I have it in mind
That during September or October
I would merge
The present shelters for my poetry
So that all would become one
One shelter for all of my work
With all sensitivities
In the one place which is I
That is to say
A shelter without compartments
Without ledges or shelves or badges
To help ordering or cataloguing
A shelter
Perhaps with more explanations
Perhaps with photographs or tokens
If appropriate, or if of importance
There would be space also
For meditation
As if an holy shrine
To visit with some reverence
It is easier to think on this
Having just visited
The chapel and the beach
To write a few poems
Now, from this vantage point
High above the villas
And the swimming pools
It is easy to cast out the idea
For a poetry shelter
A veritable hybrid of a vessel
For my donkey’s years worth
Of indiscriminate, or indistinguishable poems
Monday, 9 March 2020
Sunday, 8 March 2020
Our new shelter has a maid
Our new shelter has a maid
Who makes the bed twice daily
And clears the floors and bathroom
She is dutiful and thorough
Most pleasant in her way
And says goodbye as she leaves
Did the waves of the Aegean
Deliver her to this place
Or are her parents
Also from this island
Of friendly folk
Who show the basis of all humanity
That this might have been
A foundation for shelters
That the sea and mountain
Should forge
A settlement of souls
Who appreciate life’s goodness
Such that now
They transfer this well-being
To all nations of the world
To join them for moussaka
Also with dancing
To Zorba the Greek
The horizon is
Where the horizon is
Yet my horizons
Of complicated stealth
Are being opened up
By new forms of shelters
Who makes the bed twice daily
And clears the floors and bathroom
She is dutiful and thorough
Most pleasant in her way
And says goodbye as she leaves
Did the waves of the Aegean
Deliver her to this place
Or are her parents
Also from this island
Of friendly folk
Who show the basis of all humanity
That this might have been
A foundation for shelters
That the sea and mountain
Should forge
A settlement of souls
Who appreciate life’s goodness
Such that now
They transfer this well-being
To all nations of the world
To join them for moussaka
Also with dancing
To Zorba the Greek
The horizon is
Where the horizon is
Yet my horizons
Of complicated stealth
Are being opened up
By new forms of shelters
Saturday, 7 March 2020
Four metres by two metres
Four metres by two metres
Of floor tiles
Followed by the same area
Of wooden decking
Before I reach
My own private pool
Which from two days ago
Became my vacation shelter
The water is clear
And not too too cold
To the bare body
Beyond the pool
A pair of villas
With clay-tiled roofs
And climbing plants
All around their doors
Over the rooftops is the Aegean Sea
Or perhaps it is the Mediterranean
Either way
A vast expanse of blue
To the subtle horizon
Where water meets with sky
Where shelter is just beyond
The expanse of my experiences
A place of vaporisation
Where on occasions
From a place
Such as this locale
Men believed the world was flat
And today who would I be to argue
From the shade
Of my breeze blown shelter
Of floor tiles
Followed by the same area
Of wooden decking
Before I reach
My own private pool
Which from two days ago
Became my vacation shelter
The water is clear
And not too too cold
To the bare body
Beyond the pool
A pair of villas
With clay-tiled roofs
And climbing plants
All around their doors
Over the rooftops is the Aegean Sea
Or perhaps it is the Mediterranean
Either way
A vast expanse of blue
To the subtle horizon
Where water meets with sky
Where shelter is just beyond
The expanse of my experiences
A place of vaporisation
Where on occasions
From a place
Such as this locale
Men believed the world was flat
And today who would I be to argue
From the shade
Of my breeze blown shelter
Friday, 6 March 2020
Today the beach bar is my shelter
Today the beach bar is my shelter
Only sand and sea
Between me and the horizon
Where sunlight shimmers
On the surface of the Aegean
A breeze on my knees
Sufficient
For me to take off my hat
Whilst looking at the decorative fishnet
Which adorns the curved stone wall
Beside and behind me
The divers
Receive their diving instructions
Exactly correct says the instructor
As one student responds
To his purpose of oxygen enquiry
Shade is the big thing
In this endless sunshine environment
So thanks to the umbrellas
In sky blue cotton and bamboo
Which are placed ever so strategically
The tiny sparrows
Hop on sand and pebble
The, dressed in white, waiters
Carry drinks on a tray
To the mid-morning sunbathers
The instructor, who is still talking
Says they will be in the water by twelve
So still three-quarters of an hour away
Before my beachside shelter settles
Before my coffee-bar shelter quietens
Only sand and sea
Between me and the horizon
Where sunlight shimmers
On the surface of the Aegean
A breeze on my knees
Sufficient
For me to take off my hat
Whilst looking at the decorative fishnet
Which adorns the curved stone wall
Beside and behind me
The divers
Receive their diving instructions
Exactly correct says the instructor
As one student responds
To his purpose of oxygen enquiry
Shade is the big thing
In this endless sunshine environment
So thanks to the umbrellas
In sky blue cotton and bamboo
Which are placed ever so strategically
The tiny sparrows
Hop on sand and pebble
The, dressed in white, waiters
Carry drinks on a tray
To the mid-morning sunbathers
The instructor, who is still talking
Says they will be in the water by twelve
So still three-quarters of an hour away
Before my beachside shelter settles
Before my coffee-bar shelter quietens
Thursday, 5 March 2020
Meditation at Mindgeist
Meditation at Mindgeist
Is working itself up into a shelter
With a website, a book
And a series of guided meditations
All by your good-self me
A fair amount of the book
Is anecdotal evidence
About my life with meditation
Which as you might expect
For a man of my age can become vague
Yet the process itself interests me
In my morning meditation
I think of four or five words
Which I remember
By saying them as my mantra
Each of these words
Then becomes the title
For a chapter, a couple of pages
Of writing which link the word
To meditation
Today I wrote up
A section entitled supple
Which took me on a journey
From Centrepointe Research
To mathematics with the Open University
Not to mention the idea
That our golden hours
Are from four to seven in the morning
When apparently, even in search of shelter
We are at our most creative
Is working itself up into a shelter
With a website, a book
And a series of guided meditations
All by your good-self me
A fair amount of the book
Is anecdotal evidence
About my life with meditation
Which as you might expect
For a man of my age can become vague
Yet the process itself interests me
In my morning meditation
I think of four or five words
Which I remember
By saying them as my mantra
Each of these words
Then becomes the title
For a chapter, a couple of pages
Of writing which link the word
To meditation
Today I wrote up
A section entitled supple
Which took me on a journey
From Centrepointe Research
To mathematics with the Open University
Not to mention the idea
That our golden hours
Are from four to seven in the morning
When apparently, even in search of shelter
We are at our most creative
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