There is a lightness to this day

There is a lightness to this day
A lightness in which I think I could find shelter

It is not simply a lightness
From the light of day

Although that lightness
Is with me in abundance

But there is a lightness in mind and body
Which arose through meditation and writing

It is there, within me and for me
It is around me, it is above me

It is that very same shelter
For which I have long been searching

I needed to hear the words
I needed to expose belief

That is the belief in faith
Without any substantive reasons

Yet also to be told, thankfully
That there is more out there

But that we will always
Be further from what we know

Than we are
At this very moment

Or the very next moment
And so life will go on, ad infinitum

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Without the internet

Without the internet
I am encouraged
To be more prosperous and purposeful
To find a different kind of shelter

I am unable to tell the world
Of how I am feeling
Neither can I ask the souls of the world
What it is that they feel

Instead to tell the page
That the dream was repetitive
That it woke me at five
But then let me sleep again

Also to let the page know
That the sound of gulls
Always reminds me
Of days at the seaside

Yes, once I had a shelter
Within the iodine salted aroma
Of the sea or ocean
Where for a while time stood still

I was away from the world then also
Living, as they say
In the bubble
In the moment

And so I look to the leaves
Made to flicker by the breeze
I look at my neighbour's trees
And wonder if he is disconnected

I am not the hermit
Nor do I desire to be so
I have high hopes for conversation
Even for reconnection

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A walled garden offering shelter

A walled garden offering shelter
But this time is not my time
Today is not my day of days
I need to arrange a more private visit

The flowers are awash
With every living colour
The pond is full-on black
As if filled with Pelikan Indian Ink

But this time is not my time
Today is not my day of days
So I shall make a singular visit
Or view my thousand photographs

It is true I came here not knowing
Uncertain of what I might find
In that way then the joy
Counteracts the disappointment

Yet to use that word
Is way less than fair
For the sun it was shining
And a shelter was already there

Though not for me this summer house
And not for many a day I fear
For the wall within a wall
Is one wall too many today my dear

My mind asks too many questions
I cannot find a place to sit
The construct holds too many suggestions
I cannot be at one with it

This was not my day of days
It was not the time to be my time one bit
I ought to consider a rearrangement
When body, mind, and soul are more fully fit

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The breeze and the book are my shelter

The breeze and the book are my shelter
I may even ask them to join me in the garden
Although the breeze may already be there

The book is Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature
A title gifted to him by Maggi Hambling
It is based around his cottage at Dungeness

My shelter though is creaking
For I am being asked
To undertake household chores
Which I never imagined would happen

I don’t know that I ever
Read one book properly
Not in any way that I now remember

I say this as I search for Lotus Leaves
By Thich Nhat Hahn
Whose name I never could spell either

There is a tiredness in my mind
My favourite picture is in shadow
I have completed another book of words

All over the bookshelves there are memories
Waiting for the breeze
To blow their titles into the gardens

What if I never find
The meditation teacher’s handbook
Or don’t ever shake myself
Free of this malaise

I have many pencils with pencil marks to make
Yet I have so few words to say
Not which could be strung together

To make anything worthwhile
Other than the jingles
Of the breeze and the book shelter

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Today’s shelter is the one being

Today’s shelter is the one being
The one being in the one body
Not disturbing oneself unduly
Nor creating disturbance to anyone other

This is the shelter of the one and only
Not a lonely one
Nor one standing entirely alone
But when all is said and done still the only one

This is the shelter of the here and now
Not the only place to be
But a good place
To be in for the moment

With tea to drink
With biscuits to savour
With words to write
With air to breathe

Today is a day of rain and thunder
Also of blue skies and sunshine
This then is the shelter
Of the one thing then the other

Where moods darken
Where spirits become lighter
Where the true prospect of shelter
Brings a smile to the face

Sat on this comfortable settee
In this quiet and peaceful room
Where the pictures and the photographs
Are familiar to heart and mind and soul

This dream shelter is the shelter of being
Where I may be
Where you may be
At ease within the joy of being

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I am listening to the cricket

I am listening to the cricket
The World Cup is on BBC Radio
It is one of my shelters
For this ever improving summer

Today’s game has turned
Into a dead rubber
A phrase I rather care for
As it sort of goes with the flow

I look out of the windows
To watch the breeze
Bring a sway
To the tops of trees and hedges

This then is what I call being steady
Not ready to do anything
Other than to sit and stare
Without a thought or care

There goes another wicket
Accompanied by dancing in the aisles
I am reminded that is why England
Needed to win their last two games

They say that cricket is a bit more civilised
Well why wouldn’t it be, as it is played
During continuously improving summers
On manicured squares of grass so green

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To the one side is the builder

To the one side is the builder
To the other the gardener mows the grass
From the concrete mixer to the trowel
To the beads of sweat upon the brow

He talks of white painted walls and fences
She buys more plants for the planting tubs
The garden pond is still leaking
A penetration to the sunken membrane

The studio could have a window
If only he had the necessary skills
The far garden could have a building
But how many places are needed to sit or write

All in all we are all on a search for shelter
Both for the creation and for the living
So a garden becomes a place for dreaming
For leaning on our own adventures

One by one the list is encouraged
Day by day another idea or ideas
Never then to truly settle
Not ever to become set solidly still

Instead a canvas for fabrication
An easel to describe the wheelbarrows
Of toil, trouble and dissatisfaction
Before the lights are allowed to shine

Not ever then to say never
Or to think the fence would be good in grey
Always to find a shelter for the sitting
As one wanders through night and day

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Symmetry satisfies us

Symmetry satisfies us 
And coheres for our need for meaning 
and shelter in the world.
John O’Donohue:
Divine Beauty - The Invisible Embrace

This is today’s Monday morning shelter
Where I will either write or transcribe
Then taste bacon, on brioche rolls for hot dogs
Read out something which I have worked on
Then listen to others read out
The pieces which they have worked on

It won’t be all peace and calm
There may be disagreements
To counterbalance the joviality
I will be encouraged, even motivated
To build in more effect or innovation
To make more of my poetry
Than the poetry it once was

Of course sentimentality will hold sway
For we all do like to hear our own stories
But no memoir work from me today
Although I have found the once lost book
Misplaced as it was recently

During my trip to the monastery
With some shot at unification
I will keep things moving along
Preventing any fall
Into obsessive dialogue
Or worse into meaningless diatribe

Which satisfies no one at all
Better then to pour out the creativity
Create an ambiance to the work
Develop constructive interaction
With a sound ear for the especial
Which does dwell within everyone
Seeking, for its own sake, a safe outlet valve

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