How It Works
What I throw out into the world
I gather first as checkerboards
of sunlight scribbled on my arms.
I gather them as nourishment
like a man drinking from a well
he’s crawled miles to reach.
What I throw out into the world
has pooled and swirled between cupped palms
wishing into its tide the dirt
and sweat of creviced skin molecules
of blood eked from a paper cut.
Here stirs a universe in the making
stellar gases congealing into orbits
admired like an adolescent
enamoured with his own peach fuzz.
Is it foolishness or inevitable
that it can’t be hoarded up a sleeve
without seeping through nor compressed
between palms without going super-
nova if I don’t willingly
throw my hands into the air?
Charles G Lauder Jr grew up in the heart of Texas and now lives in the East Midlands. His poems have appeared internationally and his pamphlet, Bleeds, was published in 2012 by Crystal Clear Creators