Michael Shepherd Poems

‘And now, ladies and gentlemen,
above you – ladies, it’s easier with
the mirror from your purse…
Monsieur, Signor, Mein Herr…
...

Here’s three cheers
for Jon Haidt, who’s reminded us
in ‘The Happiness Hypothesis’
that our lingering primitive selves
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In the mirror, as the shadow falls across, then
for a precious fraction of a second,
The One Who Simply Looks
looks at itself…
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How can a mother ever quite forget,
or quite relinquish in her memory,
that state which babies share with saints:
to be free from all desires of mind?
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‘Cell-phone and sell’ is the new money-maker;
‘taking offence’ vicariously is the new morality…

switch on your mobile if you’re near
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Who is grateful for a long life
when that life gets just too long? ....

meanwhile, while
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Thanks to the hundreds of you who daily
are so eager to enhance my life
and that of my partner
with pills and extensions
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O You Who Are - the formless, nameless One,
more real than all forms and names can speak:

You for whom we seek to find a name
...