Literary Vegan

Each day I run down The blossom-strewn bank To the shallow stream -  Brown stone under pink And watch the lone bird Visiting - Heron, egret, moorhen, crow. Today I brought you with me For the first time - Showed you how we must get low Under the trees, Took you to the brown stones And standing on the pink We saw not one, but two jewelled mandarins Together. I tried to memorize the russet colour, The white stripes  But I always think in symbols And couldn't deny The imagery here - Excited I repeated this to you, Over and over. I had wanted to show you the  Chance of it, The beauty of the birds But you got to see, instead How my mind worked On blossom-strewn banks Precious, In the water.  LJ Ireton 2023

I crouch lower Under the howling wind - The never tiring traveller carrying a constant cry From the unprotected ones. The Garden has been forgotten - At least from the ground I can watch the forget-me-nots lift into  Small  Blue  Butterflies. LJ Ireton 2023

Hammering in the forges Of sleep My mind makes And makes. How beautiful the glow, The means - Some nights the sheen. But by the same, Where heat meets disorder  A torment of shapes - Strange metals dropped Upon waking And still heavy.  LJ Ireton 2023

Paws skittering on pavements Soft ears, Black panic - A power barrier of men  Place themselves  Between a day And ebony worlds broken. Where is the chance for small hearts? Their charcoal outlines drawn  On ours. LJ Ireton Copyright 2023

I've tried a few times To write a poem about Felicity But it comes out full of cliché: Princess, Queen, pretty, pretty. She does snore sometimes, We converse in chirps And I call her polar bear When she shows me her Snow-white belly - But can I say that About royalty? LJ Ireton 

Otus has long feet, A small face, Sand and ginger shapes Across his fur - like a giraffe  With stripes the colour of burnt toffee. Directly in the Sun His eyes are prehistoric pure amber But he is dog, often He purrs with his tongue out And sniffs everyone. LJ Ireton 

I didn't know what I wanted to be Because  What I wanted Was not in the careers library At school - There was no section  On how to be a Disney Princess Or have success like Madonna So I said 'Journalist, I guess' And scrambled through The next few years And then more. It was friends - Speaking other futures Out loud, That changed 'Could' or 'could not' In my head. Reality is who you Listen to -  I made music about it. C. LJ Ireton 2023