I’m delighted to tell you that my poem ‘Ground Glass Opacity’ in the latest issue of the Amsterdam Quarterly.
https://www.amsterdamquarterly.nl/
https://www.amsterdamquarterly.nl/aq_issues/aq30-pandemic/
Thank you to Bryan Monte for taking this poem!
Foggy days in old Amsterdam
When rooftops hide in the gloom
Hoar frost sparkles tattered bushes
Tram windows mist up
Flying home to unexpected chill
House cold as a tomb
Huddling around an electric heater
Sipping tea, as the gas boiler struggles
Bright morning, glowing sunshine
Garden frosted like a Christmas cake
Hens fluffed up against the chill
We miss the warmth of good friends
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Oh, to be with friends in Amsterdam again…..sigh…….
Flying over cities is glorious
London’s furnace reaching for the sky
The nested curving of Amsterdam canals
England on Guy Fawkes Night
Firework chrysanthemums blooming upwards
Colouring the belly of the plane
Shimmering ice dazzling in the cockpit
So many planes alongside
Taking the polar route
Diverting around a war zone
Noting shell bursts far to portside
Glamorously frightening
Heading out across the Atlantic
Passing over container shipping
Waiting for Azorean volcanoes on the horizon
The miracle of heavy flight
Watching Jumbos lumber into the air
Carrying hopes and dreams
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Mist wreathes slender canals
chased away by an October sun
which silhouettes a heron
against the now bright water.
Across a concrete slab bridge
russet leaved vines glow.
We walk past white spattered cows
tan sheep
and a mud encrusted tractor.
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
To celebrate friendship and another visit to Amsterdam, here is a dragon lurking on some Amsterdam rooftops….
It is based on the blue Dragon I shared last week.
The colour of dragons
Depends
Sweet green for new hatchlings
To hide in high grasses
Black and red for an Emperor
Or a burner of crops
Many turn as gold as their treasure
Perhaps part of ageing
What colour a city dragon
Lurking on rooftops?
In Paris, creamy white as the buildings
In Berlin and London
Perhaps a glassy hue
Criss-crossed
In Amsterdam?
Turquoise and purple
With scarlet undertones………
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
I’m trying to paint a dragon in Amsterdam……….what colour???
The colour of dragons
Depends
Sweet green for new hatchlings
To hide in high grasses
Black and red for an Emperor
Or a burner of crops
Many turn as gold as their treasure
Perhaps part of ageing
What colour a city dragon
Lurking on rooftops?
In Paris, creamy white as the buildings
In Berlin and London
Perhaps a glassy hue
Criss-crossed
In Amsterdam?
Turquoise and purple
With scarlet undertones………
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
I’m trying to paint a dragon in Amsterdam……….what colour???
Flying over cities is glorious
London’s furnace reaching for the sky
The nested curving of Amsterdam canals
England on Guy Fawkes Night
Firework chrysanthemums blooming upwards
Colouring the belly of the plane
Shimmering ice dazzling in the cockpit
So many planes alongside
Taking the polar route
Diverting around a war zone
Noting shell bursts far to portside
Glamorously frightening
Heading out across the Atlantic
Passing over container shipping
Waiting for Azorean volcanoes on the horizon
The miracle of heavy flight
Watching Jumbos lumber into the air
Carrying hopes and dreams
Copyright © 2017 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Cold
Foggy days in old Amsterdam
When rooftops hide in the gloom
Hoar frost sparkles tattered bushes
Tram windows mist up
Flying home to unexpected chill
House cold as a tomb
Huddling around an electric heater
Sipping tea, as the gas boiler struggles
Bright morning, glowing sunshine
Garden frosted like a Christmas cake
Hens fluffed up against the chill
We miss the warmth of good friends
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Thank you Edgar, for the photograph…..
Amsterdam
Cold light glimmers from the canal
Scatters in leaded bar windows
Breath condenses
Laughter spills over
Waiting out the old year
In Amsterdam….
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
