Apologies for lack of responsiveness recently - much work pressure and other
demands make it tricky for me to get chunks of time to focus on
reading/thinking about submissions. I'm still managing to squeeze the odd
verse out though it's becoming more difficult than I like.

Anyway, a new sub below - draft for a competition in a pub on the subject of
captivity (similar to the comp at the Dan - live reading situation). I'm not
expecting to enter this one, and I know this piece isn't up to necessary
standard, but will welcome views in advance of reworking it - just in case.

Cheers,

frank

~~~~~~~~~~
Fourteen Day Orbit
~~~~~~~~~
this moon is a small thing
like an embryonic planet
chaotic volatility barely contained
beneath a misleading veneer of calmness

orbiting for twelve days of the cycle
a benign sun
of warm nurture fostering stability
growth
evolution


     will you play with me
     can I have a friend to stay
     I want to make a sculpture like yours
     look at what I've built
     cuddle me to sleep please

for two days of the cycle
an irresistible orbit change
to circle closely in the dying red heat
of a star of malevolence

choking fumes and vapour
oppressive brooding humidity
searing in angry radiation
baking exposed surfaces dry
cracked
stunted

     daddy buys me spy toys and guns
     it is a secret and I won't tell you
     you're the reason I can't see daddy more
     why don't you get a proper job
     daddy's going to get you

a fourteen day orbit
twelve plus two

irresistible forces
hold a small moon planet
in captive orbits

~

Frank


The Tales of Faust poetry page can be found at:
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~flp/F_index.htm



>From: Marilyn Injeyan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New subject: When the Woman...
>Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 14:29:42 EDT
>
>        When the Woman Who Reeked (and Needed
>          More Than One Chair), Sat Next to Me
>
>
>     I didn't say, excuse me, even when
>     her thigh grazed mine, because I didn't
>     want feelings hurt.
>         I didn't see those whiffs of sweat,
>     mustiness and landfill
>     infuse my lungs,
>     tried not to hear her fidget and slurp
>     dregs of iced coffee throughout.
>
>     I didn't stand up, just slid
>     inches to the right, listened to an author
>     who spoke on Keeping a Journal You Love.
>     I said I had her book, Writing Personal
>     Poetry, asked if she recorded dreams.
>
>     I saw four empty seats to the left -
>     a breath away from that sewer-like stench
>     beside me.  I waited until the speaker
>     was signing her latest, noticed a puddle
>     in the seat, where the polecat in chartreuse had sat.
>     I escaped the bookstore into sunlight's balm,
>     told this tale to a friend who mused,
>     "I wonder why God put that woman
>      in your life."
>
>                     Marilyn Injeyan
>                     August 13, 2001
>
>
>


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