Tony Beyer

Open road

after the funeral
and the sandwiches
tea and sausage rolls

without which no
send-off may be
deemed complete

I long to hitch north
to streets we knew
years past and while

on the road assume
you are travelling
with me either

ahead or behind
or in the next car
moving too fast

for me to catch a glimpse
dependent on rides
as I still am

Tomas Tranströmer

after the stroke
the piano became his voice
uttered through the one hand
he could still spread over the keyboard

when he visited here
he spoke English beautifully
but like facility and fluency
this also was lost

centuries of attainment
converged in the notes he played
not least his own mastery
in the parallel field of the poem

Tony Beyer writes in Taranaki, New Zealand. Among his print titles, Anchor Stone (Cold Hub Press) was a finalist in the poetry category of the 2018 NZ Book Awards. More recent work has appeared internationally in Atlanta Review, Hamilton Stone Review, Landfall, London Grip, Mayhem, Molly Bloom, Mudlark, Otoliths, Tarot, and elsewhere.

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