sketch

he does his best work in pencil fabers derwents staedtlers all serve him well to sketch outlines mark details shade in shapes with shadows and he is drawing a small tree a eucalypt sapling placed off-centre in the bottom third of a sheet of cotton paper the leaves are formed vibrant shade implies their colour …

see you

I see you there behind your nose I see you there above your toes hush don’t fret no need to wail I see you there in front of your tail what’s this what’s this oh woe and grief I see you there behind your te © Frank Prem, 2009 170418

shopping (every day)

every day he goes shopping in the afternoon he can’t go in the morning it takes a long time to wake up these days the burden of a shower is an exhaustion that lasts beyond the towel beyond a shave beyond the donning of a singlet and putting on his outdoor shorts he’ll lean awhile …

I on solid ground

there is a storm raging across the heavens I see the dark destructive clouds gather swarm and rumble wind gusts with the lash of driven rain I feel the cut I wear the blows and still I stand I in the temple of my home I stand inside the doors no room for storms rage rage rage …

Top 10 for 2016 – from the Poem-a-day Collection (Part A)

In September 2016, I decided I would take a shot at doing a poem each day for a month. I've done this type of exercise before with good, but mixed, results. At the time (end of August) I felt I was writing well enough and would perhaps benefit from the discipline of producing an acceptable …

interpreting signals

waiting the clouds are grey massing above us filling the horizon away to the west lightning untranslated semaphore is sending messages of what the heavens have in store if only I could understand them the signals flying all around me in the telegraph line that is the air but I am blind I cannot see …

a touch from a dancer

the music is the ponderous jaunty slow-time of a carnival organ a pair of bears upright dance in a small arena of children parents two shuffled paces then each raises a hind-leg leans forward touches paws with the other cheek-to-cheek and mouths open turn their faces to the audience half-skirt and flower hat yellow baggy …

an unsuccessful journey towards the promised land

all right all right the leader said all those of you who do not know the way make a line make a line there make a line come up close come up close come up closer take a tail in your mouth but do not bite it I said a tail in your mouth but …

Way Poem #17: Boat to the Island

The good folk at The Drabble have given me a lovely Christmas gift by publishing one of my Way Poems – #17 the island, today.

Thank you Drabblers, I am delighted.

The Way poems were a little set that arose rather loosely from a consideration of Tao and the way it might be seen to work in different scenarios, and it’s lovely to see one of them in print.

Cheers,

Frank

By Frank Prem

boat
the current calls

will you carry me

unfurl your sail
then let us drift together
beneath the sun

the lazy breeze
knows me well
and to where I’m bound

~

boat
raise a little wake
for me

that I might feel the salt
and spray
as though we sail
for pleasure

my friend the breeze
has riffled my shirt
and you
are steadfast

~

boat
let’s circle once
this island

the surf
broken on a shoal

the harbor

then tell the breeze
that I am ready
to ride the current
and her sweet luff
home

      
BIO: Frank Prem has self-published three collections of his work, The Book of Evenings (2003), Memoir of a Dog (2008), and Small Town Kid (2009).

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I am the place

I am the secret hidden in the deep of your mind. I am the light dancing pleasure in your eyes. I am the mystery held in the soft curve of your smile. I am the web woven by the beating of your heart. I am the cloak masking thoughts inclined to stray. I am the …