Duncan Richardson
Duncan Richardson is a writer of fiction, poetry, haiku, radio drama and educational texts. He teaches English as a Second Language part time, in Brisbane, Australia.
ridge riding
he’s top of the range
she says
his mind has grappled with this disease
that threatens to freeze her fingers
on the babygrand
he said her diagnosis was spot on
didn’t blink or squint
like the other guy
or say i’m the professional here
didn’t hint she’d conjured it all
from the internet
just another worried woman
with time on her hands
spawning a syndrome
it’s all in your mind
this doctor watches her
like a lover
knows her like an MRI
the way she walks into his room
sits and tilts her head
the twitch of her toes
her nerves run
through his fingers
he asks about how
she usually holds her hands
he has sparks enough to share
encourages her to take long walks
keep playing piano
keep composing
retrace those mental byways
and forge new ones through the scrub
giving her brain more
than one way out
you’re a country girl, he says
think of it like checking the fences
and if all else fails
the drugs are great these days
she’s riding those boundaries
with music and dreams
taut in her hands
feeling only the slightest tremor
like a breeze
riding the ridge
into sunset.
blank pages in poetry books
These are the perfect unwritten works
the words flown beyond design
beyond critique
finding a cloud landing
soft with light
but yellowing and blotching
with the years
like the hands that didn’t write them
like a desert sky
when a sand storm looms
and the grains at your feet
grow restless.
These are the perfect unbidden words
the meanings blown beyond line
beyond belief
finding a cloud home
where ideas fly
and no shadow
dares
to fall.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 