Secret Lifes

Poems by Rupert M. Loydell

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE SKY

Even on the darkest night the moon is around
in the land of unintentional melodrama and love,

a dramatic monologue waiting to soon happen.
Star's secret light slips into the room through the blinds,

paper textures stand out: tones of beige and bone
briefly appear, synthesized out of air's worn edges.

A woman on the other side of the mountains and you
before the glacier. Gold and silver clouds in the flowing

water, darkness in the soil. A single frog visits our pond,
unaware how many colours are in tonight's painted sky.

THE SECRET LIFE OF THUNDER

A sailboat in a tiny pond.
The temperature of water.

Away from lightning's flash,
my life is lived outdoors,

a tall and neon privilege
lost in a strange country.

Between storm's shout and silence,
a temporary moment of closure,

a new form of accommodation.
I am returning home to die.

THE SECRET LIFE OF POLEMIC

An unending stream of deceptive signals,
opinion spluttering like a coffee machine.

You could call it compulsion or vitriol,
a personal crusade or an ongoing debate.

I have spent a lot of time thinking
about argument and have concluded

the opposite is true. Where is meaning,
interpretation, evaluation and expression?

Whisper to preserve my secret: I am
well aware of my own world view.

THE SECRET LIFE OF MY FATHER

Model trains in boxes in the loft,
local history papers on his desk.

Photos of now-demolished buildings,
a foundation stone from the rubble.

Unreadable notes towards a book
full of not-to-be-forgotten facts.

That day is not yet here. The situation
has changed. My now long-gone father

has turned to tears and remembering,
an awkwardly choreographed embrace.

© Rupert M Loydell, 2007