Poetry

Nicolas Alejandro photo

By

John D Robinson

No Better

Over several years we had

numerous fights, some

resulting in police and

ambulance intervention:

the first time I took him

down I felt so good

in that I had in some way

repaid the hurt he had

caused my mother and

my sister and I,

beyond that,

I wanted to take more

than revenge,

I wanted to hurt him

because I could do,

and then I backed off

knowing I was no

better than he.

The Nightingale

Such a sound I’d never

heard before, but I knew

what it was:

I moved from the kitchen

table and gently opened

the back door, the song

became louder: I looked

up at the heights of the

fir tree and there I saw

and listened to a

Nightingale:

it was a special 4 or 5

minutes: I stood

mesmerised, blessed,

no composer could

compete with this, no

painter or poet could

come close,

then the bird flew away

and I went back inside

hearing Bartok coming

from the

radio, I knew I’d have

to settle for this and be

thankful.

John D Robinson

John D Robinson is a UK published poet: ‘When You Here The Bell, There’s Nowhere To Hide’ (Holy&intoxicated Publications 2016) ‘Cowboy Hats & Railways’ (Scars Publications 2016): hundreds of his poems have appeared in the small press and in online literary journals.