Pearls
Gina Wisker
Those are pearls that were her hair
Wound round
Lucid, languorous,
Listless, now lingering
Washed up on the shore too late
Caught by the camera by the nets by
the moment
There should have been a time –
She should not have resisted my desire – so delicate!
to picture her so perfect!
But so preserved now washed and
Woven into the hair and sands of time
Turning away or lingering
Lasting now preserved!
in my mind and my image caught
netted priceless
dead
mine
those are pearls.
'Aqua' by Deena Warner
The Trees Are Closing in on Me
Gina Wisker
The trees are closing in on me
Here half buried in the undergrowth
Only looking up only
At the canopy of branch and leaf and the
Sky beyond
Unreachable.
Light through the strands of leaf and wood –
But so little light here below
And dying
Dying –
Animals rustling closer now
Which animals?
I cannot move to see.
Trapped.
Beetles, worms,
My only companions now
unseen
working away
their insidious and inevitable
plotWhy was I left here like this?
Why was this such
A shallow grave?
'Southern Nights' by Deena Warner
Watcher
Gina Wisker
I am watching you
Held firmly
In the mechanisms of
Surveillance
Clocking into
Your every move.
Do not be dismayed, my dear
You have a lovely smile
And from my position here
wound tight
embedded
a perfect fit
age old, permanent,
secure, fossilised
I can observe
your every move.
Trust me.
You are under my
watchful gaze.
And more
Preserved, safe, soon – my own
Have no fear –
But for now – let me tell you,
my dear
I have
My eye on
You
'I See You' by Deena Warner
Skin
Gina Wisker
I’ve got you (soon) under my skin
Burrowing
eating away the dead flesh from which
you spring
pellucid with your one fixed eye, intent
clearing away the debris of this corpse
this rotting waste, these remains of self, I’ve
got you now
about to re-enter
the space that was only mine
or rather once
previously mine
to control and name, to own.
You are
Surprised,
momentarily captured on film,
scaling the entrance
avoiding the constraints of self
of skin
of life.
