Growth
Poetry by Karin Cox
Published by Karin Cox at Smashwords.
Copyright Karin Cox 2011
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Table of Contents
Debut Anthology of a Handsome Poet
Walking in Waterloo
Elbows like compass points, I glide.
Pull a shoulder forward,
turn as
sharp as the crackle
of the loudspeaker.
Dance with
the crowd,
navigate through faces.
It is war
at thirty paces
just to make the train.
Click of heels—there’s no place like home
or platform four.
Beyond the sea of frowns and suits
a young girl scoots, bum snug in jeans.
The man beside me trips.
“Ex-cuuu-se me!” Lady lifts a wrinkled brow.
I dash around this duelling pair.
If I can pass that red shirt guy I might get there
before the six-fifteen is full
of bleating cattle breathing in the space.
Friday Afternoon
tousled hair on a too-tidy desk.
It ripples like coffee rings,
spreading in yawning O’s,
or eyes widening hopefully
in a silence that segues into sleep.
Tired tremors of percolating printers
mask the muffled urgency
of inconsequential emails,
filling inboxes
like down piling into pillows.
Just a Word
Etched… that closing word you wrote,
not without thought.
Every day I spent with you,
if nothing, taught,
you do not lightly wake or think or talk.
You knew the value,
the currency and weight,
of that small word you used—
yet used too late.
Writer’s Block
My brain’s pecking pigeon has flown away
momentarily
s c a t t e r e d
by the bliss-throwing hand
of my heart.
Kicked to the kerb on the day’s job,
it wings off,
following a trail of filmy feathers,
into the burgeoning blue.
Sometimes I can no longer hear
its wings beating
in the collapsed cage of my mind.
Today, I hear its teasing, subtle coo.
Debut Anthology
white as the page.
The same age as me—1975!
I catch your smile,
roll it in my mouth,
bite it.
It is authentic,
that happiness of style,
each tooth lovingly placed,
every stain carefully erased.
It is success—sharp-pointed,
powerful—gnawing at every poet,
filling your smile with sweetness.
Old Photo
You are lost in the spirit world,
my long-haired boy.
I crucified you, with your Jesus locks,
forgot how
they curled, gently real,
on my pillow.
I forgave you your sins,
I moved along,
filled whole bins
with your sweet words.
Made another me,
got another place,
but when I found your photograph
I still touched your face.
On Wishing I Could Draw
stretch feathered into line.
They lift a hue or contour to define,
lure, lead and dance into the air,
blurring shadows, dark and fair,
stretching graphite into eyes and hair.
A Turin Shroud that pressed an image there.
Patience
for my life to return in open door of “sorry I’m late”
and “so-so called” and “whosit dropped by”
and “ate at work”.
Empty smile and cold dinner plate,
waxy candlelight and stale wine.
Yet still I laugh and kiss and love this man of mine,
and wish he’d never leave this room again,
until I bade him “go away”,
until I claimed my space,
until my mind again was made
to never love another face
or hold another’s body to my breast.
And willingly I give my hand to him,
my soul a feathered nest,
a treasury of this man’s greatness,
I am so much a part of he
—the destination of his lateness.
Cousins
We grew together, twisted around each other,
grafted in shared experiences,
before I said a word you had my tongue.
Our girlish thoughts soared like birdsong,
and sang themselves, when we were young.
This blood we share,
manifest in smiles and eyes and hair.
We were the same, in deed and hope and name.
But now? We bear different fruit you and I.
My world is this of words, of men and mind … of me!
Your world you teach to yours … in domesticity.
And that is nobly you: to please and love
and pardon as you do.
But have I had what you can’t have?
What you have, will it ever be my own?
Your youth’s mine still, but have I lost you
now we’ve grown?
Carnivorous
across slippery sheen of thighs,
slick with sticky wet.
They open wide—your eyes,
and big hands flick,
knead, tease, caress.
Your muscles taut,
our voices thick,
we whisper in the mess,
of limbs. Our lips
kiss up paths of neck
and trace curious fingertips,
up curve of arching back.
Grow whisper to a growl and we devour
tastes, and sniff the air.
For in this hour,
our bodies’ caves are where
sensual beasts prowl,
and where we prey.
With lolling tongues and ragged breath,
we recreate ourselves, succumb to death.
Then inside each other are reborn.
Complete and full, we rest and kiss and purr,
lazy-eyed, spread-eagled in the dawn.
Last Thoughts
fiery eyes of days I’ve scolded
for you didn’t keep your word?
Or songs you’ve heard
come streaming from my lips
in happiness?
Or thin, tanned thighs entwined
upon the couch, with sand in cracks
rivulets of sweat amidst our hair
and pebbles in our backs?
Or maybe lying, squandered, plundered,
in the morning that creeps,
a thief, to lift my head from off your arm?
Or a flag of hair?
It lay, so gently there,
remember?
Upon your chest a while,
stirring in your breath,
tickling at your smile?
So many, yet so few,
the laughs and lusts that kissed.
Your last thoughts of me, boys,
come, what are they?
Have you missed
my voracious attitude?
Will you remember, one and all,
when we woke to day?
Emails, eye creases, breasts and shadows?
Or do they fade away,
those thoughts,
last thoughts?
My last thoughts of you,
your last thoughts of me—
it had to end, but lives in memory.
The Surprise
Hands folded like tissue paper in my lap.
You hold up mirrors, rippling with wrinkles
to reveal the snarling demons
that peek from bony, empty clavicle
and slide down sinking breast
to trampoline on soft white pudding stomach.
I remember muscles used to flex and dance,
firm below my jut of chest.
Eyes used to sparkle,
lips used to kiss and purse and pink.
I used to soar and circle youth,
but now with age I sink.
Through the Wall
quiet-breathed, lidded low with love—
listening.
Your gentle cough—the cue.
A night light pulls me safe
to sleep’s familiar shores,
rocking to a lullaby of snores.
And I still hear your call,
louder than before.
My ears decipher it as shrieks
of dolphins netted in the night,
or the horror pierce of wings
over beaches stretched and white,
where calling seabirds flap off out of sight
like bedclothes rustling to frustrated heaps.
Who dares love in this hour,
and who sleeps?
Witching hour, not yet spent.
Months of year like pillows propped—sighing.
Fingers touch, we tease.
Lips so soft suddenly grow hard.
The tide’s turning swell, all tumbled over sand.
Earlobe’s small pink shell
receives and recognises each demand
and answers with the gentle touch of hand.
Gasps filter like reeds
through thin film of want,
like purple-opening anemones,
that feel and finger every need,
then snap shut suddenly,
and sink beneath.
How I regret not falling in this hour,
not diving in this deep.
Surrey Winter
Dark nights and still mornings with frost on the ground,
settling like Christmas lights on trees all around,
naked and grey in the thin rising moon.
So this is England on a December noon,
where honey-coloured leaves surround in mounds,
water nestles gently into puddles
and all these sounds
make winter.
Stitches
slick the sides with yellow butter.
Spread muffins' delicate parts,
like surgery.
Crumbs cluster like nurses,
or children at gates
before school.
Slip over them,
stitch up with sticky fingers
the warm blueberry tongue.
I have warned you before
not to lick your knife.
Gambling
who does not keep herself—
those sacred, weeping places—
secret enough.
Does not cherish the subtleties,
the hidden, hard-of-hearing lies
of femininity.
No poker face, play your hand cards up,
and watch another chosen from the pile.
You are the joker!
You are the wild!
The smearing, snapping fingers,
the dirty face, the glaring dumbness of a child.
The card that sits, shuffled,
to the bottom of the pack.
You are the discard!
Never come up ace.
You should have played the game,
closer to your chest.
You should have bluffed,
held something back,
like all the rest.
You are a gamble too great to take.
Summer Picnic
In summer when the crushed tomato sun
bursts like strawberries
in a melon sky,
the creamy clouds melt
silver-lining teaspoons.
Turn the hours
like butter in a churn.
We lie in picnic’s perfect passion,
kissing freshness in the dying fruits of spring
and the timelessness of time.
The Lost Summer
The silver brilliance of the beach,
lures me with a siren song of birthright.
It reaches winter-whistled ears,
tucked behind woolly hats
—a soft cooee from Antipodean shores.
It taunts: this is where you belong—here!
Stretched out, glimmering, golden, still,
watching the seagulls, jetsam of the air,
glide in noisy waves.
This is your summer skin.
This, your blonde and salty hair.
So sit you by that windowsill,
watch the snow fall, thick and pale,
and learn your place.
This fondness in your heart for rain and grit,
this merry-go-round lager-loving larf—
you put your nationality on sale.
You’re largin’ it, but you are not a Brit,
my prodigal child—no, not by half!
I’ll send you summer’s memory,
sharp and clear,
to slice through icy veneer like a knife.
My girl, your halcyon days may well be here,
but you’ll return
—this sunshine fuels your life.
Cancer
There’s nothing more to life than but to smile.
Smile constantly, for others and yourself.
Smile prettily and force your eyes to dance.
Smile for loss of hope and joke of chance.
When you’re sobbing inside, force a grin.
When you feel like screaming, make a joke.
Smile until your head aches; laugh until you choke.
Even as you’re poisoned from within—smile!
Smile as you remember we’re all dying.
We’re all Nature’s playthings; have a laugh!
No point in not. No point in crying.
Smile—enjoy her wicked sense of fun.
Smile—it’s an antidote to hurting.
Smiling’s the best work you’ve ever done.
Smile, because it’s easier than killing.
It takes less work than frowning, just for one.
Smile, though round the world our blood is spilling.
Smile—all the world just loves a smiler.
Will someone love you just because you are?
Smile for war, disease, deceit and liars.
Smile—because you’ve managed to this far.
Smile and you’ll feel better in the morning.
Smile and no-one ever needs to ask
if you’re OK or if you’ll see tomorrow.
Even if you’re drowning in your sorrow,
it doesn’t matter if you wear that mask—SMILE!
Picture of my Niece
She sits—a grain of sand, a shadow on the beach,
life’s haul of shiny, flapping things before her feet,
with eyes that tumble like the sea
to childish thoughts and innocence beyond the adult reach.
Her pointed finger, parted smile,
a jaunty hat cocked on her fair-curled head,
I gaze at her awhile,
and my thoughts linger, on the fish she pokes,
so still and dead.
Yet she is so alive, with so much joy,
it radiates to me from far away,
and then I want to be near her, to tell them:
“Perhaps I shall be back now any day.”
Veronese Hawkers
Eyes polished to a shine like jet, gleam from terracotta streets.
A snap of clasp, mosaic bags tan themselves on pristine sheets.
Burnished brown and russet red, like Africa, where that land meets
Italy’s soft watercolour, as Verona’s sunset fleets.
He props some open, leather licks inside,
the callused tickle of a lion’s tongue.
Smooth fingers prise compartments of all size.
“Smaller bag,” he gestures, “here it hide!”
Handbags swing like heavy fruit upon his shining arm.
“He’s empty; you make full,” he smiles. Such charm.
His grin is ivory wide.
She shakes blonde head, he cannot hold her eye,
“But Miss...! Wait Miss...” He watches fuller handbag pass him by.
Down the high-walled canyon stretch, she passes to the next.
Prada, Hermes, Louis Vuitton all lie, animal hides under Italian sky.
Downstream, a brother asks, his hopes pitched high,
“Lady, look! Chanel—you want to buy?”
They work like this, herd shoppers in a pack.
Hyena laugh and heads pop up: alertly cocked and black,
to listen, slick as meerkats.
“POLICE!” It comes a whisper, then a call.
Pull sheets up into giant santa sacks.
One to the next take empty bags upon their backs.
Like leopards in the dusk they leave no tracks.
Litter
For years I wrote for love of living,
then years in tribute to disdain.
I walked the streets, eyes primed for sorrow,
littering words like falling rain.
I turned my swollen eyes to heaven,
an empty void in my science brain,
and all my nerves unfurled in knowing,
there was no God, just falling rain.
Now I struggle for a sentence
to dull my mind’s slow-growing pain,
astringent lines too thick yet hollow,
can’t explain the falling rain.
The Adriatic
and last night’s world
engulfed me in your arms.
The words I spoke
spun light upon your lips
and kisses in your eyes.
I heard your sighs
like tiny charms
hanging close to my heart.
Sari
Your mouth was never gentle when we kissed,
it tasted of far away minds,
of lands steeped in saris,
tied up in parcels of your past.
You kept her smell, like a vase of dead roses,
or letters curling in a language that she loved.
I gulped down your greedy kisses,
washed them down with wine.
Your eyes were never tender, cold as mist.
They watched me naked through half-closed lids,
searching for my knowledge of your lie.
They hid you well, like an unearthed grave,
or a lonely drain.
They tumbled like shutters at nightfall.
They washed your sins clean with dreams.
Immortality
where feathers ruffled in the wind,
fingers flipping through books.
The body of a pigeon.
We all passed and looked,
our funeral procession taking in
the mauled dull skin,
the eye, cloudy as a seer’s.
We all there saw
the passing years,
the taut claw of time,
clenched and stiff,
clutching at the branch
of life.
Fading to grey … to gutters,
and to sorry passers by.
So small beneath the omnipresent sky.
Playthings
and coax them around me,
wrap them in the wrinkled nose of his wisdom.
Warm and wooded he would sing me
a chorus: the cocoa cup of contentment.
He made me his high note with a whisper of smoke.
Filled his lungs with me in the morning.
When mist crept capriciously on the glass,
his eyes would see the kiss of a sprite.
He’d bubble up to laugh and meet it mischievously with fingertips.
He could make words mysterious,
but we met lips one night
when he was serious
and words were not his playthings.
Valley Markets
Stalls stand like an offered hand,
waiting to be introduced,
or rush upon each other in frenzied war
of emerald, scarlet, saffron—all shout
or whisper of small treasures, shining things,
semi-precious stones, records pitched at yesteryear,
forgotten words stacked in dog-eared books.
And look, what have we here?
Innovation flits between the aisles,
glazed bowls congealed with blistered texture,
deep, rich wood massages knots into a chair.
And there, stretched in kaleidoscopic splendour,
a hammock sways and pitches in the air.
Reader
found on a shelf, turned by hands of fate,
you read my tale, your eyes relate
to heaven’s hand of hieroglyphic stars.
Leaving London
The Thames by my window, winking its brackish bluey grey.
Scattered drops in cityscape surround the City’s working day.
It’s film shoot background, but I see not the spirals and spires,
the deep-vaulted history in museums sparse,
the chamber pots emptied in the streets,
or burning embers of great fires.
I see the minutiae—concentric circles born of class
where suited sir in dizzying station meets
the screeching homeless man.
I see it all reduced in shrinking parts
to hearth and home and clan
and sigh…
It seems so small a place
to one who cannot stay.
Homecoming
I walk among you,
translucent as a spirit,
dead as the Dreaming.
I am invisibly different,
irresponsibly changed,
molecules of birthright rearranged.
Friendliness washes
my homecoming baptismal.
Kin gather round, large-laughing.
Does my maker recognise
this newly nut-brown skin?
I am detached from her,
a snapped umbilical cord,
removed from her raw red womb.
I am filled with foreign words,
vowels that voice the sentiments of whom?
Clipped-speaking my mind: “Bollocks to this!”
This dragging sorrow sinks deep into the Thames,
like gold coins I mistake for pounds
with haunted Aboriginal faces.
From the beginning.
Thank you for purchasing this poetry eBook.
About the Author
Karin Cox is a Queensland editor turned full-time author who has worked for traditional publishing houses in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Since her first book, Roma: From Prison to Paradise, was published by New Holland Publishers in 2003, she has had more than 28 titles published across a range of genres, from children’s fiction to travel guides, to creative non-fiction and natural history guides. She also writes poetry, short stories and young adult fiction. Karin lives with her partner and baby daughter in Capalaba, Australia. Feel free to contact Karin on karinwork@hotmail.com or via her website http://www.editorandauthor.com to let her know your thoughts. You can also follow her on twitter @Authorandeditor or read her blog.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my friend and editor, Cathy, for her eagle eyes and valued editorial advice. Thanks also to the many friends, lovers and acquaintances who inspired these works. I owe a debt of gratitude to the two most important men in my life: my loving partner Koert, and my father who shares my love of verse.