Nine

A lady enters the room
To make preparations for prayers
To be chanted in about half an hours time
I am invited to stay, I will stay for some

Although I might have to take a side seat
Not to be centre stage you understand
For I have neither the knowledge nor the voice
To create a pleasant experience for others

As I meditated I felt:
First a twinge in my shoulder
Then a twitch in my calf
Then a dull ache in my lower back

Let no one accuse me of being unaware
My awareness is firmly held
Yet it is arguably well assisted
By the silence behind closed eyes

A silence undone by footsteps
A silence undone by voices
A silence I once so treasured
Unaware of the harm it caused

A silence undone by vacuum cleaners
A silence undone by a busy mind
A silence beyond my awareness
Oh silence, what trouble you’ve caused

Available at Amazon

Eight

I am in the second meditation room
I think they call it the protector
Which I take to mean
That it keeps evil spirits from the main room

The flowers are silk
Which is a disappointment
Though the water is real
As are the offerings of Bergamot and Coffee

Actually, the protector is there
To ensure that I am not prevented
From reaching my spiritual realisations
Why, how I thank you for that

I take a few minutes out
For a breathing meditation
I breathe in, I breathe out
Exactly as the instruction card says

But I also think to myself
Of what photographs I could have taken
To accompany the words
To justify the words

The ploughed field
The partridge, or pheasant
The tree line on top of the hill
The orange-tint, on the distant tree

Available at Amazon

Seven

I take a drive out to Millington
I assume it is on the Yorkshire Wolds
A pheasant struts across the road
From stubble field to ploughed field
He puffs out his chest
Shakes his feathers
Vainglorious, that is
Until the shooting season
He scuttles away
As the muck-shift lorry races by
Then settles, to turn his green head
This way, then that
The day began so bright
Indeed I think I said so
In my morning words
But now the raindrops fall
The wind picks up
Ruffles the many coloured feathers
It is time to move on
The orange-tinted distant tree
Has lost its sunlit sparkle
As a country boy
I ought to know its name
But I don’t, no, I don’t
This was a short excursion
A place to find no place at all
But a chance for the iPad
To recharge its battery
Such that later on
I might type up these spurious notes
Of the day's proceedings
Pheasant, partridge, or otherwise

Available at Amazon

Six

The stairway place is now free
I sit right up to the Georgian window
A young woman wheels a wheelbarrow
Across the field, past the trees
It is not so silent as Bow
Doors bang, doors crash
I can hear conversations
But van Gogh’s blossom is still here

A young oriental woman
Climbs the stairs energetically
She smiles, says: Hi, hello
Before moving on to the door
This is the main thoroughfare
Between upstairs and downstairs
The wallpaper is rather grand
Exotic birds, with feathered tails

Outside in the field
There are masses of molehills
Each peppered by pigeons
Another woman wheels her barrow
Though this time she moves
In the opposite direction
Before stopping, in the middle
Maybe for a Karma break
I tell you this as a momentary record
Fifteen minutes of a life
Quite possibly never to be revisited
With, or without the wheelbarrow

Available at Amazon

Five

The real writing, the screaming, then began
The writing did begin again
Yet first to tell of a significant oversight

The black dog took me at my word
I left my job, I sought other pleasures
I left my wife, my two beautiful children

For twelve months I lived in Devon
For twelve more months of heaven
I lived on the Channel Island of Jersey

I want to tell you this because this is where
The poetry of poetry came into existence
It is from where it still on occasion hails from

Fuelled by high-octane selfish obsession
Energised by compulsive desires; my needs
Confirmed in those peak-experience moments

The poems are endless, even now
Years after our time together crumbled
Crumbled, burned; in a harshly distasteful way

I could not reach her
I cannot reach her
I should not reach her
Yet once I had breached her

Available at Amazon