TODAY WE ARE HOSTING GUEST AUTHOR AND POET, KATHLEEN SWANN, WHO IS SHARING SOME POEMS FROM HER POETRY BOOK, 'MIND OF A NOMAD'

Buttoned Up

Ivory bone mother-of-pearl

buttons spill on to the table

her fingers shuffle them into colours

as a magician stirs dice

to confound the watcher

Memories rise from cotton threads

drift from a scrap of work-shirt

with the smell of brick dust sand cement

the feel of his ingrained hands

a map of the day’s toil

alone in her house

with walls he mended

roof he fixed

she learns to patch up cracks

share space with his treasures

from buildings and beaches

what had reason once

now has history so deep

she lives on the flotsam

Mind of a Nomad

I once knew a girl 

who sold her life 

for an adventure

cast aside dainty sandals 

bought sturdy trainers 

to tread the boards 

of imagination   

believed crossing 

the ocean would give her 

a better view

I once knew a girl 

who told herself 

stories of dreams 

unfulfilled 

left her home

in boots of fancy

to wander a world 

of wild bushland 

climb rugged caldera 

to see far beyond

I once knew a girl 

who carried her

life on her back 

over mountains 

down valleys

to beaches of lava

flagged down a ferryman

to row her across

the blue swaying water 

to touch the horizon

I once knew a girl 

who traded her comfort 

to fly on a zip wire 

over islands and inlets

sit at the feet of giants

run riot on a prayer wheel

breathe incense 

learn karma

drink Saki

I knew this girl

she was someone

After Marston Moor

In the tumble of wild flowers

grown long and tangled

like an old woman’s hair

a newborn moon spills light

across cracked slates

hare’s breath stirs tall grasses

as the lych-gate slips its sneck

swings to and fro

in time to the march of boots

still ringing deep in the ground

clash of steel or toll of distant bell

shifting shadows slip between

gravestones glance weatherworn words

whisper long forgotten names

with a sigh that chills my bones

the uneven rhythm of feet

pass through fractured time

leave no footprint

only musket holes in sandstone

Minding the Gap

You blow into the house 

like the four winds 

bickering, nit-picking, 

arguing about dog food, 

walking shoes, recycling

looking to me to take sides

affirm that one of you 

is the favourite child

years between you

gives status in your minds

miles apart allows you to forget

the clan you used to be

all four think you know 

where each of you went wrong

strangely your sisters don’t agree

but a broken washing machine

cranky car or a wrecked marriage 

brings you together

you arrive with food and a bottle

bring music, tools, empathy 

I know now

the distance between you

is a thread of gossamer

The Way of Water

They said.....

- there cannot be another storm like this

- the ground has no capacity for more 

- the bridge is far too strong to yield

                                                      ........they said. 2016

That winter constant heavy rain 

eroded every crumbling fissure 

assassinated walls and fences

became weightlifter for trees 

forced branches into dams

as a working beaver might.

Becks to rivers filled beyond limit 

fields engulfed by swirling torrents

risen above boundaries as brown-brew 

sought out space to spew

its languid form with relish

claiming every place its own.

Spurting onward   heedless of time

as if late for the blocking of roads

expulsion of stones too careless 

to hold on to riverbeds

drowning cars abandoned

in the scramble for safety.

Thoughtless for homes and factories 

dirty liquor laps its way up walls

through kitchens   over carpets

pushes at the edges of lives

the water will be gone in days

but filth and fear linger

**********

COMING SOON: On Friday 23rd May, our fabulous team member and author, Lorraine Carey, shares her true short story and a chapter from her novel, 'The Last Vestal Virgin'.