wrists
can be kissed
cut for blood-brothers and -sisters
pulsed
rubbed together for scented ways
wrists
can be cuffed and chaffed
raised to heaven
tied like tongues
swung like an army marching
wrists
can pull you up
lower you down
can be braceletted and bangled
bled for the word
exsanguinated
wrists
can make a seat
can turn hands up and ask what
wave in a party’s mirrored lights
hang by you side
you’re under a wrist
well for cuff me
f’cuff
they are my wrists
the Rotherslade swimming song
jolly swimming weather
dude’s got on his bather
wind on the feather
waves spume and blather
let’s all swim together
bodies blueing nicely
let’s all swim together
jolly swimming weather
out of eden
the concept of what existed before
had rotted with the apple
there were the pips
but there was no garden
to plant them in
so we planted them in our hearts
and set off to search for our lost souls
a gentle breath pushed us
along a precipice paved in mist
there is a wall
so there must be a gate
between heaven and hell
there were two two-way mirrors
and we were in each others eyes
as was the question
that sought an answer
the length of that shadow was not lost upon us
stand back behind the rope
there is nothing to see here
move back move back
who in an orchard of days
let the goats in
let us chat over tea and jam creamed scones
for you have seduced me
the deckchairs are arranged
and the sun is warm
this garden is not too bad while it lasts
is it
is it
all change
put your hand to time’s chariot
and the brakes will burn your hand
for no amount of shrieking
will make anyone understand
how you want to go back up that hill
and run your life again
as the terminus approaches
on this the final train
black friday
40% off your life
get your tombstone now
two for the price of one
this offer is one to die for
and will not be reincarnated
the long shadow has a short duration
don’t let the sun go down on your disappointment
add to basket for a woodland burial
trust me
the documentarist
tell me she asked
what is it this poetry
what is this sea of yours
do they flow from the same source
is the salt in your veins
does it pulse in your words
so i thought and i said
one is salt and one is fresh
one seasons the other
the other refreshes one
one flows into the other
the other is full of the one
one fills the other
the other crystallises thought
write along the foreshore of mind
the cataract stumbles and falls
for the other’s love of words
that say i love you
at sunset
the last words across the sea
reflect in the mirror of my mind
light upon my face and i smile
my eyes closed by a smile
my toes are wetted by tears
that run in the smile of time
ask me again tomorrow
and you’ll get a different answer
tides run deep in their turning
the rain pours and rivers run deep
finally the ink evaporates
and across the death mask of a poem
the clouds run
want some
flotsam is a poet
in a neap tide of thought
an autumn leaf a sliding
in and out it aught
to wash up all a rotting
but it sinks beneath the waves
no more bobby riding
so this couplet up and leaves
rain due west
we look west
out past the lighthouse
the rain flags
its arrival is not unexpected
by the cemetery trees
it slips through silently
there is no wind this morning
just the rain and the sea
sighs
sea light
the sun skips across the sea
like a skimmed stone
it fizzles out somewhere near the shore
it’s a line i know but i comb it most days
there are messages there
if you can read them right
the artist’s signature is not always legible
but it is a masterpiece never the less
for ever the solution
the algorithm always wins
we follow blown by its winds
leaves fall from the buds
but sometimes the trees fall
then different trees grow
often we cannot see the wood
for the smoke from the trees burning
in the nature’s crematorium
the hymns change
the algorithm doesn’t
that sculpture
ceramic as tactile as alabaster
posed in mind’s curves projected
into the location of belonging
the human timeframe gentled
in the resolute acceptance of pose
and poise and purpose
given and taken in good faith
and kissed by time over time’s
reverence for those times
we all know
