Friday, December 1, 2017

JAMES LAWLESS


JAMES LAWLESS

THE OTHER HALF

I hear you adding
in the old language,
wearing spectacles now,
the soft light
capturing in their frames
the azure of your eyes.
You are doing the accounts
to keep the roof firm,
the path clear;
you are the fire in the hearth;
I am water running through;
animus, anima:
the balance achieved.





NOW AND THEN

Twenty years is a long time
not to have seen someone
you were beautiful then
or maybe my eyes were young
the mini skirt was in
to show the shape of desire
and long glistening hair
covered a multitude of things
and the moon at your hedge shone cold.

Living around the corner
you became a habit difficult to break
I wrote you verse with a golden nib
and sang you love songs with a golden voice
and through your golden privet hedge
the moon shone silver and cold.

And then we met
twenty yeas on
your hair so grey
your skin so wan
in a long dark coat
you were an ‘oul one’.

It is said that with the years
one becomes as one’s spouse.
You married an ageing man
and skipped the middle years
to catch up with him.

That was now
but even then
I should have heeded the moon.






MONOGAMY
At Gougane Barra

There was a wedding at the oratory of Saint Finbar,
church stone shielded the couple from the lake’s spray
as they smiled their eternity into camera lenses,
there were no blooms on the rhododendron.

At the lake’s edge the swans did not draw near when we clapped,
they stretched their necks and turned
on their timeless journey
with water to keep their heads clear
and unseen feet propelling constantly to drive their hearts.





THE TRAMP  IN THE LADY

Crisp cursive curlicues
camouflage your dirty ink;

your pinny
covers soiled garments;

the rims of your spectacles
stab at the stars;

your hair in a bun
is a birdless nest;

such neatness
hearts froze,
you are the prim
without the rose.

 JAMES LAWLESS

JAMES LAWLES:’ His poetry and prose have won many awards, including the Scintilla Welsh Open Poetry Competition, the WOW award, a Biscuit International Prize for short stories, the Cecil Day Lewis Award and a Hennessey award nomination for emerging fiction. Two of his stories were also shortlisted for the Willesden (2007) and Bridport prizes (2014). He is the author of five well-received novels, a book of children’s stories, a poetry collection Rus in Urbe, and a study of modern poetry Clearing the Tangled Wood: Poetry as a Way of Seeing the World for which he received an arts bursary. His books have been translated into several languages. Born in Dublin, he divides his time between County Kildare and West Cork. You can read more about the author at www.jameslawless.net


3 comments :

  1. Dear Poet James, You have definetly accomplished much in the literary world. Congratulations on your Poems placed here. I loved your poem "Now And Then". I interpret it to be an ex-spouse, What the years can do to a persons appearance. And perhaps part of what we call, "the good ole days"....Ah, makes me think too, to be 17 again. Youth. How lucky to be so young, yet not even realize how "beautiful" that is, until much later on in life. Wonderful INK !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Poet James, You have definetly accomplished much in the literary world. Congratulations on your Poems placed here. I loved your poem "Now And Then". I interpret it to be an ex-spouse, What the years can do to a persons appearance. And perhaps part of what we call, "the good ole days"....Ah, makes me think too, to be 17 again. Youth. How lucky to be so young, yet not even realize how "beautiful" that is, until much later on in life. Wonderful INK !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Barbara. Only saw this comment now. Ah the years!!

    ReplyDelete