Without fail each month

The gathering within the cave

The wet echo of excited whispers

Darkness and dankness

Woollen blankets, candles

Soft slurp of corks being pulled

Candle flames appear like glow worms

Tonight the ritual has run too long

The wine has run too freely

Pale flesh upon wool slumbering

In the stillness before dawn

I take the boat, find the air

Clear, still, silent, deep

Moonglow on my skin

But you call my name

A glow worm bobs at the cave mouth

I row back to you

Published on the Ekphrastic Review July 2023

the sky was blue only yesterday

the grass blindingly green

now there’s a space

where you were

heart hurt has bleached the colours

from the sky, the grass, my joy

even the clouds pull away

the lilac skies

stroked in sorrow

Featured on Reverie Journal’s Instagram August 2023

You wore black to my wedding

Midnight silk shot with turquoise and amethyst

A dark flower haunting the

Spring bouquet of pastel-robed ladies

They took me from my father’s home

Customary to cry out, protest, shriek

No play acting required on my part,

The transaction not of my choosing

Upon entering his home

I was to call out the traditional

Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia

But I glanced back, and saw you

Stooped, to pick up a fallen flower

Cheeks, and eyes reddened

Creamy shoulder exposed

Sorrow writ large across your face

Upon entering his home

I called out, while looking back,

Ubi tu Gaia, ego Gaia

Where you are, there am I.

Published on the Ekphrastic Review September 2023