Poems - JP Melville

From Where I Stand - Iqaluit 5 May 2020 jp I look across your bay I see horizons Of ice and rock and distance and even eternity. I look down I see yellow blue silver walls I see blue silver red rooves Down far enough away, houses like a toy set. I took my first trip there years ago Now   I see not much has changed So much nowhere people to be seen. Sure a person wanders by In a dimension not yours I am invisible Reach out my hand to touch Worlds and words so far apart my fingers disappear in the aether. The gossamer soul dissolves before my eyes. Even my own people, a loose definition White, educated, speaking English only We have colleagues to reach toward, embrace But the bones crackle if you squeeze too hard Skin slips away if you get too close Their dimensions are denser at times Then dissolve like tinkling broken stars falling through darkness And now I remember not one name with whom I   then worked ...

Dancing Sunlight spring 1993 jp melville I have evening’s dancing sunlight in my garden. I have cold north wind blowing rich indigo sky into star scattered night. I have quiet, solitude, the chasings of insanity. I hear the spirit of God. The day’s warmth full in my heart, Sweating, turning soil, planting seed, giving water, Transplanting hyssop, sage, marjoram, sorel, lemon balm, Day’s scent itself of Gilead. Transition movement winter spring flow Stillness in this moment Here on my horizon washed over me by surprise A hesitant suspension, time to myself, to my thoughts, to my world, to my love, to God. So much so often so worried so chased so hurried so concerned so selfish. I do not hear any rattle of gunshot, bullets ricocheting off the walls. I do not taste any fetid air stinking of pulp mills or steel mills or petroleum refineries. None of this is in my hand, no pain no mourning no real fear. It is temptat...