Four Poems by Laura Kayne

 

Portal

 

Finding an archway, a portal,

A hidden doorway in a secret garden.

Touching my hand to the trees lining the path,

I step across its boundaries.

 

I enter another world,

Of stone and ice and wind,

Just five steps further,

And I lose sight of the way back home.

 

There is no turning back,

And so I venture forward,

This hidden land a vast expanse,

Which leads to who knows where.

 

Head down and eyes half-shut,

I place one foot

In front of the other,

Trudging on, so slowly.

 

Sometime later, I remember

A shape in some trees,

Sunlight through branches,

An opening of some kind?

 

And then it flees my memory,

And there is only ice and snow,

Where the wind battles on,

And so must I.

Dancing

 

She dreams of dancing

Under the crystal stars,

Spotlights hung

Upon a flattened sky.

They weave rainbows around her,

As she twirls and spins,

Catching the reflection

Of the sequins

On her home-made dress.

 

 

The Other Place

 

I've never been to that other place -

You know the one.

Hidden, secret, a degree away from normal.

Entered through a small wooden door,

Only noticed out of the corner of your eye,

Or through a large wardrobe in an empty bedroom.

It could be a hole in a garden wall, almost buried

Under thick, heavy vines.

Or a locked entrance to a castle,

High in the mountains,

Where no-one ever goes.

Except when they do

And later return,

Somehow different, transported to

That other place,

Where I have never been

And am unlikely to ever go.

And so I watch the doors open,

Even as they remain closed to me.

I watch and I read

The signs, the books,

Find the almost entrances,

Almost hidden.

Moonshadow

 

Reflected in Moonshadow

You smile at me,

Reach a hand out towards me,

As I step over rocks and whirlpools,

A landscape as strange

As the surface of the Moon

In this quiet time

Between days,

Reflected in the shadow

Of a bright, full, heavy moon.

And I fill as bright and full,

Heavy with possibility,

With the future,

With the knowledge of you,

And me.

Laura Kayne lives in East Sussex, UK, where she enjoys walks by the sea and owns too many books. She has had a number of poems and reviews published both online and in print, including in Aesthetica magazine, Mslexia magazine, Cabinet of Heed, Green Ink Poetry, and The Giant Pygmy.