Introducing a new series of poems by Julian Matthews. Julian is a writer and Pushcart-nominated poet published in The American Journal of Poetry, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Borderless Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Dream Catcher Magazine, Live Encounters Magazine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and The New Verse News, among others. He is a mixed-race minority from Malaysia and lived in Ipoh for seven years. Currently based in Petaling Jaya, he is a media trainer and consultant for senior management of multinationals on Effective Media Relations, Social Media and Crisis Communications. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and Nikkei Business Publications Inc
Link: https://linktr.ee/julianmatthews
By Julian Matthews
Once, on a moonless night, slushing oars on a quiet river
with you, I tried to snap photos of their iridescent display.
Like a fool, I pointed my brand new Canon at their bushy
stage, flashgun on auto and Clicked!
The night boomed with light and the beetles’
choral glow-up went silent, momentarily stunned
A dramatic pause to their opening performance,
as if the main act had arrived.
“Silly, you,” you shushed me, “Let them be.”
Then, the erratic flickering started up again,
more fervent and vigorous than before.
Like furious, pulsating pulsars, scintillas
of starbursts, fun-sized drops of Venus.
A courting of the self-illuminated, blinking
and winking impulses: Are you there? Are you there?
Are you there?
It was amateur night of unbottled longings, unbridled release –
wee sparklers spinning quickie, made-up scripts in the dusk air.
Teensy-weensy starrers in their own tiny rom-coms,
awaiting the come-hither reply: I am here, I am here,
I am here.
I turn to see the reflection of their dance flicker
in your eyes, smiling, aglow
Such sublime moments in time, now merely fireflies
in my mind; the gift of a memory that we were once there,
and I am here, I am here,
I am still here.
First published in Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Pennsylvania, USA
