Tuesday 1 April 2014

Day One of National Poetry Writing Month


So to start a month of poems, here is a sad one.
 
 
April Fool
 
Looking back, it all lined up
like summer solstice at Stonehenge.
Pennies dropped like a safe’s tumblers
in discordant clicks,
clues turned into clarity, him Watson,
reality an exasperated Sherlock Holmes
explaining the abc’s of logic;
she had not,
for a very long time,
loved him.
 
All was panic and vacuum
in breath and reason.
He needed to be at every point
in the universe, finding her,
talking her down
bringing her home
but his muscles lost their memory,
only held him in elegant collapse
at the kitchen table,
eyes fixed on the letter.
 
This was a kindness, she said.
They only aped happiness, she said.
He would have to be brave, she said.
Here in cursive script
was care and regret,
gentle revelation and
blameless parting in blinding, loving logic.
For years he would marvel
at the kisses and familiar post script;
“Dinner is in the oven”.

4 comments:

  1. Ohhh... That final stanza is a heart-breaker...

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    1. Thanks Fay. We know people going through something like this at the moment so I've been absorbing some sad feelings.

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  2. Great piece. Third line is nmy favorite

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    1. Glad you liked it. I was pleased with that line. Mark

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