Tag Archives: Friends

Poem published today at The Dread Machine

August 3, 2022Friends, poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, speculative poetryFriends, poem, poetry, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, speculative poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

I’m delighted to announce that my poem “Friends?” is published today at The Dread Machine:

Friends?

Chossy

July 30, 2022Friends, Life, poem, PoetryFriends, Life, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

The slope is chossy here
unreliable underfoot

As were your words of friendship
and gestures of affection

Weepy with springs, the hill
subsides into a wooded valley

I stride ahead
leaving you behind

Amstelveen

July 2, 2022Amsterdam, Friends, poem, Poetryamstelveen, Amsterdam, Friends, Life, love, Netherlands, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

Finally there, filling your sofa
raiding your freezer for ice.
Walking out to the river
its banks a storey higher
than the fields.

Taking the tram to the Dam
to the museum quarter
drifting through the Van Goghs
eating pancakes and poffertjes
in the shadow of windmills.

Finally with you, together at last
after years of hurt.
Finally the large barbeque
your Mums Pork Satay
and so many old friends.

We finally got to visit a dear friend in the Netherlands over the last two weeks. It was bliss……

Leonid

June 18, 2022Amsterdam, art, Friends, Life, memory, poem, Poetryart, Friends, Life, memories, poem, poetry, ukraine, warThe Cheesesellers Wife

There
Amsterdam and Leonid turns up at a friends house
with a case of ikons and art
new identity papers
no longer a Russian
but a proud Ukrainian
selling treasure for hard currency
to build a country

When
we traipsed with him around dealers and auction houses
awkward in an unfamiliar world
waiting for bona fides to be checked
deals to be made

Now
I wonder where you are my friend
cannot understand how it came to this
how dreams shatter
conceptions of nationhood crack
peace shatters into sharp fatal shards

A Mood Apart

May 21, 2022Friends, Life, poem, PoetryFriends, Life, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

At the hotel of lost companions
love like poison floods the pool

we choose to speak of anger and strife
yet, on a wild sweet thought

the lion and the lamb
are chasing shadows

Old friends

February 10, 2022Friends, poem, PoetryFriends, Life, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

You cannot make new old friends

So take care to keep them to the end

This poem is written in response to Rebeccas February poetry challenge.

This month the poetic form is a pareado (from two, like pair). The pareado comes from traditional Spanish poetry for sayings and advice.

https://fakeflamenco.com/2022/02/08/february-2022-poetry-challenge/

To a Distant Friend

December 11, 2021Christmas, Friends, poem, PoetryChristmas, fake flamenco, Friends, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

Winter has brought new fears
new covids, colds, and flu
will our jabs hold up?
can I hug at Christmas?
Will I get to see you?

This little poem is a Flamenca poem.

The form comes from the Flamenco songs of the Roma people. The structure is a quintain; five lines. The number of syllables; 6-6-5-6-6. Challenging bit: The second and fifth verses share assonance; the rhyming of stressed vowels (equinox; thought) or words with the same consonant and a different vowel (night; naught).

It was written in response to Rebecca’s December Poetry Challenge at Fake Flamenco. She is asking for poems about winter — I’m afraid mine is a bit gloomy though…..

Go an give it a try!

Full Moon

March 10, 2021Friends, love, poem, PoetryFriends, Moon, nesa sivagnanam, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

I wave at the man
Smiling in his immensity
Sketched out by mountains and lava flows
And call him friend
He has lit my way home
Coloured my evenings
Lit up my childhood
With dreams of space travel
How many others see him this way
The Man in the Moon?

For Nesa, who loved this poem of mine, but didn’t see a man in the moon. As she told me in 2016:

“You see a man in the moon. I see a rabbit, crouched down, ears sticking up. Have seen him since I was a child and still watch for him to follow me home.”

We all miss you Nesa, so much……

Cold

December 16, 2020Amsterdam, Friends, poem, Poetryamstelveen, Amsterdam, Cold, Friends, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

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

Oh, to be with friends in Amsterdam again…..sigh…….

Friends

July 25, 2020Friends, poem, PoetryFriends, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

Friend who is more than family
who is vital to you, one you cannot lose
Friend who is more like family
meaning you hardly speak to each other
Friend who is also your lover/husband/wife
Friend who is no longer a friend because
she decided to be someone else’s friend
Facebook friend who is not really a friend
Friend you have lost somewhere on the way
Friend you forgot