New Poetry by James Walton

Here and Now/Then and There

Love walks out of the same door
it came in by,
the aperture between heart and mind
be grateful for that.
How the rooms grew in adrenalin rush
and the most simple of things
a sofa for instance,
where you hugged over family life and death
held in the turmoil of it all.
Wallpaper moments that look back at you
open windows that let sighs waver,
laughter doing the washing up
whose turn it was to cook in that lousy oven.
The speeding world settled
in scattered books and music,
fur balls and muddy paws
or a child’s sudden end of the world sob.
So close the panel tenderly,
turn the handle as though you’re touching a rib cage gently,
this place was the centre of something.


- James Walton 2016

James Walton lives in the Strzelecki Mountains in South Gippsland, Australia. He has been published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers, and many journals and anthologies. He has been short listed twice for the ACU national Literature Prize, is a double prize winner in the MPU International Poetry Prize, and Specially Commended in The Welsh Poetry Competition.  His collection ‘The Leviathan’s Apprentice’ is available. He’s been a Librarian, bred Salers cattle, and was a public sector union official for many years.