Still Life

Sat at the picture window

Studying books of Beardsley's art 

& Rembrant's bulbous self portraits

Thought old age led me to forget

Road maps, place names, guides

Or even more meaningful directions

Though all made easier by your laughter

My odd socks chosen not by design

But by dotage, or better still by happenstance

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Level Ground

When I discarded everything

I did not discard the watch

Tick-tock

Tick-tock

Shock proof

The watch reminded me of you

Rooks move across the field

Gathered in rows & columns

Step-up

Step-back

The knack of it

Order not to be abused

When I distanced everything

I did it wearing these shoes

Torn-thin

Thin-torn

Worn through

The shoes reminded me of you

Rooks in flight, in flock

Swirls, loops of engagement

Roost, rabbit

Rabbit, roost

The truth of it

Absence of the sullen bruise

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Glimpse

I won't ever see you again

I don't honestly know that I saw you before

Breast, free of brassiere

Impeached by a tee-shirt

Assisted by a low-cut cardigan

Half a globe of silicone gel

Impressed

Half a bowl of wobbly jelly

Held steady

The train is due around mid-day, as always

It will arrive, it will depart

Petit athletic frame

Yet in no small way at all

Elegant, fluid, erect

Half a mind to call and say

Expressed

Half a kind of love

Warm, ready

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Vague, feint

A pub

On the corner

Only a few doors from my flat

After tea, nothing else to do

But only a couple of pints, not to get inebriated

Deserted snug room

Well worn, four-legged tables

Fabric covered seats

Old barman, with no desire for conversation

Read the Western Morning News

Killed time

Walked back to an empty home

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Flash non-fiction (never impossible to try)

It struck me, in that instant

As I drove away from the railway station

The girl, on her mobile phone

She had difficulty with comprehension

The old men in the pub; roast Sunday lunch

They had friends, newspapers, beer and conversation

Impossible thoughts lingered; whale riders

Bungee jumpers and presidents of the world

Impossible thoughts of eternity that allow

All things to become all things whatever

The joy of sharing distant yet close experiences

Explicit moment; I did not know what he was thinking

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