Three poems by John Stocks

Cormorants and Guillemots

Come with me to the Cornish waters

Where the waves lap a coarse kiss on the shore

And we can learn to love the silence

To give love and know the love of others.

For we are nothing, a scattering of dust

A fleeting spark of electricity

And yet we feel the pull of the moon

Some sense of mystery, communion of souls

The subtle tugging of a distant star.

When sometimes our imagination leaps

To empathy, then we are unique

Embracing some other consciousness

An elemental wildness deep within.

To some other alien heart betrothed

Sensing the salt water on their beaks

Their disingenuous curves of flight

The nuances of their transitory lives.

Then we are Cormorants and Guillemots

We are the brooding deep water whale

The swift to whom, the west wind whistles home

We are love, life indestructible

Their grief is our grief, our souls are cleaved

As to the dreams of our sons; our daughters.

Bretton Hall

Spring

One of the perfect days

The breeze, suddenly switched from North to South

Little more than a gentle kiss.

On the lake the herons are busy

Sparks of silver light shimmer and explode

In a mercurial sun dance

Unseen it would still be sublime.

A pair of goldfinch

Jettisoning colour

Flutter by the shore.

Later we watch a sculptor

Moulding bone white clay

His hands sensuous and slow

Then swift as a conjuror.

And there is nothing between us

Between our breathing

And the silence

Lyonesse

Somewhere beyond the Gulls and Gannets

heavenly perspective, Orion calls.

Deep in a dream of ocean

Far out to sea, Dolphins loiter

effortlessly waiting for the flow

of warmer waters.

Absorbing the sensuous rhythms of the ocean

in a reasoned eloquence of patience

somewhere above our restless search for purpose.

John is a widely published and anthologised writer from the UK. Recent credits include an appearance in , ‘Soul Feathers’ a poetry anthology, alongside Maya Angelou, the English poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, Bob Dylan , Len Cohen, Rimbaud and Verlaine. This anthology was the second best selling poetry anthology in the UK in January, is raising money for cancer care, and can be ordered online from Waterstones UK. He also features in ‘This island City’, the first ever poetry anthology of poetry about Portsmouth, also available from Waterstones. In 2012 John will be launching a collaborative novel, ‘Beer, Balls and the Belgian Mafia’, inspired by three of his primary interests.