Along with reams of short stories, and longer attempts at fiction, I’ve written countless poems over the decades. The bulk were written in my teens and twenties and I literally have folders full of handwritten and typewritten compositions.

I’d been threatening to put a selection into print since the mid-90’s. I remember discussing it with an old girlfriend in ’95 but a number of things always seemed to stop me. Part of that was not really being sure if I wanted to share them with the world, part was never having the time to go through what was amounting to thousands of bits of paper – ranging from typed and formatted finished compositions to hand written stanzas on the back of paper bags, or anything I had at hand when inspiration hit.

A few years ago I finally got round to sorting out a collection and published them under the title “Wild Card Symphonies”. Consisting of three smaller volumes of my work, “Wild Card Symphonies”, “Cry To Me”, and “This Graveyard Heart”, the book totaled just over 120 poems. You can buy a copy (plug plug) through Lulu on one of the links at the bottom of the page if you like what you read and want to have more.

A Kiss Without Words

The petals are crushed

As they lie on the floor

With crowds passing over them

To whom they hold nothing

No significance at all

—

One drink too many

And a kiss with no words

And then a bed of momentary joy

It should have been a bed of nails

For all the pain it was worth

—

But I wasn’t blind

I knew what was happening

And anyway

I wanted it to

—

It’s not that I didn’t love you

Or I really didn’t care

I got carried away on emotion

Feelings that I should know by now

But then nothings that simple

Or that black and white

And I’m sorry if I brought you tears

—

But now we’re both older

And perhaps we’re both wiser

And the yesterdays have been forgotten

On the backs of lovers come and gone

We live two different lives now

And I’m glad it has all been done

—

The petals and the anger of a year ago

Have been lost inside

Somewhere along the way

Now I’ll accept a drink

In the company of others

And I’ll taste their lips

As though there were no others

And I’ll ignore the pain

That I may receive

And I’ll just count my days

And I’ll count my hours

Till my judgement comes

And I’m discovered.

(A KISS WITHOUT WORDS; By A R J Abranson; 26-12-93/21:35)

My poetry anthology, Wild Card Symphonies, is available to buy now on Lulu in both Softcover and Dust Jacket Hardcover.

—————————

Wild Card Symphonies, Cry To Me & This Graveyard Heart are Copyright ©2015, Angus Abranson. All rights reserved.
Cover design by George C. Cotronis (Ravenkult Studios, www.ravenkult.com) Copyright © 2015 Angus Abranson
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
No reproduction in part or in whole without prior written permission from the author of the copyright owner.