Dear readers,

We’re another week into January, and another week into my project to write a poem every day this year (for more information, see my post from January 1st). It’s already becoming a bit of a challenge to stay motivated and inspired, as I crave variety and newness in everything I do. So it should be in my creative work, of course, I wouldn’t want things getting stale. But it does mean that I have to keep thinking about things differently, and keep redefining for myself what poetry is and how I go about creating it. So in this week’s round-up you’ll find one more serious poem along with a couple short and pithy (?) ones. You may see in the video for poem #13, that I get a bit emotional. I don’t consider this a bad thing, but I wanted to explain to those who don’t know me that I wrote this poem about my father, who died in 2016. We had a complicated relationship but loved each other very much, and writing about my feelings for him is still quite emotionally charged.

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Poem #13: Trace Elements

Sometimes
I can sense the shape of you
A deeper shade of blue
against a lonely building

Or there’s the comforting scent
of stale beer and ash
soft serve ice cream and dirty pavement
on a sunny Sunday morning
in deserted streets

A stubborn Scots pine
at the edge of the forest
growing sideways
instead of breaking or falling
unmistakably you

I find you in the gaps
between people
in the determined silence
of the universe
Because nobody has your voice
your smile your watery blue eyes

The part of you that was
demanding
took up space
laughed and sang and shouted and got beer foam stuck in his moustache
will never be
again

But sometimes
I can sense the shape of you
in a deeper shade of blue
against a lonely building

And so I’ll lean into that wall
Just briefly
Hoping that the pulse beating
through my fingertips
leaves a message
you will understand

On YouTube: https://youtu.be/BZLLyE2m6Z8

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Poem #14

And isn’t it so: when you spend Saturday afternoon browsing books in a converted church with your heart’s most cherished friend, that afterwards, in the cold and rainy January streets, nothing in life can be quite insurmountable?

On YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/v_uMf8aDcoQ?

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Poem #15: Love

verb
The act of plantar flexion, while seated, in order to ensure the cat will not fall off one’s lap.

On YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/6pUpciZQsmQ?

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