Sheila Windsor & Brendan Slater



Still Dreaming: a ku sequence

1
coffee i choose the serrated edge
end begin the ant the blade of grass
rainy Monday the first time I hear a last breath
my diagnosis: this
“My generation had dreams and we’re still dreaming!”*
dark the armchair half way up the pine
to the horizon i fashion a man
out of the blue boat sails
under the ice: the bitch her claws

2
lightning the stone birdbath sky
drone strikes: who wants bad news?
make tea log on same road same crying face
second semester traffic theory, again
sleepless on the coast I polish my tanka
starlight wish me luck
clover leaves what's wrong with three?
leather: the fourth Fibonacci number
push! a plastic Mary by the bed

3
your witness: i catch then drop the judge's glare
all the time we're filming howling wind
shielding my spoon i approach the wolf
with mindful steps the daisies bloom
Spring: i surreptitiously gob
cuckoo spit nothing to do with the bird
brass plaque all that's left of the wooden cross
Navajo turquoise somewhere I am
emasculated crying in my sleep

4
thuribles swing their way down a cobbled street **
moonless night New York Dolls on Broadway
spent in the mirror shadows of eyes
i touch it: my hand slips through
missing the 'shy plant' first day at school ***
compulsions prevented my tics peak
cleans them again the clean windows her face
cool Wednesday a propane division
graveyard angel crows each marble wing

5
wanted once a new melted else
Britain's industrial past past
bleach lunch the spin and lime
ipomoea washhouse blues
twisted moon an elephant's funeral
EU the in/out fallout
allies the voice alto silk
spider, spider dust and sun on rain
Mexico, the algebra of guilt


_____

*Patti Smith
**thurible - metal church incense burner on chains
***Mimosa Pudica - 'touch me not', 'shy plant'




Sheila Windsor has written poetry, mainly short verse and haikai, as an almost daily practice for over twenty years. Her works are internationally published, awarded and translated into many languages. She is a former founding co-editor of Bones Journal; former editor of The Living Haiku Anthology and currently co-editor of moongarlic e-zine. Recent books include Totem, Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2016, and Blue Smoke, Stark Mountain Press, 2016.

Brendan Slater is a father, musician, coder and writer of small poems.

Co-editor of Moongarlic E-zine, for contemporary short-verse poetry and images.

Books: In Bed With Kerouac, (ISBN 978-1478344667), Yet To Be Named Free Press via Createspace, 2012. Rum, Sodomy & the Wash, (ISBN 978-1479137626), Yet To Be Named Free Press via Createspace, 2012. Would that that'd never been be, eBook, Gean Tree Press, 2013.

Website: www.yettobenamedfreepress.org

 
 
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