Poem ‘Birmingham’

A38 Rubery by-Pass from Whettybridge Road brid...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Birmingham

In the morning we cooked eggs,
wrapped the blanket around ourselves,
tucking in and staring like zombies
at a dead TV. There was little reason to speak,
to say that food seldom tasted so good.
Birmingham, that first time,
seemed like the bleakest place;
November had fallen cold and hard
and Rubery, the name you couldn’t say,
was depressed and downbeat,
so many shops boarded up
it was like a battle zone.
But there was enough to be grateful for
in that nest of warmth,
watching Saturday’s light rise
and bleach your bedsit walls

poem © copyright df barker 2012

Poem ‘Daffodil Girl’

Daffodil Girl

I took a picture of you.
The one where you’re cupping a daffodil,
kneeling in the sacred space,
where you wear your sky blue coat

with the sun in exaltation,
as if shining from your April face,
so round and vibrant and pink,
leaving me to the sombre shadows,

out of sight on the nether side.
And I was some strange Narcissus,
making sure I saw myself when
passing shop windows, always critical,

so self-absorbed and vain –
though far from glorious.
But I still remember that image,
the delicate touch of your fingers

on the flower, all caring and giving.
So thanks for being you,
for making me see beyond
this paltry vision of myself.

image and poem © copyright dfbarker 2012
poem taken from collection ‘Anonymous Lines’ available at amazon.
image partly digitally altered from a larger original.

Poem ‘Cameo’

Cameo

The morning is like copper,
a veiled threat in the sky.
We find ourselves among
patches of green poking through
a dusting of snow, scents of
woodsmoke hanging in the air.

I watch your smile break as
a blackbird alights on a bare branch,
a morsel of bread in his beak.
I shiver, adjust my coat
to find the ruff strangely
around my neck. You turn

round to see what troubles me,
your dark mantle twirling behind,
the lightness of your collar setting off
that burning gleam in your eyes,
windows on some other world.
We saunter through a sleeping garden,

hints of the dead season clinging
to brittle bushes like a bitter denial.
Standing in front of me, your soft
words are scarcely understood,
yet inwardly known. Your laugh
sends out clouds which resolve

to a gentle cough, gloved fingers
touching your chest. Without a word,
I usher you inside towards the fire
which greets us with soothing heat.
We shall warm our toes together
in its fading glow

poem and image © copyright David Francis Barker 2012

The image is from a watercolour, completed several years ago.

New Video on You Tube ‘The Painter’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct1G02gry9s&feature=youtu.be

poem, painting and music © copyright dfbarker 2012

music performed on an old lorenzo acoustic guitar

Poem ‘Bistro (when in Paris)’

Bistro (when in Paris)

what a surprise
to see our bistro still here,
so missable tucked away
between jewellers
and quirky galleries

‘au clair de la lune’
is so laid back,
subdued
in gratifying veils of gitanes,
softened
by potent aromas of pastis,
sensual
like biting through rarest
tender veal

if I may ask right now
(gently plying you with Chablis),
if Montmartre were a woman
who could she be
if not you?

© copyright dfbarker 2011

*image is a digital creation.

**I am a vegetarian now, yet you never forget the taste of…