Inhale

Can you remember when you held god,
close to your chest, and inhaled?
the animal warmth, butterfly heart,
the quiet still body, faking death,
fluttering a gentle warning in the chalice
of your palm.

Bring the bread up to your lips – here is the
body here is the blood.
We all do the same if we are left alone when
we can’t survive without another.
Sound alarm, if nobody comes, assume
a predator prowls – so mimic our end.

We knew we should never have touched the
hare, leveret beached in a quiet field,
mother flown far into the long grass, where
she waited with eyes like flaming torches,
helpless to intervene, as we passed the small
body, breathing in the enchantment.

When the church clock rang, the spell was
broken, wonderland now the back field again.
You placed the leveret back to earth, to root
into dash and scamper, box clever.
You took the breath of god with you,
clinging to your jacket like a hint of the hereafter.

-Ali Jones

Midwinter Is

all back to core and root,
scrapes off summer’s fat and muscle,
whitens the bones without leaves,
gust polishes dry skulls into mirrors,
bones into icy water,
a hollowed cavity
scratched out.

MidSummer is warm fur, throb
of our little hearts together
tickle of twitching hairs
as I hold close
my pet who snuggles then struggles
to leap out of  my arms,
a wilderness in its rabbit eyes.

Midwinter is a teenage lad, on
his haunches – dead rabbit head hill,
in one hand, penknife cold in other,
catches the blade on the bone
and scrapes away the fur,
gouges out orbital cavities,
back to the bowls,
excavates the hollows,
oozes cherry red blood.

Midwinter is midsummer.
Midsummer is midwinter.
Every year these memories
overlay one another

as reminders.

-Paul Brookes

Comfort Haiku

as I comfort you,
your soft strength is evident.
you comfort me too.

-st

While you Can

Love fiercely while you can.
Hold him to your heart
and breathe in the scent of rain
lingering on the soft petals of his fur.

Speak gently while you can.
Wrap him in the silence of your eyes,
whispering into his fragile ears
that he is safe in your embrace.

Be patient while you can.
Understand that we all feel afraid,
staring out into a world that can crumble89i89
at the touch of things we cannot see.

Be kind while you can.
Make sure he knows you love him,
and when he is ready,
set him free.

-Susan Richardson

Sissy

Folks at school
tease me incessantly.
My colour is dull,
weight is double
and height is half —
enough fodder
for many days.
Every day when I
return home
my mother kisses
my forehead
and I feel
that I should live
for one more day.

-Jay Gandhi

Bios and links

-Jane Cornwell