I caught you at something yesterday -
Did you catch yourself?
I say this because I love you –
Because I can’t bear to see you stoop.
...
We are the shadow of an angel
Moving out across the land.
We are a foaming crested wave
Breaking in toward the sand.
...
I slipped momentarily between two dreams;
It wasn’t painful but I was aware.
...
A feather floats softly down from somewhere high in the rafters;
You pick it up and stroke it.
Its delicate fineness is remarkable;
Also its resilience and spring.
...
Hello world! I see you smile
with the toothy gaps of a six-year-old
As I cast a sidelong glance
Between the rows of supermarket produce.
...
I started writing when I was about five or six. I still have the first chapter in my book I planned about a horse named Darky, (alas never completed) . During my early teens I began avidly writing teenage songs - I suppose they'd be called Emo these days. Sometime during the early 80s I joined the UK Writing School (cost me £120) . I did the first 3 or 4 assignments. They said you could take as long as you like - so I am. I didn't really hack the idea of writing for 'a market' so haven't got too far. At least I got the expense against my income tax ok. During the 90s I began writing poems in earnest. The first one as far as I remember was called 'Sleep and the Quiet Peninsula’. It was to go with a show of paintings by the same name. There were another 3 or 4 pieces too. From then on I have produced copious amounts of poetry and other works. Much of it has been self-exploratory, sometimes even agonisingly so, and often self-indulgent. Occasionally I have produced something really worthwhile for everyone. My main work for income is as an artist (painter) . I also make music and still write songs at the age of fifty-five. They are still mainly Emo, although not so self-indulgent. My granddad (the father of my father) was a great inspiration to me. He was an amateur singer and played harmonica. He didn’t write as far as I know. My mother however is a musician (all eight piano grades by the age of thirteen) and a writer. She writes a lot of poetry too; in fact she has at the moment over 150 pieces on this site – and rising daily. Apparently she is already in the top 500 searched-for poets. Her poet’s name is Fay Slimm. Mine is Steve Slimm – which is almost the name I was christened with.)
Final Reproof
1) Godless Descent
listless -
falling
helplessly down
and down
You
once put
your loving arms
around me
it
was
sweet
shelter
You
once
cupped
my fall
with
big hands
ONCE
NOW
You are
far away
I keep you
THERE
with the long arm of Defence
the arm is
heavy
dead meat
cold
rigid
and utterly
unbending
even descending
at 32 feet
per second
per second
it
is
frozen
helpless
am I
to thaw out joints
powerless
I am
in decent
who will be able
to break
this fall?
Who?
before
too late
I
explode
into
Oblivion?
what
gravity
pulls
me
down?
Into
which
star
am I
being
sucked?
toward what blackness?
black-
holed
darkness
D e a t h....and.... the. l o n g. a r m. of d e f e n c e
between
these
stones
I stand
and
fall
Oh God – keep away from me!
And yet...
2) Staying in Touch
Outside of Touch
there is only
Being
Being alone
feels outside
of Everything
all Things
wholesome
are in Touch
Being
out of Touch
is Nothingness
Life is
Being
in Touch
3) illusionary pose
do I really imagine
I can keep you
away from me
with an outstretched arm?
can I think
so unintelligently
of ways
to abandon myself?
even plummeting
toward death
could only be falling
into you
control finds no place
in a realm
where illusion
has ceased
I kid myself
to believe I can
withhold you
at arm's length
even in the pose
my strong arm weakens
revealing
an absurd illusion
4) Understanding
Deciding to make a Stand
in the midst of my own Circumstance
was courageous
and bright
Forgetting to bow the head
and to let the arms hang loose
only deserves to be seen
as an oversight
With left arm outstretched
to hold You at bay
and my right engaged in the fray
was no way to stand
So I lay down the shield
and cast off the sword
to stand amidst circumstance
unarmed and defenceless
You are my sword and shield
You are my overall Standing
You are my Life - and You are my Death
Without You I cease to exist
This being understood by me
I am free to stand straight and tall
I am the UnderStanding of You
And by You I am understood
5) Communion
It was said
that gifts of Sacrifice
would one day cease
They became
something of necessity
in accord with Justice
They become
quite unnecessary
on account of Love
It is said
that the gift of Gratitude
is everlasting and pure
It became
something to strive for
in accord with Peace
It becomes
something to live by
on account of Grace
It will be said
that the gift to Commune
is greater than life
It becomes
something to live for
in accord with Oneness
It will become
something to die for
in concert with The Infinite