isle of wight & green onyxes

isle of wight & green onyxes

… jadeite, jasper,
amethyst, choral, lapis lazuli,
opal, opalite, sea-carved with careless
precision into angels, angelfish, angelus,
it’s an island of colour, colourful
bounty, contour, conformity, churches
washed by coastlines, quartz, agate,
paraiba tourmaline, perpetual skies
pulsing, pulsite, petalite, breathing
that bit more, breathing amazonite, and
the farther I draw the closer it grows,
growing out of the unhurry, its citrine
pools of sunwork, of waterways, shoals,
pike, perch, plaice, plankton, jellyfish,
feather-fungi, as though all this were
all there was to it all, and the gulls here,
rose quartz and mother-of-pearl,
unmanned, loping the airways, feeding
on shrimp, on weeds, tangled, turquoise,
sea-fires fronting ferries
farther and farther into firmaments of
blue sapphire, tanzanite oblivion, all
weekend I’ve been here,
driving from coast to coast in search
of fun and phenomena – lain low, in
hiding almost, waiting, afraid to stir,
be stirred, rippled to possibilities, my
ocean harp, my wrist, my palm, the crook
of a one lone finger, svelte, so svelte, so
supple, birthing waves, birthing auroras,
pale peridot, sometimes chrysolite,
sometimes sunshine sluicing coasts
of chrysocolla, apatite, granite,
nambulite, as though sandstoned and
washed off meaning and memory to
sapper greens, limes, lemonade, and
this time I left you behind when I
came, sepia, serpentine, shunted behind
bookcases, writing desks, discs, time-
machines, I deleted all texts from my
mobile, I kept the emails, the notes,
notebooks in word, threadbare, lapped
in, lap-topped, hidden in a folder I’ve
named ‘unnamed’ and shelved

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