Ritual Behaviours

Also, this morning

The tide landing on the shore

Before the hotel guests have risen

To stroll down the promenade

In search of the Western Morning News

The printing presses

Having been plugged in and primed

Somewhat in the dead of night

Their servants, or masters

The journalists

Having put their work to bed earlier

The church stands empty

Empty and silent

Waiting for the prayers

Of absent congregations

Who nevertheless, occasionally need

These pillars of faith

With their prayer bowls

Of pebbles, flowers and sea water

With their dank, damp graveyard

Collections of yesteryear

And all those many other years

From so so many generations before

Soon we will board the ferry

And cross the river

To land on the seafront

Of a town also just awakening

Yet not for some, especially those who wonder

What is the purpose

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Before Dawn Arrives

There is a darkness

To the five AM rising

A silence, which some might say

Is due to it still being the middle of the night

There is a freedom

To the earlier start

An ease, which is hard to pin down

Other than life feels easier

No need, none whatsoever

To run hither and thither

Instead to calmly fry the beans

And tip them slowly onto the buttered toast

No change here, from solitude

Or with bookish contemporaries

For to be alone is to be alive

Knowing just how good it is to exist

Yet it is not moorland

Out the windows behind me

Neither a rolling sea

To pound my coastline 

I am in the urban landscape

Singing about the urban spaceman

I am in the comfort of my homestead

Thinking of what on earth to say next

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for his Collected Works

A Picture Paints

The room is warm

Even at this early hour

I could easily drift off

To who knows where

But I don’t

Instead I take out a pencil

To scribe these few words

On the cusp of daydreams

The prints are from Egoiste magazine

Bought in an outdoor market

In the old town of Bilbao 

Where we also tasted tapas

Indeed in some of the bars

We watched the ham being sliced

Due to one enterprising soul realising

That this would make for fine entertainment 

Another photograph is of the sea

The promenade at Whitby to be precise

At the time of the World Music festival

Where Buena Vista Social Club played

The room is warm

And you might argue

That it is filled with memories

From further away yet closer to home

On the long wall images from Skye, Shetland

And from birthdays; also, on the far wall

My own pastels; so so many hours of pleasure

From so so very long ago

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for his Collected Works

Be Transported

Always though it is flight
An idea to escape
Until endearment shows its face
With a close-in kiss

So, don’t always take the first stop
Let the resident resonant echoes settle
Find another form of calm
Instead of an attempt at obliteration

Take a trip out to the shops
Drive the car with the sunroof open
Listen to the energies of life
Feel the cold air blow in mid-winter

Think on, of making a miniature sculpture
On the walls of the reservoir compound
You do still have the negative
Didn’t you see it only last week

Now it is packed away
Among another thousand or more memories
All waiting for you to show them the light
For them to live out their life a little longer

Take time to take time
Listen to the words of Mooji
As he talks of self and self
In his fine Caribbean accent

Think on, of the market in Kingston Jamaica
Where you felt anything but safe
And could not wait
To get back to your out of town hotel

Where the rains fell like sheets of glass
But also where sunshine
Returned to the morning, in time
For fried breakfast, under the outdoor canopy

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Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Base

Is it a room I desire
Or to be perfectly honest
A number of rooms

A space where I can impose
Or be imposed upon
Perhaps elaborate decoration
With fine embossed wallpaper
Or a more minimal approach
With a few tokens
Maybe memorabilia
Such as pebbles from the beach

I do need warmth
Also light, or the lack of light
Either way to have the option

The space is there to assist me
To help me to find peace
To be calm, at one
With my chosen surroundings
If it is a small space
Then to respect its boundaries
If it is a large space
Then to celebrate the freedom it gives me

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works