"AIRBORNE" and "THE DONATION" by Tim Goldstone

AIRBORNE

Primeval,

mined from its rainforest burial,

uncovered, wrenched and hauled,

trussed, dangling in chains, transported

for people to queue to pay to see

in concrete cities –

this stained stone statue,

once benign, now humiliated,

is propelled by helicopter blades

over a land cleared,

blasted barren by machines and Man,

its swaying ancient stone shadow

roaming over all,

but all that falls under its enraged gaze

feels now the thick primordial air

from the slow silent

opening and shutting

of its one remaining unhacked eye

calling forth tempests of seeds

instantly returning desolate land

to dense fertile verdant steaming jungle

teeming with living creatures,

dead rivers to sparklingly clear

snaking bubbling spraying rapids,

dead air to oxygen-circulating jet streams,

climate change deniers

to sounds only bats can hear.

THE DONATION

Wilf blew and sucked at his blues harmonica,

his empty hat upside down on the pavement.

He felt guilty forcing it to busk for a living.

It was the only hat he had. It kept him partially dry,

and just the right side of hypothermia in winter,

stopped sunstroke in summer,

and saved him buying shampoo.

As hungry as he was he placed his last two meagre coins

at the bottom of his hat

(no passer-by would ever be the first to put money in).

After four hours of no added coins,

an expensively dressed owner,

finally unable to tug their dog past him,

had to stop to for breath,

and immediately the dog took its chance,

lifted its leg and urinated luxuriously around…

on… and finally… into Wilf’s hat.

Eight guilty pound coins quickly followed,

each dropped in by the owner distastefully

with an excruciatingly embarrassed grimace,

each coin making a little splash,

and, this is true,

that dog winked at Wilf, conspiratorially –

it had always loved the blues.

Wilf winked back, grinning,

and If he could,

would have raised his hat to that dog.

Bio: Tim Goldstone has travelled widely and is published worldwide in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Anti-Heroin Chic, 11 Mag Berlin, The California Poppy Times, The Cafe Irreal, Rough Diamond Poetry, Altered States, On-The-High Literary Journal, The Daily Drunk, The Mechanics’ Institute Review, Voices Unbound – An Anthology of International Poetry. His prose sequence was read on stage at The Hay Festival, his poetry presented on Digging for Wales, and his material narrated on The CryptoNaturalist Podcast. Also scriptwriting credits for TV, radio, theatre. Currently nesting deep in rural Wales with his mixed species rescue family.