The colours of the street have changed

By Bengt Nyman (originally posted to Flickr as IMG_2356-1) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Tight red-green leaves sprout on
the curbside trees. Drizzle taps the
flattened Strongbow cans
stomped down with an empty pizza box

American hot
pepperoni and chilli.
Baronsmere’s pink petals
line the gutters;

blown down in April rains.
I even spied a spider.

12 and 13/4/2015
—
In rhythm and feel, this poem bears a resemblance to ‘Ninja Turtles Strike Again!’. They both hint at melancholy and contain a tone of nostalgia for things past. In each, things of the gutter and underground animal world are referenced. Plus there’s mention of pizza.
—
Twitter: @BeadedQuill
Facebook: BeadedQuill
Books:
In the Ocean: a year of poetry
Emily’s Poems for Modern Boys
Shining in Brightness: Selected Poems, 1999 – 2012

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Poems about spiders

Image thanks to Wikimedia Commons, contributor: Siebrand. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.

Click on the image above to read these two poems from the archive.

Poems about Water Creatures

In subject matter, three of my most recent poems have drawn on creatures that live in or around water. See 

Conversation, which references ducks.

Tarantella, which might seem to be about spiders, but also mentions a fish.

red herring

Thematically, all these poems explores internal and external movement. “red herring”considers the pause of such movement; “Tarantella” the motion. Conversation describes the setting of an event, but hints at the ebb and flow to be found in relating.

Two Poems about Spiders (and a Fish in a Net)

Tarantella

Once you have been bitten,
through your vein
the poison curses courses.

Through the pain
you writhe and sweat –
this fish caught in a net –

it dances.

—
The above is a reworking of this:

Tarantella

Once you have been bitten
through your vein
the only way to rid yourself
is to dance.

Once bitten through the vein,
the poison curses courses.
The only way to cleanse yourself?
To dance

Once you have been bitten,
through the pain
you writhe and sweat –
this fish caught in a net –

it dances.

—
Which do you prefer?

At the moment I seem to be on a fish theme, which is now branching into spiders. Of course, these are mythico-fictional animals. The creatures that feature most regularly in my life are the bumblebees who love the gutter outside my window and the dogs walked by their owners in a local wood.
—
For more of my poetry, preview my recently published first volume: SHINING IN BRIGHTNESS.
I tweet regularly as @BeadedQuill.