Spaces, between faces
Lines in the sand
Will you wait for me
Will I wait for you
A longer stretch
Approaching a biography
Dipping in
Dripping out
Did you notice my discomfort
Did I notice yours
The yin and the yang of it
The tick and the tock of it
Chases, between places
Defined by plans
Will you hesitate for me
Will I be obdurate for you
A car drives by
Soon its sound is gone
The kitchen tap drips
I wait for the next drop
My lead scratches the paper
I cannot keep it quiet
Yet I may soon silence it completely
My thoughts buzz
That is you in my subconscious
The walls are free of wallpaper
Instead they are adorned
With copies of impressionist masters
Portraits in imitation gilt frames
There are electric candle-lights
To illuminate the Roman numerals
A fresh tilt
At belief
A new understanding
Of how things lie
Am I to be manipulated
To become manipulative
To begin
By rearranging reality
Is this what Cezanne saw
Each morning
Looking out
Towards Blue Mountain
Was the snow
Through the rows of aspen
So secretly white
So serenely drifting
Forget
About the foreground
Tar-macadam
Which may be
A not unattractive word
Although visually
Other than in great swathes
It is rather lacking
Even in the sunlight
The five or six silver birch
Good that you counted
And the swing
Beneath the apple trees
All of that must stay
The ridge though
Maybe to move that sideways
Before, but not before
Love and kindness
The thin blue line
That is crossed
Then crossed again
One plus one
Makes
What one chooses
Beware
The longer stare
It is the loser
