Around Us
We rode our bikes
To Place Dauphine
A springtime oasis
From the growing crowds
In the city
And sat on a bench
In the shade
With blossoms falling
From the trees
Onto the hard sandy ground
And ate a basket lunch
That you packed in the morning
As a surprise
Watching the old men
Tossing boules
With scientific accuracy
As the woman
With the big Swiss dog
Smiled at us
As she passed
And you took my hand
And kissed me
In the cascading light
And suddenly everything
Was gone
And we were one
As the river ran silently
Around us
Moving
Pedestals
Are precarious real estate
As we teeter and totter
Between what’s right
And what is
Falling one way
And then the next
Into the barren
Bottom of the barrel
Blind in our ambition
Staged in our resolve
And moving
Into the beckoning
Of our final
Sorrow
Autumn Days
They stroll along
The Boulevard St. Germain
Filtering golden light
Through lofty eyes
Worn and wrinkled
Like old money
Long beyond love
And fresh water beginnings
Mingling loudly on terraces
And in well-lit corners
Of cafes
Waiting for something
Beyond existence
In the creeping silence
Of lost tomorrows
Longing to be alive
And to know it
Replete in splendour
In the setting sun
Of autumn days
Nowhere But Here
I walk past
The old women
Selling peaches
On the Rue Mouffetard
Enjoying the anonymity
Of wandering
From street to street
And bar to bar
Without a care
On this warm spring day
But for the occasional need
For shade
And the less occasional need
For sobriety
Resting in a chair
In the Luxembourg gardens
Listening to nannies gossip
While children play
With boats on the pond
Trying to forget
Everything in the world
But this unfurling
Now
Santorini Sunrise
As I try to write
In the early hours
The deep of the blue
Is beyond
The bright whiteness
Of hope
Beyond contrast
And curved stone
The rhythms of history
And sirens of distraction
Stirring old movements
Through hewn caves
With something always
Forgotten behind
Pieces of mosaic
And woven fabrics
Of time
A cauldron of sentiment
Explosions of hesitation
Breathing into eternity
Falling
Through tangled lives
And forgotten dreams
To be made anew
In a succession of instants
Across this empty page
John is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. He is the author of three books of poetry: “March” and “The Seasons of Us” (both published in 2019) and New Days (published in 2020). His work has appeared widely in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies internationally. John is also a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and lives in Caledon Ontario, Canada with his wife and two children.
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