Desolation Angel

Loose Leaves – Reflections

 

Carolyn Cassady - Jack Kerouac Reading

Some writers rise far above the rest when we are growing up. We read them with an insatiable fervour, feeling every word as if it speaks directly to our soul. But how many of them continue to echo through all the subsequent chapters of our lives, even if only ever so faintly? – This is a poem about Jack Kerouac:

 

 

A less simple

simple life –

Desolation Peak.

 

 

Desolation Peak Look-Out

 

This poem was originally written and posted on Bluesky in response to a #dailyhaikuprompt: 'desolation.'

Photograph Credits: Carolyn Cassady & Pete Hoffman

Mr Mojo Risin'

Loose Leaves – Art Inspired

 

James Douglas Morrison

(8 December 1943 – 3 July 1971)

 

 

Filled with speculation –

blank pages of a notebook

left in Paris.

 

 

 

Bluesky Quarterly Review (2026) #2

April-June 2026

 

A compendium of poems posted on Bluesky in the second quarter of 2026:

 

Eiji Ino - Album Vol. 16. Cape Inubo - 1

 

Only a faint echo

of itself –

this rural Eki stamp.

 

***

 

Pond

        ripple –

ribbit.

 

***

 

Waves roll

and repeat

roll and repeat.

 

***

 

Putting on a tea cozy

spouting

stuff and nonsense.

 

***

 

Morning meadow

dissolving slowly –

Spring mist.

 

***

 

All that’s left –

in the bottom of my glass

half a yellow sun.

 

***

 

Finding

a sweet spot –

alone in retreat.

 

***

 

Evening calm –

broken by a

blackbird.

 

***

 

Abiding alone –

rock pool crab

awaits the tide.

 

***

 

Windscreen wipers

battling the blur

of rain on the road.

 

***

 

the earth –

unsteady

under my feet.

 

***

 

New leaves –

so small

so soft.

 

***

 

Fixed in time –

all a butterfly’s dreams

pinned.

 

***

 

(a lag) reflecting

then/now –

starlight.

 

***

 

Once window-shaped

a bright light –

winks out.

 

***

 

Gaudy day denied

a mellow light –

her eyes, walk on.

 

after Byron.

 

***

 

Covered

in cat hair –

discarded winter coat.

 

click here for commentary

 

***

 

Bouncing back

beneath bare feet –

fallen leaves.

 

***

 

Matching her hair

her mood –

raven black.

 

***

 

The night he died

his voice –

checking all’s alright.

 

In memory of Ralph Jackson.

 

***

 

Magnified –

the scent of leaf mulch

around its roots.

 

***

 

Moon rise –

raindrops dot

the windowpane.

 

***

 

MONET EXHIBITION

 

Sound of people

taking pictures

of pictures.

 

***

 

Needle spinning

twixt north & south –

umbrella struggles.

 

***

 

All the wrong way

about it

we went.

 

***

 

All week

just out of reach –

my foggy memory.

 

***

 

Names but not faces –

using half the head space

I used to rely on.

 

***

 

Day dreams –

the complete man

I meant to be.

 

***

 

Ad Infinitum …

always urging you to click

before you’ve seen.

 

***

 

The Speleologist –

wriggling through

a gap in time.

 

***

 

Whittling away –

same old stick

in the mud.

 

click here for commentary

 

***

 

A butterfly

on a bear skin –

changing the guard.

 

***

 

Rose tinted

on the porch –

a pint of milk.

 

***

 

Selling a world

that once was –

rusted shop sign.

 

***

 

Ruffled plumage

shivering with the wind –

broken umbrella.

 

***

 

Watching –

the echo of clouds

drifting.

 

***

 

Tinfoil-lined nest –

magpies chattering

conspiracy theories.

 

***

 

Taking fright

a partridge poops

taking flight.

 

***

 

Red petals

soft furled

within …

 

***

 

A full 180 –

future hopes

fade into the past.

 

***

 

A rumble of thunder –

heading home

for tea.

 

***

 

Stewed fruit –

disliking a dose of

my own medicine.

 

***

 

Another day

holding it together –

my frayed shoelace.

 

***

 

Busier than usual –

the bus

into town.

 

***

 

Keeping the

conversation flowing –

a fresh pot of tea.

 

***

 

She keeps

a constant tally –

withered grass.

 

***

 

Spending the best

part of the day

in pyjamas.

 

***

 

As long as it lasts –

double rainbows

singing a duet.

 

***

 

Not my name but

addressed to me:

Dear John …

 

***

 

First open window of

summer, welcoming in

sparrow song,

 

***

 

Another leap of faith

falling short again –

squirrel vs. bird feeder.

 

***

 

John Duffin - Recent Past [Waterstones Piccadilly] (2004)

 

All the new books

I bought back then

– yellowing.

 

click here for commentary

 

***

 

A taste of times

unchanged –

tinned rice pudding.

 

***

 

I am an eye –

amid a swirl

of snowflakes.

 

***

 

Clock chimes –

melodious but

meaningless today.

 

***

 

Twittering swaying

unseen –

green reeds.

 

***

 

Grubby mittens –

scooping up all

the pick n mix.

 

***

 

Adjusting for inflation

empty rhetoric …

again.

 

***

 

Morning light –

humming a half-

remembered melody.

 

***

 

Teaching patience –

a glass of Turkish tea

too hot to drink.

 

***

 

Cotton wool

between her toes –

Ferrari red again.

 

***

 

All that’s left –

a snapshot

in my mind.

 

***

 

Withering

where we left it –

cut flowers.

 

***

 

Orbiting the peony –

bumblebee attempts

a moon landing.

 

***

 

Swinging in time

with the bus –

omomori on her bag.

 

***

 

Hanging

by the door –

a cicada’s cloak.

 

***

 

Her eyes

over her mask –

smiling.

 

***

 

Watching a curl

of incense

easily ascend.

 

***

 

Carried by the wind –

pine needles

sea scented.

 

***

 

“Truth

         beauty –

                  that is all.”

 

after John Keats

 

***

 

Green tea

and honey –

before she sings.

 

***

 

Watching the world –

another opportunity

another arms deal.

 

***

 

Circling back –

hawks gloating

over the battlefield.

 

***

 

Sleet persists to swirl –

interfering with

my eyes.

 

***

 

Sun sweltering heat

shimmering

off hot stone.

 

***

 

Buzzing about

the snapdragons

and hollyhocks.

 

***

 

World under

the waterfall –

Tokyo typhoon.

 

***

 

Short day –

demanding a refund

from the clouds.

 

***

 

Remembering how

grandfather peeled

a tangerine.

 

***

 

Pomade –

or oil paint

and turpentine?

 

***

 

Bikini –

barely covering

such self-belief.

 

***

 

Wife away –

I sleep

diagonally.

 

***

 

A dollar bill

folded into

four quarters.

 

Four quarters

folded into

a dollar bill.

 

***

 

Kilometres

counting a steady beat –

autobahn.

 

***

 

After the doorbell

echoes dog

barks.

 

***

 

Making the most

of a shared joke –

marriage ties.

 

***

 

I have

no interest –

in deference.

 

***

 

A new tune drops –

skylark falls

from the top spot.

 

***

 

Aroma of cut grass

enjoying

my mochi.

 

***

 

All that remains –

a lens of blackened

earth.

 

***

 

Second day of tsuyu –

the birds have a lot

to talk about.

 

***

 

Singing a seasonal song –

parsley, sage, rosemary

and thyme.

 

***

 

An honourable discharge –

waiting for

the ricochet.

 

***

 

Moonless night

deepening the dark

far from home.

 

***

 

In the boardroom –

daydreaming he’s

Bruce Wayne.

 

***

 

Making the most

of two cups

of tea.

 

***

 

Snow mountains –

melting into

the view.

 

***

 

Two men

dining together

pomme frites.

 

***

 

Maple Drive –

lined with

plane trees.

 

***

 

Sly fox

slinking

out the back.

 

***

 

Orange-

  blossom

      petals

           fall.

 

***

 

Eating sunflower seeds –

her smile gifting

the light within.

 

Neon Mary - Lemon Tree by the Swimming Pool