Photography © Jaime Diaz Martinez
-mancies
the die is cast
A slight change in electrical potential;
light and dark in shifting patterns —
estivation, hibernation, coming to an end
and rolling in ungainly, angular trajectories
just to the limit of the board;
aleatoric impulses, we slice and dice and
chop and look for omens in the
tripes of jackdaws, choughs,
and plumage-faded hoopoes;
ejaculations of despair and hope
surprise us, springing to our lips unbidden,
taking flight and falling back to earth.
*
Constellations roll around
the chill ecliptic highway
their scattered stars aligned
from here
to form fantastic
beasts and heroes
caring nothing for our questions.
*
Coffee grounds
swirled round the cup
tatters of black lace
sable stippling on the white glaze
gracious filigree of fortune
dark pointilliste prediction.
*
Cards laid and told
cotton-laid and brightly coloured
(here’s a Page, and
here is Judgement
reversed)
a journey foretold
to be avoided
*
Clouds wind-driven protean
hawk or heron dove or eagle
a drowned woman
face down
signifying death
by anxiety
*
Candles in a ragged line stretch back
their wax in stratified
baroque brocade
the past projecting forward
where the wicks are still unlit
the future never has
sharp edges
Peter J. King was born and brought up in Boston, Lincolnshire. Active on the London poetry scene in the 1970s as writer, performer, publisher, and editor, he returned to poetry in 2013 after a long absence, and has since been widely published. He also translates poetry, mainly from modern Greek and German, writes short prose, and paints. His currently available collections are Adding Colours to the Chameleon (Wisdom’s Bottom Press) and All What Larkin (Albion Beatnik Press).
Jaime Diaz Martinez is originally from Los Angeles, California. He has been residing in Paris for over 30 years. AFter many years of seeing so many photo opportunities passing, he decided to pick up his camera from storage some years back and from that day on the camera has been held over his left shoulder ready to come across fleeting or ephemeral street scenes. For Martinez Being able to photograph Paris streets is a unique opportunity, a city with fifty shades of grey or just heaven.
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