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Friday, 14 May 2021

Step Out For A Reason

There are those with elegance
There are those without
I sit somewhere between
A sort of superficial imposter

It is not the young
Who have the real style
What with rusted, juiced-lemon headgear
And builders foam, deep soled trainers

Father and son masquerade
Showing off their mountain jackets
Complete with Matterhorn emblems
They don’t do it for me either

Neither do the knobbly knees
Above the turquoise slip-on shoes
Which, however much I like the colour
Do not suit those bare ankles

But the red camera
Oh yes, the lady with the red camera
Who clearly says: I don’t give two fucks
About what you think of me

And of course
In that instant, even without trying
She has stolen the show
She has won (and walked away with) the first prize


Thursday, 13 May 2021

Coupling

By now
The organised stride
Sets quite a pace
Already
Enough of Roman art
To last a lifetime

Let me out of here
I need a coffee
I need the gentlemen’s conveniences
I need some outdoor air
And I do believe the crowd
Also think this, in absolute unison

Only a few
Stroll and gaze
Most it seems
Would prefer
To graze, yes to graze
The whole day through

Instead
I follow my own obsession
Observe the brazen man
With a ring through his nose
And a camera over his shoulder
He sits beside me, but he is no witness


Wednesday, 12 May 2021

Name Dropping

I too am becoming obese
The fat drips
From my pen
On to the paper
As the Japanese tourists
Waltz on by

Only by ordering at the table
May one sit down for coffee
This, so it seems, is what
Civilisation has come to
At the end of the second decade
Of the twenty-first century

Let us be, let it be
Let me be
With or without an Americano
Let us see, let it see
Let me see
With or without the Hilfiger varifocals

I too did see Leonardo
Or is it Da Vinci
As he is known
To those who read his code
I didn’t, I don’t. I won’t
Read the book, or watch the film


Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Corner Stones

I waited a few minutes
To see the Anthony Gormley
Which he wisely entitled
Another Time W

And it may have to be another time
When I share his view of the city
Where I too will stand erect
To take in the longer view

The She Wolf was more immersive
Even without limbs
There was a beauty, also a danger
To the representation

Archimedes of Syracuse
Looks down and across at me
The young woman with a fine rear
Walks by, as if she has lost her lover

I too once roamed aimless
In need of no instruction
Not yet having found
The peaceful vision of the cast man

Tomorrow there is another place
Also most probably another time
But hopefully
With not quite so so many people


Monday, 10 May 2021

Lantern of the Winds

The wedding dinner is begun
But the wind, or rather the winds
Will not allow
The candle’s light to prosper

Instead, as dusk falls (on society)
It is the electricity which takes over
The incandescent, iridescent bulbs
Providing a warmer, more shimmering glow

Yet still we queue
To see the beginning of time
Or at least to see
Renaissance man’s artistic impression

Black and white
Are still the colours of the day
And for most of the menfolk
Beards were the passion of the day

Much as today
Where Steve Job’s mobile-phone-camera
Is the one essential accessory
Which man nor woman cannot live without

So let us commemorate
The birth of Apple (Computers)
How well it has prospered
Even without the Medici