Tag: poetry

Poem ‘Crabbing’

Crabbing

You’d think the crabs would learn,
like the canny herring gull does,
buzzing anyone suspected
of bearing food

Generations have stood, sat,
squatted on this spot
overlooking the wide harbour,
an untamed marsh,
engaged by the melding
of land, sea and air,
dangling bait tied to sodden strings.
It’s easy meat for crab and kid alike,
a great treat to see
their briny sojourns in buckets,
arrayed like lines of medals on concrete.

Soon we’ll let them go,
watch each one plop into the murk.
We’ll be back to coax another day,
warmed by the thought of them
in cold dark depths,
waiting for next time

© copyright dfbarker 2012

‘Haiku 2012 #1’

galactic crosshairs
fire in a frigid hole
no sure repentance

©copyright dfbarker 2011

*first of a few of these, I may stray from the ‘accepted’.

Poem ‘At Cromer’

At Cromer

When I look down toward the beach,
the distant pier seems to stride
forward from the shining sea.
I like to look beyond,
to the bands of turquoise and blue,
an ocean painted in bold,
abandoned strokes.

Why are we drawn to the waves?
Those elemental rhythms,
sounds and colours
of a primary world,
where sparse pointillist spots
busy themselves on
yellow-ochre sands.

Some days the morning
unfolds through mists,
groynes spacing out
the distances along the strand,
until a final fade-out,
well before the sea
can meet the sky.

Overhead, pterodactyl shapes
patrol against fresh patches
of blue. As I approach,
the blurred semblances
of buildings appear, rectangles
feathered violet or grey,
as if stepping off the cliff.

© copyright df barker 2011, first published in poetry collection ‘Anonymous Lines’, available for purchase here: http://liten.be//gHmf9

*Painting from an original, digitally enhanced.

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…

Poem ‘Still’

© copyright dfbarker 2011

Still

We awake to whiteness,
standing still to take it in,
like nothing will ever move again.
A few footprints in the snow,

silent records of an earlier day.
You say this is how it should be,
our minds lost in books, our dreams,
stretching out in listless days

and long nights. I yawn down
the stairs to click on the kettle,
soothed before a misting window
by the straight-falling flakes.

© copyright David Francis Barker 2011

First published in poetry collection ‘Anonymous Lines’ available at:

http://liten.be//sVGsz

*If you are having a Christmas break, have a peaceful one

** Many thanks to all of those who have read or commented on this blog. I am very grateful.