Menu
Gerard Atkinson
  • Home
  • Home

New Autumn Fog (2010)

26/11/2013

 
Rise up from your bed if you will
To meet the approaching of day
And cross to the peak of the hill
For the sun passes by on its way

Cast your sight down below to the lake
She is draped in a soft cloth of cloud
The sign: we must pick up the rake
And prepare the funeral shroud

In the forest there blows a slow breeze
As we hike down into the mist
A cold warning flows through the trees
Branches touch in a final sweet kiss

In short time the gold rimmed rays
Penetrate through the surrounds
Mottled leaves of amber red and grey
Drop quietly onto the ground

The sternest leaf can stand bold
But it can't defy life's brevity
It too must release its hold
And yield to death's gravity

Thus we walk on the carpeted floor
Rakes in hand to sweep up the dead
The ashes of Autumn lay torn
And the sun passes by overhead.

Haiku (2004)

12/8/2013

 
ravens perched up high
above dark apartment blocks
winter morning, Bonn.

Silence (2013)

5/8/2013

 
Silence

Sweet suffering silence

The gap between thoughts

The gap between sounds

The silence that exists before the first note of a symphony
Is
The silence that exists between the lightning and the thunder

It makes you tense
It makes you sweat
It makes each and every hair stand erect upon your skin

Silence

The beautiful fermata
In which everything and nothing happens
In which you realise you are exposed and vulnerable to the entire universe.

I have seen the world at night (2010)

22/7/2013

 
I have seen the world at night
Lights of houses streets and cities
That rise upward from the surface
Reflect upon my window
And vanish into space

Sweet night wrap me in your embrace
30000 feet high I sit
In an aluminium shell
Cocooned in vacuum
Craving sleep

I cannot stand to weep
For beauty or tragedy
Dry air tears at my eyes
And I look outward
Seeking solace in the starlight.

The Cocktail (2010)

22/7/2013

 
The ice evaporated on the hot concrete floor

A hot west wind blew foul across the crowded balcony

And as the stiletto twisted to speed the woman away

And as the cocktail dripped from his designer shirt

All I could think about the scene was: 

That his wet clothes would dry out far more rapidly than his pride would heal.

Winter Haiku (2012)

22/7/2013

 
In early moonlight
All my summer dreams vanish
Long shadow, cold snow

A Love Poem to Mic 2 (2012)

16/7/2013

 
The Bad! Slam! No! Biscuit! stage is always set up with two microphones, but usually only one of them gets used. This was a poem for the other one.

You're a little left of centre but I like you that way
The ignored wallflower that stands mute
But with a word you arc up
And amplify thought

That's not to say you repeat without question
You're prone to distortion
And occasionally what you think is gentle feedback
Is enough to overwhelm and annoy us all

But I love you, standing stage right
Backed into a corner
We can strike together
And set fire to the night

------

In the remnants of the ashes
I will cradle you as a child
Singing sweet lullabies into your ear
Until we both fade out...

Come Sweet Spring (2012)

16/7/2013

 
Come sweet spring
The cherry blossoms have opened
But have frozen on the branches

Come sweet spring
The sun is rising early
But cannot fight the fog

Come sweet spring
The children yearn to play outside
But the meadows are fallow

Come sweet spring
The songbirds wish to serenade the winds
But cannot warm up their voices

Come sweet spring
The winter has lasted far too long
And you are all that I have left.

Orbit (2004)

15/7/2013

 
A really old stream of consciousness piece about skateboarding and lunch. This is likely to be the oldest piece to be published here. The large collection of haiku from 1999 is too awful to see the light of day. Yes, even worse than what does get published here.


perigee; negligee
damn - that thought that man thinks
sex every seven seconds
damn you Freud, all I want is lunch
push back like plane from terminal (computer)
grab board and walk long stare case of students to ground floor
automatic door and...

out of the gravity pull of climate control and into the frost
Empire Alley, 12:30 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds
step onto the board, surf the rocket like an Air song
all of twenty minutes to the lights
eat up time humming evil riffs until...

green man comes and takes my hand
alien abduction at street intersection
drop me and my board off on the otherside
start to ride
fly like screaming banshee along bike path
my stomach has its own gravity
caught between two bodies as I enter the queue
American pizza today, kids drawn like flies
I sit and wait eternally at...

apogee: finally, the smell of sausage and chips
wafting off a melamine plate - 5 bucks 25 is all it takes
and I sit and ponder flowing thoughts
over a glass of soda water
citrus pudding to quench the heartburn
acid upon acid upon acid upon bassbeats
and neural impulses
that drive me...

back out of the cafeteria drawn hopelessly
I board my board my guide my shelter
though it looks like rain later
13:09 and it feels like sunset
though I know it is 5 hours away
and the terminal is 5 seconds away as my
gravity centers
inertia falters
momentum ceases
and I arrive at...

perigee;
negligee

damn, it happened again.

"Punk" Haiku (2012)

15/7/2013

 
Written as a response to a challenge from Varisht Gosain to write a "punk" haiku.

Blonde-tinted mohawk
Three snow-capped Fujiyamas
In Harajuku
<<Previous

    Poetry

    Occasional dispatches of florid prose and metre.

    Archives

    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    2010
    2012
    2013
    Beer
    Haiku
    Love
    Seasons

    RSS Feed

    Copyright © Gerard Atkinson 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the owner is strictly prohibited. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.