Poems - JP Melville

Fettered ?   Jamais ! march 1983 jp melville Push back the waves of despair tiding, Step out from walls to which you have backed against, Push, Push, Push, reach out Grasp and pull forward, an inch, another, sweat, Break the chains and run, Run ‘til the morning’s sun Rises once again, Slow, stop, breathe, deeply, deeply, Savour the fecund tastes of pregnant morn’s air, Sparkling dew, unwoken shadows, colours, The earth, roots, branches, leaves, fruit, And walk, open senses, open heart, Humbly.

= One 8 february 2019   jp Cumulus clouds building high up still in blue Catching setting sun tinge of orange tangerine Margaritas all afternoon Now a cigarette and cerveza Black long tailed bird it sings: “Oh wind in the palms In the tips of my feathers Whisper heavily, draw The waves beneath me Wash me to their rhythm”. In the distant humid haze A white cruise ship Ghost like passes to the north One ship One thousand souls Passing distant from this beach sand and wave swash dancing about my feet: Distant from all of us Distant from you and me Distant from the boy we see who learns to swim In the waves of an eternal sea. So we sat in the sand I kissed the salt on your skin Your loins wet while we talked Of surgery and software and bureaucracies and wars Of all the things that are nothing Knowing our hands are here empty and no longer play no cards. We found solace in the small gard...