One twentieth of a second
A child’s windmill stuck
in wrinkled tinfoil
silvered with broken
jewels of light
against a dull
orange grey hanging.
This still frame denies
the steel that cuts
the cheek of the clouds
opening a rent that offers
glittering brightness
parrying the darkening haze.
It freezes the moving blades,
disturbing their alignment,
blurring the toy boat
escaping the wind
with un-furled sails -
not out of shot and still
tracking the breeze.
The humans, too, are frozen,
wrapped in themselves,
having trod the boards;
actors with no audience
and happy that way,
squeezed between noise
and fair-ground distractions
for a brief glimpse
of life out at sea.
The captured moment ends
and their words return,
filling a wine-soaked day,
less than thralled,
by this end-of-pier show.
Flights, Issue Nine, June 2023
Flight of the dragonfly 