One-upmanship

Fighting a bout of low self esteem

I headed westward where I’d heard it

possible to test your wits against

a certain mountain, Cyfwry so named

and forming part of the giant chair

where sat mighty Idris, long since

departed, and in the cold silence

inadequate Cyfwry, for he was

one of three, would challenge all-comers

to prove who was the greater. And so

I came to the shores of Llyn-y-Cau

dark as ink beneath his mighty sides.

The bragging was in full flow but sharp

were his senses and he detected

my diffident entrance, for you see

squirrels are by comparison quite

small. So small in fact that old Cyfwry

began to laugh in mocking tones of

disbelief. ‘And how’ he cried ‘can one

so insignificant hope to trump

me, whose granite sides flout the test of

time; redirect rivers at a whim;

carry mighty forests on my back

and confound the works of man – Pray tell?’

‘Well’ I said, drawing myself up to

full height with whiskers splayed for effect:

‘I bet you can’t crack a nut!’   It’s said

things were quieter in those parts after

that. I headed home feeling better

but knowing I was still the same squirrel.

John H Davies

9th April 2011

Journey

We’ve come this far,

a little further

isn’t going to hurt

any more than it

already has.

We’ve come this far,

and survived,

like our ancestors

who we can thank

if so inclined.

And what the hell:

if we don’t make it

there’ll be plenty

ready and willing

to take our place.

We’ve come this far.

We won’t starve.

And what’s the worst

that could happen?

People talking?

They won’t spend

much time on it.

They’ll be too busy

wondering how

far they’ve come.

We’ve come this far,

just one more step.

John H Davies

8th April 2011 

People you meet in pubs - IV

I’ve forgotten his name, or perhaps I never knew it,

because he spoke in a forced whisper and sported

a white gauze that covered his neck like a clinical cravat,

and we had long conversations that I pretended to understand,

by nodding enthusiastically at what I thought were the right moments

because I liked his face, and the way he tapped you on the shoulder

to make a point, while his terrier sat gently at his feet and smiled.

And once he asked me something about balloons, eager for a reply,

and I said yes, and the next day he came into the back bar with a

brown paper bag containing the largest mushrooms I had ever seen.

John H Davies

7th April 2011

Peripheral – distilled

(with thanks to Robert Thompson)

I wish I didn’t know

how far it is

to the nearest star.

I wish my horizon

was where the land stops

and the sky starts,

for then I might understand

why everything seems

so important -

the way that animals do;

whose only world

is that within their view.

How I wish I didn’t know

how far it is

to the nearest star.

John H Davies

6th April 2011 

Judicial Review

She suddenly understood

that she judged herself by how

others judged her and that she

had little control over

this for by the same measure

others’ judgement was based on

their perception of how she

judged them - through the looking glass.

John H Davies

5th April 2011 

Flying Man

Do you remember Ed

who held you on his hip

in church one Easter?

I cherish the image

of you and this man,

who in his youth

had held it together

for two tours of Vietnam,

and for a brief moment

shared our world.

Some guys weren’t so lucky:

like the grunt who lost it

one day and had to be

choppered from the base

for everyone’s safety.

And as the Huey sped

over The Mekong Delta

he calmly stood up

and stepped through the door

at a thousand feet

before anyone could grab him.

Ed was on the patrol

that found him next morning,

planted in the ground

feet first and standing upright,

spectacles slightly askew,

with a quizzical expression

on his face.

John H Davies

4th April 2011

Progressive Participles

Fading shadows

Gaining light

Disappearing traces

Inverting reflections

Graduating time

Infusing memories

Conjoining space

Illuminating fate

Displacing reality

Perverting truth

Imitating infinity.

John H Davies

3rd April 2011