not even
to my knees
there were words
so heavy
my head knocked
against the street constantly
I did not want to go on
but if I stopped
nerves burst through
my body
and my back cracked
so I stumbled on.
Out of nowhere
the music began to play
the notes slow
I saw the sea
and as I started
to stand up straight
through the mist
several skyscrapers rose.
The above poem is from my second book Circling the Sky (2013).
our bodies our minds
and that strange
is the world too
beautiful and bad
nature and therefore we
are like that
our greatnesses
our stupidities
mercy mercy
peace happiness
joy I want
I wail and wail
like a child
calm I want
calm I want
to be
and that jazzbird
has arrived
and finally it is nearing dawn
and that wonderful
bird is playing
its horn
twee twee
tweuhuhuihhhu
it goes on for long
there is so much
and so beautiful
it knows it’s playing
and the music it is making
it raises its volume now
it is welcoming the sun
in its own language
it is blowing out the meaning
of its life
complicated
the gaps the turns
the stops
and now it goes back to its first note
wow what a musician
how it blows
and the trees and everyone is listening
to the jazzbird
playing another variation
now
I too should just stop writing
and listen
and now a whistler bird
is blowing its sweet long whistle louder
and the jazzbird is in the background
nature is showing its sonic parade
it is celebrating in the morning
the birds are at least
because they are the happiest
only they can fly.
sat under the mango tree
on a blue tin chair
tapping his stick
on the ground
in the afternoon.
Across the road
a cream Fiat slept
in its rusted garage
in the shadow
of a faded
yellow building.
The white sky
burned in
complete silence.
The above poem is from my second book Circling the Sky (2013).
into the rhythm of life here in Kumily
I tell myself
it’s a nice town
a nice neighbourhood
less people
the electricity yesterday
went for a few hours
but the weather
is cool and pleasant always
and there are such a lot of beautiful birds
and trees and hills and mist
this is even more beautiful
than your childhood
I tell myself
and with my scooter
I’ll ride through the streets here
the sloping roads
and I’ll travel through town
yesterday Ludger was sick
he had vomiting and a bad stomach
Claus too was ill with a sore throat and a bad cough
we relaxed in his balcony
he is a good man
and Ludger showed me birds
he brought a book from the house
where we identified some of the birds around
lots of bulbuls yellow green brown
they are beautiful
and Claus has a pool where they come to bathe
and drink water
later lots of brown bulbuls were fighting
in a tree behind us
Ludger pointed that out
and he also showed me other birds
and Claus and Omana have
a big beautiful white cat
whom they love very much
Ruby
and we locked it by mistake in the terrace
and it cried
and Omana heard it
and I opened the door
and we were joyous
especially the cat
from the terrace
you see
huge flocks of black birds fly over the mountains
and they change direction
it is all so wonderful
and then Omana
pointed out a lone white egret
that flew right above us
so sleek and swift
that was the best
and the clouds here
are the whitest
I’ve seen anywhere.
