Gillian Commerford

I told my mother:
'I want to be a poet'.
She said: 'There's no money in it'.
I never was much interested
...

I have written poetry
since I was nine years old
and still I find that I must write
as others seek for gold.
...

I, although not beautiful,
have desired to mingle my dust
with all that is beautiful-
with rivers, streams
...

The truth of a circle lies in being round
The truth of a square is in its squareness
The truth of being lies in being
The truth of anything is in its truthfulness.
...

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God said hello to me
just the other day.
I knew it was God
because he told me so.
...

Owl bringing death silently
looking wise
does wisdom lie
in bringing death
...

With a light in your eyes
you tell me lies
then turn the light off
as you leave
...

and so we think we know
but what do we know? -
The greater mysteries
are still a mystery
...

Whatever lives inside me
lives inside me
like a discontented bird
flapping its wings
...

Dying
is the ultimate frontier
if I jump
I'll overcome my fear.
...

I remember going with my mother
to the butcher
in the days when the naked carcasses
hung on hooks in the front of the shop
...

A voice spoke:
'I am God,
there is nothing else.'-
And everything was swept away
...

After love
we lie apart
separately sad
thinking our separate thoughts
...

You bring me love in a silver cup
and I bring you my hands that are worn
and a heart that's beginning to rust.
...

...

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There's a place
where the wind blows so hard
it blows the snot from your nose
and the trees grow crooked
...

We reach out
and sometimes touch
our fingers brush
a rush
...

The truth is
I'd like to believe
that Jesus died for me.
Sometimes I seem to feel
...