[Poetry] Two Poems by Phil Wood

Trust

Yesterday I found a faith

stone on Barry Beach.

Sand and rain and sea

testing its word

in relentless ways.

I took the pebble

to a rock pool and found

a dismembered crab.

The sky peppered gulls

and all their noise.

I plopped the weight

from my hand

into salted water,

like an alien

from another universe.

Thimble

The sea breeze cuffs a skirmish of salt

across the buckthorn; choughs clown above

our path that clings to cliffs; sky, scarfed

with cloud, ribbons through the four walls

of my head where common sense frets

and frays. And you breathe, untethered

to ends or me. My glove snags on wire,

then, in a feckless wind, is gone. And nothing

now but the ocean exhaling deep

blue promises; and above the cliff crumble

a ruckus of ravens flaunt in the spray

of the devil's spittle. Motherwife life is

living in a thimble and you bleed

for needle like rain. Let us smother the light!

you shout, waving your goodbyes.

You will always be a lover.

Phil Wood was born in Wales. He worked in statistics, education, shipping, and a biscuit factory. He enjoys painting, chess, and learning German. His writing can be found in various places, including : Byways (Arachne Press Anthology), Autumn Sky Daily, Fevers of the Mind (a collaboration with photographer John Winder)