Two Poems by Linda King

 

that middle space




a quickened hear

pastel tablet under your tongue

an attempt to soothe

what doesn’t make music

anymore



the horses are missing

from the merry-go-round

double dutch recess songs

still float from the village

salute to the captain

salute to the queen

touch the bottom

of the blue submarine

small town knowing is overrated

all roads lead to the strip mall

everything odd and delicate

endless days with no history

water washing stone



you grow tired of your own story

that middle space between

the real and its rendering

you want to reach up

and set fire to the moon

 

the new melancholy

 

these days everything merges into something else

even music is a simple metaphor    and blue

is just an aspect of light    commonplace magic

like the sun in a wine glass    or the sounds

that shapes make in the night

when you wander through strange cities

enter shops rimmed with fitting rooms    try on

various versions of yourself

 

you were once a woman of meagre dreams

your collection of sad stories    were sadder

than anyone else’s

 

but this is the new melancholy    everyone

standing in the desert waiting for rain

and versions of your sad face

are everywhere.

Linda King is the author of five poetry Collections including Reality Wayfarers (Shoe Music Press, 2014) and antibodies in the alphabet (BlazeVOX Books, 2019).  Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals ( including Lothlorien) in Canada and internationally. King lives and writes on The Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.