Our first Poem of the Month for 2021, selected by Anthology editors, Louise Nicholas and Judy Dally, from poems read at the February Open Mic.
IN MEMORY OF ROBIN GIBB
Nigel Dey
Massachusetts is one place I have never seen.
My world is an island in a stream.
You don’t know what it’s like.
You can only guess what I mean.
I see only through a lighthouse beam.
But love bursts through any seam.
My world is your world
And our world is this world.
And this world is round.
I used to think it flat and square.
But still it rains everywhere.
My soul is your soul and our soul is Love.
How deep is your love?
Deep enough to drown fear?
Wide enough to mend a broken heart?
Patient enough while you change horses,
Mature enough to be Saved By The Bell
When the ride finally stops on your own carousel?
Spicks and Specks of broken dreams
Linger on my deserted shore.
How strong is the Sun that shines on your head?
How well is your soul fed?
From the Isle of Man to the Antipodes and back again
His art took spark in the heart of a saint.
He just had to start a joke
To set the whole world crying.
In the event of something happening to me
There’s something I want you all to see:
Just a photograph of someone who caused a landslide.
Have you heard his voice, Mister Jones?
The sound of a holy man weeping in tremolos!
One more hour and my life will be through.
What’s the point of a fool staying alive?
Hold on. I’ve got to get a message to you.
You think I don’t mean a single word I say.
It’s only words, just jive talking.
But words are all he had to take my heart away.
I am tall. Christmas trees to me are small.
But still I cry every First of May
When the lights all went out in Massachusetts … … …
(Composed upon hearing of the death of Robin Gibb in May 2012)