Dial-Up

The number you called is busy
Why wouldn’t it be
Didn’t you half expect it

Still the number is busy
Did you really think that writing those three lines
Would free up the entire district

So give them fifteen minutes why don’t you
Your pain is only physical
Or of the bodies nerves in fractious felicitation

Surely you have your own method
Of calming your situation
Even if only on a temporary basis

There are seven others waiting to connect
There may be extra questions - a new system
Called care navigation is being introduced

Who chose the music which plays whilst on hold
And exactly what do they mean when they say
Your call will be answered shortly

One more person is waiting to connect
Am I that person
Or am I the one who is now making an appointment

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Wall Top Statue

Space left
A place found
In late afternoon

Counting, and counting again
The loaves and the fishes
The illnesses and the dreams

All colours and vibrations
Songs in the key of life
Once to have walked by the hedgerow
Once to make a snowman in the snow

Going now to another place
Where what is left is transient
Heading towards a loss of light

Shaping, and shaping again
The bounty and the cellar
The infirm and irreparable

All silencers and meditators
Pray for prayers in the shape of love
Once to have opened the door
Once to have made a welcome welcome

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Small Steps

Take one good idea
Perhaps a candle flickering
Then imagine its magnification
A thousandfold
Or at least two candles
Would be a 200% improvement

Take another good idea
Maybe to be kind to yourself one time
Then imagine its amplification
One thousand and one kindnesses
Or at least to be kind to yourself twice
Would be an infinite improvement

The third idea
Is of your own making
Find your own values
Adopt them
To do that each and every day
Would be exceptionally brave

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

From Where

I am in pain
Physical pain
That much I know
That much I feel

Yet the mind
The mind roams free
Mostly
Except when tears

Ask if they might share the space
To try to find one grief
Which one could work through
Fully and completely

The physical pain
Will not go away
Not of its own accord
I very much fear

But psychologically
Could I settle one grief
Then another one
And go on and on ad infinitum

But where to start
Where to sit
Where to wait for the tears
To make an entrance

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works

Out On A Limb

Bread, or potato
With butter and cheese
Or, if a jacket potato
With curry or curried beans

This is the seventh day
Of the fourteen days
Of fourteen weeks
Of self-isolation

The sun shines
The wind blows
The workmen hammer away
And we have no bread

Two Christmases back
I was given a bread-maker
It was never put to use
But these are different days

No travel
Next to no shopping
No and again no
No we have no bread, or potatoes

Available at Amazon

Christopher's Website
for his Collected Works