My first Twin Peaks poem in a long while. I was inspired by Maja Ljunggren’s wonderful image, ‘Friends’.

I pictured Coop and Harry meeting up after hours for a coffee and a slice of pie. Then it hit me. They never would have. With Cooper lost and Harry growing old and getting ill, the possibility of these two great friends meeting up would be lost in the streams of time.

If they did meet up, it seemed to me that it would be in the way described by Judge Clinton Sternwood. “We’ll raise a glass again together, in Valhalla.” That’s what came to me as I wrote this.

I started to write in free verse then I thought I would go for something a bit more structured so I opted for a villanelle; something I haven’t done in a couple of years. Here it is. Hope you like it.

In Valhalla

Find that coat, brush off dust from years ago,

When redder memories start their soft knocking,

Meet beneath the neon’s welcoming glow.

—

From two and two more cups of deep, black joe,

The counter top has rings overlapping,

Find that coat, brush off dust from years ago.

—

Share out your burdens; tell the tales of woe,

Greedy forks cut crust to cherry filling,

Meet beneath the neon’s welcoming glow.

—

Far enough from dark woods, from fears you know,

Buzz from caffeine and fluorescent lighting,

Find that coat, brush off dust from years ago.

—

Leave behind pretence, all things done for show,

For here the real and the imagined sting,

Meet beneath the neon’s welcoming glow.

—

Today’s present: time with an old friend. Go,

Where bright light hides vast night birds taking wing,

Find that coat, brush off dust from years ago,

Meet beneath the neon’s welcoming glow.

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Cheers for reading everyone,

All the best,

Richard