Two Poems by John Saunders

Dream Words

 

His thoughts rolled over the edge

of awareness,
to land in the discomfort of emotion.
Too late to reverse,
he could only hope reality
would not counterpoint his position,
let him find his own solution.
He counted the seconds,
lay in wait for the bounty of opportunity.
When it happened
he did not believe,
could not countenance the consequence,
instead, chose to see
a different accident,
one that could not be explained,
that happened without excuse.

Message

 

So much said in the white silence,
as if voice is redundant.
Her black words tumble from the virtual
to shadow my reality,
leave me in no doubt of her intention.
All these meanings wrapped
in a cloud, unreachable,
the hallowed sanctuary of knowledge –
all past, present and future lost.

John Saunders’ first collection ‘After the Accident’ was published in 2010 by Lapwing Press, Belfast. His poems have appeared in Revival, The Moth Magazine, Crannog, Prairie Schooner Literary Journal (Nebraska), Sharp Review, The Stony Thursday Book, Boyne Berries, The New Binary Press Anthology of Poetry, Volume 1, Riposte, and on line, The Smoking Poet, Minus Nine Squared, The First Cut, The Weary Blues, Burning Bush 2, Weekenders, Poetry Bus and poetry 24.

John is one of three featured poets in Measuring, Dedalus New Writers published by Dedalus Press in May 2012. He is a member of the Hibernian Poetry Workshop and a graduate of the Faber Becoming a Poet 2010 course.
His second full collection Chance will be published in early 2013 by New Binary Press.