Transitory lives

Happy to have this poem published in the March edition of Visual Verse. (Link below)

Transitory lives

If she shakes her hands silver rings will fall

like splashes of water. If she could shake

her hands. Her fingers are traces of smoke,

phantoms in the light of dawn. Once strong, firm,

they’d push back wild hair while her hitch-hiker’s

thumb stood determined to stop all the lads;

and she’d hold onto the motorbike guy,

until the next brief stop in a life on

the move. Now, the skin is transparent. Her

fingers cage a butterfly that trembles

on the soft skin of her palm; fragile wings

flutter in the arch of her gentle grasp.

At 5.23am, a long sigh

escapes her, and at last they fly       free.

Visual Verse: http://visualverse.org/submissions/transitory-lives/

 Image by Tertia Van Rensburg

©2017JackieBiggs

Being watched

Image by Manon Bellet

Pleased to have this poem pubished recently by the lovely ekphrastic anthology Visual Verse (see links at bottom of this post)

Being watched

her chemise
lands in a whisper
        of silk on slate

clear shadows slant on the wall
where afternoon sun finds
       gaps in blinds

       she knows he watches
       so she spins

turns in a whirl
       of sun and shadows

dust motes drift
        her skirts swirl
              and fall

her hands snake in a rhythm
only she can feel

heat pricks her neck
       the blush of her knowing
       shows in her face

and sweat cools
       making a dampness
               on her back




http://visualverse.org/submissions/being-watched/


http://visualverse.org/about-visual-verse/

@visual_verse