Dear Departed

The dead fly lays on its back
In this, the best of all summers
Could its death really be claimed
To be due to natural causes
Or was it more likely heat exhaustion
Having found himself at the window
Which does not open

Which cannot open
What is the lifespan of a bluebottle
Or a common or garden buzzing fly
What are the rites of passage
Should we celebrate, or grieve his demise
And is The Eagles New Kid in Town
Really funeral procession music

Been There Done That
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Stipple

The sound is muffled
The sound is made clear
The sliding door is shuffled
The volume becomes near

Brothers in Arms
My first compact disk
The hi-fi salesman’s charms
The Blue Nile, more of a risk

Here on the upstairs landing
Where the new white light
Questions the decorators standing
Was the paint he used quite right

Been There Done That
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Done That

I had nothing else to think
The images kept on loading
So so close to the brink
Lust with love exploding

I had nothing else to think
The scents are out of the bottle
So so carefully, so subtly distinct
Skin is on skin, ready to topple

I had nothing else to think
The soulful music sways
So so pure, so sure in shocking pink
Beside her now he lays

Been There Done That
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Been There

I had nowhere else to go
So far had been so so sufficient
The emblems, still there on show
Resembled the secretive coefficients

I had nowhere else to go
So near had been so so loquacious
The saxophones still there did blow
Had I ever, in truth, been precocious

I had nowhere else to go
So involved had been so so magnifique
The emotions still there did throw
A curved, curved ball, within a fit of pique

Been There Done That
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Lattice Work

Strip, after fine strip, of moulder’s clay
Laid, layer upon layer
Over the rounded pebble
Over the old balls of rock

Love upon love of love
Laid bare upon bare
Over the smooth soft skin
Over the nubile bodies

Time after time of time
Laid moment by moment by moment
Over a breeze of precocious preciousness
Over the waking of the still to be woken hearts

Been There Done That
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