Misinform The Misinformed

I can’t write this
Because I don’t truly know him
But
I do know little bits about him
So let’s get on with it

I can’t write this
Because now I won’t ever know him
Yet
I do know some things about him
But it isn’t enough now, is it

Anyway, more importantly
What does he really know about me
And
How did he get to know that about me
In any event let’s get on with it

Anyway, more importantly
What did he know about me
Then
How did he know all of that about me
But it still isn’t enough now, is it

Happenstance in Heptonstall

Poems Started at Lumb Bank

Arvon 2018

Available from Amazon

Pass Your Objects Around

Irritated by the wind noise he sought out an inexpensive solution, the muffler slipped over his iPhone, now he could record to his heart's content

To talk of a delicate ring, of plain gold, way more significant than its weight, just as silence is heavier than lead

The young girl, sat on a stone, in a dell, maybe at Disney, but who is the photographer

Who gave this bulbous ring, of gaudy plastic, though for sure someone will love it, but, for certain that is not I

Watch what you say Christopher, remember to link your words progressively

As another watch is dropped, on your watch; this time all digital, all black and white

Unlike the audacious blue slipper, that says much about creativity, indeed about the very process of creativity

Before yet another watch, this time with an old leather strap, this time bearing12 hour and 24 hour dials

Yet not so many markings as the medal, which arrives all the way from Santa Barbara

I had taken the sound muffler to cut out the wind noise; is there always wind noise, in Santa Barbara

Happenstance in Heptonstall

Poems Started at Lumb Bank

Arvon 2018

Available from Amazon

Yours Or Mine

No self-portrait
But one of the artist
Posing to his palette

Knowledge of self
Is hereby responsible
For muddying the distinction

Whilst modesty, in deference
To plain facts, allows for either
Of them to precede the other

One used the facsimile
The other
Followed the real

Afterwards
The coin turned over

One used the intuition
The other
Captured the zeal

Years later
You could even say today

One met the other
The facsimile, the feel
The intuition

In between
Halfway or so

One was bound, printed
The other
Left on the shelf



RS Thomas - Too brave to dream
Andre Derain (1880-1954) - Portrait of the artist 

Happenstance in Heptonstall

Poems Started at Lumb Bank

Arvon 2018

Available from Amazon

Ways Back

Magnification brings out the blue
Chance gives the lead in
A dense woodland bank
Being the instigator

I was quite taken aback
At how taken aback my tutor was
Today I have done useful things
Today has been spiritually alive

It is true
I may have lost a treasure
Yet also I have been set up
To take tack, along another track

Whoever you are
You, who are out there, we need you
There is much healing to be done
Bunches of fragrant flowers would be a start

For my part, a few words
That you may read, again, and again, and again
Talk, as best you can frame; of truth, of beauty
Press on, as well as you are able, with love

Happenstance in Heptonstall

Poems Started at Lumb Bank

Arvon 2018

Available from Amazon

Times And Tasks

The old poems are the old poems
Their titles say much of my thinking; for example
Yorkshire Love Poems & Other Desperate Stuff

They too will be revisited, to find provenance
Also to examine the detail, the rationale
To find the unknown in the unknown

What of the river, for there may be one
What of the brackish water, how far to the sea
What of the writer, so so far into his own lifetime

Here I am to write, for several days, for several nights
Relentless, as the silver sky begins to enter
I could sleep, but then I would have to wake

The alternative is to drink coffee, or take a bath
There is no bath, but one could go for a walk
Though downhill there, also means uphill back

I could work on my collection, however
First I would care for the tutor's feedback
My tutorial is due just after four

There is a collective, I do not feel inclined to join
Yet know that others would wish that for me
With little sense of, or for, my own self-regard

Happenstance in Heptonstall

Poems Started at Lumb Bank

Arvon 2018

Available from Amazon