Things Poetic

 Dealing with Grief How, in any world, do you ‘deal’ with grief Any form of it Your closest get tired of your sadness, your inability to cope, crying at  The drop of a hat, refusing to go out and enjoy life Choosing darkness, silence….or just rewatching Game of Thrones over and over again “Why don’t you want to meet up, why….” ‘OK, Ill do something instead. You grieve in your way. Im not waiting ‘ The people who used to call on you, stop Those you saw as closest, aren’t any longer Avoiding conversation, stopping asking or listening or both And still, that screaming in your head continues. Still that cold face keeps you awake at night Still you grieve, desperate for a way to cope But cant. So, instead, you cut ties with everyone.  Stop expecting anything from anyone, stop relying on anyone. Put the barrier up that just affirms theirs And then you start to be able to cope with the loss, the devastation, the hole left behind And the hurt feels less, but isn’t The loss feels ...

 Silence Sometimes you want to hear nature, the sound of birds In the trees, rain pattering on the  Long grass, lifting the dust from the surface, the smell is  Everywhere, fresh and  Natural, birds seeking out the bugs that have  Come to the surface, our out from under leaves, Entering the clean world that’s just been renewed

 Silence To have silence, quiet Nothing breaking it A goal and a lost hope But something to seek and drive for Lie on the water surface, head in the water And listen, float, nothing else Waves rippling, sounds of people, water on sand Peace Meandering through reeds, over stones, around trees and plants Over level falls  Against sand

Conscription Growing up with the idea of conscription is going to be a new idea If the worst predictions are right When threats of ward trip into preparations For wars Or  Deployments for wars Gap years wont happen any longer Deferred till after Will there be places to go  After ? Waiting for that letter in the post I’d guess it’ll be email now ? Saying Your time has come young man or woman To do your duty And learn to defend, to fight, to stop the enemies doing to you back Frightened, shaking hands hold the letter, the laptop, the phone ‘When’…’where’….’Why me’ All the questions we asked as teenagers All the options we looked at All our hopes and dreams

The Rose Petals, deep red, lips dipped in wine, Opened, splayed, calling out to be visited Thorns deterring the unwary Molten core a magnet for insect and human alike In the wind or in a vase Delightful, fragile, protected

Perfect or Good I love this from John Steinbecks book East of Eden  “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, You can be good” And even more so because it’s spoken by Lee, the Trask family cook.  The impossible pressure to be perfect or without flaw is face and false. Once you drop that as a goal, then you are free to make human choices to be kind or ‘good’ I like this balanced and connected with Lee’s description of ‘, the concept of ‘thou mayest’ - human beings have the choice to be good or bad. They are not trapped in some form of predestination. Not only is there a concept of ‘thou mayest’ (ie you can choose to…) , you can also choose to not.

 Fragility ‘He’s had a stroke’ - words that fill you with dread. Can he speak.  Can he walk. Can he see. The uncertainty and fear send our minds into a maelstrom of chaos ‘Time will tell’  Yes, it will, but till then, everyone will be.there and hold him tight It’s so fragile