San sans
(A Chinese form, san san meaning three three. Three images each appearing three times. Rhyme scheme abcabdcd.) *** My bruised feet know the path, they walk To meet my comfortable friend, we perch On stones in sun and shade, easing Our tired feet while we squint and talk Each to each an ear, a friend, we lurch From gossip to earnest, on sunwarmed stones Laughing, listening, friend-teasing Feet swollen, stones old, comfortable bones. *** This memory face, a father, a mother Crowding the mirror, my hands smoothing, Holding, the mirror knows my face Knows these hands and no-one other Father worrying, mother soothing The mirror knows there’s no disguise I use her hands to trace What I see with his eyes *** What do I see when I close my eyes? Long tunnels, red-streaked lightning jags, Children leaving home, exploding pinwheels. Anything I want. All truth, all lies. I eye the children packing their bags Down the tunnel’s length. Kaleidoscopes Inside my eyelids. This is how it feels...