And a blog is a coat
of many pockets,
a continent
of join the dots,
a magic painting
wanting only water.
My father’s blog
In my father’s blog
are many mansions.
A blog is content
in a room full of cells.
A blog is ever empty
and willing to be filled.
A blog is not lost
and may never be found.
– – –
Rachel McAlpine
Poems in the cloud
Blog poems rise
like steam from a heated heart.
Ghost poems floating
like bubbles from a spring,
one long knotted rope
of cirrhus scarves.
Drifty. Cloudy. Quickly
off the screen.
Speak softly
Speak softly
to the newly wed,
the dearly dead.
Speak loudly
to your Uncle Fred.
– – –
Rachel McAlpine
Senior poems in an ebook
Do you get sick and tired of being drip-fed poems, one per day? Would you like to have a bunch on a single theme so you can pace yourself?
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Buy Senior Poems on Kindle for a ridiculously small price
In my skull
My skull is an occupied
sofa. When someone
makes a home in your head—
no room for poems.
– – – –
Rachel McAlpine
Comfort noise
After you hang up
your obsolete handpiece
after you go,
comfort noise
swells through the holes.
– – –
Rachel McAlpine
Surreptitious
Friendship slips
out the window
when lovers shout
and part.
It may ring the doorbell
later
when neither hurts
nor waits
nor wants.
*
Rachel McAlpine
The understudy
My monkeys have been teaching me
a rock dance
(says Ruby).
I am going to make the costume
a bit big
in case I am sick.
If I was sick
you could paint your face
and pretend to be me.
You could change your voice
into a beautiful voice
like mine.
I will teach you the moves.
Just bend your knees a bit.
You have to bend your knees anyway!
You can take my replacement.
The costume might be a bit small
but I promise it will fit you comfortably.
*
Rachel McAlpine
Advice and coaching from Ruby, aged 5
Healthy Things
I should never be sick
’cause we have Healthy Things
(says Ruby).
They’re little tiny small things
and they’re a lion. Here, I’ll draw one for you.
There are arrows pointing to their tummy,
with skin dots, pale, very hard to see.
You should always have one a day
so you don’t get sick.
Well, I’ve got the hiccups inside my tummy
so I should have had more.
They taste like — how can I describe it?
Say you were cooking a Healthy Thing
and you just needed two ingredients:
an orange and some salt.
You squeeze out the juice and mix it up,
pour it into a salt bowl
and it turns into a a Healthy Thing.
Hm, how can I describe it?
It tastes like lemon with sour salt.
They’re called Healthy Things
because they’re Healthy
and because they’re Things.
*
Rachel McAlpine
Advice from Ruby, aged 4 or 5
Poems in the wild—Rachel McAlpine 