Weightless

Remember watching

That 66 Wimbledon final
Then rushing on to the local court to play
And after watching the 66 world cup final

At the home of football
Then running to the nearest park

To score the winning goal
Remember Lords, cricket

Sunshine summer wherewithal
Inspired immediately to place

Willow bat on corky ball
Then there’s that Laurence Llewellyn
Encouraging us all

To change our living rooms
However, on this occasion, rather
It was the poem of Raymond Carver
Betjeman, Browning and WH Auden
Visions, poems

Words sympathetically spoken
Of love and life, of love and loss
Emotion, pain, pleasure, candy floss
Sweetness to soften the blow
Without the worry of the sugar
Without the weight of the thought
I've let myself be immersed, I am enthused
I'm on the pitch, I write to you

Are you… confused

 

Invisible Man

Strides and vest
F**k the rest, its just illumination
The record player and short-cropped hair
Can they take, can they take any more
Bare of foot, unable to care

Feeling and seeing despair
Can they take, any, any more
Rented room, fade and zoom
His personal space for me to play
Banks of lights, electric switches
Nothing to see, nothing to see
No route inside your mind, nothing to find
Invisible, Invisible Man
Strides and vest
F**k the rest, its just illumination

Drying frame, crying shame, crying game
It’s only tea towels and boxer’s briefs
Empty hangar, crumpled coat

Castle moat, it ain’t
Chequered shirt, washed out dirt

Ready for tomorrow, or today
Put up chair, it’s not even there

Not permanent
Somewhere to stare

Though nowhere to hide or confide
Sink full of dishes

Curtains off the swishes
The bins are overflowing

With yesterday’s news
But hang just there, that Roman pillar rare
What’s it hide, what’s inside

Behind the wool and shoddy felt
Strides and vest
F**k the rest
It is just illumination

 

Free David Hockney

Orange grove
Mulholland Drive
From the mountain to the sea
Waves of Freesias
Floods of shimmering grass
From the garden to eternity
Orange men of Ulster
Belief, tradition or conspiracy
Fighting to be free
Decaying, slowly dying flowers
Scorched, torched, grassland misery
Genetic feeding, unknown disease
Blue sky, sunshine
A zephyr of a breeze
Summer dreams, sweet memories

Chocolate and Cinnamon
Birthday party
Sunday tea
Flying back from Guantanamo
Two years of nothing but darkness
Returning, again in darkness
Questioning and questioning
Interrogation, Why
Why were you there
Tomorrow you will be released
But will you, will you
Ever again, be free

 

Callisthenics

Morning Exercise
Awake
Awash
Avogadro’s law
Balance
Breathe
Balm of Gilead
Cajun
Cake
Carbon tetrachloride
Diesel
Dandruff
Dendrochronology
Element
Educate
Erotomania

 

Play

On every one occasion
Yes every time we meet
A special little happening
Yes dancing little feet
On every one occasion
Simply washing dishes sleek
A separate memory moment
Yes dancing cheek to cheek