SOLVE

Poet
Your time is up
Like a stone dissolving
In a woman’s smile

*

Within the laugh
Despair’s crystal flowers

*
Sugar suns reflected
In the eye melting

*

Fire now
Ice later
And a cloud of paper birds

The silence
Painted in the dust
Of regret
Whips the fallen skies
Bruised
Confused
In my nest of cherries

She holds the autumn leaves
Between the kiss
And the sunshine
Sweetly caressing the tinderbox
Of my smile

A crack in the body
Of days
Pours out in silver trails
Relinquishing the silence
Sadly
My tears mimicking them
Like the ants discovering my nest.

She covers me
In a dance of dreams
She wants to take the moon home, she said
So I made a bonfire of the cherries
And we watch as the rosy glow
Threads our shadows
With the fingers of light
Gloving our straining bodies
Tightly.

(For M)

BY DARREN THOMAS 2008

TWO POEMS
Stuart Inman

The Savage Equation
(For Marie-Dominique Massoni)

I. This darkness allows nothing
But the clamour of eyes

II. Stifled gold
Like a frozen shout

III. There is a purple sky of flesh

As exposed
As the delicate filigree
Of a mirror lost in Hell

Legerdemain
The joker in the pack of my heart
Was ruffled by a wind blowing from your eyes
And fell face up on the table

The lights were turned low and the songs of dead mermaids were hushed
So that all could see the silver traceries
Of tiny birds
Hunting the mice
Who chew at the cards
Until my heart is turned into agonized lace

What is time?
A silent breeze

What is red?
A chair in a sleeping velvet vice,
Waiting to be adored

How does the river flow into the sea’s glorious mouth?
On an island, where all you hear is the sound of the sea

What do you think the rainbow tastes like?
It is the heaviness of blood

What does skin feel like?
The colour black

by MEGAN JONES and RAKHEE MEHTA

We, who have not seen
Not seeing the soap bubbles
As they crawl out of your mouth
We who hope
Not having hoped for long
That the tide will not turn tonight

I, who have not smiled
Not smiling the mouth of caves
As angel faces steal my own
I who dream
Not having dreamed for long
Of the prisoner set free

You, who have not lost
Not losing the way
As the road weaves its diamonds
You, who light
Not having lit for long
The world we all wished for

DARREN THOMAS 07

(For M)

Sweetly, falling into half-light fancies
Spoken, gladly in whispers
Pale miracles in daytime costume
We made the nights burn
Before sleeping
Before the rage of angels
The black powder of ripe kisses
Catching like stars
In our throats

The tear in the marble smile
The sun – a bedridden prisoner here
The carpet of golden thorns in her hair

Carefully, in handfuls we steal secrets
Each pine needle keepsake
Mimes a swollen memory
You should see the dance of scars on our skin
We yield only to the sting of dreams

As the thought we lived beyond
Came into the shallow ring
Here, where the flowers caught all the butterflies
The eyes clasped shut
Their petals brushing the bruised blush of regret
Their significance breeding in the gaze
Of morning
Their fresh milk curdling
On tired tongues

If we watch the skies fold
We can match their innocence
And the mannequin in flames
Will be the cause of my phoenix
Which I give to you in caresses
Warm and long

(For M)