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 again questioning
Interrogation

Why, why were you there
Tomorrow you will be released
But will you, will you
Ever again be free

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Play Callisthenics

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

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

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Chorus (For those you’ve left behind)

It seems to me
From the way you dress
That you are a long way
A long way from home
I also surmise, surprised
That you are lost
Lost inside, or so I find
Inside your sketchbook mind
Looking back
Back along the promenade
The turret and the tower
They are your silhouettes
The clock in the square
The coronation cross
They are your foreground,
Your definition and fine detail
This picture

Framed to the East
Framed by the faraway shores
Beyond the distance

Away and beyond the horizon

The Jurassic cliffs crumble

Their history cloaks another kind of time
You are, I surmise
A long way from home
Are you here to escape
Escaping the troubles of a mad mankind
Are you here; away, but crippled
Crippled by your wandering mind
The stillness and calm
Of this present situation
Aside from the wars and the warriors
Is it this that tests your patience
The injustice of your situation
Not by choice, nor in context
Simply an artist drawing; drawing
On what’s left, left of life in time
The light is fading
You have moved along
The chorus, or the song, has gone
The stolen lives

Of those you’ve left behind

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Happy Day

By chance you happened

Upon a black lake walk
Shearwaters of reflection

Reflecting one more magical moment
The flight of the partridge

And the excited young collie
Soul refreshed, hope rebirth

Underfoot the twig leafs crackled
Ethereal and eternity

Thank heaven for spontaneity
Meander among the coriander

Hands blessing vision and line
Bright light out of beauty

Splish-splash, light onto beech leaf
Sing and bring good to good times

Sing, bring good once again
Playful seeker of pleasure

Hedonism out of Ithaca returned
Bountiful protector

Of the prosaic presenter
Wish for mirth, wish

Shear essence, fluorescence of joy

Atmosphere emerging

Resurgence of energy amongst enigma
Pretence is the maker of dreams

Protect the rabbits of Bethlehem
Mend, cognisance blends

Mindful of love, innocent in joy
Sorting, becoming

Of images past, captured, enraptured
Floodlights on memories

Provoking, freeing fresh thought
Waltzing Matilda

And whirling swirling dancing tunes

Runes without time

Blooms without blinds
Meditation, a lover’s medication

Dedication, sealing, healing

Revealing feathers and plumes

Honed and groomed
Walking back along the pathways

Holding spaces; minutiae

Binding moments into aspherical wholes
Believing the fragments of fortune blessed

To fall in this spectacular, peculiar

Non-perfunctory kind of way

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Chronicle

The cathedral’s silent space
The blacksmith’s forging flame
The British bed and breakfast
Walk across the reservoir ramparts
Canal boat over the sky-high viaduct
Coach trip to the seaside
Scared that it could all be lost
Scared that there could be even more
Scared by the shifting sands of minds
Time is the ethereal enemy
Understanding the hours

The minutes, the days
Missing by a mile the years

The generation, the life

The railway platform at mid-day
Apples and oranges on the market stall
Alehouse and alfresco foraging
Cars boarding the over-night ferry
Fishermen landing their catch on the quay
Cricket whites and willow battered ball
Scared of not meeting the cost
Scared that there could be even more
Scared by the fluidity of inflation
Money is the surrealist enemy
Understanding the pound in our pocket

Missing by a mile

The millions flowing through a lifetime

The works Christmas party
Bingo at the club
Dominoes in the pub
The aeroplane

Going from ground to cloud
The ice cream on the promenade
The surfboard cutting spray
Scared of being somewhere different
Scared there might be even more
Scared by a changing space
Place is the straight-jacket enemy
Understanding the room

The yard, the town
Missing by a mile the city

The county in the country
The cinema screen imagery
The theatrical actor’s observations
The brass band playing eulogies
Mountains of misunderstood meetings
Thousands of insincere greetings
Waiting for Murphy's law
Scared of not saying
Scared that there could be even more
Scared of listening and feeling
Communication is the free-world enemy
Understanding hello, goodbye, yes and no
Missing by a mile everything in between

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