reading - by Charli Wiggill

 

forests of words create unique landscapes

turn a page and new vistas appear

crafted by worldly wise wordsmiths

who plant twigs of phrases and

graft splints of clauses

 

fine trees emerge

tall and strong

branches of detail in different directions

now and then cones of fruitful information

and regenerative seeds of truth

 

forests inhabited by small buckpuns,

creepy similes and squishy metaphors

coloured by exotic birds flashing wit and

twittering, indigenous shrubs of irony

peopled by forest folk full of alliteration

 

as time passes and the tree matures

more subplots spin webs in the leaves

characterisation nests in its branches

lichen grows on our psyche, and

climaxes leave issues even less resolved

Seascape

                                  Seascape

                              Sceptical salvo

Of Saliferous saltarellos

            Soulful sayings stridently sounding

    Sizzling and stewing, the sullen spectre sits

Solidly on. Ships squat silently                 brooding

On the speculation of what might                    be.

The swishing and swashing, swiping

At sand and stone – swallowing shells

And squelching. Spattering spray away

And scattering seagulls. A slippery silvery

Tongue salivates a sudden saline shoulder

To the sedentary mass. A smash of solidarity;

Constellation of candyfloss sans substance. Just

Superficial  snowy sherbet.  Synthesised structural

Sculptures  stolidly  on shores  settling  to surface and

Sliding silently southwards, seawards. A lone gull sweeps

Overhead – screeching the most heartrending tale in birdspeak

A few yards away its mate spread-eagled – plastic packet punctuating

Its putrefying plumage. Shimmering silica settles – a stoical scene survives.