Poetry by John Philiparr

We hope you enjoy this short collection of unpublished poetry over a pot of tea by our great and talented friend of BRUU, John Philiparr.

Walking in the rain

As it starts to rain my first instinct is to look for shelter but as there is none I resolve to press on. The rain changes the world around me, colours darken and leaves glisten, the sound of falling drops is a soft staccato. My hair is dripping like the leaves on the trees I pass.
The journey’s end is in sight; I start to walk faster, then slow as the sense of being cleansed creeps up on me and refuses to be hurried;

Raindrops falling fast
Washing my face and my hair
Refreshing my mind

Pea soup

Find a roadside kerb
and follow it to somewhere.

A whole world vanished
houses, wives and friends
somewhere out there
locations anonymous

Diffuse islands of light
stand in defiant isolation,
fading almost instantly,
taking comfort with them

Muffled footstep sounds
with half imagined echoes
I have become a part blind
anxious thermophiliac

Find a roadside kerb
and follow it to somewhere.
I won’t believe I’m home
until my key fits a lock

Sailing through the city

She walks in front of me
for some purpose or other
that I’ll never know
unless I stop her and ask

I could but then there are
a hundred others, living
their own existences
I cannot stop them all

I am reconciled to being
ignorant of the motives
of all these people
in walking this way or that

Am I the outsider, the ship
that passes in the night?
Aren’t we all outsiders,
sailing through the city?

A short day in the sun

Boots sliding, catching on ruts
a dull snap from frozen twigs
a million crystals on the hedge,
reflect the low sunlight
a few hips left on the rose
at the end of a thin branch,
no easy perch.

Summer fossil hoof prints
in the hard mud at the gate
frost dusted winter wheat
in the field beyond
a fox, bold with hunger
steps across the open ground
a pheasant’s croak from in the copse
briefly breaks the silent cold
and echoes in the memory

A life suspended?

Do I control a destiny
a life in my hand?
only one way to be sure
just add water and wait

then there’s no way back
I would be in charge and
I’d have to find somewhere
for it to grow

better just leave it
in the palm of my hand
and dream of what
it could become