Poetry
Library of Rhiannon Jones

For less

I have reached

Headstrong fingers extended

Shimmied a trunk and

Belly-crawled the bough

By ginger slide-steps

Have trembled slim branches

Laughed at the breeze

That lifted my skirt, exposed

For less

Far less

Has tempted

A precarious perch

Emboldened by bravada and

Taste for apple

But now

Earthbound on skinned scared knees

Gazing up through serpent memories

It is too far to fall

You make me laugh

And you make me too hungry

the small world effect

in a big city landscape

difficult for a gypsy to gauge

the perennial new kid

for once

stays

weeks…months…years

unaccustomed

to being recognized

traceable

transient’s anonymity

hostage

to a sticky web of

accountability

a dangerous matrix

could

make an honest woman

an iced pond

where

perhaps

i do not yet belong

i cannot tread light

and

have forgotten how to swim

where

snowflakes

flaunt a silvery beacon

i beckon softly

as

currents sluice beneath

and

time ticks

where blood

beats red and salty

i beckon to

you

but

am frozen

here

Touchpoints in a waltz of time

Trajectories collide

Then turn upon proverbial dime

And three-step out of sight

Turning points from three to two

Present when not expected

Pirouette in sync on cue

But then be disconnected

Pathways criss and cross in trine

Trisect us and divide

They tempt you at that fatal line

Two seize me two your side

I trip the light in triple time

Then sashay off the stage

Watch silent as your stars align

Your plans are dreamt and gauged

Swing free my wants to whirl and spin

My skirts twirl as you turn away

If time swings round we’ll dance back in

To waltz a deux another day