Sea Facing

Line of sight; cliff-top to cliff-top
Fog settled over sea and land
Echoes of a more confident time
Once majestic four storey terraces
Face proudly towards the shoreline

Their grimy cracked windows amplify
The corrosion of their iron balconies
Their dust covered doors welcome
Only the most unwelcome of guests
Time to turn, and about turn; no

This is not the joyous image
Conjured from strong accents
Reflected in sepia tone sunsets

This is not the leisurely bolt-hole
Where a days work might be rested
Where a nights dreams might begin

The search continues; inland I fear
To be away from the anticipated gear
That one assumes to surround decay
The dismay that is of a lost confidence
A lost purpose on the nations stage

Better the better people be found
I am not the man for it; too big a task
Needs immense imagination, boundless
Energy; for days, and nights, and weeks
Many months and years of rebuilding

Or children and parents & three more
Generations; all washing, washing
Their hands of the struggle, washing
The struggle right out into the sea

Available on Kindle

Overdone

All the chic of the city
In a moorland village
Chocolate and beige
Monsoon purple stripes
In the style of Rothko
Yet antlers above the fire

Mostly they are young
The staff that is, as befits
This swipe at modernism
But neither youth nor
This extravagant whim
Are in truth sustainable
The numbers don't add up
I sit alone in a tabled room
Set out for forty-four covers

It might be different
Come Saturday night
But the farmers hereabouts
Know that one swallow
Does not a summer make
More's then the pity

Available on Kindle

Stuff & How to Get Shut of it

First you have to have been married and divorced twice, or at least to have fallen out (big time) from a serious long term relationship

Next you have to have retained (or found) your sense of humour, your love of life and your desire to have another crack at it

Then you must collect together all your self help books, especially those on personal psychology and any that use the word 'journey' - but keep the ones on sacrificial bonfires, they will come in very useful later

Now take a trip to IKEA, look carefully, and closely, at the machine made imitation wooden bookshelves; look again at the recycled cardboard organisation boxes, and then say to yourself (and to the whole store if you feel so inclined) "No I don't want any more of this stuff, no, no thank you!"

Available on Kindle

Worn Tracks

Dark outside
Friends, loved ones
Over land, under night sky
Pages turned, numbers dialled
Ease the throttle on imagination

Traces; worn tracks erased to dust
By bluebell skies the day after tomorrow
Sing on Joan Baez, sing of Diamonds & Rust
Faraway the closed caresses of sweet sorrow
Into the ether of spokesmen we no longer trust

Wait awhile
For the pain to subside
Blessed to be in this quiet
With a Cuban song in my ear

Available on Kindle

Out of Sorts

Signs of civilisation

Open prawn sandwich

With a ginger dressing

Sunglasses on top of her head

Glasses perched on the end of his nose

He browses a quality broadsheet 

There are younger couples

And retired family groups

There are ladies who lunch

And me

Being someone 

That I'm not

Available on Kindle