Category Archives: 1, poem, poetry,

PLATEAU

PLATEAU

it is a beautiful planet
a picture postcard world
without parallel

or once was,
somewhat in decline these days

but still, sadly,
a place of
barbarity, foreboding, danger
she dark imaginings
amongst
it’s most extreme creatures

place where
grace is
lethal
colour is camouflage

and things
have learnt the vital lesson
never to
seem
exactly what they be

and here we now return
after so much time
to see
how much has changed
how much
remained the same

what exceeded
and what fell short of,
far short of,
our expectations

must be something in
the atmosphere
so inimical, utterly
resistant to
growth in awareness
movement to understanding

breathtaking when
you consider the lost potential

this need to settle
for
permanent impasse

level
down to
low plateau

PINNACLE

PINNACLE

just after
mind melds
involving
the big five
in Kruger

I climbed Annapura,
Lhotse and, what’s its
name?
Oh, yes,
K2

backpack full of
bottles of
oxygen
for the death zone

plus
packs of wors and
jumbo cans of beer

for what use is
summiting if
you can’t
have a party?

hacksaw blade stuck
under my arm conveniently

that up on the pinnacle I
could Table Mountify
everything

make it
nice a flat for
cable cars and those
who
ascend for a view

PLATEAU

PLATEAU

it is a beautiful planet
a picture postcard world
without parallel

or once was,
somewhat in decline these days

but still, sadly,
a place of
barbarity, foreboding, danger
she dark imaginings
amongst
   it’s most extreme creatures

place where
            grace is
lethal
     colour is camouflage

and things
    have learnt the vital lesson
never to
      seem
   exactly what they be

and here we now return
after so much time
       to see
how much has changed
how much
remained the same

what exceeded
  and what fell short of,
far short of,
our expectations

must be something in
the atmosphere
         so inimical, utterly
resistant to
growth in awareness
movement to understanding

breathtaking when
you consider the lost potential

this need to settle
for
    permanent impasse

level
   down to
   low plateau

TUNE

TUNE

just dust

I am
just dust

living
dust

already almost
altogether

piece of the pattern merely
a note
    a chord maybe
a line
a stanza
never a whole song
or story

scratchy old time
like Loony Tunes
first cartoon music

a whim
of gravity
               speckle
of light

me or the cosmos
toss up here
               as to
the more
unfathomable

PUNCTURED

PUNCTURED

on its way
to a smooth landing
3I/ATLAS must
have decisively
punctured
Fermi’s paradox

unless it didn’t
unless
     it was just a comet
after all

a speed freak comet,
utterly anomalous
without
    respect for comet rules
and the abiding
principles
of our scientific community

and all that talk of
lights nicely
    planned trajectory
(worryingly
       strategic) and
messages sent to
NASA telling
us no
    worries within
the hydrogen band

just the usual junk
that orbits
        common sense in
our media eccentrically

product of our
demand for excitement,
need for
       hysteria
fear of annihilation

longing
     for signs and
last ditch
hope that the cosmos
might notice us

assign us place
and propriety we

just do not deserve