Genie

I am the genie of love,

you have had all your wishes

and I will not go back inside my lamp.

Ode to a Sunflower

Two sunflowers with baby leaves

happy side by side in June

upon the patio enjoyed the sun

I hoped one day they’d bloom.

The summer sun was bright and hot

it parched the summer lawns,

one sunflower grew tall

the other seemed to fade a little

and lean against the wall.

It could have been her partner’s shadow

shielding her from light,

or was it his insatiable thirst

to drink up every drop in sight?

In ‘Sunflower World’ he was the champ

a handsome tall young thing

but all the goodness meant for two

was filling into him.

You cannot call it selfishness

for God made sunflowers right

and for the survival of the fittest

there must often be a fight.

The heat, without enough to drink

tipped Mrs. to one side.

Glossy leaves turned sunset yellow,

she was burning up inside.

Self-immolated on the wall

no flowers will she provide.

It was for him

and him alone

she lived

and suffered

died.

Oil Slick

Along the esplanade

with  bucket and spade,

sandcastles to build on the beach.

Tourist tat,

‘dingie’s’ and ‘hats.’

‘Union jacks twenty pence each.’

The oil tanker aground

shed its blood all around

Black treacle, an impossible glue.

Strong Smelling,

soon  gelling

to my clothes and the sole of my shoe.

Flightless, lifeless now the gull,

Its plumage black as gall.

‘Don’t touch it dear,’

‘Don’t get too near’

 ‘Job for a professional!’

The conservationist

in blackened yellow

waders, plastic gloves,

scours the beach with empty container

for the wildlife that he loves.

Where shingle meets sand,

he comes to stand,

gazes the horizon, so sad

I watch him cry,

and wish that I

Could help him work it out.

He too an earthbound, flightless gull,

What shipwreck cost him buoyancy?

Once content to float upon the tide,

Now at the mercy of the sea.