For Dad

The wind blew a falling
leaf against my cheek.

And I called your name.

And you laughed.

Autumn at Symonds Yat:

Our final hour.

And the river wound bleaky

through the rocks you loved.

And you tried to tell me

you would leave.

Cold. 

So cold.

Yet somehow now,

my heart knows Peace.

For this year, in the sunshine,

the leaves are just as bright

Autumn Poem

October

a brown rash of toadstools                                   
moving along the autumn path,                              
slippery with decay,                                                 
that winds through woods                                     
of nettle and dock
and sparkling wet sunlight.                                                                                                                                                                                                           20 day course- Dhamma Padhana (Foremost in Dhamma)

The Swan

A poem about female facial mutilation as performed regularly on TV makeover shows such as 'The Swan', a US programme in which a group of 'contestants' are given extreme makeovers before being judged by a panel of 'experts'.

Take one over-worked, over-weight and over-wrought housewife.

Under-loved by hubbie and an average of 3 kids.

Ensure:

- low levels of self-love

- wobbly bottom confidence

- a gratitude so deep she'll agree to all your terms and conditions:

'Sign on the line and we'll take care of all your lines'

Wrinkles- filled. Check

Teeth-porcelained. Check

Lips- trout-pouted

Hair- extended

Nails faked, skin-caked.

Check, check, check

Now they're wearing masks I can see straight through-

Layer upon layer.

Keeping reality out.

Keeping reality in.

From woman to swan in 100 painful, bloody steps.

2 more poems from Auroville

I’m a wild seed again. Let the wind carry me.

I’m a wild seed again .
Let the wind carry me.

Watching life passing, changing:
There are no constants.

Waves, wavelets
Vibrations

Meeting, making, being
Watching my being

Waves, wavelets
Vibrations.



Queen of the cynics

It’s alright.

There’s a wall being built around my heart.

You’re just another brick in the wall.

Waterfall

Waterfall like a saddhu's dreadlocks.
Shades of gray and silver.

I can feel your life and spirit
Rushing, falling into
Holy Mother Ganga.






Rishikesh February 2010

5 Haiku

In the woods I found
fourteen types of mushroom. Wow!
Nature is so full. 





 






Copper. Amber. Gold.
All changing, changing, dying.
So full of promise. 
 
Watching the steam rise
from a cup. It's November. Outside cold winds blow.





Outside, wind whistling
Gusting, pushing to enter.
Inside, all is still.





Tick, tock, tick, tock make
it stop. Tick, tock make it stop!  
Tick, tock make it stop!

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick
Make it stop! Tick, tock, tick, tock

Tick, make it, tick, tock
 

1000 Lions!

Take me!
Like a thousand lions.
Eternal lifetimes of our passion
Combined in this moment.

Again! Again! Again!
ALWAYS.

But baby, raise it up.
Raise it up, up, up
Infused with the warmth of love.
And fly.