24th March 2023

 
Morning sunshine
on the early dandelion flowers
a bumblebee

© Rachel Green March 2023

don't tell me to calm down
I am like the wind
silent and all-pervasive;
I can caress with barely a touch
or rip the roof from your house
with barely a thought.
I can move through you
or around you
whispering the secrets of the ancients
and driving the chariots
of eternal ecstasy

© Rachel Green March 2023

23rd March 2023

 
night rain
bringing inspiration
morning sun

© Rachel Green March 2023

'Page Not Found'

long before the internet
I was an avid reader
working my way through the shelves
of the local library and often
waiting for the person on the desk
to not be the one who knew my mum
so I could check out the racier novels
until there was a woman in the village
who objected to such books on moral grounds
and ripped out offending pages.

© Rachel Green March 2023

22nd March 2023

 
spring sun
warming my face again
sneezes

© Rachel Green March 2023

They asked what I stood for
and I said The King, Old ladies,
people on crutches on public transport.
I don't have time for idiots,
or for people who think Christianity
is only what they think it is;
or oppression, politicians who lie
(and that's all of them, I think)
and those who put someone else down
to make them feel better about themselves.

And nobody believes you're Irish
because your grandpappy once had a furlough in Dublin
even if he tried the Guiness.

© Rachel Green March 2023

21st March 2023

 
night downpour
scattered over front lawns
plastic litter

© Rachel Green March 2023

three fluoxytine
to keep the depression at bay
but sometimes the dam breaks
and nightmares flood inside.

One Ramipril
for the thickening blood
to keep it flowing
and keep me stroke-free

one clopidogrel
also for the blood
to be stopped prior to surgery
in case I bleed out

One Levothyroxin
for my underactive thyroid gland
which makes me go to fat
and hoard calories

one premarin
for the oestrogen boost
and to keep away the beard
and the receding hair

One Statin to take to bed
to help me survive the night
with faculties intact
and no ambulance.

© Rachel Green March 2023

20th March 2023

 

forsythia hedge in bloom

a wall of yellow outside the house

next door's construction work

© Rachel Green March 2023

archiving my old work

forget keeping all my novels in the cloud

keep them on a hard drive

doomed to failure one day

let history swallow me whole

a forgotten author in a digital age.

I'd rather be forgotten

than be the bane of another generation

of high school literature students.

© Rachel Green March 2023

19th March 2023

 

6:30 sunshine
and the dog needs a wee
early riser

© Rachel Green March 2023

my poetry is not free
it'll cost you a smile
or an encouraging word;
a caring thought
and a phone call to your mum
to tell them you love them.

I'll tell you what:
pick up a piece of litter today
and we'll call it even.

© Rachel Green March 2023

18th March 2023

 

glimmers of sunshine

escaping the early clouds

migrating swifts

© Rachel Green March 2023

Radio Four

lamenting the decline of music

in the school curriculum.

All we got were recorder lessons

(and we had to get our moms to buy them)

and a teacher who wasn't trained

and just knew a little bit.

Not enough to inspire the class

but enough to hate the discordant sounds.

Is it any wonder my dream of being a rock star

died on the altar of misinstruction.

© Rachel Green March 2023