Welcome to the July 2015 issue of brass bell, featuring poems by Alan Summers
calandria — every place
its own kind of sun
housebound
I take an evening stroll
through the postcard
the longest night
of a longer day
our broken moons
a lost email
crosses over
a cat picking
at discarded fast food
this night without you
filling with the hum
of regular rain
a small death
the cracked shell
of a snail
now this delay
at the train station
sometimes
before falling in love
with my wife
again and again
the cries of swifts
asthma attack —
pulling her outside
away from friends
her breathing steadies
while my own trembles
these rocks
too float among clouds
looking for something
white gravel
each day the monks
rake ripples in time
dandelion fluff
I lose count of my time
on this earth
a packet of souls
the day moon becomes
a harbinger
Khamsin winds
the piano tunes itself
in a war conflict
wind-spun flakes . . .
a child's world escapes
the snow globe
a lamb's cry
scudding clouds over
the cemetery wall
hunter's moon
the runes of mice
in its wake
after rain midnight dreams a hedgehog
Gare du Nord shifting art deco snow
twilight on snow shadows deepen the grip of stars
this small ache and all the rain too robinsong
dark news
the comfort
of crows
stick moon
we move our bones
in unison
hard frost —
the snail-hammerings
of a song thrush
night of small colour
a part of the underworld
becomes one heron
the names of rain
a blackbird's subsong
into dusk
cloud mountain
she screams her daughter's name
into the month of march
hotel room drawer
one of Issa's insects takes
charge of the reading
lullaby of rain
another pinch of saffron
in the pumpkin soup
night-tide
the rook takes back
its moon
* * *
Alan Summers is a Japan Times award-winning writer and Pushcart Prize nominated poet. He likes French wine, Japanese whisky, Premium Sake, French and Italian cooking, and authentic Indian curries (but not all of them at once), while watching bad Science Fiction or tearful Zombie romantic comedies. Alan runs With Words, with his wife, for online courses and live events. Website: http://area17.blogspot.com
