Selection

Trees and animals told me

Autumn is handsome.

And...

I fell in love with him,

I dreamed

I could be here longer

And see his smiling face

I would give him myself away

And let him paint me

In colours  

I had never been before

Reds and yellows, browns and oranges

I would be his princess

He would be my prince 

From my wildest Indian summer dreams. 

20/04/24

I invented the blue smile

The smile you have to pay

If you want to have it

It has its bye-bye blue properties for indigo rainy days,

And you’re welcome blue emotions you want to keep them 

Sky won’t be such blue as it used to be,

But it will be blue the way you wanted them to be

Framing around golden sun rays.

Your black sadness  will blend into Oxford blue, fading into ultramarine and aqua blues

Making you feel reborn again.

Your summer night eyes will see the things

At the same colours that will be never the same again.

18/05/24

I am writing you a letter, my child

On a white sheet of paper with an ordinary pen in blue.

I remember you wished me a safe journey 

With a voice of late spring breeze in your lush evergreen branches.

Thank you for that, 

I arrived safely in China.

Thank you for blooming at the end of May,

Thank you for rushing to share your charcoal white 

Uprising starfish bells before I go 

Leaving you surrounded by sunflower plants,

Gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes.

I want to tell you something,

Beautiful,

I took you with me in my travel bag,

You bloom now in Beihai.

Your snow-white flowers talk to me 

Whenever I look at them in the photo at you

Bringing me back home with you.

Yours sincerely,

Ivo

I fold a letter in a half,

And put it in an aquamarine envelope.

I write on it

To Japanese Azalea

I kiss it before I post it back to England

Throwing into a dark green post box on a sweltering street.

26/06/24

Beibu Gulf greets me tonight after eight o’clock

Coming out of its shores

Splashing big silver waves

Far into the Silver Beach

Sky black scattered with dark grey clouds

Too high,

Unreachable for the gulf.

I smile

And dress off in my swimming pants

I let its huge wild hands cradle me.

I hear its voice whispering to me

It wanted to come to my home tonight

And play with me

It missed me these long nine madly hot boiling days.

I missed it too.

Now I let the waters of Beibu Gulf

Wash me as its baby.

And washes me with joy

My feet, my legs, my waist.

I plunge into its warm hugs

and it washes my hands and arms

My face, my hair and my body

With its salted

But love-filled water.

I return home and sleep tight like a baby

Until the sun is rising on the horizon

Six o’clock morning.

I muse about my little boy Elvis,

I have to get up and be ready

Before he opens his beautiful chestnut brown eyes.

29/06/24

It might seem that I work for no pay,

But I’m not.

I’m paid by Elvis with his endless love

And I don’t understand where from

Such a little heart gets so much love to give.

It burst over me like a waterfall

With hugs and trust,

Laughs and fear of losing me.

More than eight hours a day

And more than five days a week

I’m cascaded by his unconditional love.

It's continuous and everlasting

Making my life meaningful.

15/07/24

I feed the soil with the peals of vegetables,

Egg shells and love turning it with a fork over and over,

It does not resist thanking me with its softness

As if enjoying a quick-lasting moment.

An early October sky nourishes my soul

With smouldering spillage of gold

Turning it into breathtaking milky silver,

My eyes get blinded for a milli-second 

As I take with them this quick-lasting beauty.

I send to the sky my visible breath through the crisp air

As an appreciation of the gift 

That the sky gives me this morning.

05/10/24

Lightening in the sky goes off,

As quiet as silence

Hiding behind clouds,

It suddenly paints patches of the black sky

In orange and brown.

A growing silver moon stands distant

Tonight over Beibu Gulf

Wiping sweat off its pure buttery yellow face

Using grey fluffy clouds

As if waiting for the thunder and storm

Cool down the air.

Beibu Gulf  is raving tonight

Sending massive waves to the shore

I walk in

And enjoy its wild touch

Letting it wash me clean

Away from the sins I have done

Any time of my life.

17/06/24

My neighbour had a funeral ceremony

A few doors down the road

On that warm November day,

Black suits,

Black cars,

Eleven o’clock night

Black eyes,

The next morning

In his silent front yard

Crashed Famous Goose whiskey bottles

Two different colour women's high-heel shoes

Hanging as an evidence

Of raving sadness 

A day before.

15/11/24