Poetry

Melany Rochester photo

By

Jane Dougherty

Damn wind

The wind is blowing from the east,

bringing High Steppe light and cold

beneath sun veiled in milky cloud.

Thistledown and elm mast float

on tides that flow the wrong way past

the window where the shutters rattle,

and chained pot plants complain.

The wind is blowing all the wrong way,

and in another turbulent place

flesh and blood rain from rafters, shot

and blown till only screams are left

to float on tides, carrying them east,

the wrong way against the rising sun—

blood soaks the sky’s western hem.

The world turns, but the wrong way, trailing

human caravans like spindrift,

from east and west the winds blow, clashing

ice with searing sun, tossing bombs

and scorching words, while we poke the barbecue

and wonder if we got enough burgers, oh and

incidentally, where did all the swallows go?

Millions rising

There were thousands once

came knocking, knocking,

children in tow and smiling faces.

There were thousands once

came knocking, and we turned them all away.

It’s full in here, we said, grimly snarling,

It’s full in here, so go away.

We are millions here who spend and squander,

worry about football and pulpy lips.

We are millions here who grasp and plunder

and never we wonder whence they came,

the shiny phones and shiny clothes,

the meat we eat or where coffee grows—

it’s full in here, so go away.

Thousands once with smiling faces

came knocking politely, were turned away—

it’s full in here, so go away.

But where will we put the millions who come

crying, knocking, crying, knocking,

desperate faces, children in tow,

when the angry oceans, grim and snarling

have swept their homes,

the soil, the trees,

the cities, barren fields away,

have drowned entire countries, well?

Will we still just pray?

Jane Dougherty

Jane Dougherty is Irish and lives in the middle of a meadow in southwest France. She writes novels, stories and poetry and has been published in journals and magazines including Ogham Stone, Hedgerow, Visual Verse, Eye to the Telescope and Lucent Dreaming. She blogs at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/