Ride

The wind blows with gusto
Blusters across the warm garden
If this had been an holiday romance
The sense of it would already be upon us

Warm winds of the west Atlantic
The thrashing storms of Regis seas
Sixpence in the bubble gum machine
Parachutes hung from the citrus tree

In joy we seek out shadows
In sorrow search for somewhere light
That is why we ride the roller coaster
Why we step upon the magic bus

In my deckchair
Meadow grass and mistletoe
A book of passionate poetry
A few daydreams, still time for me


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Too good to be true

He plays your already chosen songs

Something uneasy for you about him

Sully face, optimistic smile

Darkness she lightens

If it wasn't for her

Not enough of life would be left

You think he's fine, and why not

The public persona is stage managed

Given what we have, what we want to hear

Takes odious steps, ingratiates with practice

Only simple and ordinary men go lightly

White washing blows outside on their lines

More goodness even than to understand

A fragile walk over the derelict rail crossing

On and on and on, deep into the tunnel

Colours drain; your edgy cheeks chill

Is this still pretence, or is it for real

Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Back Off

Your intellectuality burns me
Turns me off
Puts a distance between

…I have heard of the inferiority
Complex, just what she can muster
Harbinger and buster of angst unclaimed

Shame they say is thrust by our
Childs abused muse; in your cloisters
Did you play that game too

Show off to the weak and the lonely
Take advantage but miss the feed of you
Snapshots, crackpots, simply a simple few

Hey I say
Back to where you once belonged
If, in your image of reality it still exists


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Wild Flowers

In the roof space of silence
And echoed evening’s long
A place this morning
Not yet reached for

Held up by stone pillars
Here in worshipful gathering
A few simple words
Prayer, poem, calls to arms

Wide lakes of sidelights
Shadows grace falls
Touched, just by being
Still with you; to gather

On the slat wood
Sat in the pew
Inset offset imagination
Inactive, attractive so soon

Propagate wild flowers
Poppies, primroses of evensong
Closed and then open
At the time of times sunset

Also open, throughout
The whole of the night
Splashing her perfume
The old peculiar of

Old tobacco, Old Spice
Dominoes, counting games -
Maybe one day she might.
Except once more unable

Tables turned you edge away
Out under the stairway of silence
In flight
You still mis-taste her bite


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Psychological Welfare

You
You at this moment reading
You, my lover, my friend
My follower leading

You
In a meditation garden
Quietly beside
Your forty winks

Who else can turn
To whisper in your ear
Who that learns goes
With stillness to re-appear

You
In sunbathed shelter
Rare inside
Your hyacinth haven

You
Who at this moment thinking
You, my mother, my brother
My lifetime scent

Who else to can you turn
For always shone
And forever
Who to dare you to move on

Fold the page
Close the book
Walk into your garden
Real or imagined

Dare to turn
You
I dare you, to move
On


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Fairground Riches

Picture postcards
Messages from well wishers
Givers of thanks, from thanks givers
Care - earned and banked with will

A clock
That these past few months
Moved on so little
Fingers of time stood quite still

Spring is now summer
Words in aspect south facing
Love unchained the melody
Pictures stay framed until

Hands stroke shoulders
Kisses on lips
Smiles and whispers
Night & morn the thrill

Read & write – draw together
New pastures
Comb the wilderness
Of the unknown chill

Chance to light on
Summers and autumns
Winds blown softly over
Frosted winters on the hill

Pictures and postcards
Wear fairgrounds riches
Virginia walls creep, seep
Into tender love of life’s tendril



Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Social Gatherings

You trimmed the roses
I cut the grass
You smiled demurely
I coarsely laughed

Under my trousers
I was underwear free
You smiled profusely
Sat on my knee

You strummed unbroken
Around the trees
Your garden our token
Of flow and breeze

Your petticoat
Is discarded at rest
I smile into your hand
My card at your bequest

Under Milkwood
And at countless other
Social gatherings
Pleasure is understood

Weather changes
Passions blow high and low
You say Cut the crap
I say …Hello


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

Cool Morning

The breeze blows
A little cooler today
The weather programme
Had the talk of thunder
Nevertheless
The evening primrose
Opened her petals
And the insects moved
More workmanlike
About the concrete flags

I forget
That I am on holiday
That for today
These words
Are not my work
That the birdsong
Is the echoed cry
Of a freedom
Already found

What is to become
Of my poetry
Who can say
Or would see
Why he or she
Should dwell awhile
Take time to look out
Over the Pampas Grass
Think of the Riviera
At home or abroad

Recall strolls
On long promenades
Or visits
To the winter gardens
Afternoons at the air shows
Balloons with passengers
And pink champagne

The hedgehog
Is back into hiding
It has had its three
Minutes of fame
Now time for the white
Crested blackbird
And another flower
That I am unable to name

Only that it is green &
Yellow and white
Impregnated
With garlands
Of crimson &
Hanging claret

Such an endorsement
That would look well
On the dance-floor

I am reminded
Of Saturday nights
Of mohair suits
And chisel toe shoes
Of warm nights
With sensual conversation

I pause
Before the applause
Of the cool morning breeze


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

No wonder why

Yesterday we worked in the garden
Until late on in the evening
Mowing grass, pulling weeds
At a distance, yet together

Midway we paused for a salad
A quiche, a cup of tea
Glasses of white wine
Sparkling chilled water

Later, or just on darkness
Before the end of faded light
After a rest, a shower, and in
Our own fresh made bed

We loved together, as lovers do
Who do not always go to church
For the day before had been
Another kind of wedding

Kind words, encouraged laughter
Confetti placed around the cake
Named two children; each given a name
A bond for their lifetime's yet to be made

Yesterday we sat in the garden
Under the mid night sky
No wonder why, we and they
Believe in the place of love


Taken from the collection Words in Aspect South Facing - Available from Amazon for Kindle

You, Away (Cowdust)

A simpler way
Similar of the day
& of the night time

Meditation sways
Calm of purpose to play
With children until lights out time

Picture peaceful Mandalay
Restless chaotic Bombay
Rich colours intertwined

Away for two days to stay
Here alone in our bed I may
Write of the new lovers sign

A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Tumblr

Escape, without words
A mind filled to overflowing
With maps and images
Famous painters
& women's breasts
Still mountain mists
From the east of Saigon

Enter into the night time
Wait for quiet to fall
Darkness to take her shadows
Memories of dusk clamber
For your erstwhile attention
Detention is worth the call
From the rest of the world


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Thin Air

The words hold themselves
I have no way of propulsion
You, where my thoughts go
Might be scared that they lie

Unable to hold or elucidate
I can only wish of her lost ether
Readers, in their lonely rooms
Call out; this is a torn lovers cry


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Pre Prenuptial

I tried to believe I could let go
That was even before we started
I wanted to show, define
That my love was so strong &
However long we were together
The treasure would have been mine

I would be sure & secure enough
To wish you much future happiness 
On the day that we would surely part
Yet set apart by your refinement
I inclined to play the game too well
I lost & in pain I rearranged my settlement


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

One person missing

I was buying cut flowers
All I cherished were bright loud colours
Emotionally strong fragrances

Next I was sat on the steps of a greenhouse
At a big house with front and back gardens
A girl shouted from inside the house
There was someone at the door

Wanting a home tutor for their daughter
Could the protege please come quickly
We could hear her explaining & negotiating
She sounded very professional

An agreement was reached
She came into the back garden
To recount her happy tale
You walked from the middle of the garden

Where you had been playing with the boy
I held out my hand and asked you to sit with me
Your finger brushed my hand but
You walked by without pause


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Mon Plaisir

I cannot drill down any deeper
Alone I am unable to magnify
The view; I do remember a window

The lane a little steeper, there
Was a garden & a small kitchen
With two colourful cockatoo

There were fields for potatoes
Before the long curved beaches
Yet out beyond the reaches

I was so often absent
Just as the image shows
I stayed out of focus

There were pedestrians
On the promenade, they
Sojourned towards the town

Did you wonder that I
Wondered on the hope of you
Always to know that my love

Would tie you, no, worse
Much worse by far
My love would let you down

A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Aznavour

She, woman of man's life
Where would he be without
More skewed attractions

He, man of woman's life
Where would she be without
Less undue distractions


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Absence of Free Will

It is not that I am torn
It is more that my mind
Seems to go just wherever it damned well chooses

I have been in love before
I am in love again, now
Images & memories, that my mind frequently uses

If on occasions forlorn
If caught on barbs that bind
I am resigned to follow her wherever she pleases

If to think of the spotlit dance floor
To shuffle so lightly how
With footsteps and body sways; she poses, she teases


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Glow If You Dare

Flames are lowered, gentle curve of decay amongst the embers
Turn pages of the picture books, remember those past Decembers
Lend her the lyric hooks, sing songs of joy and tenderness
Suppress at once the negative looks, that is no way to send her
Fend off your depression, close up the downbeat
With the light of impression share her romantic nooks & crannies
Play her Danny and the Champions of the World
Swirl her on to the dance floor
More you shout, folklore edicts the damsel fair
Rare as sacred through wildest air
Care of the curved decay whose lowered tones blend her wishes
Superstitious as she becomes
Run now, run your words down to the floor
The core is gone, the story flickered, lest it shone


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Nobody Knows You Slowly

You wear curled up boots
& smoke a slim cigar
You've got a ten gallon hat
& a Buick convertible car
But nobody knows you slowly
Nobody knows who you really are

You sell your soul for money
In half lit American bars
You dream of walks in moonlight
Under a night of silver stars
But nobody knows you slowly
Nobody knows who you really are

You stand assigned to keep your time
Strumming an eight string steel guitar
You’ve walked the line
Your music’s heard near & far
But nobody knows you slowly
Nobody knows who you really are

She saw you in the drive-by
Thought how doubtful you are
She heard you at the movies
With your mournful la la la
She wants to know you slowly
To find out who you really are

She wants to know you slowly
To find out who you really are
But nobody knows you slowly
Nobody knows who you are
She wants to know you slowly
To find out who you really are


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Crystal

Turn down the night
As the cars go racing
Settle to the inner sight

Again to walk the machair
Trip down the sand dunes
All at one with two once fair

Take a balance to the light
The clock of time is south facing
The fiddler fettles as well he might

Again to drive on as we dare
Pulled by tractor through golden rills
All at one with two to care

Stroke the glass ball, here your plight
The mirage of worlds are pacing
Life unfolds at the reasons for the flight


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Dunes

Low slung moon
Slow sung tune
Palms with shadows for branches


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Station

Propulsion
We are all propelled

This way and that
That way and this


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

That Afternoon

My hand on her firm tummy
Her skin suntanned and warm
Our child lively in her belly
One day of love forever frozen


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Interruption

The sun is warm on my face
Although my feet say day is a recorded dawning
I browse the many images and words
Love is ever a blessing

The telephone rings
An urgent message
Regarding my payment
Protection insurance

The sun is warm in my voice
Although the shock of her prerecorded warning
Was colder than bare skin in darkness
Silence is ever a blessing


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Windless

It is an encouraging light
Through all eleven windows

In the main it is quiet
Constructors at lunch
Factories wound down
Traffic stilled by time

It is easier without projections
Listen to the absent tick-tock
All of love, all of care
Gives a renewal of energies

Browse the poets & the artists
Who each strive to bring beauty


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Hermitage

In search of one
A symphony of simple

Cool, calm
Of a tradition

To dream
Dream of all but silence


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Canal Side

Restrained
Without of understanding

Unsure of belief
In ones own thoughts


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Hermitage II

Listen
The chink of china
Informal conversation

A European City
Out for afternoon tea


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Roberto

Before the stillness
Among the crazy time

Bound, by papermache
The gluepot
& the paste brush


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text

Cobra

A place to become unsettled
Legs turn, unsteady

Humans, with the voices of birds
Fires, pyres, screams of poets


A Poem from Outline Sketches and Vague Reasoning - Love Within a Drifting Mind available from Booktango by cliking anywhere on this text