Michael Shepherd Poems

just now, today
and for a moment, thus
forever,
the heaviness of devil-darkened thought,
...

The Hebrew language
has such sacred power
that you shouldn't sing it
in the bath or shower.
...

It’s like an adult version of a parlour game, isn’t it?
a sorta cross between a single-handed game of patience
and a crossword puzzle where the guy who set the puzzle
is always a step at least ahead of you dammit
...

and you can’t remember much
about the first time you read it except
that it held you to the end, but most of all
this one line, which seemed to hold
...

and mind might ask,
why then are brain cells gray? Is it
because the world is just
so wonderful, that they, stunned
...

and next to the world of heavenly gods,
the world of ancestors…

when ageing Indian fathers heard the call
...

Frat boy,
bratboy,
innuendo chat-boy,
why do girlies fall for you?
...

Wonder
is a philosopher
is a poet
looks with awe
...

A broken night; breakfast-table phrases
assembled for a touch of sympathy:
‘don’t ask…! ’
‘bit out of sorts…’
...