photographs in a gallery
steppingstone lightly
every image a quay
upon the river of an ideal
how the lights flicker on
at the back of one’s mind
stars in the wonderment
that match the reflections
in the eye of this photographer
with a hint that all is well
we feel the breeze
of her shutters
oh bituary
have they started
writing my obituary
there’s one more thing
that i didn’t say
but i wish that i had
my list of five submitted poems reads like a poem itself …
it might work
a couple of facts
rhetorical
amen
vigil’s end
your christmas gift again
there there
dear state pensioner
here’s £10
merry christmas
what?
a pension the same as those paid in europe
oh no ~ no chance
pat pat (on head)
take your £10
an be grateful
very grateful
bah humbug
glacial
calving
from the glacier of care
speeding away from the
sloe-blue flow my soul
nine tenths below the level
seen to be required to be normal
what weight of truth is this
that weighs down upright
for the heart melts slowly
in the sea of gone
we are gone
we have done it
melted away
together
it’s snow good
the thing with snow
is you never know
if it’s going to slow
down
it comes down
and down and down
and down
dusk and
dusk and
the black lightening
of tree branches
slowly slowly
eaten by the darkness
until stars twinkle
and we are moved
for if we move
the branches are still there
sometimes the moon
racing through the clouds
but that is another story
for another night
my love
erratically
bad dream erratically
they were chasing Zelensky in his little car
he had been stabbed in the back
and the car was filling up with water
he also had a small blood-stained dagger
not much air left
when i woke up
but i don’t think we have
it might work
the works ate them
and they loved the heat
in their bellies
they talked of men
for they were the men
who worked the works
in the melt
they moulded each other
in the smoke they believed
they went home
to houses above the works
and looked down
from the slag tops
their thoughts tumbled down
bottomless
it was
they thought
how heavy tomorrow is
yesterday underfoot
the horizon a brew steeping
sips is all we have
4am
ungodly hour
empty of thought
full of dread
shelved
corner turned down
in the book of life
question
how many more pages
before the end is revealed
it was light when i started reading
as the sun went down
before soon said
another dawn
again the question
remained unanswered
a couple of facts
a couple in love
teach other
how to love
each other
each other’s other
is not another
when a couple become
one another
beware sometimes
beware sometimes
if you save a lizard
it’s tail might come off
then what are your left with
but the thought ingratitude
basking in the sunshine
eyes sparkling
considering
this transient journey of existence
‘stardust we were and stardust we will become’
insignificance is a big word to swallow
everything isn’t everything
nothing is
i do so enjoy star gazing
on a dark night of the soul
remembering remembering
however old i get
even to the day i die
i will still be younger
than the youngest warrior
who gave his or her life for me
in the great wars
a rough sea
hard
on shard sand
stands the end of summer
harder than harder
the waves pound
the west rock wind
stumbles
jet black clouds channel
surf as white as icing
as the sun breaks through
churning it all it all too much
is to stand braced
this way and that in
the ebb and flow as its anger
bites bites bites
wave-chasing gulls pull
muscles necked in flight
and what emollient could ever heal
the bite of a wave’s bladed spite
answer me this
that next wave
could you
