Engrammatic Blot

“In the dream,

she
got on the bus
and left, not
looking out the window,

you
crossed the street
and disappeared
into the crowd, never
looking back”

I
tried to erase
this, but
it’s grown
a monstrous
smudge

Migrations In Memoriam

Autumn, we lay lines,
unfurling across alpine waters,
to flycatch a trout’s eye

Spring,
we are copper lizards
on rocks trailing
the flowered creases
of Crackenback

Autumns and summers,
we zigzag
to the summit,
always a marking of sorts -
birthdays, deaths, waiting out
open-heart surgery -
from afar

A lifetime of seasons
ago – before I left -
you said
the mountain came down
and swallowed lives,
wanted me to know
that bad things happen elsewhere
too

as if somehow that would make
me see,
stay…

Now, it’s winter -
we’re making virgin
tracks
in snow
when the eye
of a raven catches
mine,
a gelid reminder
of these invisible scars -

the ley lines
that connect this place
to your passing

No longer 3

You and me,

we’re no longer three,

am I cracked and fading, a sepia-coloured memory?

oceans divide us,

and the years…

but your mettle

burns vivid as the desert ochre,

and your voice

beats ancient through my heart