James Andrews Poems

These are the things that press down upon the world.
They are the semblances of rings around the moon.

The howling dogs in barking circles
...

Wide eyed and open in astonishment I watch
Those long and curving red nailed fingers
Close around me in the evening,
Sun setting in the windows of the Hudson
...

The waltz begins
And partners are exchanged
The dancers float across the ballroom
...

Down we drove,
The rim of Philadelphia
Hot motorcycle
Burning in the truck.
...

Seemed it was no accident
The smell of sulphur
Riding hard upon the brakes
Descending from the parkway
...

Small children wading underneath the fetid branches
Feral twisting rocks
The homes of cottonmouths
Pebbles rolling made of marbles
...

Escaped my home, constricting me,
Up the pass, above the city lights
To the valley of my dreams.
...

Becalmed, the doldrums bear down frowning.
Hull fouled by weeds, persistent barnacles.
The ship is steadfast in her silence,
The light alone enough to shatter us.
...

Drawn lines amongst the willows dripping,
Shadows of the morning,
Sight set upon the evening star,
He gazes at the solstice moon,
...

Six miles of footpaths
Field, riverbank, dell, forest.
Cumulous and blinding blue.
The only sound the distant hum
...