In Defense of Introverts

The world is very bright,
Even the grey mornings.
Each person is a spark of energy -
A story hovers over them like an aura.
Even standing still,
I need to gather my responses,
Animal instincts overwritten 
With theatrical instruction.
My electricity is colourful 
You love the explosion - 
And I love the show 
The performance of eyes,
The magic making a mouth move. 
You say that is life, 
Stop hiding.
I say art settles on a page.
If I want to sit on the gallery bench
Staring at my own painting in the dark
Then I will. 

LJ Ireton

The Crown

The crown's exquisite diamonds sparkled,

Speaking to everyone.

In a sombre room of echoing steps,

They outshone the candle tips,

Sparks in soldier's staffs. 

They are living in this moment of death -

Lights of a life heavy to wear, prepared

For shining - a song still singing freely above 

The set strikes of timed sticks,

The solemn clock of ceremony.

They have seen history 

And tell us now

Of Kings and Queens

Become monuments - 

These jewels in breath or statue 

Are always blinking.

LJ Ireton 

Autumn

And so Autumn blows a browning breath 
Into the streets, around the tops of trees
And days of sea salt are mined into memory.
Arms and leaves start to fold, 
But creation is a constant energy
About to be found
In dreams, on sheets, in sounds
While the soil sleeps under 
Red bowed heads.

LJ Ireton 2022

Onwards

I was taught that
The clouds are like our thoughts 
They come and go
They thunder, they accuse
They shelter, they surprise
But the sky above them stays the same -
Watches them stir, big and beautiful, frightening -
Aware, but above the stream of movement. 
So our minds must be.

My mind can be a catastrophe, often.
But occasionally I catch a glimpse 
Of the grey clouds sailing
Whether they like it or not
They float, like the pretty ones,
Onwards. 

C. LJ Ireton