Poem of the Month

A new poem will be placed here each month, usually from one of my published collections.

My poem for May 2018 is from the latest issue of Scintilla and takes it starting point from a quotation from the Centuries of Meditations of the 17th Century poet Thomas Traherne.

 

The Empty Book

An Empty Book is like an Infant’s Soul, in which any thing may be Written. 

It is Capable of all Things, but containeth Nothing. 

I have a Mind to fill this with Profitable Wonders.

Thomas Traherne

 

It is a white space

where any act of love

may be performed;

 

where primped pillows,

and starched sheets,

wait to be disordered.

 

Here is making,

shape-shifting

word-working;

 

here is spoor of print,

the marks that tell

of something live

 

that has crossed

the empty space

leaving its trace

 

like the thin coil

of the sand-worm

on a hard beach

 

where waves recede

disinclined to wipe

the fresh inscription.