Guest Poem by Philip Dunkerley

Philip Dunkerley is active in poetry circles in and around the South Lincolnshire area, where he lives. He participates in open-mic sessions and has run a local poetry group since 2013. More than 150 of his own poems, or his translations from Spanish or Portuguese, have appeared in editor-moderated magazines, webzines or anthologies. He is also a book reviewer. This poem is from Acumen 111.

The Repair Shop

Give me, please, this evening hour
of rest, let me sit safely here
watching the show, alone, at home,
in the quiet of this room,
others busy, nearby, elsewhere,
as another day ends.

I have chosen this programme
from all those that tell of the past,
carefully put by for just such a time
when, worn down by the horrors
afflicting so many parts of the world,
I need balm for my mind.

Give me, please, these moments
of calm to see, as the stories unfold
once again, the love of decency,
kindness, skill, craft and care,
of people fixing things from the past,
the healing, the hope, the repair.