Levitating

 —Poetry by Ian Copestick, Stoke-on-Trent, England
—Artwork Courtesy of Public Domain 

HORSE RACING

I was walking my dog
last week.

She likes watching the
horses in a field
on our route.

So do I.

Two horses, I think
they're mother and child,

Were racing each other
around the pretty big
field.

Really galloping.
But just for the sheer
fun of it.

It warmed this
cold bitter heart
for a while
at least.

It was beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

LEVITATION

A beautiful
summer's
night.

The sky
becoming
a mass of
pink, purple
red, blue,
white, and
every colour
you could
think of.

The birds
singing.

My soul
is levitating,
I think.

The warmth
of the sun
on my lily-white
English skin.

The smell of cut
grass, inflaming
my senses.

I get high on
these things.

My soul levitates. 

 

 

 

KNOCK ME UP

Thinking back to the good times
When my partner was still alive.

I remember one time, she owed
some money to the milkman.

She wrote a note, saying
"knock me up, and I will
pay you.”

I told her "you can't leave
that!"

"Why not?"

“Just read it again."

So she did.

"Oh my God, Ian
Thanks for that."

We laughed about it for hours, days
I think.

God, I miss her so much, it
cripples me. 

 

 

 

A STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

You have to let all
of the memories flow
It hurts when they come
and it hurts when they go.

I wasn't much for being young.
I don't like being old.
Hell will be too hot for me.
Purgatory will be too cold.

A stream of unconsciousness
flows through my brain.
I've smoked far too much weed
to qualify as sane.

But, still I keep on trying, trying
to explain myself
Nobody is going to do it for me.
And they could never define my
mental health,

You have to try to maintain your flow.
That's all that writers have.
Although it comes and goes,
and you don't notice if it's bad. 

 

 

 

 

THE POLICE QUESTIONNAIRE

Someone I know
is trying to join
the police force.

I know
I feel the same
way too
but I really love
this person.

I was asking them
how the first online
interview went.

“It's just like a kind
of questionnaire
sort of thing.
What would you do
in certain circumstances”

Me, being a natural
piss taker said:

“You come across a
gang of white men
standing around,
and a black man
on the floor, bleeding.

Who do you arrest?”

If you answered

“The black man,”

Welcome to the police. 

 

 

 

 

A GLIMPSE

We've lost any glimpse
of spirituality
We may, once
have had.

It's understandable,
how much suffering
religion has caused.

So many wars, so
many people killed
for no real reason.

I, strangely, choose
to have some kind
of faith

In what I don't know.
There has to be
more than this.

There must be.

I'm sure I've felt it

Even if it is
just a glimpse.

Just a glimpse of
something beyond
our knowledge. 

 

 

 

 

THE WEIRDEST THING

The weirdest thing
I've ever had anyone
ask me

Was when I started working
at the T.J. Maxx warehouse.

I filled out all of the forms.
As you do.
A few hours later, the boss,
Well, my boss, turned up with
my I.D.

The name on it was Ian
Copestake.
I told him that they'd
got my name wrong.

He actually, asked me
"Are you sure?"

At this time I was 40 years
old.

Did he really believe that I
was so fucking stupid that
I'd lived for forty years without
knowing my name?

Apparently, he did. 

 

 

 

AT LEAST ONE THING

Well, there's
at least
one thing I
truly
know.
The longer
I live.
The more
I grow.

Not physically,
Since I stopped
Drinking I've lost
A lot of weight.

But, I'm definitely
Growing spiritually,
Emotionally.

I hope that I am
Becoming a better
Person.

I don't know,
But I hope so.

It's what life is
All about, really
Isn't it?

Isn't it?

___________________

Today’s LittleNip:

Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.
 
―Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

___________________

—Medusa, with thanks to one of our friends from across the sea, Ian Copestick, for his fine poetry today!

 

 

 

 “… a glimpse of something beyond…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A reminder that
Taylor Graham and Steve Talbert
will be reading in Camino today, 2pm, at 

Poets and Writers of the Sierra Foothills.
For info about this and other
future poetry happenings in
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click on
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