Emptied fruit crates
For a mattress
Battered and broken stool
For a pillow
A bed unfit
For the delicate senses
And sensibilities
Of a princess
Ah
But for a king?
Ample slumber
In deepest repose
Category: People
Missed Opportunity ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #339
Click a pic
From a speeding taxi
Crossing Jakarta
Months later
While editing
Curiosity piqued
Google “KETOPRAK”
Now I wish we’d stopped
And tried one
A journey
Once begun
Never ends
Overlapping
Those that follow
With belated discovery
But no regrets
For just another
Missed opportunity
Wonder in the Little Things
In the midst
Of expansive glory
She finds wonder
In the smallest
Little things
It is that smallest
Little thing
About her
I love
Most
Friendship ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #332
Celebrate the joy
Shared with friends
On an adventure
Making a meal
Out of life
Serendipity Captured
She ran through the frame
Dressed in all the right bright colours
A child’s exuberance
Equal to the vibrance
Of the setting
Click click click
Went the shutter
All good
But one click
Is perfect
Ephemeral moment
Eternally captured
Surf Song
With gentle insistence
The ocean rises up to greet me
And I, pant legs rolled to my calves
Welcome it’s cool, frothy embrace
Enjoy the caress of water over my ankles
The sensation of sinking into the sand
As the receding wave draws the beach
From beneath my feet
I stay there for an hour or so
Take a few steps back
When the waves threaten my trousers
A few steps forward
When they fail to reach me
My sandpiper dance
In time with the surf song
And its choir of gulls
Ashore
The world comes apart a little
As I drag myself up onto the shore
Desperate to make the high tide line
Before exhaustion consumes my consciousness
Which seems already sparsely rational
The flood tide saved me
Put land within my reach
But while the Moon is a compassionate Goddess
The Sea Lord is greedy
And eagerly awaits Her waning influence
To drag me back to His depths
Hand over hand I crawl
Wet sand beneath my nails
Sodden clothes a sullen weight
Every laboured breath sputters salt water
Until my eyes roll back
With a final thought
I hope this is far enough
Overcast, Serene
On a cool, calm morning
Overcast, serene
The river and the people
Flow out to the shore
There to be lost
In their own way
To the surf and the sea
Waiting ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #330
In a moment of sizzle
Humming fan blades
And the thrum of traffic
She waited
For some tasty tidbit
I couldn’t make out from the taxi
She thought about yesterday
And tomorrow
Last week and next month
She thought about everything
But this moment
And the tasty thing sizzling
Or the next moment
When the tasty thing would mercilessly
Burn her tongue oh so deliciously
But…
Who’s to say any of this is true?
I was just a photographer living in the frame
Capturing serendipitous moments from a moving taxi
And now I’m just a poet
Listening to the words as they come
Trying to give them their moment
So all of it is fiction
Or maybe some of it is the truth
Though, hopefully
I’ve created something
Which at least
Speaks truly
Even if
It only speaks truly
About the act of creation
Or maybe, the story
Is just saying something truthful
About the creator
Beachcomber
Beachcombing
You come with me
The same way you come shopping
Indulge me
Shopping
You come into the mall
Find a comfortable place
Then sit and read
Or people watch
Feign interest in the things I buy
Then watch over the bags
While I go to another shop
At the beach
You walk safely
Beyond the longest waves
While I splash about
Getting soaked
Finding sea stars and shells
Sand dollars and seaweed
Always feigning amazement
At the wonders I bring
But whether a crowded mall
Or an empty beach
You always come
Often despite my protestations
That you don’t like to shop
Or go beachcombing
That you’ll be bored
And I’m sure your time
Would be better spent
Doing something else
“No”
You say
“I’m coming”
And it always surprises me
Takes my breath away
When I notice that your feigned pleasure
In a new scarf
Or a hermit crab
Is just a distraction
Because you’re not looking at the object
I’m showing you
You’re looking at me
With the sparkle of wonder in your eye
And I’m reminded again
That you come
To be with me
And there’s no place
You’d rather be
And, my god
I could not love you more
For the way you take pleasure
In indulging me
Pix to Words 