Recent Published Work

The Good Discomfort
Ford Maddox Brown: ‘Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet’. 1852-1856. Oil on Canvas. Tate Gallery.
Poetry d'Amour, 2019.

Jez is digging deep into Pete’s aching plantar,
focussed on the good discomfort that brings relief.
He wants to become a holistic healer,
help those in pain walk straight paths again.
First, you must soak the feet and wash them, 
feet weary from shuffling
on unmade roads in sandals under burning sun.

Working for his stepfather has made Jez
strong and supple. His jaw is keenly chiseled,
biceps hard as mallets, hands dexterous with nails.
In the beginning, Jez blackened three fingers
while driving tacks into a box he was making
for his mother. Joe, his stepfather said: Son,
that’s all right. Part of creating is finding joy
from pain. They laughed and Joe showed Jez
how to turn the legs of a fine table he was building.
It’ll hold at least twelve or thirteen, he said.

Joe's almost as close as a birth father,
yet Jez always senses the other one
guiding him silently from some unknown place.

Pete watches his pal kneeling, intent on the sole,
knows Jez loves him like a brother. Sometimes
he suspects that that his best friend's too kind
to survive. Pete feels uncomfortable, worries
that he's not good enough. But Jez says:
It's all meant to go around.

the cock crows —
echoes pounding
through my bones