Aerial

Soft glass bowls make shallow distortions of light
You said, sediment falls
I found sentiment fails to offer
Sustainable solutions.
The soft dark pull
Distortion between two
Claiming what cannot be seen
So it will not be noticed.

So few leave safe harbour
But you flew out to see
What lay beyond the breakwater
The force of waves on either side
Did not lure you home, nor deter you.


The soft dark pull with promises of rest -
Amnesia.
Community in unrecognisable places
Where the contrary is lost
In countries where the sameness sits stagnant
Unchallenged, unchallengeable

Unchangeable, Intangible
Bliss in dark vistas that suffocate vision.

To remedy my pleural effusion in childhood
I blew up balloons
Resistant latex sacs
Causing cheeks to burn and stretch.
Familial plural effusion
Lies weight on child hand and heart
Leaden, leading, ransack
Raising welts, not children.

I held hope:
Idealism in old fashioned religious tropes
Righteousness despite cost
Belief in saving grace
Seeking light,
I expel the pleural affliction from birth
Replacing the ratio of 21:1
To clear my vision.

Breath holding and breathing shallow
Slowly light replaces shadow
You float in and out of view ...

Trying to hold onto the hope
That you will come back into focus.
Although wave pressure changes acoustics
Your ten bells ring clear as I near the surface
And know you are there
In my frosted vision of reality.

You never left, floating above the water
You did not leave me when I was drawn into dark waters
You lifted me through when the sun was the brightest
I hardly saw the water break
Breath filling alveoli
Little balloons of levity
Lifting my chest
Stretching out to you
Your promise to fly with me
To the trees
Where the light composes
Mottled diagrams for birds
As we sit amongst the branches
You won’t leave my side
We promised great adventures
Each with our own means
Each place with its own meaning -
An affirmation of everything we loved,
Everything we believed in from the first
Everything we looked for
Everything that salved darkness decomposed
That bought heart to light
And me to you
Me to you again
Me to me
You to you
We stream birds
Bright, soft gentle things
In clear vision
21:2.