(i wrote this poem for a friend moving house)
so here it is
all of the goodbyes
and none of the hellos
every thing a small bereavement
the ground under your feet
being rolled up as you walk
mess stuffed into the oven
out of sight out-minded
to be found later,
crisped, when warming the oven
for pizza
this is faith, white-knuckled
jumping off a cliff, pulling,
pulling frantically at the ripcord of prayer
hoping for an updraft, soft landing
seeing the small hours blinking on the bedroom clock
half boxed, half trashed, three quarters alien
in cardboard city
life – a flipped iceberg of bric-a-brac
location, location, location, halfway to somewhere else
thirsting for a pint of stillness
and a remote control with pause
stuck in the going, going
before the
gone
all bets are off
and in it all
dispatches from the master mover – apparently distant
but through you, whispering “let go, let go,
let go of all else but move with me”
I will never move again, you grimly vow, knowing
even as you say it
that all is change anyhow – just now you taste it
bittersweet
light breezy chatter
will anyone miss you a minute after you leave?
ah, but we too are saying goodbye
and this is how we say it, easy
love, letting go
this shifting landscape will unroll not unravel
to the next
life letting go of what you know
this is what it is to be pilgrim
although we didn’t understand him ‘til now
and soon it will be hellos
and newness
instead of closing down and boxing off
there will be an opening out
a re-breath
Comma And 