Ordinarily Beautiful

The beauty of the day

Is that the beauty of the day is with us

The reflections on the ceiling are from the crystals

The sparkling lights heightened by strong sunlight

There is certainty in the solidness of the shadows

And warmth in that first cup of tea of the day

So, just for a moment

I want to reflect on the table-top

With its box of tissues, computer, several

Books, a scattering of coasters, old headphones

(The new ones are beside my chair)

Also, the remote for our overhead projector

A couple of leads for iPhone or similar

Two pairs of glasses and a pencil

Oh, and best of all, streams of sunlight

Which cast a cornucopia of shadows

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Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

This Is It

I could count the branches
It would be quite a task
For the blossom tree
Is no longer a young sapling

Yet out there
I see through the shrub
To where the sun glistens
To where the flag flutters

Take these words not as a metaphor
But just as the words that they are
Others will start up their lawnmowers
They will be the disturbers of the peace

In a vainglorious attempt
To bring order to nature
With a proven capability
To disrupt the neighbourhood

I, I watch the bird-feeder swing
Ask, is there any post
Stay, sat in this chair
A good place for pontification

Take these words not as metaphors
But just as the words that they are
Others may well chime up otherwise
They will be the disrupters of the plainsong

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Matisse et Picasso

Hung on the wall

Of Gertrude’s flat

Son of a corn merchant

He needed to rationalise

He was very French

In his thought organisation

Force of a primal image

Nine months in the making

The manifestation of a manifestation

Life’s a beach

Man breaks free of nature

No clash

But an exchange of paintings

To seal their mutual respect

Courage in search for simplicity

To see the irreducible

In the other’s work

The idea of things

The team leader

A rider who says that

We ride together

Measure aesthetic ideals

The arabesque

The violin

The face

Constructed and deconstructed

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Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Impending Strength

I have an impatience
A desire for action
But should it be for meditation
Or should it be for poetry
Is it about monetisation
Or to settle my soul
Is it to take more out
Or to give something back

What is in the connection
Is it purely for the self
Or a gift to others
That they may gift me
It is good isn’t it
To witness joy
To be among conversation
To welcome community

Yes, to remember
There were troubled times
Also days when the lights shone
A good deal brighter
Welcome their words
Live in their moments
Be firm, yet fair
With their recognition

You also, yourself
Take it on the chin
Or into your heart
Knowing it to be, almost true

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Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Insecurities

Was I repaid for being loyal
Am I being repaid
For being unfaithful
Do these two distant partners
Share the thoughts in my mind

One sat beside the babbling brook
One tilted into the biting wind and rain
One certain to be uncertain
Then to push on out
Then to pull back in, towards the pain

Was all that ever happened
Managed by the justice
Did the shape and the flow simply be coy
For yes there was flow for sure
In those days and those nights of joy

And if it happened before
Whats to say it won’t happen again
Uncertain to be certain
Choose again to push on out
Choose again to pull back in, towards the pain

Where might the brighter light shine
Where will the lost in plain sight be found
Will the shape and the flow of the clue
Be anything but: yes I will survive
Despite my age and my own decrepitude

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works