Embedded Files
Poems Around the Portland Bends
In the monastery
the man finds out the dogs
and candles are apophatic.
The wind feeds them
the rock wall sticks
its tongue in the wind's
soft curls.
No one prays all day
but there's music
if the birds can tune the downpour.
*
I've never left the wild garlic;
it doesn't feel right to abandon it.
*
Servants hold up rivers
with cotton flags
soaked in lemongrass;
the bull is caught
between sun showers bellowing;
Dionysian poster boy
or blood between her teeth
it doesn't matter.
Monday feels ok
but Tuesday melts the buttercups.
*
I climbed the foam blue wall again.
I hope that’s ok.
You'll know when moon lights
up your wedding ring.
*
Even if the gate is closed
inside the quiet street
can't hold the tail
or the heart sitting on
a wall somewhere essential.
*
Best of all I love
what might be the river
dream towards you
with its pink back
and poison dipped
wet longing.
*
Oaks are everywhere
when the wind
blows them in
there's a high wire heart
bursting heirlooms
on the vine.
*
I might return this way;
collecting heather in a pomander.
*
Honey or swans
leave the monastery
earlier than the morning
tastes of clover.
Covering your breath unkempt
Venus rushing
backwards.
*
Cocoa butter sleep
those children deserve
a lie in
all kinds of eggs.
Stephen Nelson’s latest books of visual poetry are Goodness, Goddess and Toys for Telepaths, both published by Redfoxpress. He has exhibited visual poetry and published prose and poetry internationally for a number of years. He lives in Central Scotland. See his asemic writing on Instagram @afterlights70.
Copyright © 2025 by Stephen Nelson, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
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