Spheres

We experience the sun differently

but all share the same cool moon

as its phases paraphrase our fortunes

from Auckland to Kathmandu.

Loyal

Pay for nine

and get the tenth coffee free.

It’s a thing at every café in town

and we’ve acquired a collection

of loyalty cards to match

a Weetbix All Black set.

So we take our pack

wherever we go as we don’t always know

when we’ll need it next, and as you can see

being loyal is important to us.

Largo

For years I have used more salt and pepper

to bring the tasteless food to life

and grieved the death of flower fragrance.

My handwriting has caught the leaf curl

and although I don’t now mind writing slow

with time in abundance day into day

my crop of letters, tight and serrated  

hesitates  before unfurling on the page.

I tripped on a footpath crack last week

and learn to cross with cars more distant,

not quite into the swing of things

with a footfall that often comes up short.

Feeling flat but with a stiff upper lip

I start   stop   then go to see my doctor,

shaking and shaking her by the hand,

while suspecting this will not end well.