NIGEL WALKER

Girls

(for my daughters - Rebecca and Ellen)

Girls, girls
slow down!
I don't know what to write.
It will take one hundred hours
just to say how I feel about
the sound of your feet on the stairs.
Each morning you are a fresh oyster prised.
The crash of tsunami. The prow of a hunting ship.
When I am near you there is the smell of delicious food.
Hands held are like the first messages from intelligent aliens.
You have the constancy of traffic noise.
Your bodies are like hats blown off in a high wind.
When I read to you the words become jumping beans.
Birds stream out of your mouths –
a cacophonous symphony.
You have built me a house in a mushroom.
I look down the wrong end of telescopes.
I am coated in chocolate.
On each beach you can name every grain.
You learn about Troy but don't understand Helen's beauty.
You open the door and the moon walks in.
Your inflections are dance steps to music I can't hear.
You play with the exuberance of exploding balloons.
Your dances are conflagration and pool.
The starved teeth of sharks.
Emotional fountains.
Eyes like the night sky on the fifth of November.
Girls, - I'm tied to a contract sealed with blood.
You are giving me maps with which
to explore the caverns of the heart.
I've learned that caring excludes myself and
that loving is a tight silk scarf
that always answers, yes.
Tomorrow is another park of crazy rides.
The next week as dark as history.
The theory of relativity is complex as an egg.
Nakedness simple as a tablecloth.
You have become deep pools to swim through,
mazes with monumental surprises at each turn.
A zoo of exotic misunderstandings.
Girls, girls,
slow down!
I don't know what to write.
It has taken me a thousand hours
just to get this far
and you're not yet
at the first floor landing.
 

Reliana Andra Craciun

Nigel Walker
 

Fetele

(pentru fiicele mele – Rebecca si Ellen)
 

Fetelor, fetelor,
mai usor!
Nici nu stiu ce sa scriu.
Mi-ar lua o suta de ore
doar sa descriu ce simt
cand va aud pasii pe scari.
In fiecare dimineata sunteti o gura de aer proaspat.
Impactul unui tsunami. Prora unei nave de vanatoare.
Cand va am in preajma simt arome de bucate alese.
Mainile impreunate sunt ca un prim mesaj de la extraterestri.
Aveti constanta zgomotelor din trafic.
Trupurile voastre sunt ca niste palarii zburate de vant.
Cand va citesc, cuvintele devin boabe saltarete de fasole.
Pasari vi se ivesc din gura –
ce simfonie cacofonica!
Mi-ati construit o casa intr-o ciuperca.
Privesc prin capatul gresit al unui telescop.
Sunt glazurat cu ciocolata.
Pe orice plaja aveti un nume pentru fiecare bob de nisip.
Invatati despre Troia, dar nu intelegeti frumusetea Elenei.
Deschideti usa si luna intra in casa.
Modulatiile glasurilor voastre sunt pasi de dans pe-o muzica ce n-o aud.
Va jucati cu exuberanta unor baloane explodande.
Dansurile voastre sunt conflicte si acorduri.
Colti lihniti de rechini.
Fantani emotionale.
Ochi cum e cerul noptii de cinci noiembrie.
Fetelor – sunt legat printr-un contract semnat cu sange.
Voi imi dati harti cu ajutorul carora
sa-mi explorez cavernele inimii.
Am invatat ca afectiunea ma exclude
si ca dragostea e o esarfa stransa de matase
care mereu raspunde “da”.
Maine e un alt parc nebunesc de distractii.
Saptamana ce vine e intunecata ca insasi istoria.
Teoria relativitatii e complexa ca un ou.
Goliciunea – simpla ca un servetel.
Ati devenit piscine adanci in care sa inot,
labirinturi pline de surprize uluitoare la fiecare colt.
O gradina zoologica de exotice neintelegeri.
Fetelor, fetelor,
mai usor!
Nici nu stiu ce sa scriu.
Mi-a luat o suta de ore
doar sa ajung pana aici
si voi nici macar
n-ati ajuns la etajul intai.