Boxed Out

Sailing on the seven seas
All in smile with sails to breeze
Happiness this heart to seize
Lay me down by swayed palm trees
Loison’s Pandora takes her leave
Time to dance, time indeed
Raise the flags and plant the seeds
Skies of blue no cloud or creed
We have the willow
We have the reed
Tales unfold our stories weave
Love my love to fair receive
Sun and shores I do believe
A fine fair way to end the grief
Closure now for souls own thief
Space to play in sound relief
Say goodbye, my liege, my lief





a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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Listening to Michelangelo

Into the wind
On sand, beside water
Sunrise, sunset
Always the north star
Bereft of ties
Minds work intent to keep me
As if to walk into the desert
To plant the cactus
Lines drawn, portraits painted
Carvings made in lime and oak
Preserve the distance
Insulate from the pull of skin
Rhythms, vibrations, visitations
Drumbeats of the forest
Evolve to a slower pace
Care to jot down the ice effects
Let the love that entered
Find clear space for re-entry
Warm thoughts fully felt
Smelted by the sun up sun
Out of the wind
Away from dereliction
Ache for the escape you ache from
Escape from the ache you escape for

Talk of sweet dreams
Send your love and kisses
Tell soft stories
Ease out the easy words
Mountain streams and wishing wells
Rainstorms and taxi cabs
Intoxications, fascinations & visitations
Down the telegraph wires of immense truth
Touch it once, taste it once
Care not for incommunicado
Cavort as only imaginary friends may cavort
Become the goddess and the giant
Be drawn along the star-line and the causeway
Ache for the love that loves to ache
Ache with the love that aches to love

She walks in, he watches
How to say hello
Fired with lust - Lord let it be love
Stay calm, appear neat and cool
Boy I could be there
Throwaway words thrown away
Ghastly gestures gestured
Fool, fool, fool
Find yourself, be yourself
Open your defences, become vulnerable
Love is what love is
Care for her care
Thank heaven for words and voice
Place your arm on her shoulder
Lend her your leather coat
Be fascinated by her fascination
Be intoxicated by her intoxications
Be visited by her visitations
Dance as you ached to dance
Ache as you dance the dance that aches





a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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Elbowed Out

Find me in a faithless light
Of the past and of the night
Singing songs and losing sight
Find me in a faithless light

Find me on a timeless flight
Of a mind with viscous plight
Taking risks and getting tight
Find me on a timeless flight

Find me with the blameless right
Of a future felt and trite
Saying yes or maybe might
Find me with the blameless right




a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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At the side of dykes

The day is cold
Fog, frost, the Fosse Way frog
The day is cold and if I make the call
I expect a riposte filled reception

Sat in the mall, my mind is stalled
I am feared of further deception
Maybe six years ago we slept together
As is the way with lovers

Did I forget to mention
I miss her mind
Thats not just my kind intention
Though for certain it is those thighs

Where my loins verbose
Is the real deal abstention
We turned a trick
In and out of bed we were slick

Though in conversation matters were worse
We became adept at surreal pretension
All in turn turned to silence
Avoidance of compliment or discourse

It was up
With no structure
Neither an outhouse construction
To fall back upon




a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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Trepidation

Luxuriate in that fearless time of youth before you ever witnessed the exploits of the Mafioso

Wander if you will in that skeletal forest, reminiscent of Nash’s burnt, scarred and devoured environment

Do you need to know any of that backstory to see that this is the face of a scared and frightened man




a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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Splashed Water

I did not, would not, could not say no
Therein lies the impossible power of attachment

I pulled you close
Looked into your eyes
You laughed, yet you were quite unable
To look back into mine

I sat naked
As we dined
On the waterside terrace
Of my ex-wife’s sprawling cottage

You told of vacations
I began to understand
You ate easily of the anchovies
I struggled to find more abundant supplies

It was indeed unexpected for a neighbour to intrude
With pointless talk, endless conversation
Of troubles found
Both here & beyond the Horn of Africa




a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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Doddle

Foul day
Strong winds, torrential rain
UA Fanthorpe telling of this thin strip of land

Earlier; gas flames set low, lights dimmed
Sat with a straight back, on a straight backed chair
I joined in a meditation with the Boys of Ampleforth



a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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D Ream

Just to say, I could not have thought it otherwise
Yet now I can think of you more easily
Even to think that we could be friends
Though touch would be a fear
A fear that I might collapse into your arms
In search of all
That I have worked so hard to protect myself from

What brought me to this
It was a dream, less than a second I expect
An image of you with sparkling hair, a smile
A short nightdress
Your silken hair pushed forwards
Aching to be touched - I did not touch
To this day some fears remain





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Limits

In search of beauty
What happened to the book
The one on Truth and Beauty
I found it out, then I misplaced it

As I do every now and again
I wanted to show it off
Expose my inability to search out beauty
Trick myself onto the unstable vehicle of truth




a poem from In & Out of Dream Space
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At the start of the day

He stands as I have stood
Smoking a cigarette, discreetly
While he waits for his business colleagues

His gaze is over the golf course
More distant; his thoughts sweetly
Take him back to the Paris of his youth

She was a dancer; artistic and full of beauty
With a passion and desire that he so wished to fulfill

My own interior fulfillment had me by the Seine
Strolled me down the Champs Élysées
Toured me through the pyramid of the Louvre

I sipped coffee at a café in the Place de la Republic
Picked at a deep china bowl of Moules marinières
Posed, as though affluent, in Pierre's Bastille restaurant

Alone on the hotel balcony
I blew smoke into a starlit sky
I smiled at the memory of the Mona Lisa

His hair is black, with flecks of silver grey
She wore reds and golds, emeralds and pearls
His suit is black, his shoes also
She skipped and ran, she kissed and chased

We remember it well, he lost his virginity
She tore it away, with the vengeance of age
We are uncertain of the immediate future
Her certainty was, with the immediacy of youth



a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Exhumed

The joys of rage are dampened
No crimson words on this page supplanted

Instances of calm; light skies, rambling downs
Inner praise for the loaded step I found hard to take
What to make of the response; is it a euphoria
Founded on no more than paper rocks
The fragrance of flowered freesia stocks


a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Disturbance

First light, one way ticket
Aeroplane in flight across the sky
From the nearby sea
To the far away Pacific

First text to say I am OK
Good as the day, I am well; really, terrific
I revel in the tail end of a dream
Added to my morning of nothing specific





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Towards and Away from Dungeness

Into this starless sky I cast my dreams
Onto the painless prairies where streams
Of consciousness solicit the ways and means
Life is what it seems, but also otherwise

Overwhelmed by the violets and the creams
Victorian elegance that once teemed
All along our southern shores; a time serene
Life does not demean, but also otherwise











a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

I give you this pool of Turquoise Blue (With thanks to John Berger)

It was the colour you wore that summer of ’88
All I could think of was let's date, let's date, let's date
Of course we tore ourselves to shreds
Mostly with words unsaid
Hardly ever (come the end) did we share in bed

A soft woolen jumper in the carpet remnant shop
Camisole knickers beneath a patterned satin top
Hands held together down the supermarket aisle
Tumble down the dunes of the straight Five Mile
At home abroad to queue for what's due

Turquoise and light, in the bays to choose
La Corbiere Lighthouse white and true
Listen intent to the States of Jersey radio news
Big chiefs and little Indians with all to lose
In your open top car we cast away our shoes

Danced the night under spotlight and moon
Walked the sea shores in cotton & pantaloon
The flight call, as ever, came too soon
Into the sky above our turquoise pool
Zealous to have been such a jealous fool


a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Towards Dungeness

Into this starless sky I cast my dreams
Onto the painless prairies where streams
Of consciousness solicit the ways and means





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Happenstance

There is no present
Presence or connection
Any attempt at wilful correction
May dispossess the resurrection
A physical resurgence

Prevents the emergence
Of her embodiment in the ether
A seminal temporal disturbance
With every whim & fancy
That I breathe or chance





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Scattering

It isn't quiet, neither is it still
It is novel
To watch a tiny train go past
In this refuge of humanity

Past the chalets
Over the washed up shingle
Beside the beached fishing boats
Beneath the electricity pylons

All watched over by the lighthouse
& the swirling flocks of protected birds
This is a wilderness that I leave
As I cross over the narrow gauge track.

I so wish you could have been here
To share in the security of treasures lost
Memories found
To share in love by a fireside

A warm afternoon of cakes
Daylight’s custodial rearrangements





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Liaison

I had the idea of an entirely secretive relationship

Two people who each told no one, except the other
Of their plentiful and ingenious collaborations

Why would I make the call, to hear her voice
Why not to tell anyone, it is our choice

Raise you off your feet
Private and secret, each time we meet

Praise of perfect ways in silent retreat
Spent in love, overtly indiscrete

Tell of the bonds, the ties to cheat
Personal and secret, sublime not to bleat

All past regret wrapped, as we meet
Wrapped tight in less than virgin cotton sheets



a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Impression

Hollow sky
To take hold, to embrace
To follow through to the tree line
To merge with the silhouette
To the bare and empty branches
To reflect the lights on the bandstand
To begin the thaw of the frozen solid ground
To raise the shade of the morning mist
To where a warmer presence is
To be clearly found





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Droplets of Joy

Thin subliminal sounds of the ocean, wave by cascading wave, trickling harp by trickling hearts

Darkness by the absence of artificial light, darkness by the closure of the certain parts

Super longevity, in this small four walled room, super sized brevity, of past times stolen darts


a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link

Bedhead

There is a warmth, a certain serenity
As if the star sign of Saturn alone should bring such peace
A carrier, a vessel to fill with echoes, a universe to populate
Dreamed up memories that oscillate among eons of beautiful visions

Soon to try to recollect these instants
Yet never again to truly trespass on those clouds
Not to instill that voice of endearment
Fearful of making the call, under the ominous threat of rejection

Instead to read the chapter on depression
Settle on a preference for melancholy
Hang her scented lightness of cloth on every resonant passage
Celebrate the star sign

That brought thought transference and ultimate joy
Wake up and smell the coffee

Shower, eat, drive, meet, return
To sit where the ether can carry the birdsong
Where effervescent passages, of time past, time present
Wander undisturbed, gentleness thus to be personified





a poem from the collection Into the Present Decade - Love with Droplets of Joy available by clicking on the link