Author: flowbert

Prick on a jet ski

Into winter vacation

Green lake zen

Comes

Prick on a jet ski

Turning circles

Spraying his scent:

Diesel and sun cream

.

The swallow arcs skyward

To get out the way

But he’s not asking

In Ray Bans and wetsuit

He tears up the place

But the peace will outlast him.

.

Beneath herons in flight

And skies of azure

Comes

Prick on a jet ski

He can hold his head high

In the company of men

When they ask his top speed

.

But he can’t hear bird song

Or the ripple of waves

Feel soft breezes against him

Just the spank on water

Of his fibre glass hull

Like a kid banging plates for attention.

Conspicuous by its absinthe

Conspicuous by its absinthe

We’ll put on a show tonight

Tomorrow we’ll need aspirin

But for now let’s dim the lights.

Deciduous life an axiom

The forest fire in summer

Will grow back in the fullness of time

But for now we are uncovered.

Conspicuous by its absinthe

Just one more for the road

We’ve all to do some traveling

We’ve all some way to go.

But I’m so tired of taking charge of me

It’s such a lot of work

It’s such a lot of digging

To find my way to earth.

Conspicuous by its absinthe

We’ll end a ten-year fast

We’ll blow a hole in the rafters

And fix the leak at last.

The Wind and the Man

Palm trees sway, leaves shiver,

Bounce, tickle the air

Fisherman on barnacle spattered rock

Swings a line to the waves

The wind-whipped white-winged waves

Crash raucously around the brown man’s legs;

Long slender affairs, half hidden in billowing shorts

Sharp jerk

Flash of flapping silver glitters in the daylight

He crouches to study the catch,

Eye to fisheye

Still, then jerks – a frisson of fear

Catches the neck; twist, snap, and the hook goes free. Dropped on the deck to die.

A seagull hovers overhead, pulled sideways by the wind.

Lamu, Kenya, Jan. 2006