Ways of Lives

Sitting in the old croft house
With the Japanese girl
And her North-American friend

The peat fire is smoking
Maureen, or is it Morag
And Archie, or is it Angus
Sit in the chairs by the irons
By the kettles; by the teapots
The fiddle, the squeeze box
Are all ready for the playing

The peat fire is smoking
Wolfgang, or is it Hermann
And Desiderata, or is it Paris
Prayers pass through my mind
As the modern couple argue
Pontificating on the relative
Improvements to Black House housing

It isn't warm now, it wasn't warm then
It is raining in the month of June, and
We talk about a winter residency, indeed


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Travellers

Innis & Gunn, Edinburgh, Scotland 

Patent leather shoes

Black is the seasons colour

Could I have another beer please

It was always going to be this way

Always that turn to self indulgence

Landscapes, seascapes, rock

Formations, rivers in full flow

Sparkling sunshine in the afternoon

Ok their dog chased the sheep

And they looked a rough sort

But hey, we are the visitors

His bald head, and long beard

Could be what attracted the spiky

Haired girl with tongue piercings; she

Wanted the hound, he had no control

It was always going to be this way

Always her need for complete devotion

Either that or not to care at all

For bright lights and fireworks

Jazz bands and ragamuffins

Candelabra and silver set earrings

Here and now he studies the hotel menu

Before speaking, speaking in a foreign accent

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Still Life

That cow
The black one
With the white face
And the black eyes

I took its photograph
Fifteen minutes ago
Fifteen minutes before
I thought it a good pose

Now I begin to wonder
Has rigor-mortis set in
Or is this the present field
Of mindfulness meditations

Wait a moment, watch out
Observe the detail Christopher
Did it not just bend its head
In search of a mouthful of grass


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Slipway

You came upon a skull
You washed it in the river
I took the photograph

I left the black stone
Which I had put down
So that I could capture
The waves breaking

This broke
My train of thought
I stumbled down the bank
For a while
The camera stopped working
It too was broken

The spillages
The displacements
The mispronounced words
The ill judged physical movements
They all happen now more often

Is it life speeding up
Or is it life slowing down
Is it the coincidence
Of speeding up
While trying to slow down
Is it, is it



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Revellers

We shall leave this place tomorrow
Yet only today have I read the phrase
There are no signposts in the sea

For it is the vast sea that we look over
Save for a small uninhabited island
A minor distance from the shoreline

We may not be back, for it is rare
That we make second visits
Although...

The Americans sample whisky
With a confident smile, although this hides
The fact that they have not before heard of Advocat

A drink taken by both of our mothers
Some combination, mixed with lemonade
Snowball for celebrations around Christmas time

It is a blue sea tonight
With a blue sky overhead
Save for a few clouds so far away


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