Tag Archives: Ghosts

Ghost ocean

June 29, 2019Ghosts, nature, poem, PoetryDeath, environment, Ghosts, nature, Ocean, plastic pollution, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

Waves throw up on the shore
remnants of ocean lives
tangles of plastic
debris from both sides
of a blurring boundary.
Revealing hints of the diversity underneath
and of the death we impose.

She came to see me

September 1, 2018Life, poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, speculative poetryDead astronaut, Ghosts, Life, poem, poetry, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, space, spaceflight, speculative poetry, Star*Line, TechnologyThe Cheesesellers Wife

She came to see me
Resplendent in red
Glittering with dust
Her elegant bone structure evident more than ever
Desiccated and dead
Spacesuit blown
Floating past the view screen
When I know we retrieved her from orbit yesterday

Originally published in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Associations print journal Star*Line 40.4 October 2017 http://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/issues/starline40.4.html

Ghosts on the beach

April 14, 2018art, Life, philosophy, poem, Poetry, watercolourArtisan Cheese, beach, Ghosts, Life, philosophy, poem, poetry, sea, water, watercolourThe Cheesesellers Wife

Waves swishing over beaches
Bring remnants of ocean lives
While erasing my footprints
Which is the ghost,
Me or them?

Burning

October 31, 2017beauty, Fantasy, Ghosts, poem, Poetry, Sceince Fiction Poetryaircraft, Fantasy, Ghosts, Halloween, Life, nature, Technology, twilight, WW2The Cheesesellers Wife

English summers, often damp, can invoke long stifling twilights
nothing landbound needlessly moves
contrails crayon across the sky
so many, this close to London’s hub.
Distantly, the buzz of a low plane, pleasure rider reaching up
into the realm of the starlings as they susurrate
a car comes past in the lane droning away round the curves
here the runway cross remains
the old tower still stands intact
as ponies munch and cattle chew
larks lurk in the grass where bombers once turned
occasional ironwork testament to hydrants and gun emplacements
war and weapons layered over by Nature and time.
But, as the dark deepens, the lost come home
tearing blazing incandescent screams rustle up drowsy birds
look up and the dazzling burning blurs past
metal screeches as it tears apart, each time the same
one last attempt at landing whole, at bringing the crate home
so wanting to see sweethearts and Blighty again
then gone, back to oblivion.
The burning pilot saluted you as he passed.

This poem first appeared in Peacock Journal earlier this year.

Ghosts of little lives

October 28, 2017Chickens, Life, love, poem, Poetrychickens, Ghosts, Life, love, PetsThe Cheesesellers Wife

Ghosts of little lives follow me
Today I held my hand out to a hen
She didn’t peck at my sparkly ring
As her predecessor always did

Ghosts in the Night

September 2, 2017Ghosts, Life, love, poem, PoetryGhosts, Life, Marriage, night, poem, poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

Duvet deep, traitor mind fishing worries
What if, why, random fears and wretchedness
Ghosts of the day parade
Surf past on a sickening tide, clasp at my heart
Until your warm arms exorcise

Barrow Wight

August 9, 2017nature, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeBarrow Wight, Ghosts, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, nature, poem, poetry, Rabbits, Tolkien, wight, Wiltshire, WorldconThe Cheesesellers Wife

Sitting on a barrow at sunset
Lupine thumping evoked a tolkienesque wight
Sending the child me running
Leaping across lumpy turves
Down to the village below

I’m attending the Science Fiction Worldcon this weekend! 🙂

Ghosts

May 13, 2017Ghosts, Life, love, poem, PoetryGhosts, Life, love, poem, poetry, sleepThe Cheesesellers Wife

Duvet deep, traitor mind fishing worries
What if, why, random fears and wretchedness
Ghosts of the day parade
Surf past on a sickening tide, clasp at my heart
Until your warm arms exorcise