Six

The stairway place is now free
I sit right up to the Georgian window
A young woman wheels a wheelbarrow
Across the field, past the trees
It is not so silent as Bow
Doors bang, doors crash
I can hear conversations
But van Gogh’s blossom is still here

A young oriental woman
Climbs the stairs energetically
She smiles, says: Hi, hello
Before moving on to the door
This is the main thoroughfare
Between upstairs and downstairs
The wallpaper is rather grand
Exotic birds, with feathered tails

Outside in the field
There are masses of molehills
Each peppered by pigeons
Another woman wheels her barrow
Though this time she moves
In the opposite direction
Before stopping, in the middle
Maybe for a Karma break
I tell you this as a momentary record
Fifteen minutes of a life
Quite possibly never to be revisited
With, or without the wheelbarrow

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Five

The real writing, the screaming, then began
The writing did begin again
Yet first to tell of a significant oversight

The black dog took me at my word
I left my job, I sought other pleasures
I left my wife, my two beautiful children

For twelve months I lived in Devon
For twelve more months of heaven
I lived on the Channel Island of Jersey

I want to tell you this because this is where
The poetry of poetry came into existence
It is from where it still on occasion hails from

Fuelled by high-octane selfish obsession
Energised by compulsive desires; my needs
Confirmed in those peak-experience moments

The poems are endless, even now
Years after our time together crumbled
Crumbled, burned; in a harshly distasteful way

I could not reach her
I cannot reach her
I should not reach her
Yet once I had breached her

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Four

The poetry stuttered and stumbled
As did the relationship
Working away from home did not help
Yet I did find a four leaf clover

Dartmoor could have been a place to settle
But we did not settle as it happens
My seven-day work week was relentless
Poems on cabin steps, poems at the intake

Cards, letters, notes from my travels
Distanced further still from those at home
Train stations, trolley bus stops
Time to write, time to suck lollipops

My own office in the country
With a landlord who murdered his wife
I too talked of sadness, of forgiveness
Love itself mostly was returned

Yet the silence slowly took me
Immersed myself in Internet poetry
I lost sight of the light of love
I lost sight of the meaning of love

Until, after the end
I was gifted a poem
Which spoke eloquently
Of love, of dust, of cobwebs

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Three

I have come into the Bow room
Because someone is sat by the window
At the top of the turn of the stairs

This is, as you might expect, a quiet place
Four quite substantial Georgian windows
Two doors, on the opposite wall

One of the doors is blocked off
By the teacher's raised sitting platform
The other is both entrance and fire escape

I have this luxury of silence
Yet downstairs, in the lounge
A group of people work on a jigsaw puzzle

That, as you might expect, is not my thing
People milling about, noisily socialising
Even wanting to know where everyone is from

Better to be up here with the dry logs
In the old, for decoration only, fireplace
Silver Birch always was my favourite, wasn’t it

I am staying in Fir Three
Which is neither tall or spread out
Nor is it at all en-suite

Which is exactly what I would recommend
Though you might have to cross the road
To book in at Kilnwick Percy Resort!

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Two

I elected to complete my OU degree
With a module in Cognitive Psychology
Don’t you dare ask me why

It was my first move away
From Technology and Mathematics
Something I simply had to try

She introduced herself
On the steps, outside a class
On Dichotic Listening

Can we sit beside you please
You seem to know what you are doing
Were her introductory words

I had taken a poetry book with me
The 1987 Eric Gregory Anthology
Don’t you care to ask me why

It was for my own protection
Among those more cultured types
Something I never did, or ever would deny

I coped, I managed, I did ok
Yet I changed
Poetry became me

Often after I simply had to cry
Yes, often afterwards
I simply had to cry

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