The Man From the Sea, etc.
By
John Grey
THE MAN FROM THE SEA
The moonlit beach was where he made
it back to land.
After a week or so of drowning,
the tides, the breakers, cast him ashore.
All that time among the seaweed,
shells and fish
had muted his tongue.
But with arms spread wide,
his open mouth let out a silent moan.
He stumbled to his feet.
He even elevated some.
In the bobbing foam of a thousand white faces,
his was the whitest face of all.
ON WATCH
On the wall of the apartment opposite,
I watch a bat-like creature
scale the sooty brick,
more like an insect than a mammal,
stealthy hands and feet
creeping inch by inch in slithery rhythm.
The head is still.
Ears prick, always on alert.
Wind blows and cape flutters.
For me it is a moment of both awe and trembling,
a night creature seldom seen,
a demon of diabolical intent.
Its hunting ground is midnight
and the dark city barbicans.
It's either catch and kill
and suck dry its prey or die.
From my chilly room,
I feel each slinking step
as if claw and breath
shinny up my rattling backbone.
He slips into a fourth floor window.
I breathe deeply.
My body is my own for now
SCENES FROM A GRAVEYARD
a graveyard full of owls
or who in hell
is doing all that hooting?
a moon-tinted walk
each footprint
devouring the decaying soil
around it
everything fluid and bloody
even the cold
and the rancid smell
of yesterday's mourning lilies
a back-slapping toast to the dead
to skulls cracked like jokes
by the rain-bloated ground above
leave your vision
at the mausoleum door
bring only your connection
to the baying trees
and the shriveled roots
that bear to them dark fruit
sit atop a tombstone
names and dates
will enter you from below
it is a night
for relinquishing
the job at hand
for writing an ode to worms
and their bloodless brood
to everything with a taste for human flesh
but little for humanity
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, City Brink and Tenth Muse. Latest books, “Subject Matters”,” Between Two Fires” and “Covert” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Hawaii Pacific Review, Amazing Stories and Cantos.
By
John Grey
THE MAN FROM THE SEA
The moonlit beach was where he made
it back to land.
After a week or so of drowning,
the tides, the breakers, cast him ashore.
All that time among the seaweed,
shells and fish
had muted his tongue.
But with arms spread wide,
his open mouth let out a silent moan.
He stumbled to his feet.
He even elevated some.
In the bobbing foam of a thousand white faces,
his was the whitest face of all.
ON WATCH
On the wall of the apartment opposite,
I watch a bat-like creature
scale the sooty brick,
more like an insect than a mammal,
stealthy hands and feet
creeping inch by inch in slithery rhythm.
The head is still.
Ears prick, always on alert.
Wind blows and cape flutters.
For me it is a moment of both awe and trembling,
a night creature seldom seen,
a demon of diabolical intent.
Its hunting ground is midnight
and the dark city barbicans.
It's either catch and kill
and suck dry its prey or die.
From my chilly room,
I feel each slinking step
as if claw and breath
shinny up my rattling backbone.
He slips into a fourth floor window.
I breathe deeply.
My body is my own for now
SCENES FROM A GRAVEYARD
a graveyard full of owls
or who in hell
is doing all that hooting?
a moon-tinted walk
each footprint
devouring the decaying soil
around it
everything fluid and bloody
even the cold
and the rancid smell
of yesterday's mourning lilies
a back-slapping toast to the dead
to skulls cracked like jokes
by the rain-bloated ground above
leave your vision
at the mausoleum door
bring only your connection
to the baying trees
and the shriveled roots
that bear to them dark fruit
sit atop a tombstone
names and dates
will enter you from below
it is a night
for relinquishing
the job at hand
for writing an ode to worms
and their bloodless brood
to everything with a taste for human flesh
but little for humanity
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, City Brink and Tenth Muse. Latest books, “Subject Matters”,” Between Two Fires” and “Covert” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Hawaii Pacific Review, Amazing Stories and Cantos.
