Jenny Allan


Blinds & Patience

parting over delay
long shade relies

on enough setting
of up chalked

marks with themselves
colourfully cracked

/I drew you in pastel hues that didn’t suit your complexion and
when the snap came, it was too much to expect reliability from
a sketch/


Float…ing

On becoming separated from my ideas
I wondered if it was true that to
‘keep your head above water’ requires
a buoyant brain: more upbeat than grey
matter acknowledges.

Having discarded their armbands, those ideas
were capable of reaching some shore
by means of backstroke and wit alone.
Leaving me with a crossed mind and salt.


Spurs-of-the-moment

Shoving all limits in the closet, she washed wonder down
with a tolerant brew: part tea, part not;

part thirst-haste, distraction quencher.

Before ground struck the thriving steps
swept under carpet’s enchantment.


The Blue

What becomes of blue when sky leaks late
deliveries too posthumous even to resurrect
a meager shelter.

In opposition to atmosphere we say “out of or into”
as if nothing did come.


10+’s Lover

We are two ones: attaching
a restless power to victory
barely resolving to kick
discontent in the meaning.

Like asking a bombshell to reduce shock
or trim the other cheek.

From one cool scene to a sinking silhouette
a faint ticking
hears background noise
as we line up to launch entertainment
and suspend refuge until humour stops staring.

-all poems taken from her blog, Intermittent Voices