Poems
by John D Robinson

Diminishing

 

They could feel

the light

diminishing

as they slid

closer to

each other

and when they

were engulfed

in darkness

they knew

that they had

finally

cut loose.

 

 

 

 

My Father’s Prison Letters

 

Today I found them

by chance and re-read them:

 he tells me

it’s because of the drink that

he is in jail and that he is

going to stop when he gets

released and he is never

going to drink again and

that he misses me and asks

me to look after ma:

 he writes

he is sorry and regretful

and remorseful and vows

repeatedly he’s going to

change his life,

but, he

didn’t and that life killed

him by a alcohol and drugs

‘misadventure’:

as I read your letters I

cried, softly, and then I

re-placed them back into

the envelopes,

closing darkness on

his voice once again,

but I see him

writing these words,

genuine

scared

honest

hopeful

dreaming

and it all came to

nothing, no promises

or wishes were kept,

but what I know

is that you loved me

best you could

and I loved you

the only way

I knew,

we shared that,

at least.

 

 

 

 

In My Lounge

 

I sat down to write a love poem

and I heard one of my cats

puking in the kitchen:

sure as shit he’d vomited,

I wiped and cleaned and

sprayed and then I poured

a fresh glass of wine and

sat back down to write a

love poem about a

woman I loved a long time

ago but that had gone and

I find I am writing about

another woman

that I loved, who was

broken and who broke me,

but I pulled through

and she didn’t,

dead now

3 decades.

 

 

 

 

It’s Good To Know

 

That your lover still loves you

and the fuse burns bright,

it’s good to know this and

that your heart beats without

you thinking about it,

it’s good to know that the

wine is chilling and poetry

is always close-by, that

debts have been met and

that darkness flits quickly

across your door-step,

it’s good to know your

enemies, to protect your

loves and make a home,

it’s good to know the

warping mirrors torn

with dust,

it’s good to know, if

only momentarily, in

passing, how brightly

illuminating and brave

you appeared just for

a second of time,

that’s good to know.

 

 

 

 

 

Back & Forth

 

‘She was what I had been looking for

in every way, I felt so easy in her

company and she made me laugh and

she made me cum and I fell in love’

she told me

‘then she moved in and everything

was cool for six months and then

little comments turned into cruel

insults and accusations, it was

forever escalating, but I didn’t

see it of course, I was busy

thinking of excuses for her

behaviour and then that night,

with the knife, that was the

end, the police arrested her

and removed her from  my

home and I got a ‘restraining

order’ for two years and

she’s up for prison time soon,

but you know, there’s a

little piece of me that

loves her still’ she said to

me, as we lay together,

watching the sunset melt

into the back garden as we

passed a joint back and forth.

 

 

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