Electric Elves

Far away
on a planet called Nevermind
Two elves use unique, individual ways
working night and day
making electricity
cleverly reconstructed wires
delightful humming
the city lights flash again
and breakfast toast and tea
can resume.

Sink or Swim

Spreading arms through the water

Breast strokes against the chromosomes

Surviving , keeping afloat

Looking up at outer spaces

One day

We will stay in the stars

Never to sink again.

Double Take

A ghost
you have become
a vacant space in the bookcase
and the tea table
circling the outside
looking for the front door

Take my hand
subliminal
tried
tested
take it

I may not know when
maybe in the dark hour before dawn
the whisper of a light
A small short clench of imagination
but a ghost hand will hold mine
and on one will even see
our power.

Heart Telephone

The child sits kicking legs
scared of being diagnosed
a cold instrument placed
on her chest
he says
I'm going to telephone your heart
to see if she is alright.

May I call your heart?
May I place a line and hear the
beat, beep, leave a message
checking in if it's beating
still.

Eerste Gebed

One night, long ago

When she was too young

To even have a voice

She asked to be watched

As she slept
 Possibly held

In safe arms

Guarded by a warrior

Knight, even a pirate?

But no one came

She prayed

To  angels  in the sky

Keep her safe

Watch her, the sleeping child

Great, responsible task

Called softly

For the right

Night  watchman.

Don't Ask Why

Somewhere very high
there are answers
in the sky
They will not be pulled
but maybe one day
they will simplify
into the right puzzle configuration
and you and I will look up
seeing the picture
right
for the first time.

When The Sea Lost Its Salt

On a grey morning
an unknown reason
the sea stormed
and lost its salt
the water from east to west
was drinkable, usable


And suddenly nothing made sense
everything collapsed in that change
the essence of her tears
had turned too sweet.

Special Rocks and Shells

A winter day we walk
on the beach
watching the hazy blue water
you pick up a pebble and a shell
you yell
and full to capacity with delight
you put them in your pocket
and later
at home
they join a soap crystal
to become three princesses.
sitting on a book about fairies

please

please allow the pleading
of my insignificant veined case
please
allow for a Strawberry Shortcake
allow for a re imagined prairie
the little house and wind
the re imagined
the invented
please
allow for the mistakes
the acting from the wrong wing
allow for the turning
for the call with no recall
please
allow
for no allowance

Epic fails

Do you remember
the way forward?

I remember the slipping
the running
screaming
frightened places
we felt
we knelt


Hold on
believe
see

Don't leave the cabin as a flight risk out
Don't take out the world we saw together
Believe,
bring your hands back from the slipping and remember
Believe
There was a time before this
Believe
There was a couch and sister
Believe
That is was flawed in a drawer
But
Believe, this is what careless care causes
you were
in the right time
in a never looked pool of water
the only reference
tired, possibly maybe a spun out web thread
I will walk and wonder forever
if you knew


I was
in
chanted
the day I got to hold you
do you know?
How you entranced me?
I'll wish
please
that you know
I was
always
honoured to meet you

Swallowing the Sun

The mountain has an enormous

Arrogant task

Taking the day away

Until there is a new shy sky

Ink darkness spreads

Dreams and schemes

Can resume.

what happened to a heart

it needed a place
to be a child
to be inconsisent
to be heard
to be held
to be shown
to be forgone
to be forgiven
to be found in an overgrown ground
to be frowned on
to be flown, from any time or place
home

Africa

Maybe it is both
that the death and beauty
are too tired
confused
dedicated too much
a hollow place
in between race
confused
by shoulder
the first, the secrets
whispered both ways
the space is visible
Between the Monuement and the Hill
Repeated

Reticent tide

The moment
building momentum
the waves break
and crash
like my beating heart

Exposure

Stripped, a stab from the side
overlooked
a blow from the corner
misheard
a hand of sand thrown into a throat
swallowed
a crash on the skull
wanted
a gasp in the solar plexus
banished
a dog tired knife in the heart
betrayed
a hand to protect, brutally sliced off
completed.

New World

There is a shimmer
Bright strong light
the beggar has moved away
from the table
waiting
for crumbs to come
treading on the coldest ice
blossoms of the betrayal are blooming
beautiful in the backward
awkward
eyes downcast,
past
glance

end

The cross check examined
one last time
the shared air supply
the buddy, lifegiving bubbles
signals underwater
lost, floating
far away
drowning
I am obliged
to resurface
to find new air

The Emmerentia Jungle

Stone steps
searching for a place to own
a mess of trees is home
tin plates and toy soldiers
an ogre in the undergrowth,
perhaps
protected private land
untended
hidden from the tennis courts and swimming pools
moments, ants in broken wall world

Le Bonaparte

The smallest tables
white neat table clothes
starched
superior
tarte au pommes maison
(homemade apple pie)
sparkling
different of a world
smartened, slightly dirt appraised
clasped from far

Frozen Frosted Washing

The wind has been violent
the afternoon so frosty
that it has blown
an unexpected surprise
in the morning
open mouthed, we stand uniformed in the fallout
on the way to school assembly
 unprecedented Johannesburg winter
the washing has taken on bubble shapes
socks and underpants
frozen solid, bubbled out

marching matching dominoes

Snow White meets the Frog Prince
stacked against the odds
the rules changed
mismatched
Will we be criticized
for new connections between them?

The Art of the Parting

I cannot stop the hurting
even with the understanding
you are the voice that helped me chase the stars
sometimes I still look up and forget
in absence
I see the glitter of a Christmas decoration
and then again
your deportation

Womble wanders

Underground
they re invent what we have thrown away
every day
the carelessly discarded
become carefully cared for

Hundreds, Tens, Units

These days there is no carpet
strewn with Aromat and the holidays
a set of counting blocks
we make a city of small people
the tens are roads
units are the inhabitants,
hundreds transformed to become the skyscrapers
those days
when you were mine
and there were no guards

Happened

It is over
grass in the wind
gazing from a window
waiting for your call
gentle reminders of winter light
harsher reminders of empty rooms
left long ago
close the Story Teller book
it is over.

Magic Trick

A rabbit in a top hat
takes me floating above the houses
the roofs and swimming pools diminish
tomorrow across the horizon
only sky matters

shoemaker

An old man dreams of another world
sitting in a dark room
an outdated profession
where elves offer nightly assistance
aiding
failing eyesight

Rainbow Parrot

Shaking the feathers
spectrum of colours
the mirror of a rainbow atom structure
in your skin

Flight

A windflower fairy
sprinkles the farm forest with light
between the leaves like a roof
see her shake her wings
once
and take flight