Droplets of Joy

Thin subliminal

Sounds of the ocean

Wave by cascading wave

Trickling harp by trickling hearts

Darkness by the absence

Of artificial light

Darkness by the closure

Of the certain parts

Super longevity

In this small four walled room

Super sized brevity

Of past times stolen darts

From the Collection One Crow to a Tree - Love in Separate Houses available from Lulu

Jealous Inferno (Cuckold)

One

I am encouraged to try to recollect her misdemeanours 

Though for what purpose; we were after all but too quite separate people

In my search I am also encouraged by various suggestive reconciliations

Though for what purpose; we were after all but two distinctly separate people, in spite of our apparent need of each other 

Two

We had only just met when she had to get off to the City of London, her regret on return was well set, yet what she had done was culpable. I had a leather jacket, I placed it around her shoulders, I walked her to her quarters; it was a few days before we had danced. There were letters to the Welshman, though I don't know that they met, I forget his name and number but I had him checked out all the same. When we first made love she took the condom from the drawer, I was oblivious of her preparation then, but now it's significance is all the more. She did have a regular caller, he came by bike and car, he was a hung up and lonesome subject, caught in the brightness of her star. It was my new friends wedding, he came on strong to her, right there and then, was it more than just coincidence that she had smiled and talked of the absence of Zen. The landlord of the local took a shine to her, she met him in the daylight daytime while I worked away, to pay for the space where they reclined. She went off for a study week, my ex boss drove her, he was full of style and charm, she was surprised by his half indecent proposal, as he asked her for her arm. Caught up in the theatre crowd she loved the play and chase, I faded into the corner, I lacked the womanisers fancy style or pace. Far worst of all; the son in law, the reason for the break, he swore and cursed in front of her; she offered such a response, it was more than I could take. These are the ones I know of, there may have been others too, she says we are both hard to live with and that surely we are through. No wonder that I am wary, although there is no doubt, I was once stone cold sober strong in love with, the dreamiest girl in blue.

From the Collection One Crow to a Tree - Love in Separate Houses available from Lulu

Longer Poem

Into this life as a gift

Although the giver is unaware

Take some time to wander

Go to the edge of the cliff

With each step, dwell, look out

Beware

As the ink flows

& the mind slows

Think of it

As the oncoming of thrift

Where to pare down

Is way beyond compare

So well to have escaped

The life so stiff

Just for that moment

I thought of myself in Versailles

Parading, posing

Strutting down the palace garden boulevards

A reasonable sign

That I can delude myself without much thought

I imagine a place I have never been

On the back of the sound of crushed sandstone

Under my brogue leather shoes

On reflection, a fairly swift reflection

I compared my ability to fall for the thought

The earlier fleeting thought

To be on a par with my desire to fall

For the love of a beautiful woman

However estranged the relationship may become

Vexed at the thought of time running out

I have contrived to take time

To let the doubts wash in and out of my mind

To vibrate the whole of life through my body

To have love

Gently and sensuously enter & soothe my soul

Also to read the sort of philosophy

That heads uncertainly

Towards the most certain of certainties

I ache to talk of love

To talk and write so amorously

As I did those few short years ago

The love is no less

In truth more love falls upon us each time we meet

Sometimes words

Are the unlikeliest, or most difficult of friends to find

In those early days it was spine tingling to catch the love words gushing

I pluck out the broken

Distorted feathers of arrogance and bravado

From the desensitised plumage of my youth

In their place I search for the contentment and the confidence

To become my self; a self of some intrinsic value

As I listen to the birdsong

& the slowly flowing water

The ease to be at ease comes more easily

As the tractor & the seed-spreader

Rumble and rattle over the arched stone bridge 

I sense not all is at peace

If any bit of me was an artist

I would have set up my easel by now

To paint this history of trees

In their many stages of decay

& ushered-in new beginnings of life

Better still I would include the miniature train track; it's tunnel

That I imagine comes to life with steam whistles

& children joyfully cheering during the summer holidays

It is as though this place, once an industrial heartland

A forge with an illustrious past

Had nowhere to turn to for its future

Until leisure offered some sort of survival

The ravages of time & the recalcitrant northern weather

Have attacked the fabric

Of the once grand and flamboyant country houses

Their structure is in disrepair

As I tell you this 

I am called upon, on the phone, to remind a younger colleague

That I have over forty years industrial experience

Which for his project may be useful

Although for my life, as a writer

Boils down to not much to do with love at all

The trees are still

Yet a time-lapse photographer

Could capture the changes in hue

From browns to purples to greens

He should be able to bring to life

The slow beyond compare

Birth, or breakthrough

Of shoots and leaves

He might also have the skill and patience

To show the diurnal patterns

Of rooks coming to roost

The vast skies opening and closing

In tune with the seasons weather

From the Collection One Crow to a Tree - Love in Separate Houses available from Lulu

Ringside

He crossed out
The very doubt of your forgiveness
He began to shout
All were annoyed at his remissness

You didn’t flout
Yes, maybe a flouncy permissiveness
Though to clout
Showed off his mean dismissiveness

Have no doubt
Assured by your pert prettiness
Life is about
Rising above the strictly stickiness

From the Collection One Crow to a Tree - Love in Separate Houses available from Lulu

Visitation

In the smile that says my mind remembers

Your infinite space of stored fond memories within

Warm sun, stretches into the quiet room

Little or no disturbance to inhibit your arrival

On the outer breeze your gaiety and laughter

Increases my expectation

Only for those few bright moments could you join me

Before the chimes of peace called you to another

From the Collection One Crow to a Tree - Love in Separate Houses available from Lulu