Imagining Green
The leaf is the paradigmatic form of openness: life capable of being traversed by the world without being destroyed by it
(The Life of Plants. A Metaphysics of Mixture. Emanuele Coccia.)
I was imagining green
light like two rivers
one from each shoulder blade,
diagonal streams
that met then crossed
at the solar plexus
continuing through my
thighs and calves – ribbons
of billowing crosscurrents
fallen towards one lake
and there the relief
of twin divergent sorrows
and I thought of a leaf,
that whilst love moves within
me I move within it and
I could hardly stand
or hear my name being called,
staggering back to the car.
David Gilbert‘s first full collection was The Rare Bird Recovery Protocol (Cinnamon). He’s also had three pamphlets published and poems in Rialto, Magma, Smiths Knoll, Brittle Star, South Bank Magazine and Interpreter’s House. He is a former mental health service user. www.davidgilbertpoetry.com