The Cynical Gondolier
Back then he sewed up his
world with an oar.
Couples nestled on his boat,
lost in each other,
while he saw the bones
of their lives, glimpses
of threadbare wives,
husbands playing
knight, martyr.
One eye closed.
They would fixate
on eggshells, talk riddles.
Abstract pictures formed
of gigantic looms,
the stitching
of marriage vows,
while some clawed,
one hand
in the paper-tray.
One night, he saw Venus
on a bridge of the River Po.
She spun him into her loom
and by the moon’s light
darned threads
into the river bank.
He did not see the queue
at the river side,
or hear the serenade,
as she added layer upon layer
to their tapestry.
Sharon Woodcock‘s poems have been published in anthologies; Sea of Ink (Ink Pantry Publishing) and The Busker (What the Dickens Magazine), and in the online magazines: Kumquat Poetry, Anti-Zine, Message in a Bottle, Ink Sweat and Tears, Atavic Poetry and The Zen Space. She co-edits the webzine and quarterly journal at Word Bohemia.