Mike Smith
Mike Smith was born in 1959 in Lancaster, England and has lived, studied, worked in the US and Canada. He now resides in Brussels where he works for an NGO, plays piano, and writes about things that talk to him. Mike can be contacted at: Engldolphin@yahoo.com

DOVER BOUND

A ferry full of journeymen

with their egg-stained stubble

stretch out in the smoke

of the top deck lounge

where Im an impostor

in the dull grey morning

with its hum and rattle

all slick and beaded

gently we slip our bindings

and elope like a lover

from the salt white dock

A chorus of gulls rises

in the veils of carbon

spiralling out across the sky

over oil thick water

churning iron and froth

as we circle gracefully

and plough on

past windmills on the seawall

crucified acrobats

crying silent jealousy

towards the open horizon

Dover Bound

 

Sunrise Cowboys

And only when

Sunrise Cowboys

Silver-hoofed and

Guns glinting

Lassoed tight

My wagon-train dreams

Did I consent

To be pulled

From my down-filled cell

Into the cool blue day

To drink black coffee

From a can

And hunt jackrabbits

Until sundown