FIONA JANE ROSS

Poems by Fiona Jane Ross ©

CHILDHOOD

The long arms of childhood

Cast shadows

Across the years.

Indelible early impressions

Messages received as a child

Slip into the subconscious…

And in ways large and small

They impact on us still

Forming the warps and wefts of life’s

Future challenges. 

MYSTERIOUS MEMORY

Vintage Chart of the human brain

A piece of jigsaw

Lost fragment of an image…

I feel its contours.

Where does it belong?

It knocks on memory’s door

Tugs and nags at me.

Much later that day

In an instant, unbidden,

The puzzle is solved.

Sights and Sounds. A scene

in vivid entirety

Faithfully recalled.

Whole worlds lie dormant.

The past submerged. Awaiting

Rediscovery.

Falling Asleep

Drowsily I listen

to the radio

Turned down low

Droning on…

My eyes close.

Words string together 

Like beads on a necklace. 

Making sentences

Making sense

But only just…

Drifting off  

I half-catch the thread of what’s being said.

Strings of words

Weave and meander, 

Trailing phosphorescence in their wake. 

They twirl and gently bounce.

Become unstuck. 

The thread is broken. 

The meaning lost.

The words

In fragments

Fall

into a jumble

of letters

on the floor.

Now in a dream

I pick up a broom and sweep the letters

Out of my room

And out the front door

And I watch…

As they roll and scatter, tumble and fall

into the silent night.

Z Z Z z z z  

Little Wings

I feel disappointment. 

I shrug it off as unreasonable.

I count my blessings and tell myself

I have nothing to be disappointed about.

I’m being silly. 



Still the feeling gently persists

A small soft sadness

not to be denied

Like a butterfly alighting on my shoulder

It stayed with me a little while…

Until one moment,

Without me noticing,

It was gone.



And my little disappointment had

Dissipated, dispersed and dissolved

into the busy ongoing engagement of

Living every day.