With all of the vocabulary
In French or English dictionaries
It's hard to find the lexical key
To talk about our group of three
How can a phrase or paragraph
Describe the times that we have laughed,
That we have danced and gone off script
That we have twirled, or jumped or skipped
The moments when we broke the rules
With meals on sofas after school
The rainy days you stayed inside
And dressed like little princess brides
The stories shared upon my knees
The many menus from our deep freeze
The secrets stored and then revealed
The veggies left after your meals
The homework finished in a huff
Revision time never enough
The songs performed, guitar and drum
Making me a prouder mum.
Friends to stay here over night
Thus diluting the sibling fights
Clothes to choose, new bags new shoes
Some questions over whose are whose
All these moments that we share
Are answering all of my prayers
A life of love and fun to nurture
I have found and need not search for.
Slow down the moment, breathe it in
See the floating filaments
of microscopic things.
Taste on your lips the salt on the wind.
Hear every sound, feel everything.
And in the case you hit record,
These fleeting memories can be stored.
How many moments passed me by in a flash?
And what was more important,
than to make them last?
But needy, greedy time absorbs you
in your prime
As a hungry hurricane,
destroys the hourglass,
grain by grain,
Flattening the days in its wake.
Yes, time cannot be faked.
Only, to be present in each second,
Is a force with which it will reckon.
These four letters spell your name. Meaning love, and that I will never be the same.
Juno, a sound, that sets off cascading stars bright sunlight, flocks of birds, flowers bursting into bloom, just at the thought of you.
Juno, how my heart is full.
The possibility of fun now endless. On the floor in piles of toys, making a mess With you, it’s all new.
When you smile at me I am invested with special powers. When you reach for me I am chosen. When you look at me, I am rich. When you laugh I am drunk, with happiness.
When you hold me I want you to stick, like glue. Juno you have made me new.
Juniper,
Two bright berry eyes
Staring, round at me
Amused easily
Top lip curling into grin
Tiny double chin
Open mouthed in glee
Staring up from my knee
Ready for a new small adventure
And egging me on
Intensely
Juno, I know
A world of perfection
In an imperfect world
Who wants a lift
When you can do this
When you can take a whiff
Of the scents of leaves underfoot
When you can sniff the air
Feel the softest breath of the breeze on your skin
Feet sinking into soft pathways
Freshly made by the morning rain
For too long I didn't know
Nothing is better than a slow stroll
Close to the river's ebb and flow
A tree canopy so close it looks like a stroke
Of green feather dusters
wiping the sky clean
Of clouds
It's sharp blue astonishing
Clear of all but the yellow rays of sun
Reflected artfully in window panes
Duplicated on the rippled surface
Glimpsed between dancing plants
As I glance
On my way past, in rapt attention.
Chosen for their character
they made themselves at home
stretching out roots
filling pots and overflowing over tops
Yawning into morning
grown into their spaces
and transforming,
ordinary corners
Into colourful collections
Taking up odd poses
adorned with dewdrop jewellery
small bohemians draped in spiderweb scarves
and, sharing a space with guests of other species
Holding an afternoon yoga session
together communing, green and bright,
then craning, towards the retreating evening light.
Is chat GPT bad at poetry or is it me?
Does it have to rhyme to record my feelings
at one time or another
To track what was important,
like an I woz ere graffiti from the 80's
AI IS here
accelerating what we now know,
exacerbating my nostalgia,
for an era we once knew,
a slow time.
When you’d simultaneously press play and record hearing that song you liked on the radio
that clunk summed it up
the clumsy effort, to be rewarded with a proper play back loop
Not a fake feedback loop
Back when scarcity of information and an itch for knowledge made us visit the library
to use microfiche
green writing filling a screen full of satisfying curiosities.
Searching shelf by shelf to get knowledge
Following the clues all the way to the copy machine
The world was in a book
The world book
A case of knowledge,
we took the time to digest.
A slow life to be lived
whilst gently polluting as if we knew nothing of it.
That was fun
Those unexpected coffees in the sun
Some belly laughs while you were on the run
This was fine
A gift of time
An in between moment became mine
This was ours
Planting seeds and flowers
Watching telly after hours
That was good
Laughing at stupid jokes
Because we could
You were home
Meals on the sofa
Not chats on the phone
You were here
Upstairs working
Where I could hear
You, loud and clear
With me near
Trying not to interfere
A new trio was born
And I'll attempt
Not to be forlorn
Rather, to thank
My lucky stars
For this shared time of ours.
I woke up this morning feeling fortunate
A new fortune amassed over the weekend
A weekend of moments with you two
Laughter and music, safely stored in my memory bank
Nothing is more precious to me
Nothing more worthwhile
Than these hours of complicity
We three
Or others there peripherally or permanently
The goodness of that free time shared makes me wealthy
Your voices collect interest in my memory
Your words hang like priceless art in my mind's eye
I start my week adorned with the rare jewels of happiness
What an investment! A weekend together en famille.
You wonder what you want,
What you desire,
To what you aspire.
You ask what you will need,
To leave the vacuum
That you assume
Why not
Take stock
Of what you’ve got
Of what is here, now for the taking?
Look around you
To see those who
Are not faking.
Who need no reminding,
Who are still finding,
In you,
Enough.
