Catherine Hales

TWO POEMS

in the name of

& when faith seems so much like a failure
to live    & the procession moves on    to finish
fireworks    of course    & the damage left

sticks & stones may break my    remember
but words can never    places    we'd put up with
the mind's collateral    taken together    alone

in a yurt somewhere    savouring how sand
scours at the subtle lies we live by    bones
aren't even the half of it    on the march

 

narratives

out of terracotta hills    free-
wheeling down to dry valleys    even

roads    villages where facades conceal centuries
of untold bruising    the normal rigmarole

we're too preoccupied to notice    whizzing through
sniffing the earthiness up ahead    the darkening

a sprung gust upsets our equilibrium
but not for long    here's a rustic taverna    chianti

& pasta    & postcards    sitting it out while the storm
fractures a perfect day until we can carry on



Copyright © Catherine Hales, 2007.

Catherine Hales grew up in Surrey and, after various stops and jobs, now lives and works in Berlin as a freelance translator. Her poems and translations have appeared in several magazines, in print and online.