Wexford Avenue Sundays

Round and round the tennis court

On our bikes, dogs chasing us

In old tracksuits

Winter light on the broken walls

Practicing piano while you sing

Followed by lamb and potatoes

Back to the playroom

Where half hearted hearts play

with the dolls houses

Families we created

All the time

Anticipating homework, after Startrek

Trying to decide which one of us is more nervous

More likely not to do the Maths unless it’s perfect

We abandon the effort, eat cookies

And watch the MNET movie.

Handstands

Afternoon clouds are building

Highveld thunderstorm coming

We are doing handstand competitions

One judge on the stoep

Ready, steady go

Three humble contestants

Trying, falling

One does a longer balancing act

And wins, victory for a shouting moment

Then falling, grazing a chin on the static lawn

Listening for the birdcall

That tells the children

Go inside

Walk away, quickly

Lightning will strike

Fairies Behind the Furniture

Because of you

I am rediscovering

The world I have been living in

I see crystal jewels in a cereal box

And villages and maps on the carpet

I the flutter of fairies and princesses

Behind the chairs and tables

I see how every moment is quickly over

And the next one begins

I learn that being only who you are

Is just enough

To become a queen or butterfly

Anytime.

Waking

Your morning face

Creased with sleep

Eyes still in another world

First smile of the day

Breaks the silence.

Pearl in the Glass Globe

Far in past now

 Real

Upstairs

Up the carpeted staircase

The glass

With bubbles

An oyster

Protecting a pearl

Long fingered wisdom

Minds floating free

Stories from under the sea

Quietly whispered

In my toweling Dress

I become the Storyteller

Gateway to the magic

And dreaming

Grey, my pearl in glass

A shadow  

The deep secrets

of my small, trapped piece of the sea.

Every Day

I forget you

I forget the winter mornings in the playroom

I forget the tractor tyres that became spaceships

I forget the house of rocks by the sea

I forget you

Every day

I no longer see you

I no longer see the cuts and swollen face

I no longer see the horror of your eyes

I no longer see the vacant drip by your bed

I no longer see you

Every day

I hold you

I hold your desperate dreams and screams

I hold our walks and trusted conversations

I hold you bony shoulders that held too much

I hold your heart

Every day

I cannot

Forget you.

Ladder to the Moon

The gnome asked the old fairy

How he could repay her kindness

And she replied

That she wanted

A slice of the moon

For herself

I am lost in thought

In the pages

Watching th red pointed hats

the short bellied men

Make a ladder

To reach the moon

All the creatures start to climb

To reach the moon

I wait

Holding my breath

Anticipating

A slice of the moon

The sky is too large

The moon is too high

And the gnome, the fairy

All the animals

Climb down to the ground

Only close enough

To watch.