Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Jeff Skewes#10 Crossing


Flags surrendered
without a plan without a friend
ill wind howls
one way tickets

near the cauldron
the afternoon white caps
shred across boat bows
chins sticking out

entire fleets of buccaneers
in an instant loose their way
playing fear dreams wringing hands
burning off but what stays

lighting shines on wars within 
that night of crossing
between death and sin life begins
without a trace without a rhyme

bleary eyed exiles tire too
make beds their ghostly friends
but sleep falls only to those near
where this will end

catastrophe is an artifact
extinction's only a while
eternity unsustainable
clocks tick ever so slowly

they say a dream's second part
is a raft to second sight
for those who tune
Moon's undimmed rays

these are the old ways
risen by eternal chants
discerning bells softly singing
the hope of faraway wanderers

just before the dawn
poetry was always penned
heard only by some
who gave their island

washed onto foreign shores
now it would take till sunrise
to stand again
and wonder why

so the story begins...







4 comments:

  1. This piece is re-worked 365 - http://project365plus.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/jeffree-skewes-9-crossing.html
    Hopefully it better tells the story and paints the picture.

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  2. I love the two last stanzas and the last line like coming to launch another loop, very powerful indeed. The painting also is very evocative and could be seen as a metaphoric hopscotch to "jumplunge" into. I like this rebounding feeling very much!

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  3. I like the poem immensely, but am currently too tired to articulate exactly why :) Something to do with the themes and imagery.

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  4. the moment of surrender is typically without a plan
    (not what you were fighting for)

    the good news is
    catastrophe's an artefact
    extinction's only for a while

    and all of this is a beginning
    that's what make me smile

    ReplyDelete