Sundogs rain Sap Summer/Fall 2003 -

A new home, a new hand to hold, friends around, life abounds …

Seasons as they fall - (sundogs rain sap) (030323)
First poem of spring

Dog shit snow slushing
as summer
is a comin' in.

Sap trapped trees track
the budding beats
of spring

Sun shadows struck chord
across a winter
white

Rain drops stopped short
of icing
as they fall

The honest touch of love (030330)
First poem for clare

?Is love to close?
To breathe all the airs
To tempt all the dares
That I could double
As a friend

?is touch too soon?
To trust the hand it deals
To wonder how it feels
Without the trouble
To pretend

?Is honesty too much?
To fantasize a plane
Of existence without pain
And burst the bubble
At the end

Sideways dream (030404)

big sky porch stare
at birdhouse sideways dream
cross room butt warm
endorsement for our scheme

Assertion (030404)

that tricky fellow anger
who tries to shield our hurt.
withers with forgiveness
if only we assert
the hand of self respect which
too often rests inert

At the boundaries of our lives (030411)

Commitment - not forever -
but for now.
To being there
for coffee rise
or moonlight set.

Investment - at low interest -
returned fast.
To make a smile
for neighbour's eyes
or foreign debt.

Exploration - beyond the comfort
of familiar.
To falling short
For all to see
Or darkness let.

Truthfulness - at the boundaries
of our lives.
To tell it first
For us to try
the dream we get.

Entrusted to a seed

Up come
So many buds
And I don’t know
Their names.
Its all the same
To me
Its plain to see
Some will be trees
Some day.

Down stream
Of melting snow
And I don’t feel
The flood
That sweeps the blood
To mind
It pains to find
How love becomes unkind
How ever.

Surrounded
By the dust
And I should trust
The seed
That sprouts from need
To burst
Its not the first
Entrusted to a thirst
In time.

Imagining Godfrey (030418)
Clare and I talk doggies

That symbol
Has dogged me
For more than a week.

And it warms
My heart
Every time you speak

Or wag
Your smile
And let me peek.

In time a feast of black tomatoes (030418)

I’m turning the soil
For you black tomatoes
And oiling the pan
To fry some potatoes

There’s food for the stomach
While some feeds our soul
There’s hunger and heartache
To render as toll.

Time takes its time
While we make ourselves whole.

Minimum Casualties (030419)
I could just drop everything
And fly
Away.

I’m not obliged
To buy this house -
Only to see mom
Tucked safely
In a new home.

Fuck the leech movie
Screened too many times
This week.
And fuck her –
The willing host.

Explode the long anger road
With minimum casualties -

Me.

The careful shoulder (030421)

I put a care
Upon my shoulder
To let it dance
And play.

Then stepped aside
To let it ride
Until it could
No longer stay.

I placed a second
On its perch
To face a different
Tune.

So still we sat
Each knowing that
Departure would be
Soon.

A third and fourth
They each arose
To sit upon
The throne.

They weigh me down
They make me frown
And then they leave me
All alone.

Just stop and sit –
Together – wait.
Till time delivers
Wings.

Then fly along -
You know the song
The careless shoulder
Sings.

Let’s (030423)

Let's find out
who you are.
Let's explore
what each of us
could know.

Let's wonder
from afar.
Let's point
to some attraction
and just go.

Let's marvel
at a star.
Let's plant
a day of seeds
and watch them grow.

Let's forget
who we are.
Let's flour
up the room
and make some dough.

New Seeds (030424)

I got your email
and then two voices.
thank god you have
no other choices.

you say i'm scheduled
for my teeth.
?are these reminders
your bequeath.

you're mom already
to kids and ex.
?is this a muscle
you need to flex.

go back to running
it pumps the heart.
You’re finished casting
I got my part.
give some new seeds
the space to start.

Home to a memorable rose (030518)

It was my home too.
Children fed
Flowers watered
Nature pruned.
All growing
More or less
The right way up.

So I dine at our table,
Pour the dressing from that
Small carafe,
Sprinkle the herbs
We harvested,
Then recycle what will
In those white plastic bins.

I’ve planted trees to keep
this time.
They’re firmly staked to
Weather wind
I’m diggin’ in
Uprooting grass
Your neatest rock garden
Could never kill -
And I will still
try to grow
A memorable rose

Okay to be afraid to plan (030820)

we are making plans
with reservations, no doubt.

its okay for me to be afraid
but let's wait till we can shout ...

or laugh or cry - a blessing in the flesh.
or live or die - an expression of the fresh.

Another pretender to contention (030821)
Elvis used to sing about ‘the pretender to contention’ …

sitting by the old Ottawa city hall coffeeing up for the drive home
and there's the poem
that seeks to spring
or subtly leak
and offer some thing
like a peak
at passion.

thinking of some year-old days bargaining with the spirits in the trees
and there's the breeze
that cools the skin
or softens sin
and offers something
like a painless
prison.

waiting for the green light to begin weighing out the cost of that emotion
and there's the quotient
the tops the bottom
or cuts the quick
and offers some thing
like a slick
impression.

taking time to make a memory writing heartbeats on the page
and there's the rage
that bites my heals
and there's the stage
that plays the act
or really cries
and offers something
like a wise
reflection
from a pretender
to contention

my pleasure (030901)
another woman gives margaret’s ex the boot and it feels good for a few days.

loaded -
with the sweet revenge
of justice done
or some amends.
but ?why rationalize
he's all alone
his misery
will scratch my bone
of pleasure.

fisted –
i rejoice aloud
there's sunshine in
the darkest cloud
but ?why philosophize
the power to hate
i took their worst
then had to wait
this treasure

twisted
but not yet undone
its good to see
an asshole run
but ?why eulogize
he got the boot
some smarter woman
followed suite
when again he failed
the measure.

Copyright Notice © 2003 Peter Gillies