree is in love



The tree is in love
with Autumn
wearing its hearts on its sleeve
in a yellow blush.
Like birds returning to roost
heart-leaves gather;
a warm snuggle,
a smile on the soul.

Thursday 31 October 2013

Nature sparkles

Nature sparkles
like a lit touchpaper,
ready for Autumn
to explode.
Showers
of colour
from tree and shrub
gambol in the wind,
loitering in eddies,
littering paths.
These are
fireworks -
an
arsonist
of
burning imagination.


Sunday 4 August 2013

Jackson Pollock on the beach




Jackson Pollock on the beach:
a wooden canvas on the sand
proud reds and browns
and the pebble dashed
splash of tide.
The blood and scars
of battle with the wind
a spar
that once rode the waves
remains beautiful
in its latter days –
it ‘grows not old
as we grow old.’


Thursday 20 June 2013

This morning



This morning
the orchid is crying;
 flowery tears
litter its base
like mourners
tending a grave.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Footprints




                              Footprints in the snow
                                      the kisses of feet
                             on shallow skin
                                                and
                                                the sinking feeling of love.


Thursday 31 January 2013

31. A joy of magpies (haiku)



A joy of magpies
cackle their chatty gossip
fishwives in the tree.

Q.  Why ‘joy’ when that’s not the collective word for magpies en bloc ? 
A. From the rhyme : ‘one for sorrow, two for joy……..’   (wikipedia)

Wednesday 30 January 2013

30. Eucharist



With the aching breaking of dawn

and a shallow sun

the snow begins to shuffle away;

like inverse communion -

turning from holy white

to blasphemous grey

as it gathers

its sin.

Tuesday 29 January 2013

29. other tracks




Others have passed this way,
their motives unclear.
They have written their moments
with forensic footfall,
silent evidence,
imprinted in the overnight canvas.
There is no need
to further dust
for prints -
I have a nose
for these
things.


Monday 28 January 2013

28. Icicles




Hiding in the winter jasmine
travelling earthwards
from lofty roosting
old snow
metamorphoses
drip by tortuous drip
to transparent stalactites
amid the dripping thaw.


Sunday 27 January 2013

27. Fieldfare



With no fanfare,
the flighty fieldfare
foregoes her furtive foraging.
Sentry-settling in nearby tree
she waits at extravagant attention
for the intruder
to pass by.
I have no designs
on her berries,
they have stained her chest.



Saturday 26 January 2013

26 tracks



Deceptive arrows,
about face,
pointing
to history.
Imprints of travel,
snapshots of the journey,
moments preserved, for the moment.


Friday 25 January 2013

25. The gallery (haiku)



The nightshift artist
painted albino shadows
on perches of birds.


Thursday 24 January 2013

24. tender




tender (haiku)


Brush of lips on skin

paints the warm blush of a smile;

new workings of heart.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

23. It is quiet



It is quiet.
The chuckling of truck and carriage,
a silent spectre of another time,
a ghosted memory
smoked into the brickwork.
It is quiet.
The straining of push and pull
skidding steel, the laughter of steam
and the scythe of piston
distant for the while.
It is quiet
in the waiting.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

22. Chill crimes



The ripples have been stolen.
Cold, in its stealthy thievery,
has concreted over the lake -
the icy mafia has taken over.


Monday 21 January 2013

21. Flamingo reeds




Standing proudly,
the reeds
crowd the waters edge
like flamingos at prayer.


Sunday 20 January 2013

20. Churning flow



Churning flow,
threshing white,
scuttling water
and the voracious
clamour
of greedy flood,
cannot steal
the attention
from the spotlight,
sunlight, glow
within the
living water.
The mill stream
powers its journey
beyond the compass
of wheel and cog.

Saturday 19 January 2013

19. Snow comes



Snow comes,
another blanket
seeking to separate;
ignorant of reality -
for you are not there.
You are not enclosed in rotting wood,
nor blessing the soil
by your imprisonment.
We live on
in our different guises,
we live together
in our different space.
We will greet each other,
beyond storm and blizzard,
in the warm embrace
of eternity.


Friday 18 January 2013

18. pebble ridge

Pebble dashed,
the stucco shoreline
shuffles daily
in tidal disposition.

Thursday 17 January 2013

17. journey

The world passes by
beyond the window,
beyond the unlooking glass.
Transported by thought,
its wheels silent as snow,
for this moment
you travel a parallel universe
of possibilities.
The return ticket
weighs heavy in your hand.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

16. Industrial strength choreography



Didn’t I meet you at another dance,
when hungry mouths polka’d
and tango’d,
devouring photosynthesis
and nature’s other prancings.
Laying waste cutwork lace
in intricate entwinements,
we ravenous artisans
share our cottage garden industry.
We jig, in sawing harmony,
in terpsichorean topiary,
unweaving
filigree -
we break-dance  
to oblivion.

Monday 14 January 2013

15. Jewellery




Beside the tree, the adornment,
not the brief cluster
of festal Christmas
gaudy and hanging over
bright and self proclaiming,
but a smiling choker of ivy,
wearing love upon it.
Hearts trimmed with diamond ice
for the simple occasion -
the betrothal of seeing.

14. grey



The morning wakes
with a yashmak across its face.
Alluring, secretive, promising;
a tinge of a smile
in concealment.
The grey wash of fog
slowly undressing,
dancing its seven veils, 
revealing.
God brings out the water colours.

Saturday 12 January 2013

13. The mystery of tresses



A corn-rainbow of swirl
arced and tumbled
lightly laced coiffeur 
in intelligent grandeur.
I long to flow
in the mystery of your eddies,
slide and glide in your depths -
strands slipping through my hand
like the whisper of fine dry sands.
The crown
of beauty
unsullied by jewel.
Blonde and glistering in the sunlight:
drawing energy in golden dawn
drawing mystery in lazy dusk,
your hair charms me.
Sorceress of emotion,
casting spells in wave and curl
cascading over your shoulder,
I fall to the tsunami
of passion.

12. Lights





Lights,

hanging like foxglove bells,

chime their tune-some luminance

on  winter-grey shoppers

seeking their songs

of sale-time enlightenment.

Few look up to wonder;

the subdued resonance

asks them no questions,

tells them no lies

but rains upon them 
this benefice of perception.

Friday 11 January 2013

11. the triffid at the door




The triffid at the door
knocks in the wildness of wind
and the soundtrack
of throbbing fear.
I won’t let it in -
it has ten drills.

Thursday 10 January 2013

10. stony faced



Stony faced, you gaze the garden morning;
a tear surveying your eye
mason-dixon mapping
in its descent
the contoured shadow
shrinking in the day's uprising.
Fallen prey to Medusa’s
sculpting,
do you cry from tired regard
of the singular view
to which you are posed,
or the certainty
that nothing moves you ?

Wednesday 9 January 2013

9. from hiding



Day comes
ambushing the night
as if unexpected.
Day comes
throwing colours
on the drab canvas
of dawn.
Day comes
sowing the seed
of possibility.

Tuesday 8 January 2013

8. Holding on



I will not let you go
though cold and sun conspire.
You, my finger tips,
frost bitten
at the turning of the year.
I will warm you
in the afterglow
of love.

Monday 7 January 2013

7. stern



With sentry gaze
the gannet fixes
its limpet grip
like the teacher
who breathes pain.
Look into my eyes
the stare demands,
I have you
in my sights.