Navigating London

I'm off to Singapore early tomorrow which had me thinking about my last trip to London. Masks were still mandated and became uncomfortable after wearing one for several hours. Thank goodness the flying time was under ten hours. Unlike what awaits me come the morning.

Navigating London

Power walking with and without

the pooch: small terrier with a big

personality, a pub dog, a diva who

prances off when called.

Skin rubbed raw on my wee toe,

blood stiffening the side of my sock.

But I don't want to slow down

my daughter, doyen of big city trekking

or admit to faulty footwear

or advancing arthritis

or being out of breath

or even the appearance of age spots.

The dog has it right, collapsing

onto her throw as I sigh into a chair,

and the speed walker hotfoots it

to the corner store.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

Undercut

I had my hair cut last week, and it reminded me why I don't like going to the salon. The truth is sometimes hard to swallow.

Undercut

Tendons now rule the terrain

and "old lady" veins claim coulees

adjacent to bases of knuckles

grown prominent. The knob

beneath my thumb throbs

with a pendulum pulsing ache.

I glimpse my hands in the mirror

before slipping the snitches

under cover like culprits in hiding.

Feign interest in the casual chatter

of hairdressers everywhere.

But my "tell all" neck, peering

over the cinched cape, wobbles

like a turkey's wattle.

The truth trips me whenever I step

into the beauty salon, and short hair

means more potshots to a war-weary ego.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor

 

24 February 2022

Each time Russia's war against Ukraine comes on the news I can't help but compare Ted Hughes' poem "Tractor" with Putin and his invasion of that country.

24 February 2022

Putin mirrors Ted Hughes' "Tractor"

frozen in time, in snow and ice.

"Hands like wounds inside armor gloves. . ."

The despot's battery, his need to regain

Russian glory, "hammering and hammering"

until it "jabbers . . . mockingly / Into happy

life. / And stands / shuddering itself full

of heat . . ."  Vladimir triggers his troops,

". . . vibrating condemned obedience

Of iron to the cruelty of iron. . ."

and sends his hubris rumbling into Ukraine.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor