Sliding

My Dad says "In the library,
I had a moment, when
it seemed that I was not there.
But I could see it all.
It was very quiet."
"You're slipping away" I think
but ask "Does it happen often?"
"No" he says "I wonder if I'm slipping
out of life, slowly"
How did he know what I thought?
So I say "It's the heat, or
what you're eating."
He knows I'm covering up,
an eyebrow is raised and he looks
sideways at me and says
"Yeah, it's nothing to worry about."
Which is how it is.
I am still not allowed to worry about him
it is all the other way.
Though I want to help,
he still sees it and me
as slightly ridiculous.
He is still my parent
and I'm his child.
There are some shared laughs
but his age group do not open up.
So this moment has left a mark on him
if he even mentions it to me.
He is half amused  and
thinks about what it means.
So I look at him and say
"You're worried by it?"
"No, it's nothing much. But
I'd rather not just slide away."

Career in Security

Did you see me in there?
The nice guy with the ready smile.
What about my part, my lines?
I said the right things at the right time?

The professional speak
which is almost satire now
random words jammed together,
the emperor's new clothes, for birds of a feather.

It is a double deception,
because I want this job.
But to lay it out so flat?
You'd never get anywhere, like that.

So I overlayed it with
the business of jargon
to stress the company's leading of the edge.
Cutting through the corporate hedge.

It's part of the process,
when joining the club.
Using the right words
to separate you from other herds.

And,  look, no broken bones
The phrases do no damage
I use them, they don't use me
The only loss is honesty.

Homing in

As it gets nearer
you relax.
The landscape
grows to
become your family.
The sigh of homecoming
escapes you and her.
For it is
your mother
who says the welcome
and tells the history now.
It  curls
and unfolds
around this body.
It weaves you
back in, taking
a marked place where
both ends of
the timeline
can be seen.
And the time
when there
will be a gap.
When the land
will enfold you again.