Another Invitation

Where are you now
Write to me more often
Where are we now
Softly spoken
Where I am
Fairly often
There you are then
Nothings broken
A writer’s invitation
Simulating tactile sensation
The coffee’s black
In Massarella’s café
The light is bright
Behind the lens
I smile, awhile
In moments of magic
Where are you now
Write to me more often
Where are we now
Excitedly spoken
Knocks on the head
Some say I’m still suffering
Knocks on the head
Woken, spoken with beauty
Where are you know
Write to me more often
Where I am now
Panicking slowly

Concentrate

Imagine a transparent mind
Postulate, bring to life

Disordered thoughts inside
Motivate, drive me madly
Introversion, extrovertly
A birth is more special
Than I can yet contemplate
A life is more special
Than I care to admit
How to release
Unwise ineffectual pressures
But retain, explain
Love’s compassion learning

Where are you now
Write to me more often
Grow me
Slowly
I feel to exude high expectation
Is this received, perceived, untrue
You seem able, stable, of invention
Thoughtful, real, true, you, you…
Supportive or disruptive
Challenging or cajoling
Balanced or biassed
Me or you
Energy flows
The picture grows

The smile returns
Doubts burn away
Where are you now
Speak to me
Speak to me more often
Kick me
Metaphorically
Engage me
Excess of sensuality
Draw me in, repeatedly
Tell me
What I should give
How you, you demand of me
To reach, within you
Command, perhaps
On reflection
The flow should meander
A little
Where are you now
Still with me
With me more often
Being
Distraction
Extracting self from self-satisfaction
Self-sufficiently
So so efficiently unaware
People need people
Communication complements Consumption
Interaction is
The second oxygen of life
Where are you now
Will you be
My

One and only

 

Graham Or Is It John

Graham or John
Where are you from
Your picture is so
So character strong
Your coat was red
You never said
You'd been before
Walked out the door
The zephyr blew
The jeans were new
The memory cradle
Leaving the stable
A stable boy
A big girl’s toy
Open top sport
Not your sort
The white cotton shirt
Does hurting hurt
Passing on by
Tears lover’s cry
Turning eighteen
It's about being seen
Crocodile shoes
Silver studs in two's
Sail by, swan in stature
Its essence you capture
You glide and slide

Taking the Cadillac ride
The girl on your arm
Besotted by charm
Pretty pink dress
Virginity suppressed
Her hair flicked back
Listening to Chicken Shack
Painting your own picture
Writing your own scripture
You carry your confidence
With supreme diffidence
Believing the dream
Selling the sheen
Envy brings engagement
Edge endows enragement
The cockerel crow quietens
The peacock colour whitens
The cloud of smoke
The oarsman’s silver stroke
Waters wash over
The discarded cloak
He walked right in
He couldn't swim
He never spoke
You missed the joke
Nothings real
From our dreams we steal
Joseph's Technicolor dream-coat
That is our conscience missing the boat

 

Bag Job

The half-baked golden moon
In a star-struck star-spangled sky
That incontinence calling

To be at one with nature
A wee in the night

A wee long look at the night sky
Moonset at midnight
With October smelling of new-mown hay
Driving past presence
Escaping into the day
In touch with such wonderment
How can anyone believe
By Christ such wonderment
Oh, oh, what a relief
Moon after midnight
Golden orb of redness and light
Walking on globules of goodness
Opening to kindness, hidden deep
And distance for kindness
And, but words, for release
Walking in wonderment
Oh Christ, Christ, it is beginning to seep

 

Frowns Of A Clown

Biko
Back in the USSR
Biko
Gabriel cries from afar
Lynott is a rocker and a roller
With his friend Moore
Walking the Parisienne walkways
Sliding steel guitars
Teardrops on the terrace
Springtime is for lovers
Have you been there too
In or out of love
Morning suns keep rising
Cloud clearing skies
Beneath the zephyr breeze
And smiles keep on
The frowns of a clown cannot hide them
Some call it deity
I prefer majesty
In the singular moment
There really only is I
No friends, no family, no colleague
Aristotle: how do you reply
Back then to the early morning
Sunrise and wakening eyes
A day clear of conscience
A day beginning to cry
And crying has led to change
Mandela follows Biko

Peace continues to be sought
Thanks to these men of principle

Man's mind is not easily bought
Man's mind is not easily bought
Meditate on that thought
Wish upon a star
Dream the everlasting dream
Jung and Munch are memories
The unconscious mind
The visual scream
Moments only in the greater scheme
Thirty years of passing
Thirty years of thoughts
Packed inside these words
Packed inside this mind
The clarity of vision
The splendid thoughts of youth
How best to resurrect
Back in search of truth
Compromise and insincerity
The game I've learned to play
Bending rules not breaking
Interrogate integrity they say
So move away from the men in suits
Move away to follow friendship
Believe once more in Aristotle
Let pleasure be here amongst you

 

Songbird Sleeping

Like a willow weeping
Or a songbird sleeping
Like a time remembered, so clearly
Or a time you came so close, so nearly
When the cold waves came crashing
Tethered nights with dark winds thrashing
Under stars and half-moons rising
Skimming pebbles half surprising
Thurlestone sands

So so far from Thurlestone School
Only needed one more broken rule
Under stars laughter hides the fear
Sinister is the minister that does not hear
And that is just what we do
Me, you, we two
Like willows weeping
Like songbirds sleeping
Another time you just smiled
Along the golden mile
Jack the lad in life and laughter
Getting, impressing

Whoever it was you were after
But in the camouflage undercover
Wanting to be more than just one other
Needing to prescribe a different being
Creating images for onlookers seeing
Not knowing what is truly showing
Or who cares enough to be knowing
Designer clothes are no compensation
Neither is narcotics a true sensation
Life lived in void space nine
Way apart, abreast from time
Like a willow weeping
Like a songbird sleeping
The guitar played blues and soul
The band embraced the ball
Earlier the songs were engaging
Memories and old emotions

They also were raging
You never meant to part
So why did you start
Drifting into the grey abyss
Forgetting what you'd miss
Climbing mountains and missing molehills
Moving in motion, but leaving picture stills
That was what you wanted to do
To create something, well me too
More than simply nine to five
More feeling dead than alive
Like the willow weeping
Like the songbird sleeping
Evoking outspoken jokes
Handing round the Spanish smokes
Jack Daniels and Stella ice
Heading off in search of spice
Catch a late-night cab
Once again you’re jack the lad
Only this time come tomorrow
Laughter will turn to sorrow
Deeper down into your own depression
Caught inside your own oppression
Not able to imagine

How to change your state
You've lost the path to your golden gate
And all around everyone's trying
Yet you are the only one not crying
You are not the willow weeping
No more are you the songbird sleeping

 

Blackpool

We’re here
We’re right along the South Shore
We’re here
We’re strolling down the Promenade
Kiss me quick
Kiss me hard
Take me now
Take me down the Promenade
We’re here
We’re playing at the Pleasure Beach
We’re here
We’re walking on the Golden Mile
Kiss me quick
Kiss me while
Take me now
Take me down the Golden Mile
We’re here
We’re treading on the North Pier
We’re here
We’re dancing at the Winter Gardens
Kiss me quick
Kiss me, oh pardon
Take me now
Take me down the Winter Gardens
We’re here
We’re climbing up the Tower
We’re here
We’re riding on the Trams
Kiss me quick
Kiss me, kiss me on time
Take me, take me now
Take me down the Fleetwood line.
Can you remember the candy floss
Can you remember the toffee apples
Can you remember the funny house
Can you remember the wild mouse
We’re here
We’re queuing at the Donkey Rides
We’re here
We’re gambling on the Slot Machines
Kiss me quick
Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me my bride
Take me, take me now
Take me down the rising tide
Take me, take me now
Take me down the rising tide
Take me, take me now
Take me down the rising tide

 

Remember The Hero

Commitment
Equal to zero
Never, not ever, except if it's ok
Fall in line
Join the queue
Open time for rejection
Pity is not
Ever selected
Parting shot’s failing words
Nothing more than meaning
At that instant in time
Opportunity bespoken
Courage to have no conviction
Desirous of freedom
Fleeing to be free
Course it just does not
Work any other way
Corruption without care
Stating the obvious
Pouring the rhyme
Steering to be
Well that is the way
See if you risk
Losing it all
Reading the line
Creating the image
Clouding the issue
Take it on head first
Take it to task
Neglect asymmetric action
Proud to beg
Upstanding to fall
Crazed with distortion
Extinguish the anguish
Obliterate desire
Mask any malignant hope
Wreak havoc and teardrop
Crush the chaos, and the cause
Eradicate ethereal thought
Bring into some being
Alternate
Hope
Equal to Zero
Remember
The heroes and the villains

 

Weightless

Remember watching

That 66 Wimbledon final
Then rushing on to the local court to play
And after watching the 66 world cup final

At the home of football
Then running to the nearest park

To score the winning goal
Remember Lords, cricket

Sunshine summer wherewithal
Inspired immediately to place

Willow bat on corky ball
Then there’s that Laurence Llewellyn
Encouraging us all

To change our living rooms
However, on this occasion, rather
It was the poem of Raymond Carver
Betjeman, Browning and WH Auden
Visions, poems

Words sympathetically spoken
Of love and life, of love and loss
Emotion, pain, pleasure, candy floss
Sweetness to soften the blow
Without the worry of the sugar
Without the weight of the thought
I've let myself be immersed, I am enthused
I'm on the pitch, I write to you

Are you… confused

 

Invisible Man

Strides and vest
F**k the rest, its just illumination
The record player and short-cropped hair
Can they take, can they take any more
Bare of foot, unable to care

Feeling and seeing despair
Can they take, any, any more
Rented room, fade and zoom
His personal space for me to play
Banks of lights, electric switches
Nothing to see, nothing to see
No route inside your mind, nothing to find
Invisible, Invisible Man
Strides and vest
F**k the rest, its just illumination

Drying frame, crying shame, crying game
It’s only tea towels and boxer’s briefs
Empty hangar, crumpled coat

Castle moat, it ain’t
Chequered shirt, washed out dirt

Ready for tomorrow, or today
Put up chair, it’s not even there

Not permanent
Somewhere to stare

Though nowhere to hide or confide
Sink full of dishes

Curtains off the swishes
The bins are overflowing

With yesterday’s news
But hang just there, that Roman pillar rare
What’s it hide, what’s inside

Behind the wool and shoddy felt
Strides and vest
F**k the rest
It is just illumination

 

Free David Hockney

Orange grove
Mulholland Drive
From the mountain to the sea
Waves of Freesias
Floods of shimmering grass
From the garden to eternity
Orange men of Ulster
Belief, tradition or conspiracy
Fighting to be free
Decaying, slowly dying flowers
Scorched, torched, grassland misery
Genetic feeding, unknown disease
Blue sky, sunshine
A zephyr of a breeze
Summer dreams, sweet memories

Chocolate and Cinnamon
Birthday party
Sunday tea
Flying back from Guantanamo
Two years of nothing but darkness
Returning, again in darkness
Questioning and questioning
Interrogation, Why
Why were you there
Tomorrow you will be released
But will you, will you
Ever again, be free

 

Callisthenics

Morning Exercise
Awake
Awash
Avogadro’s law
Balance
Breathe
Balm of Gilead
Cajun
Cake
Carbon tetrachloride
Diesel
Dandruff
Dendrochronology
Element
Educate
Erotomania

 

Play

On every one occasion
Yes every time we meet
A special little happening
Yes dancing little feet
On every one occasion
Simply washing dishes sleek
A separate memory moment
Yes dancing cheek to cheek

 

Chorus (For those you’ve left behind)

It seems to me
From the way you dress
That you are a long way
A long way from home
I also surmise, surprise
That you are lost
Lost inside, or so I find
Inside your sketchbook mind
Looking back
Back along the promenade
The turret and the tower
They are your silhouettes
The clock in the square
The coronation cross
They are your foreground,
Your definition and fine detail
This picture
Framed to the East
Framed by the faraway shores
Beyond the distance, beyond the horizon
The Jurassic cliffs crumble
Their history cloaks another kind of time
You are I surmise
A long way from home
Are you here to escape
Escaping the troubles of a mad mankind
Are you, here away, but crippled
Crippled by, by your wandering mind
The stillness and calm
Of this present situation
Aside from the wars and the warriors
Is it this that tests your patience
The injustice of your situation
Not by choice, nor in context
Simply an artist drawing, drawing
On what’s left, left of life in time
The light is fading
You have moved along
The chorus or the song has gone
The stolen lives

Of those, those you’ve left behind

 

Happy Day

By chance you happened

Upon a black lake walk
Shearwaters of reflection

Reflecting one more magical moment
The flight of the partridge

And the excited young collie
Soul refresh, soul rebirth

Underfoot the twig leafs crackled
Ethereal and eternity

Thank heaven for spontaneity
Meander among the coriander

Hands blessing vision and line
Bright light out of beauty

Splish-splash, light onto beech leaf
Sing and bring good to good times

Sing, bring good once again
Playful seeker of pleasure

Hedonism out of Ithaca returned
Bountiful protector

Of the prosaic presenter
Wish for mirth, wish

Shear essence, fluorescence of joy
Atmosphere emerging

Resurgence of energy amongst enigma
Pretend the maker of dreams

Protect the rabbits of Bethlehem
Mend, cognisance blends

Mindful of love, innocent in joy
Sorting, becoming

Of images past, captured, enraptured
Floodlights on memories

Provoking, freeing fresh thought
Waltzing Matilda

And whirling swirling dancing tunes

Runes without time

Blooms without blinds
Meditation, loves medication

Dedication, sealing, healing

Revealing feathers and plumes

Honed and groomed
Walking back along the pathways

Holding spaces, minutiae

Binding moments into aspherical wholes
Believing the fragments of fortune blessed

To fall in this particular, peculiar

Non-perfunctionary kind of way

 

Wind Band

It is, is it, just a room
Like many other
A simple carpet, bedspread
Eiderdown cover
Carved tabled
Embraced with lace
Drawers for dressing
Lathe turned legs
Listening to the Ironmonger’s Ball
Over the rolling, calling, windswept wall
It is, is it, just another room
Like, alike, alike many, many another
A space, stark, dark, dark turned light
Sounds escaping into a classical night
It’s a living, breathing, developing art

Fighting, fighting for its very future
In this room, towards Nirvana
A wind band, a wind band orchestra
Colours combining, harvesting in my mind
In this room, unlike the night

Unlike any other

 

Chronicle

The cathedral’s silent space
The blacksmith’s forging flame
The British bed and breakfast
Walking over the reservoir ramparts
Canal boat over the sky-high viaduct
Coach trip to the seaside
Scared that it could all be lost
Scared that there could be even more
Scared by the shifting sands of minds
Time is the ethereal enemy
Understanding the hour

The minute, the day
Missing by a mile the year

The generation, the life

The railway platform at mid-day
Apples and oranges on the market stall
Alehouse and alfresco foraging
Cars boarding the over-night ferry
Fishermen landing their catch on the quay
Cricket whites and willow battered ball
Scared of not meeting the cost
Scared that there could be even more
Scared by the fluidity of inflation
Money is the surrealist enemy
Understanding the pound in our pocket

Missing by a mile

The millions flowing through a lifetime

The works Christmas party
Bingo at the club
Dominoes in the pub
The aeroplane

Going from ground to cloud
The ice cream on the promenade
The surfboard cutting spray
Scared of being somewhere different
Scared there might be even more
Scared by a changing space
Place is the straight-jacket enemy
Understanding the room

The yard, the town
Missing by a mile the city

The county in the country
The cinema screen imagery
The theatrical actor’s observations
The brass band playing eulogies
Mountains of misunderstood meetings
Thousands of insincere greetings
Waiting for Murphy's law
Scared of not saying
Scared that there could be even more
Scared of listening and feeling
Communication is the free-world enemy
Understanding hello, goodbye, yes and no
Missing by a mile everything in between

 

Untitled 1

I laugh on my own, but I am not alone
No, you are here
You do not disappear
Is this the same
For lovers in grief
The disbelief
Shown by friends and family
Who do not
Will not understand
You have not gone
Not away
Just to another peaceful place
Where I join you
Everyday
In my own way

 

Temeraire

Horizon, sunset on the horizon
Light scattered, falling from the sky
Reflections of ships on the water
Shorelines and cityscapes, fade, fade away
Orange, yellow, ochre, rust and blue
Flames flare from her chimney
As she tugs the majestic sailing ship
Underneath a sky with both sun and moon
Did he ponder on the galley
Wondering why not a soul in sight
Could the sea have been so many colours
Would that the imaginations

Might beam so bright
From across the oceans sailors gather
Line the decks as they reach the shore
Yesterday was flags and bunting
Today is calm; good men quietly go
Storm clouds behind the night
Bring brightness to the fore
Light, a likeness to your imagination
Your sun-drenched early evening sky
Mandolin wind, you have the weight
Strings whispering, you are nearly being
Drum skins smoothed

Your brushstroke wavers
The bass guitar plays

You gently weep and cry

Promenader's right behind you
Waiting and watching your vision unfold
Your story, you gave thus on the canvas
Eight score years and more ago
Red, grey, silver, white and golden
The flickering flag atop the mast
Ropes and rigging tidier than nature
Close up close, I spy a crew
A sea of two reflections
Mirror sun and mirror moon
Painting thousands of projections
For the nation to consume
Did you say you were going nowhere
No more the sea to be a roving
The last voyage has been
And gone
We should have seen the sadness
The colour was without your joy
The smokestack racks our guilt
Cracks upon, our mistaken preconceptions

 

Praxitella

Praxitella, ample fella, dynamist
Kissed by your own imagination
Kissed as a mistress
Kissed by your monumental sculptor
Beyond existence, enlisted
All fingers and fisted
Your picture is a writer
Your writer is a picture
No wonder that you missed her
Kissed her like a sister
Realism on society’s cubist blister
But the lines they would not

And could not go away
The lipstick, the saddened eyes
The emphasised thighs and steely wrists
Enlisted gestures

And so so suddenly to be kissed
How much you must have missed her

Hair cropped and shaped
From some pyramid picture
No joy portrayed
Whoever the Lear that kissed her
Tapping of the finger
Splinter in the Wyndham
My he almost missed her
Looking for her sister
Now you sit
Between the Dance Club
And Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem
Praxitella
Were you invaded, persuaded

Even confiscated
On Jacob Kramer’s Day

‘The Day of Atonement’

 

Anew: A long time ago

Saturday morning

White washing, sharp frost

Clear blue sky
Beginning of a new beauty
Doing, leading to being

Being of a new beauty
Change of font and change of style
Chance grasped, exploration espoused
Coming to calm, walking to warm
Loving the platinum gold sunlight
Melting the bright white dewdrops
Saturday morning awaking to awakening
Smiling, a chuckle from within escaping
Joys of journeys through minds past
Change of tone and change of context
Glance clasped, interpolation allowed
Coming to calm, caressing the air
Lullaby of birdsong
Fresh new day, fresh new way

 

Hold Her Tight

Midsummer motorbikes
Leather and lace
Chasing the pace
Gliding with grace
Race, after race, after race
Gearbox grinds
Castrol GTX
Accept nothing less
Speed to excess
In your leather gear

And your carbon head-dress
Donnington to Daytona
Meet the world's best
Taking the test
Over the crest
Bury the rest
James dean
Barry sheen
Silver screen
Racing machine
Living the dream
Ride on Easy Rider
Remember Harley Davison days
Long hot rides
Long hot lays
The devil blindfolds those who play
Early start
Kerb-cracking summer sunrise
Engines overheating
Fear of missing the meeting
Why do you deserve mistreating
I love my girl
I treat her right
She holds me tight
A pillion passenger’s pure delight
Wind-warm day

Sexy steamy night
Rock and roll
Hells angel's caress
Honda Gold Wing riders overdress
First place is a short lived success
He passed the rest

With the yellow flag flying
The Jagger of a rolling stone
Inside the Sunday supplement
Sixty years of engaging entertainment
More than once

Against the wall with Marianne
Just like sussy pussy

Stood proud outside the winner's Caravan
Dawn to dusk
Bitches and biking
The circus stalls
The chequered flag falls
Another year of mustard memories
Astride the night
Revelations in sight
Roaring and scoring
Sensual summer sojourn
Easy as the aura adorned

Two hundred miles an hour
Re-live the heroes
Beneath the wires and the crows
Faster than the speed-cam carrier
Once more then you'll marry her
Into the garage, in the half-light
It's an awful long time since midnight
You hug and you hold yourself tight
If you pinch you just might
Believe it, you've been, you've seen

You've gone and got insight

 

Sputnik

The Navigation Arms
Let loose your senses
Release your defences, of navigation
Nicotine amber and creamy stout
Blackcurrant, cider, scallywags about
Mingling in with the inn crowd
Sing along, now sing along for Tom Dowd
Unsteadily stepping on the pebble shore
Pause, for a wee under the balustrade
Heads already beginning to thicken
Slowly breathing

Breathing completely clean, seaside air
In the distance, listen

The screams of delight
Shivering and shaken

Shaken out of the moonlight
Beach night, moonlight

Starlight, summer site
Listen to the screams

The screams of delight
Branscombe Beer, Plymouth Gin

Sip the gin and tonic
Only human, this is no Sputnik, Brojnic
Back in this room, been here before
Eiderdown, radio, worn out floor
No one rings tonight, no one ever does
Words arise from below
Conversing, wandering, escaping
Philandering along the promenades
Planning permissions

Applied for
To turn it into flats
The locals complain
Out loud, but they have, have they
They have never stayed here
Never crossed the threshold
Into this ancient decaying

Dilapidated space
Some say they’re business folk that run it
In it for what they can get out
But In fact that’s why I stay here
Not to be distracted

But to feel the man, feel the man
It’s closing time at the Navigation
To close this page of history
Close this page so slowly
Navigation; you are

You are, localised folklore

 

Dust To Dust

Sand dunes
You were on my mind
Seeing straight through
The soles of my shoes
Sand dunes
You were on my mind
Another Quay
Another, other time
Seeing beyond youth’s truth
The midlife, in life, so say sayer-sooth
Another, another Quay
Journeys, journey’s lost in time
A glimpse behind the shoulder
Silk scarf swirling in the breeze
Laughter passing by there
Friends with all she meets
Perhaps she will look this way
Maybe

Maybe she just might

Sand dunes
You were on my mind
Sand dunes
Journey's lost in time
Way down there, by the waltzer
Cheesecloth, crumbs of cheesecake
Taffeta, shiny glowing toffee apples
Joy, unadorned and candy-floss
Perhaps she will look this way
Maybe

Maybe she just might
Sand dunes
Forgotten tunes
Remaindered runes
Stillness soon
Sand dunes
You were on my mind
Sand dunes
Journey’s lost in time

 

Rivers Deep

Wistful, whistle, walking at the wave’s edge
Caressing, choral

Through the fields of corn
Majestic, meditation

Moving by the mountainside
Suggestive, song

In the silent sensuous sultry summer
Angelic, orchestral

Amongst evangelical ethereal skies
Mantra, chant

Immortalise Gregorian pastures
Bass wind, bassoon

Winding its way through wind and wind
Strum, vibrate, resonance

In season and circumstance
Vibrant, good vibrations

Surround sounds bounce around
Awakened, woken, voices softly spoken

Larks rising, ears opened
Nature, nurture, growing by feeling

Listen for the ragas reeling
Celtic, Irish, romance fiddles fast

Fiddles slowly, today and yesteryear
Tenors, troubadours

Walking in the heaven’s

Talking with the gods
Lutes, flutes, believe in the safe

From scary fairies

Dare to enter another world
Operatic, soprano, oh, oh

Can the beauty be imagined so, Ave Maria
Xylophone, flugelhorn

Bass trombone, saxophone

Jeroboam, of champagne
Nothings the same
In this campaign
Of music's reign
One last refrain
I can't sustain
This purple rain
This love and pain
This Virginia plain
Everlasting love
One last song
One last goodbye
I could cry
Cry if I try
Cry if you want me to
Cry tears of happiness
Tears of joy
One last hit single
Let’s make them tingle
Looking for Linda
Looking for love
Looking for work
Looking for shipbuilding
Nothings changed
Words re-arranged
One last hit single
Guitar, from afar, you gently weep
Blues, bluegrass, chewing tobacco

Working the fields
Can you soothe our pain

Slide and steel us

From being dazed and confused
Gospel, possession needing no property

Possessing our own self

With amazing grace
Soul, black and white, girl and boy

Love never knew such yearning
Tearing, torment, such soulful

Can you imagine nights

And heights, of passion
Singer-songwriter

Weave your wondrous words
Leave your blood on the tracks

Stand by your man

Remember caravan

And Vincent
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and rock

Rhythm and rhyme

Havens even Dali-rhythm
Stones and Gaye

How could you not fade away

No, not fade away
Gypsies and Kings

And Richards and Stings

And everybody sings

And dances and romances
Lovers do
They save the last dance
They Caress, sun-blessed

Believing, conceiving

That it’s forever before the morning
Samba, mamba

Kid Creole, that old rock and roll
Jives alive, brothel creepers

And skin-tight sky-blue sneakers
Canaries and calypso

You never saw such life

Absolutely new life
Nothings the same
Nobodies going to stop us now
The romantic refrain
Emotions strain
Lipstick stain
In love again
One more night
It’ll be all right
Another magic morning
Where I shouldn’t be
But I couldn’t see
Blinded by something
Deep inside of me
Everlasting Love
Linger
Ravish
Soul singer
PP Arnold
Engage us again
First cut is the deepest
Linger
Crave
Soul singer
Aretha
One more time
Six three four five seven eight nine
Linger
Infuse
Soul singer
Otis
Take us again
To the dock of the bay
Mandolin wind

Piano string, violin and viola
Summer sunsets, evening concerts

City halls, country balls, waterfalls
Bass Guitar, Indian Sitar

Near and far, sounds surround
Around the world

Around the country

Around the home

Around whatever’s inside
And more beside

And much more besides

 

Triple Jump

Morning dew listen
Trap the dawn sun
Stalagtactica galactica
Reservoir snow cover
Icicle man astride
Pedalo’s oceans divide
Beach Seasons
Surf over summer
Blues sail the perilymph

 

Crescent Moon

I don’t know when I lost you
Or when I lost myself
Beneath the crescent moon
Bathed by clear night’s scars
I don’t know when I lost you
Or when you lost yourself

 

Mendip Morning

Flickering leaf
Your life so small
Backdrop against the cloud
Grey turning to gold
Bringing the morning
Breeze blown streams
Beside you the tree

The tree is already bare
Slimmed down to a minimal load
For the winter ahead
Blues and pinks
Wander over the skyline
Shepard’s warning red sky morning
Still like a skeleton
Magnificent from branch to branch
Closing down for another year
No nests to survive

Just you and the sky
With your friend in the foreground
Still covered in leaf
Every cloud has a silver lining
In this early sunrise morning
Bewitched by the gaze of pink and blue

Light glorious light
From where once again
Your pleasure never stops calling
The levels and the Mendips
Under water-born dew
Natural friendships;

Oaks, sycamores, sunlight
Shadows cast across the canal
Into the orchard

Seeking
The laws of relative relativity
Rising by the metre
Rising by the mile
Over railway lines and radio waves
The horizon becomes the centre
Setting balance in the work
The low trees red leaves are waking
The cold grass aglow

With deeply sprinkled sunshine
Pathways wandering in the waves of fall
Warmth rising

From between the space and time
From between the here and now

 

And So We Go Our Own Way

And so we go our own way
A path not trod before
Each bracken broken
A breaking new
We know this way to be our own way
Our own not known before
Each thought awoken
A thinking new
With light and might we walk our own way
Stealth of stride alone no more
Each slice of slight
Incite light new
And so we go our own way
But thanks
Thanks for this bit of street light
Given in your own way

Sunshine - For The Faintly Imperious

If ever we should doubt

The need to plot that course

To the promise of the promised land

If ever we should find out

About the judgements of The Bourse

Or of those groups which society banned

Step into the mud

Of the salt marsh

Or the estuary

Feel your feet sink

Your heart also

For what has slipped away

The wind, and sun

Will bring life

Where you thought love had perished

The night, the day

Both will replenish

And for that we can be grateful

 

About Turn - More Than A Socialist

This is no anniversary

Except it is my first day

Back in meditation

Oh yes, and the sun shines

In through my window

This then is the celebration

A time of presence

Formed by the muse of joy

As only morning sunlight

Is able to offer

Yesterday I read Tolstoy

As he talked of art

Of beauty, of love

Though not in an empowering way

Rather to dispute what others have said

I myself find

That art and love and beauty

Let alone nature

Fill my life with such wonder

That they offer a path to understanding