☛ We are inviting submission in the field of literature and literary theory in the form of article, book review, poem, short story, travelogue and interview for our regular April issue (Vol. 6, No. 2). The last date for submission is 31 March, 2025.

ARIANA DISCOVERS - Mike Jenkins (U.K.)

 


ARIANA  DISCOVERS

 

-         Mike Jenkins (U.K.)

 

Name all the way from ancient Persia,

yet I prefer to think of silver,

not the money but the colour.

 

Silvery glint in eyes and smile.

Your slow-coming teeth troubling

even as mine are disintegrating.

 

I stoop to your world

of the carpet’s plain

and knees ache, stiffen.

 

But you can grip my hands

like a climber’s rope

as you balance upright.

 

I challenge you to face

the chair’s sheer cliff,

your steady, straining noise

 

like a small bird repeating

its call, not because it’s lost

but wings not yet formed.

 

There are no coins to gather,

just shaking shapes and sounds ;

a mirror’s shine, yourself another.

 

Note: In Welsh ‘arian’ can mean money and silver.

 

 

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