Poems
by Joyce Walker

 

Back To School

 

Mothers with children

Scurrying to the school gate

Pass by my window

 

 

 

 

 

Cardiac Arrest

 

Moments I forget,

No nearer do I get

To piecing all the

Fragments in my mind,

Leaving all the trauma

And the stress behind.

 

I was gone, but for how long?

Can someone tell me

What went wrong?

I saw my body

While I floated far away

What exactly did they do?

What did they say?

 

Moments I forget,

But what I can’t forget

Is that I died, yet someone

Brought me back to you.

 

 

 

 

 

Cold Paradise

 

Snowflakes land on earth

Covering over footprints

In a sheet of white.

 

 

 

 

 

December Shops

 

Out Christmas shopping

Buying presents for nieces

Long queue at Argos

 

 

 

 

Delivery

 

It came to me by post the other day,

The parcel with handwriting that I knew,

The stamps showed that it came from far away,

I realised it must have come from you.

And though I read my name I didn’t dare

To break the string and tape that held secure

The contents of the package sitting there.

I’d had one come from you like this before.

 

It didn’t hold a bomb, anthrax or plague,

Although that too, had come from far off land,

I don’t recall if it was from The Hague

Or Egypt, where you’d once sent me some sand.

I steeled myself and tore the box apart

And found you still had power to break my heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Fatherhood

 

What do you want me to say?

I’m over the moon,

Happy for you, for us

You know we didn’t plan

Life to turn out this way.

 

Now we sit in silence,

Sullen silence

While I make a decision.

Can I live with myself,

If I walk away?

 

Will I regret it more

If I decide to stay?

I hate my inability

To take responsibility,

But it was only play.

 

A pretence of love

A bit of fun,

I didn’t expect the, now look

What we’ve done

With which you greeted me.

 

I can’t, of course, say anything

To you, because I’m trapped,

I guess you feel trapped too,

Abortion is an ugly word

At times like this.

 

I lean towards you,

Give a reassuring kiss

It’s OK, I say,

I’m over my initial paddy,

It might be fun, to have

Someone call me Daddy.

 

Rate this poetry.

Copyright is reserved by the author. Please do not reproduce any part of this article without consent.