Michael Shepherd Poems

Between each word, what happens in the mind?
what moves from hearing, seeing, through the worlds
of thought; emotion; both perhaps enjoined;
what depth of silent stillness may unfurl?
...

Didn’t seek it; didn’t choose it;
didn’t want it; can’t refuse it;
so it's up to you to use it;
you must suffer if you lose it;
...

Sometimes memory
runs back like an instant fast rewind
like it’s said to do at death
and hits you wham between the eyes
...

What is it doing on the clean carpet,
that bit of pink something?

Not a curse upon the house-proud
...

and it’s difficult to say exactly
what they do, or
how useful that task really is
...

they’re ‘close’, we say,
wishing to be fair, kind, just;
wishing not to know too much;
in case this clouds
...

Oh the pleasure, the happiness,
the delight, the joy, the bliss,
of doing just one thing above all!
...

Is there a god
sleeping in this room?

even the doorhandle, gently turned,
...

I thought my tire was flat.

But it was my heart.
...