Christmas by Erato

I was working at the restaurant
Roast carrot and coconut soup serving
Started snowing…
White flakes dropping
Like doves’ feathers
Everything went slowlier
Earth seemed lighter
Elevating itself
Cotton cocoon
« I’ll have a black coffee »
« Americano ? »
« Black coffee »
« Double espresso ? »
« Black Coffee »
« Yes sure »…Smile and nod
Black, white, on the side…
On my break
Went for a three scoops ice cream
The creamy unctuous smooth white one
They call it vanilla
It is not
Reminds me of summer taste in Greece
Though the waitress tells me
It comes from a dairy
In Devon
Whatever…
Smile and nod.
It all started with some snow falling…

Journey by Martin Kennedy

transendence from within
a voyage across ones naked
sky

pillars on high echos below
snow drifts and elephants slow

show a knew one step two
it begins flowing time universe to
climb

womb of now tress will grow
nature a virtue life a blink think oh think
we are the link.

Journey by Erato

Life is a wavy journey
Awakening to the appreciation
Balancing the pink with the grey
Day after day
Enjoying the spell of one sunshine ray :
The warm smile in the eyes of the old lady- while I'm waiting for the bus
The three girls having a wee laugh- not caring about anything
The little boy playing with air, gently- in his own funny world

One day I woke up in the desert- Emptiness
Feeling full of anxiety and loneliness
Where was the salvatory string
I used to cling
Myself am I thus keeping
My brain not working but just following ?

I closed my eyes
Opened my senses
Recognised the smell of the sea in the blowing wind
Listened to the tree leaves whispering a secret centuries old
And found faith in the elementary peace
Of mind.
I became aware of 'me', here and now
Hearing not that far away symphony
Called 'Life's Journey'.

The puzzle is not set
Each day a new piece
Sometimes my own shadow scares me still…

Je ne connais pas le fin mot de l’histoire
Mais je crois en une destinée et ses multiples trajectoires
Prendre les choses comme elles vont
Croire en l’Amour en tant que tel
Moteur universel
De paix avec soi
De paix avec l’Autre
Suivre son chemin
Tracé par son instinct
Life is an everyday journey.

Journey by Asil

The sun rose over the red city / The market stallers made their way to their place of residence - the souq / The travellers embarked on what would seem like another episode in their journey / The city became a sea of colours, until all became green and blue / The road seemed neverending, mystical / The travellers weaved through the mountains, taking narrow turns at heart racing speeds, feeling almost like they were flying / The dream cut short / The colours hazed into one as the car spun and rolled in the air / The car froze / The world paused / The traveller's minds turning into a state of half dead half alive, carried on to what could only be described and thought of as heaven / Heaven was shaped as a thundering waterfall in a vast evergreen / If heaven could be a place on earth - it would be this.





Poem set in Morocco. The travellers are two girls who rolled a car over a mountain edge and were saved from certain death by a solitary tree.

Winter Solstice by Val Fletcher

Winters firm grip has held us fast, snow and frost, winds icy blast, the green hills painted white, the trees stiff and starched, the days bright and sunny now, the grip loosening at last. The solstice is here and the shortest day now past. The spring so near yet so far away, but some things are stirring in the longer days, the skies are clear and bright these nights the moon a glowing ball, the trees in shadow on the hills. The oak and ash so tall, not so long now the warmer sun will open little flowers, the spring days will be here to wet us with her showers.

Val Fletcher

Journey by Anissa

Anissa Ladjemi Journey Poem

A foreign land
Her place of birth
Crowds of people
Never fitting in
On the outside looking in
At ease, no
Forever alone

Countries she’s travelled
Not knowing her way
Many paths she has chosen
No compass to guide
Instinct will suffice
Keeps her from harm
Pulls her through

Never the same
Fearful spirit cannot be tamed
Dark stark hotel rooms
Taking comfort in stranger’s arms
No questions asked
Running away from her past
Burden deep in her heart
Escapism is her art

Must confront one’s sins
On the outside looking in
Forever alone
No more running
Journey’s end
Hand shaking she picks up the phone
Mother can I come home?

Journey

by Fassbinder

A Christmas poem by Stephen Leake

Presence

Across the dark, a robin learns the Winter.
A candle dissolves; frank and sensuous
Against the extending light.
The streets remain illegible with snow.

I travel through you; uncurling
Where weather decorates the night
And naves of Christmas pines
Grasp human shadows.

Alone I go, echoing carols
In powdered places. Echoes that are glorified.
Prolonged.

Until I find you on the bench
Pressed with our pasts.
A child again. Tricked and traced by
Memory’s gift. Lasting. Imprinted.

A proof of the year’s new world.







This Christmas poem 'Presence' has been scored for orchestra and choir by Jon William Jones and was premiered at Gettysburg College, Dec. 2008.
It will also appear in the Times Literary Supplement this month.

Journey by Rae Louise Jones

The Train Journey
By Rae Louise Jones

Cities and towns and fields and stretches of absolute nothingness, / Speeding through a lifetime just to see your face once more. / Plugged in, the singing songs through my headphones, / The soundtrack to my anticipating thoughts of our joyful reunion. / I nibble at my lunch, bought at the station from which my journey began, / I’m thinking of you, trying to imagine your own anticipating thoughts of my arrival back home.

I ignore the loud and restless children just a few seats away; / I was once your own, as we travelled these metallic strings, / My young and naïve boredom, as we journeyed to meet your fashionable friends. /
Through tunnels I sigh with bliss, I hold my breath to hear the familiar, haunting, whining sounds / As the train pulls away from alien stations. / I phone to let you know how long I shall be. I can hear your voice, but it’s just not the same.

How early will you get there? Are you as excited to see me as you say you are? / Will you run towards me, scoop me in your arms, spin me into the air? / I guess I’m too old for that now. Silently I slipped away this morning / From stuffy rooms filled with other people’s mess and their messy mistakes / To return to the thing I’d never wanted to leave behind. / I clutch in my hand the letter you sent me, not long after I’d first left. / Were they my tears or yours that smudged your words upon the page?

The train pulls into the station. My heart is beating ever so fast. / The speakers greet me with their “Mind The Gap” poetry. / The other passengers rush me onto the platform, without my feet ever touching the ground. / Where are you? You said you’d be here on time. / My first dancing moments back home are spent dodging between commuters, / Dragging my suitcase, scanning the scene, checking my ticket, checking the time, / Fearing the worst…


And then I see you.







We suggest perhaps pasting the poem into a word doc or such. Blog only alows a certain number of characters per line (anyone know how to change that please do tell)

Journey by Val Fletcher

My energy ebbed and flowed, I knew it would be a long road, but every journey begins with one small step, so onwards and upwards I strode. As a child the world was wonderous to me, as I grew and learned and found my way, made friends, loved family, and became who I am today, on my journey I have been happy, but also I have been sad but I would not change the journey that I have had. My time is now my own so another journey has begun, one where I fly over deserts and mountains and sea and sky are one, I meet people of many cultures I eat many different foods, and share a little of their lives and all their different moods. We part and always say we will keep in touch, we do because we have shared so much. My journey in some ways has been tough with heartbreak on the way, but that behind me now I feel ready to go on and though it might get rough, but with hope and stregnth I will carry on, I hope to more adventure and fun.



- Val Fletcher.

Journey by Maddy

I feel so blessed

I feel so grateful

To be able to travel on

My journey i'm in awe.

How far have I come?

How far still to go?

This world is beautiful,

I feel so joyful.

Have i stopped here before?

In a world where nothing is certain,

But change and growing old seems scary

Best to try growing wise and be merry!!

Journey by Aaron Flynn

Here to there,
And back,
Or not,
Maybe further along than that
Or less
Or even stay when you get there
Never to return
Or just to visit (grudging or not)
From the womb to your tomb
From one crotch to another
Lover above us
Or below
So slow
Or too fast
Too narrow
Or too vast
In the future,
Present
Past.
This life will never last
So enjoy while it’s here.
Every day is a journey.
Every hour.