No Defence

Sunlight, stained glass

Interned upstairs

Shadow, artificial light

Infirm are down below

Country lanes

And thistle fences

No defence

For crept in thoughts

Trees out of leaf

Clung with ivy

No rungs for jackboots

That daddy brought

Children or spiders

Snug inside

No bug for those elementary

Liquorice-all-sorts

Parcels, presents

Delivered on time, by then

To open, to close

To return, to intend her

Impending desolation

Only hesitation cares

And words, to open

To close, interns beware

Available at Amazon

The Cold Days After Summer

Where are you now

Still of flight, in your bed

Where are you now

Was it untrue indeed I said

It is almost not a moment

More esprit de corps

Less time

Than the evening primrose

Takes to open

Less time

Than to run

For that last late-night bus

Where are you now

Settled, set in your flowerbed

Where are you now

Was it undue, that I misled

For words to envelop

This play or plight

More phrases

Than metaphors incline

More dandelions

Than summer wine

More incandescent light

Than generated cadence

Where are we now

Are we lonely instead

Where are we now

Alive, although misread

Available at Amazon

Clay Ball

Ball

Of moulded clay

Grey as the squirrel

Textured as the elephant's skin

Don’t

Forget my impression

Pressed as I rested

As I contemplated

How

A clay ball

Could cast the

Memories of ages

Ball

Don’t

How

Then, or now

Available at Amazon

Sunshine Before One + Places To Be Sacred

Lilac

Sunshine strikes, before

And after one

Photographs

Memories of pikes

And pickled persimmon

Poppies

Haze that raised

The shades of vermillion

Candles

Skies lit by the grace

Of readers defiled by Gideon

The words said no reminders

And you send none

To remind me

But I enjoy

Do I not

To think of you

Remember

You send me

Spaces to remind me

The words said

To burn

A sacrificial letter

I sent to you

The dust, it was

My super sacrificial gesture

Available at Amazon

If Not Used

Tonight, not quite

As darkness falls

The frost not thawed

Or if thawed

The frost re-frosted

The bronze

The marble

The tin and tambourine

Land of winter’s

Silver screen

The thoughts

Not thawed

Or if thawed

Thoughts re-thought

Soldiers, statues, fields

Of fallen clay

Tomorrow

Not quite

More any other day

As darkness falls

Ammunition

Unused

If not used

At least you tried

Or did you lie

The iron

The stone

The crimson

Canteen

Lost land of winter’s

Mist on mean

Chords of electric

Wire, unused

If not used

At least you plied

Or did you try

Available at Amazon