Poem: 'SNOWFLAKES FALLING ON THE INTERNATIONAL DATELINE'

SNOWFLAKES FALLING 

ON THE INTERNATIONAL 

DATELINE / 

UNDER A LOVER’S MOON (26.5.89) 

and 

Cathy says 

‘you’re so quiet, 

is something wrong?’ 

on TV 

people move 

in mysterious tides 

through Tiananmen Square 

ads 

dislocate 

into each other 

seals shimmer 

across sandpits 

towards the Wash 

and I’m 

screaming inside 

Cathy says 

‘you’re so quiet, 

is something wrong?’

I want to say 

it’s over, finally 

it’s over,         a 

beautiful lover 

is gone and I’m 

sick with pain, 

I can’t staunch the 

pictures in my head 

and I can’t stand 

their tenderness 

but Cathy says 

‘you’re so quiet, 

is something wrong?’ 

while on TV 

people scatter 

like human shrapnel 

through Tiananmen Square 

and seals split waves 

into shimmering ice 

and I say 

‘no, I’m fine, 

just a little 

tired’ 

 Published in:- ‘IRON No.61’ (UK – June 1990)