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Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Bond

Less than a year

Far less a lifetime

So to appear

Both wanting of love


Intricate relations

With fingers to hold

Each one sold on the other

Caring for love


Less to appear

Feared less now, nay forever

So to be near

Both wanting of love


Intimate temptations

We are still daring to love



Monday, 5 January 2026

Fore street

Under sodium streetlights

After turning out time

To the burning candles

With Rosemary's wine

And Ryan's daughter


Through cobbled yards

From smoke filled taverns

To the moonlit passages

Unsteadily happy

Marching along


Summer to winter

Onwards for spring

With four-cornered tables

And buffets with pins



Sunday, 4 January 2026

Any chair will do

Delicate, I close my eyes

I dare that your scissors snip

With a care that I can see

From the calm of my kindness


Of all the pleasure that you take

I give profoundly, not wanting

Other than for the curls to

Return, soft as next year’s spring


This, that you hold tender

Between thumb and forefinger

With an enquiring touch

Suggestive of wanting


My eyes opened behind me

And slowly I give my all to you



Saturday, 3 January 2026

Nights end

Corrugated tiles full on into the sun

Out of the earth as clay, crushed to dust

Pressed then dressed, fired to a thousand degrees

Now covered in frost, a nice finishing touch


Beyond the ridge, your curtains unopened

Your door with its security chain in place

The still air, unable to tap on your window

Warm breath floats, out among the coldness


The return journey is always a treasure

To settle into warmer skin with drowsy conversation

Home from the night shift, today the kilns are empty

The factory gates closed, one last time


Dust sits on the unfinished wares

The green clay waits

Tonight, and forever

I am hopeful to stay with you



Friday, 2 January 2026

Freedom

Golden sun, sprinkled frost

Hares with floppy ears

Listen to the morning run


White in the sky, a degree below

Crunches underfoot

Pedestrians passing by


The day is beginning its majestic rise

Out of the darkness

It is a glorious thing


Sands of time, days to ourselves

Breakfast over, cooker cleaned

And it's not yet nine