Windsor Walk

(Feeling sorry for our Sovereign)

Bouquets and cards

so quickly given

and forgotten,

harvested like fish from

a liquid sea of faces, a

waving complex smiling wall

calmed merely by you presence,

Long live our Queen they cry,

each thinking, surely

you've already done enough?

© Graham Sherwood 04/2016

Koan on Wealth

(Avarice and poverty)

Consider the father with great wealth

and his shameful desire to conceal it.

Should we despise or pity him?

His fortune and his children both grow

but upon which does his attention fall first.

© Graham Sherwood 04/2016

Choka

(first meddle with this Japanese form)

metamorphosis
of the unassuming bean
cacahuatl
plucked from its leathery pod
prime forestero
saviour of a nation
rich commodity
we consume with avid thirst
luxury from poverty

© Graham Sherwood 04/2016

Black Watch

(An unlikely symbiotic relationship)

A charcoal dark thief lurks
under the dense protection of hawthorn,
vigilant as a spy, patient intent,
a black devil watching ever watching
at the dry periphery
of the gaggling waterfowl.
A damaged crooked crow
poor sorry emasculated bully
his crossed nib beak
and fractured feathers
command no further raucous warning
of defiance, but left with
just a scavenger's guile
and canny know-how
where our scraps will fall,
this wounded ninja, now
tolerated like a court jester,
pitiful shadow amongst the thorns,
survivor
is watching ever watching
for our next stray morsel.

© Graham Sherwood 04/2016

Amused Medusa

(A study on youthful beauty)

It’s the way she turns

that paralyzes me,

such subtle movement

subconsciously

mercury sleek, languid,

torturing me

for straying too close

to her hypnotic

shimmering curves.

With a near imperceptible

breath of a tremble,

slim balletic muscles form

to ripple lithely, trilling

through those perpetual lines,

long

body perfect

sand dunes,

elongated,

lightly swept

no sculptor’s hand

could fashion finer,

eyes granite

lips porcelain

breasts marble

sex chalk,

each curve and fissure

set fair,

secrets kept.

© Graham Sherwood 03/2016

Koan on nature

(Just look up)

Compare the beauty
of the oceans, mountains
and the clouds.
Each cast their spell
to fix our eyes, slow our breath
and weigh our jaws,
but does either have a master?




© Graham Sherwood 03/2016

Plane

(Common senses)

We are constant beings
most of us,
steady of eye
of heart of custom
so we fear.
Memories gild
our lack of bravery,
those important
recollections
that keep us warm,
safely constant
and afraid.
We become friends
with fear,
clasp hands with death
itself, go quietly
resolved
but ever constant.


© Graham Sherwood 03/2015