come on reciprocate
until you read our poetry
the way words can threaten with their secrets
until the concatenation stops the howling moon
and warmed by that reassurance we realise
that our hearts are not as dissimilar as we thought
come on ~ write me a poem
snap judgement
this film over my eyes
if i took a photograph of you
taking a photograph of me
what would develop
where is the viewfinder
what is behind it
this front
grandpa’s grave
dead and long gone
but i could not find his grave
it doesn’t matter
but of course it does
grandpa
llansamlet churchyard
so overgrown since
mum and i walked out of the back gate
even then it was hanging on one hinge
rusty as a memory’s stream
ochre as the tips
heavy as the smoke from the works
the railway line that went nowhere
how could we find you
amidst all the memories
sort of over there
sort of over
for it is now for sure
a long time ago
bloody brambles
railing against
they are replacing the railings around swansea university
begs the question ~~~ why?
is it to keep knowledge in
or dissent out
at least they are still green in colour
if not green in footprint
of course any trespasser
would use on of the many gates
higher education should mean lower fences
or
obviously
none at all
the studio with the arched window
cobwebs
let me be in that studio with high light
unpenned brushes scattered as thoughts
across tables and a chaise lounge
with time to think those butterfly thoughts
in abstraction before they escape
back out into the world
never staying for laced tea
in my studio with the high light
will you visit is a thought in a corner
high up beside the light glowing
from the cherry’s burning leaves
in the autumn of our regrets
the words lifting like motes to settle it
once and for all they are set in this story
of how a moment is forever just a moment
and a poem is a moment for eternity
sit you there a moment
let me explain
earl grey?
on seeing a painting’s first brush strokes
it would not stay
to play sand castles and dams
it had tropical thoughts
winter is coming
it said
i am going
as the sun on the sand faded
the child discovered another word
disappointment
remember the clocks go back
the nights are drawing in
they always said that
as we collected for the bonfire
and then the down days of november
until jolly holly appeared
and the bells rang out
eyes misted over
like snow on eyelashes
remember the carols
the nativity
and your first lines
marzipan
and do you know what happened today
i read it in the news
tarzan has died
my week turned weak at the vine
oh jane doe where are you
moonlight on pentrechwyth
this poem does not go anywhere
and takes its time getting there
moonlight on pentrechwyth
on the slag road baubled behind
a village
this village
chappeled with pubs
pubbed with chapels
murmuring of the boys
their mischief afoot
sounds of the sixties
across the counter of chippy shrine
chromium plated
mezzanine
tweet now love
dark as these dark days were
the nights joined the windowed dots
blind joy on the back roads
perchance on the lamplit streets
on the bus route out and back
murmured in the gears
in the guts of the works hot and red
rolling the ghost metals
leeching from the ruins
below their time out of mines
trucked fool’s gold
just the boys outside now
everyone is indoors
or in the pub
some having just walked home
from church or chapel
the night is the boys altar
spirits are afoot and rising
suddenly a super moon
over the buzzing
of the telegraph poles
invasion
their nonchalance tested
contested real cool and slow like
cool like man
pasties in hand from the side door
of the pub’s nuisance
with no time for all this
pennies change hands
hot hands on a cold night
where is asked
where is walked
never arriving
always wandering
cornering the next road
dark ways and dark days
lamps lit by yesterday
parented by toil’s travails
maybe
often said
repeated often
never answered
oh boys mun
boys mun
come on
watch your language
language
is like a clown juggling laughter
cracking
it’s like an iced longing
all that’s left is a red tongue
and a stick with a stupid sticky aphorism
a metaphor for sex and all I got was a sunset clause ~ Grim Ace
idiots
so
we have outwitted evolution’s algorithm
ah ok right
it’s
right behind you
the car in the spate of the flood
its boot on the other foot
now
we’re not fit to be the fittest
so we ignore the ignorable
you bloody idiots
not me of course