Strider Marcus Jones – is a poet, law graduate and ex civil servant from Salford, England with proud Celtic roots in Ireland and Wales. A member of The Poetry Society, his five published books of poetry  https://stridermarcusjonespoetry.wordpress.com/ reveal a maverick playing his saxophone in warm solitude.

 His poetry has been published in the USA, Canada, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Spain, India and Switzerland

TAKING OFF MY COAT

each evening
is like taking off my coat.
i sit down
apart from the day
and nothing happens.
i let silence sing
her supernatural note-
in the air, i drown
in how the lonely play
as reality slackens.
curdling in a chair
with arms of broken branches
that used to be
and went somewhere
in circumstance and chances-
now greying, like wild hair
at the end of all its dances
with the gravity
gone from its romances-
i feel time's weight
compress the emptiness of fate,
into some sort of nothing
that held my hand,
and left me something-
to understand.

ON TONQUIN BEACH

moods turn with seasons
shades and sounds;
thoughts walk through reasons
ups and downs.

come sit
by the fireside
close to me,
soft fit
and confide,
watch the sea-

splashing feet break blue water
on Tonquin beach,
tall firs fill a quarter
of sight and reach-

waves wash over shoreline,
a soothing sound,
combing thoughts from time
gives them ground
to mingle and mischief
the mind into mire,
like a selfish thief-
that plays with selfless desire.

Time speaks to his daughter
through this release,
while loves lore restores her
masked belief.