Fall

I download, with broadband
The influence of modern art
He walks alone, shuffles
Among the roadside grass verges

Back home I hear
My fiftieth shirt is ironed
He, of no fixed abode
He has only the one outfit

Warhol, I learn, rose
From impoverishment
Nowhere man regresses
Beyond that place it seems

Explain progress, if you will
On your victors despatch box
Explain care in the community
To charities for the homeless

Yes he may wake in the sun
Wander beneath blue skies
Today he may feel warmth
For his time of observation

Yet as I cruise, in my sedan
Return to the heated hotel pool
I ponder on freezing cold winters
Being befuddled by how to engage

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Woman

Woman, close and gentle
Soft of touch
Peace of equilibrium
Holder of all natural love

Fear, to be overtaken
Race of time
Urge of temptation
Devourer of anxieties

Woman, warm and tender
Ease of close proximity
Calm, with balance
Giver of a carers love

Ache, to be unknowing
Sweep of feet
Lace of intoxication
Chaser of all pain

Woman, near to far
Happy, of fondle
Still of sobriety
Sharer of conjugal love

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Gallery In Absentia

Sail away, slide away, steal away
Venture towards vermillion skies

I am one
One amongst the vastness
The vastness of the westward horizons

Clouds of: silver, grey, slate, burnt blue, ochre and umber
As if stolen from Lord Derby's Eruption of Versuvius

I am one
One equal among all other travellers
Travellers waging into the onrush of the night

Pick out, pull out, play out
Wander, without hold of the inner-outer self

I am one
One amongst many favoured
Favoured catcher of the May Day tide's endless ebb and flo

Surf of flotsam, jetsam, foam, and many gilded glad tidings
As if stolen from the giant, on his Giants Causeway

I am one
One equal among only now
Only now on the point of departure and arrival

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Return

Whitewash
Peels from the canopy
Above the front door

Geometric house, once the artists apartment
Now a museum; in need of new love, new care

Birdsong
Lawnmower
Footsteps (footsteps behind me)

Embrace the stillness of Japanese garden
Philip Booth: Dedicated August 1991

A place I have been to before
Not on a work-day
Today I wait for the call on the mobile telephone

On the road a dark skinned youth, peroxide curly hair
Velvet trousers, thigh-high boots, a shoulder bag of drugs

Helicopter
Hovers overhead
Buzz of bee in flight

Landscape, not copied but suggested
I take exception to the privet hedge

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Acceleration

Movement
Almost imperceptible
Gradual, slow
Free from shock
Lulled
Into a false sense
Of security

Elasticated
To snapping point
Tensile strength
Insufficient
Overwhelmed

New winds
Force of hurricane
Cloud drift
Cloud change
Whirls
Of transformation

Storm
Fork of lightning
Brush, scrub
Blown through
Deserted streets

Emotions
Seized by moment
Clench of breast
Grasp of scrotum
Rage
Of incandescent light

Solid ground
Terra firma
Fall away
To marsh and bog

Question
The need to revisit
Question
The need to stay away

Venture forth
Onto plateau
Photographs shot
Long distance
Words written
In coded verse

Do not give
The game away
Up and down
And beat of heart
Here, there
And forever mystified

On the news
Three way split
On the form
Choice to make
Tittle-tat
And tittle-tat
Round and
Round the houses

Take some time
Hold it still
Learn
To persevere
Perseverance
On the page
Perseverance
With the life

Take steps
To unfold
Walk down
Country lane
Converse
With passers by

Explore
For it is all there is
Explore
All the rites
Of passage

Four score year
Or more
Make the bold
Or braver move
Settle
On not to settle

Take
The ragamuffin road
Take the road
Not yet travelled

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