Survivor

Naked before the mirror, her limbs bent in wilful
directions. She was a misshapen tree, bent

by a bomb blast in some forgotten war, misshapen
but surviving in the ruins of a bombed out town

in a ruined land with a name impossible to spell.
Like the victim of a witch’s spell one leg pointed

left, the other pointed right pulling her opposite
ways. Her life was a circle, a gravitational pull

to wayward rotation. Men caught by her centrifugal
spin queued in rotation to see her flicker matchstick

shadows on the bedroom ceiling, flickering
like the wings of a bird in a locked room.

AE821F21-C235-4A14-99B5-9783D567D39D — Photo by the author

Play it Again Sam

If I had my life to live over I’m not sure I would do anything differently. Life is a journey, a series of crossroads, roundabouts and T junctions without any signposts to guide the way. At each intersection we must make a choice. Our decisions are based on limited information. Emotions, intuition and experience colour our judgement and we choose what we think best at the time. We evaluate, we take a risk or not. Whatever path we take there will be highs, lows and plateaus but the journey will not necessarily be better, just different.

The truth is life is unknowable. Crystal balls and tea leaves will not help. Surrender to your journey wherever it will take you for it is uniquely yours, your own fascinating story. Enjoy the highs, learn from the lows, rest during the plateaus. There are no good or bad journeys, only what was meant to be.

E9F5DC8D-E063-4939-B88B-FAD2D9B15897 — Original Photograph created by the author

Letting Go

“It is best as one grows older to strip oneself of possessions, to shed oneself downward like a tree, to be almost wholly earth before one dies.”

― Sylvia Townsend Warner.

A7068064-5E3A-4878-89C8-79FAB429BBBC — Photograph by the author

The Contest

If only Eve could don a straw hat and vanish to the Isle of Paros!
Instead, she was trapped in the Garden, weaving hard lines

of blood as the beginning people judged her pink lady tears.
Where was her power over water? Lilith dried out in the desert.

They shall possess her forever and dwell there
from generation to generation.

As the mushroom cloud rose over the maroon lagoon
Eve wondered if it was, in fact, a good time for a trip.

She was wearing her lucky pearls and the new horizon
walking boots, birthday gifts from the ferryman.

It is He who casts the lot for them,
And with His hands He marks off their shares of her.

Sad to see swine die but she was really more of a snake person.
So she turned her last page with the left hand

of darkness and prepared to recycle her perfect skin,
gala smooth and hoping for first prize. Ka-Ching!

A8E0C0A9-AC17-4ED3-A540-80B4E75CAE84 — Photograph created by the author

Breaking Up

“Friendship is delicate as a glass, once broken it can be fixed but there will always be cracks”.

Waqar Ahmed

6A0226A3-1666-4A9F-8ADC-3DDE2B6F78BB — Photograph created by the author

Out There?

“There is no truth. There is only perception.”

Gustave Flaubert

176E2088-F8C6-41F4-AA53-88105B7F966D — Photograph by the author

Can You See The Light?

“There is no light without shadow, and no psychic wholeness without imperfection.”

C.G. Jung

E542A3EE-B261-4B05-BC95-F3B372F6B63F — Photograph by the author