The dog and the antelope knew
blue was mortal and could not be relied upon
for any journey to an afterlife,
where the sphinx‘s nose was caught in the jamb
and marked a broken traitor.
Floating in a green jelly of aspic frogs
orange with the sun behind
we laughed over ham sandwiches without butter,
watching the fish in the pool knowing the tide was late
embalmed at the trap door not searching.
Falling for a thought not memory
catching the ball off red bricks and knowing
moments are curios untaken,
when the flukey breeze is scented out of
a trapeze of years not running.
The sacred ibis lurks
beneath a thought beak at hurtful pose
waiting chances to unpick the covering artist’s cloth,
knowing colour languishes where sand
falls into dreaming privacy.
In Napoleon’s apartments
costumed ceilings gaze down on those follies
moments when hope met requited ambition,
only partially refining the stolen
return of exiled delights.
Pharaoh’s boat overcome with life’s burdens
never sailed that half open thought
where journey stalled the destination,
becalmed at what might be Mona’s smile
light never shines on all the vanities.
Remembering the inlet that drew us in
heels dug tight against pulling closer
holding what should have been wisdom,
in all such forgotten ebbing parlours
a stranger is someone’s friend when home.
‘The Leviathan’s Apprentice’ Strzelecki’s Lover Press 2015
‘Abandoned Soliloquies’ UnCollected Press 2019
The first two lines were in my head while flying from Paris to Newcastle U.K. in 2007. I wrote the poem at the end of 2014, after I had quit work to write.
James Walton Poetry 