Back In Our Own Bed

Warm skin
Your skin
Soft skin
Your skin
Smooth silky skin
Your skin
Morning skin
Your skin
Embrace
Your skin
Hug, nuzzle into
Your skin
Whisper, breathe onto
Your skin
Thankful, grateful for
Your skin

Been There Done That
Available from Amazon

Flight

I sit
On the landing
As though getting ready
For a flight
Or a flying lesson
As the one
Thirty years ago
When I climbed
When I turned
When I looped the loop
When I had the descent
Under my solitary control
Tomorrow
We fly with TUI
To Ibiza
I will sit
In row 14 seat A

Been There Done That
Available from Amazon

Thirty Minutes

One-and-a-half minutes past seven
Blue batik by my side
Still got the blues plays on the Bose
All of the connections I might ever wish for

Except the mountaineer poet is in the bathroom
Or rather his book
The order of the day resides there
Along with the caffeine hair restorer

I never did take hallucinogenic drugs
Yet I surely was a prime suspect
But maybe I lacked a deep adventurous spirit
Safer to tell the time, talk of books and records

Been There Done That
Available from Amazon

TV Critique

Last night it was the Mersey Poets
Yes, I have seen Roger McGough
Yes, I have seen Brian Patten
But that was thirty years ago

And only last month
I cancelled my Labour Party membership
Though I have offered to help
With fund raising and projection

It is true, socialism is within me
With half a mind that communism could work
It is more true, my distaste for the tories
All my life their bile has been poured over me

Better to look at the limp leaves
On the, fading into autumn, cherry blossom tree
More satisfying then to remember the role love played
When seeing poets in performance

Been There Done That
Available from Amazon

Dear Departed

The dead fly lays on its back
In this, the best of all summers
Could its death really be claimed
To be due to natural causes
Or was it more likely heat exhaustion
Having found himself at the window
Which does not open

Which cannot open
What is the lifespan of a bluebottle
Or a common or garden buzzing fly
What are the rites of passage
Should we celebrate, or grieve his demise
And is The Eagles New Kid in Town
Really funeral procession music

Been There Done That
Available from Amazon