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Thursday 31 March 2022

Sublime - To The Disdainfully Ridiculous

Nature is beauty
And that’s for sure
Yet man
With his miraculous jet engine
Which I was taught about
Indeed went on a school trip to see
As a teenage lad over fifty years ago
May be a worthwhile rival

At the moment though
To hear the noisy rattle and clatter
Of the recycle bin being wheeled back to base
Alongside my garden hedge
Makes me realise
That progress can be slow, if at all
Especially when ordinary men
And municipal councils are involved



 

Wednesday 30 March 2022

Gardening Leave - Site Clearance

Outdoors
In March
In recovery mode
Still wheezing
Though slightly less of a cough

The pebbles
Are haphazard
And ragged
With grass growing through
Even in the shingle

It all seems less than imperfect
Although more beautiful
With the strong spring sun
And the clear blue skies
Even the jets, overhead, have a good rhythm


 

Tuesday 29 March 2022

Test Says No - Body Says I Think So

And so for the not so well their bids are due
But
You pushed on, you pushed out
Now
Your friends, and family are also not well
Yet
They also push on, push out
This way
The bugs spread at quite a rate
Until
In effect 
We no longer catch it
Instead it visits us
In our alone and lonely quarters
Quarantined from the world
To such an extent
That we too wonder
If we could work on-line
But
Doing what, what can we do
Even with
The virus for our inspiration


 

Monday 28 March 2022

Strines - Clearance

This isn’t my moor
But it is my ringing in the ears
My vibrations of being almost at home
Yet a long way from love

Thinking it must be an external sound
I open the car door
To hear nothing but the sheep
And the sound of scrub smoke slowly rising

Brown, and green, and purple
Yes, yes, oh boy yes I’ll bless my love
For the purple heather
The brown, green, and beautiful purple heather


 

Sunday 27 March 2022

Sugar - And Spice

Was it the dessert pastilles
Which lifted my mood
Or was it my morning meditation
Which set me in good stead
For the rest of this beautiful day

Was it the café
Here, there, or anywhere
Which set the seal
On the deal of love
About to be offered


 

Saturday 26 March 2022

Out Of Space - Matter Of Fact

I declare
You are my meteor star
Curving through the curved air
Of a deeper love
Steeper than the steepest mountain
A fountain of youth and truth and beauty

So light, so happy
On a blue sky Saturday
Such a tight feeling
That says love stay with me
The keeper of the song
All in all another beautiful day


 

Friday 25 March 2022

Hardly A Ripple - On The Pond

In this aloneness
There are no leaders to follow
No instructions to misunderstand

I can go my own way
Even if I stumble
And yes, sometimes fall

The moorhen
Plunges half of her body
Headfirst, into the black water


 

Thursday 24 March 2022

Stabilisation - Reclamation

I could be anywhere
But happen to be here
Trying my best to fall over

Listen to the waves
Listen to the wind
Listen to the curlew or plover

Taking a photograph
Of reeds and grasses
Flattened by the flood-waters


 

Wednesday 23 March 2022

Slide - Ending In Calm

The rains have been
The sea has been
The salt flats are soddened

The ground slips
Beneath my fanciful trainers
I do a kind of arthritic splits

The style stays with me
One more accident
In a lifetime full of calamities


 

Tuesday 22 March 2022

Before The Voice - Simply The Stature

I will have this moment
Nothing can take that away
And so it is also with zillions
Of previous memories

But this particular time
Of decision and indecision
Needs to find its own secure place
On the see-saw of life

That is why I mention
The Victoria Sponge
And the cup of Americano coffee
As I look out over marsh and sea

I thought it was my friend the farmer
With a walkie-talkie
Looking for the Red Kite
But I could have been mistaken


 

Monday 21 March 2022

Departures - And Connections

I was searching
I found love
I am leaving

It is a dull day
The hedge tops have been trimmed
Although further south they haven’t

There are blue skies
At this point of the compass
The sea sparkles to move me

I am searching
I found love
I am leaving


 

Sunday 20 March 2022

Meditation - Good For You, Good On You

There need be no one else
In this time of stillness
To be honest it’s better that way

For peace and quiet
Is a prerequisite
To find and enter the deeper thoughts

Just now for instance
Taken to the meadow
Taken to the island seas

And before that
To nowhere at all
Looking into the near and far distance


 

Saturday 19 March 2022

Catching On - Caught Up

A collar
A heel
The need to feel
Somehow really good

A gesture
A pleasantness
The need to suggest
A sense of a new beginning

A hand
A smile
The need to style
Our very next moves

A morning sun
A flowing breeze
The need to seize
This beautiful day


 

Friday 18 March 2022

Gold Dust - Made From Solid Gold

This is not about love
I have already been too careless with that
This is about being free
To be alone with the loneliness

Also about waste
To have wasted three score year and ten 
To end up nowhere, with next to nothing
Except the buckets full of memories


 

Thursday 17 March 2022

Behold - Hold Steady

The candle lights the room
A small room, with no windows
This is a safe place
My safest place

We wanted
To share our bodies
I wanted yours
You wanted mine

But the world was not ready
For our connection
For our collision
For our night under the stars

The fade
Begins to fade
The excitement
Calms to a storm for no one


 

Wednesday 16 March 2022

Tricks - Of Disappearance

I write to no one
The fountain flows no more
Yet
There is a lightness
An emptiness
Beginning to dance

I write to any one
Even those
Who are not here
Yet whose spirit
Flows in and out
Of all of my minds



 

Tuesday 15 March 2022

Racket - Of Sorts

Tinnitus
Or stereo soundscapes
Which or which
Let’s you know
That life is still with you

And that sloping roof
Beyond the hedgerows
Why and why
Is it at a right angle
To my window

Piano
And or violin
Out of both speakers
As I ponder
And deliberate

That such a voice
Can take me back
To such poor decisions
In the long
And distant past


 

Monday 14 March 2022

Day Out - To The Old Places

Beside the canal
By the empty reservoir
At the entrance to the tunnel
In the spring sunshine
Of one more leap year

What kind of town is this
What kind of town is the other
Either way
They are both a long way away
And that’s a fact

But then again
Not many places can be nearby
If as you say that the sea
Is one half of nearby
To your home locale

Whereas before
On the spine of the country
Where moorland, and peat, and bog
Happily co-exist, in more or less
Equal measure, to the rain


 

Sunday 13 March 2022

Let The Good Times Roll - And Roll On By They Will

Tuck into the shortbread
With caramel and chocolate toppings
Knowing full well
That this is bad for you
But also good for you

The child, sat in the child’s chair
Turns around, looks around
The taps his hands on the table
Much to the delight of his mother
His auntie, and his adoring grandma

This is the day
That he takes his first taste
On the path to sugar diabetes
Type I or type II who knows
But always supported by his family


  

Saturday 12 March 2022

Pause Button - Released

In another place
Which for these few moments
Becomes my space

So much so
That I unbutton
My overcoat

And wait
For the words to flow
As I listen to other people’s stories



  

Friday 11 March 2022

Kumbh Mela - Albert Falzon

Straight ahead
With the energy
Of one man’s punt

Drifting along
With the guidance
Of one man’s oar

Embracing peace
Beneath the canopy
Of cotton and reed

Among a community
With a strength of purpose
To feed the soul

On a voyage
Along the holy river
Within his ambient sounds


  

Thursday 10 March 2022

Festival - Kumbh Mela

If this isn’t the time
When would be ok
If I wasn't to give a sign
What would you have me say

And so we begin
Floating through the water reeds
Same as it ever was is our sin
Turning time back to misspent deeds

If that wasn’t the case
What would be the truth
If I hadn’t joined the race
Would I be here and not aloof

And so we end
Walking on the open moors
Same as it ever was is to lend
The season to our universal cures


  

Wednesday 9 March 2022

Storytelling - Along The Line Of Life

One man’s life
Told as the story of a river
An unfolding continuum of one-page sketches
One for each year of his life
But beginning in mid-life
The story is told backwards and forwards

One man’s life
Lets me settle
Into one man’s life
Then the postman knocks on the door
To deliver the story
Of another man’s life
Homeless, with mental issues

One man’s life
This man
In care
Except that, yes
It could all disappear
In a line on a page
Or thanks to a disadvantaged mother


  

Tuesday 8 March 2022

Playing - At Being The Architect

There is a flat platform
A flagged square
Or rectangle

This could be the starting point

There is a gradual slope
Lawn and flower bed
To a tall tree in the corner

This is the body of the story

Beyond the conifer
And over the low wooden fence
Is the track, unmade and uneven

This has to be the way out


  

Monday 7 March 2022

Gifts - And Recriminations

What you took
Is nothing near
What you have

But you did take
The whole damned lot
Left not an ounce of love

What you shook
Is nothing near
That closest shave

But you did shave
The whole damned lot
Left not a sign of stubble

What you look at
Is nothing near
The book you read

But you did read
The whole damned lot
Left not a word out of sorts


  

Sunday 6 March 2022

Treasures - Of The Moments

A lack
Of love
Of self
Of confidence
Of interrogation
Or explanation

A need
To wait
To pause
To delay
To become more
Or less assured

A departure
Heavy eyelids
Dry mouth
A longer view
Ever so slightly
Out of focus


  

Saturday 5 March 2022

Artist - Use Your Tools

On the cusp
Or the saddle
Where certainty
And uncertainty prevail

The small diamond
As head
The large diamond
As body

The narrow diamond
As hips
Thighs, knees
And feet

The whole thing
Then to be you
Sparkling, shiny
And beyond betrayal


   

Friday 4 March 2022

Psychology - A Personal Thing Part II

And, as these stranger’s voices
Turn into fleeting whispers
Exchanging fears and experiences
This is the way support is shared

Also, advice is offered
For the daughter to get as far away as she can
From that boyfriend, who they have decided
Is a controlling, loathsome, individual

I know that she will be alright
Deep down I know that
But its been good to talk with you
What about your girl


 

Thursday 3 March 2022

Psychology - A Personal Thing

The blue, black, and silver sky

A place for all offerings

All of light is beneath here

Except that illumination above


So there we have it

Out of my dark meditation room

Into the rest of the morning

Where words wait to be joined together


Meanwhile, here in the café

Mother’s talk of daughter’s depression

So right here, as well as in Tokyo

The black dog is present



 

Wednesday 2 March 2022

What We Forget - As We Remember

Where are your parents today
How old are you
Do you ask yourself these questions
As you place your offering at the altar
What have you learnt
From the teacher’s profound teachings
I saw you thoughtful
I saw you joyful
I saw you, and now I don’t
If I reach out
For someone other
Or some thing other
Am I
By necessity
Leaving the past behind


  

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Let It Be Said - Hear This From No Other

I have not found the straightjacket of form
I have been unable to adorn the monks gowns
My mind and body are free-formed from strata
And yes there are regrets, would I not
Wish to wear the emperor’s new clothes
For I am nothing, and I will be nothing
And in between the water will only ripple slightly

All of these places which you engagingly talk of
They are not my places
I have no allegory or metaphor at hand
For you to hang your hat or your story on
I am a been there and done that sort of guy
What I write is what is real, and, for the sake
Of understanding I will leave it at that

Except of course for love, or companionship
For I have known these doubtful imposters
And worked out how to treat them the same
Although it is a secret, of secrets purpose
That is to say you must work it out
For no clues are to be found on this page
And the pencil marks will only serve to mislead