the same curve

over the top
of the towel
held clutched
scrunched
against my face
i peer out
across the
lamp-lit sand
to the darkness
of the water

my bathers drip
like an
out-of-time
metronome
down my legs
onto my sandy feet

the moon is a bowl
on its edge
dripping stars
so slowly
they hover

a seagull slingshots
around the moon
catches the glow
like a thermal
then slips
over the edge
and away

my eyes reach
into the water
the gentle swell
says go back
go back
but beneath
a current surges
and urges
come on!

i lie floating
my body
rises and falls
to the rhythm
of my breathing

the buzzing silence
carries dreams
like seaweed
that brush my legs
memories
like salty water
wash
and sting my eyes
the earth is speaking
and with all my senses
i listen

shadows curl and
collapse like a
handful of horizons
the dripping
has stopped
the moon
is empty
i catch the sky
in a slow curve
a gentle gesture
of the journey
to come

would sir like gunfire?

um i’ll have drive-by shooting
she’ll have suicide bomber
ah execution too please
beheadings definitely
those mortar rounds um
or car bombs
i can’t decide

yeah cheers
mortar
thanks
torture as well
roadside bomb?
ah with airstrike?
hmm maybe
oh just give us everything

(inspiration: www.iraqbodycount.org)

tear-lined face

the child is scared
cold
hungry
she is running

she reaches you
tired and
alone

you have food
you have room
and yet
you hesitate

to draw a line

dirty brick wall
with broken glass
dirty big house
and i have to ask

if i climbed your fuckin wall
and sliced my hand
would you say that
that was just as planned?

would call the police before
you come to my aid?
would you shrug and say
it’s the price to be paid

to separate
what is yours from mine
and the blood that is spilled
just a line

that you repeat
over and over again
holding me out
by holding you in

michael's favourite walk

but the echidna
will not have it
freezes in its
mid-path
trundle
and forms a bundle
of spikes

and stays that way until
the man and the sky
are still
and the line on the sea
a windowsill

the echidna peeks out
and sees that
the man
and the trees
are quiet
is no more threat
and the two of them
decide to let
each other pass