~ beyond Chester

We crossed at the edge of the West 
from our wider plain / towards a higher fall; 

We crossed above the head of navigation 
leaving fertile plains / for the western fall…

We sailed at dusk, the tide in flood, 
our logic flawed, in baffled honesty; 
We held a course towards the outer islands – 
enticing, in their warm deceptive welcome. 

“Ourselves alone” was once the bitter warning, 
a harbinger of inwardness and violence, 
of sixty years of poverty to come… 
But now it echoes louder from behind, 
brayed by the problematic poster-boys of privilege, 
rotting from the head.

Dust is always with us

I caught your image forming: 
A half-seen shadow in the dust…
then outlines etched across a page, 
now substance carved, creating depth; 
Growing features, wrinkles, names 
with movement, hints of nuance, 
breaths of agency, and time; 
I began to know a person.