Working Back

And so I ask you to write your life story
Instead of asking that I write my story

And I ask you to be clearer with your poetry
While not saying
That I should steer clear of ambiguity

Yet, when asked who is the you that I write of
I am at first reluctant to say, but eventually I say

The you is many people throughout my life
The you is also I
That is I in its many incarnations

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Christopher's Collected Works

Allocations

I have brought my focus
I have brought my concentration
I have brought my coffee
I have brought my mince pies and biscuits

I pay full attention
To taste the fruit in my biscuit
Similarly, to the coffee
In which I dunk my biscuit

I think about the Swami
Also the Gita
But most of all
About the words of Patanjali

Who said something to the effect
That my new project
Would breathe life into me
And so it seems to be
As I devour my second biscuit

On the side table
There is an empty can
Of caffeine-free Diet Coke
Which was one of yesterday’s projects

As was also writing a love poem
In a book which I cannot now see
Yet I can believe in it
For it contained focus
Concentration, and attention

That is for all of the while of its writing
There was an awareness of moments
There was a feeling of emotions
For how else could it be written

Now I have to tell you that I distracted myself
So it is time to return
To the coffee
To the mince pies and biscuits

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Christopher's Collected Works

Defender

I take pleasure
Doing what some, or many others
Would see as a waste of time

My spirits are uplifted
By the images of Tumblr
Or the short quotations on Twitter

Of course I do agree
That this is not a full engagement with society
Not at least in the old sense of the words

Yet, if after a year or more of communal posting
Someone, who you have never met
And whose real name you do not know

Wishes you
A merry Christmas Christopher
Isn’t that a good thing

And so I do return to the well
As often as  to my meditation
Even more so on some days

Take yesterday for instance
A dark, dull, wet December day in my locality
But, on the web
White sands, blue skies, inspiring words

The activity is also a means of avoidance
I let the news (which I’m told is mostly bad)
Pass me by
I do bypass my physiotherapy exercises
Reasonably often

I am doing that right now
By talking out in defence of social media
As I might easily have talked
Of other means of escape

But come summer I will walk in the meadows
I will find beaches to stroll upon
And I will take photographs

Pictures to post to my followers
All images entitled never a day…
I might even post a photograph of this poem

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Christopher's Collected Works

Critique Oarsman

Into the darkness of the day
Came the light of grace
That is, whatever for you defines grace
I said that if your intention is to say that
Then there must be no ambiguity

Your words need to be sure, secure, and clear
For only with absolute clarity
Can your voice be passed on
To meet with the next man

I could see and sense the unease
Your brow ruffled
Your lips quivered
Being tied down is not your kind of thing
Always desirous of space in which to move

Nevertheless your desire, or hope
For your words to be understood
Perhaps even widely transmitted to boot
Ensures some level of acceptance
As other's guidance becomes palpable

In the lightness of the mood
There was a casual consensus
About how the previous four poets
Had all placed themselves
At the very beginning of their poems
(As if all had been students of Fred D'Aguiar)

And they had all introduced
Something ever so slightly
Out of the ordinary
In such a way as to turn
An ordinary phrase
Into a poetic utterance

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Christopher's Collected Works

The Meditators Alternative Songbook

It didn’t happen that way the next day
Then I was observing the meditation
As opposed to being in the meditation
I was wanting to confirm my experience
As opposed to allowing
The experience to flow into me

I had said, a couple of nights ago
That if we each took time
To concentrate deeply
On a period from our past
Then we would uncover
Many well-shrouded memories

And music may well help that
Especially if happenstance or choice
Might provide comforting
And inspiring sounds
Or if chance and doubtfulness
Find another pathway to follow

I had spent quite some time enabling the iPod
Such that now I feel obliged
To listen to the songwriter’s sad song
Yet I feel for him
That it is a recollection of beauty
Or for the seeker
Who seeks a purpose for his life

And meditation, or surrender, may help that
Especially if the mind’s silence
Becomes present in the moment such that
I can follow the strands of the story
Just as occurred with The Lark Ascending

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Collected Works