Three poems and three photographs by Karin Weber

Willow

I said to a willow tree;
you are a green haired woman
with hands growing so wild
birds slip through your fingers.
Too bad your feet are tangled up in stone

She said to me;
you are a shifting trunk
with no leaves to grace your limbs
You move in a permanent fall.
Too bad you are blown around so easily

Why Write

I live too far from the sea,

and sleep a sailor's dream.

My mind’s horizon

stretches between two blues

blended for breathing;

a spice of old shells,

dried eel grass

and lost fishes.

Standing at the edge

where smooth sand disappears

under flying water

I caste and caste again

for mermaids or a selkie lover

to draw me farther out.

They have yet to appear.

In the meantime I awake

every day land locked

to set sail with broken lines

in tiny flat white ponds.

Jasmine Cream

The short film clip shows
an eight year old girl climbing onto a truck
for a midnight ride to fields of jasmine.
Already an old woman creeps
inside the child’s spine all night
as she untethers tiny stars that loom
like dreams about to be released
until crushed in a burlap bag.

Bossman stands by with his hurry-up stick,
conversation loose as sand
pouring from one hand to the next,
“Sometimes children need to be tapped.”

Far away in a crystalline lab
a perfume artiste noses through
liquid flowers ambergris musk
to compose a master scent.
There must be no hint of any hand
that could pluck away the night.

At the department store

the beauty consultant projects a smile

on her audience and recites;

for youthful beauty one must

till the skin with loving care and just a touch of:

green mud vitamins collagen herbal infusion

extract of a million petals and water water water.

She does not speak of the stolen ingredient;

essence of childhood.

With two fingertips we are shown

how to erase our wrinkles

with white jasmine scented cream.

I think of Lotus Eaters

on their dry island

eating twisted plants,

the flavour of blossoms

masks the sight of the punishing sea.

Note: For information about Brian Henry's writing workshops and creative writing courses, see here.