the remiss driver

 the remiss driver

the car alarm calls back

i’m a

i’m a

i’m a

dick!

dick!

dick!

closure of the gulf

 closure of the gulf 

the waters broke

and then closed over

after the meteor fell

the scar was deep and raw

they will find it one day 

embedded in a gasp

so that was it they will say 

in the winter of a soul

one sunbeam talks dust

and that has settled it

once and for all

unopened mic

 unopened mic

like the evangelist 

megaphoning a street corner

i pontificate my poetry

as they rush past

unopened books in their fists

i say it as i seize it

if they don’t seize it

then so be it

it doesn’t make it less me

it makes it less them 

but what can one do

but pontificate 

for no one else will

sweet nothings

 sweet …

now where are they

so long ago

  so long ago

they are here somewhere

they are here somewhere

have another cup 

  i’ll find them

    i’ll find them

they must be here somewhere

i’ll ask the other half

… nothings

protestation

 protestation

so we write a poem

that no one reads

or if a poem does shine

it is swamped by noise 

blotted out by bots

their facade be brogue 

smart but full of holes

if the shoe fits wear it

for the clock is set close 

to the midnight of our souls 

i do have some concept

 i do have some concept

sometimes

sitting by the washing machine

with my eyes closed to its moaning

i am back there in the womb

trying to remember further back 

than the amniotic splosh

the bowel sounds of dinner

to a concept of what was before conception

and then i flush and close the lid

oh it’s just nothing really ~ think nothing of it

 oh it’s just nothing really ~ think nothing of it

it’s the nothing we consider

that cannot be nothing

for we are there considering nothing

nothing at all

at all at all 

a coo new word on the wind

 a cool new word on the wind

sastrugi 

has cut me to the bone

frozen my veins

sent my pulse deep into me

the snake wind has run away

defiance is eroded but stays true

there is the sun rising across

the bleak landscape of me 

lodging in the cavern under the glacier

bluer than blue

the silence screams

please please stop

there now

a poet?

 a poet?

i don’t engage my mind

my mind engages me 

i think i don’t think

i just write it down

a real poet 

is a false poet

in memoriam

 in memoriam 

to each their own

the heart is as constant 

as the mind is fickle

war’s war’s jaw jaw

 war’s war’s jaw jaw

replying to john guzlowski 

a mother’s hurt scars her eggs

we cannot escape this opening gambit

or its desecration of our headstones

time did not and could not heal

the gametes of the cyclical wars

unto the end of time it will be

sore be it

 you

would

think

so  but no

wouldn’t 

you

poetry

 poetry

poetry is a furnace producing

both glowing metal and slag

if you ever block the flow

the pressure to write 

becomes irresistible

the page the mould

words the sand

the cast the product

edited by the fettlers

until it shines like a mirror

the poet sees the poet

the reader the reader

as it is

so let it be

a …

 a …

a breath of sunshine

in the shining of this morning

not one daffodil nodding

in agreement

the furnace of the flowering currant

sparks in sparking at the day’s inaction

blue fading into faded blue sky thinking

maybe yes  maybe no  maybe later

is a sentiment for later

ahh the golden tea cup lips me

kisses a snooze to use later

a quiet breath arrives 

followed by another

the morning goes on and on

a …

away away away

 away away away 

take me back to the sand bank sun

where the grass snakes sleep all day

under the railway where the express train

speeds to london every day every day

into the tunnel arched in brick beneath

you know the the darkened way

where we climbed and nested sparrows

as they feathered in panic away

do take me back past the pluck lake

where we fished for the fishes fey

bobbing eyes on bobbing floats 

that maybe maybe may 

take the bait jet fast the line did swirl

away and down away and down away

to be reeled in riggling like the girl

in a day dream dreaming day

awake my lad awake and away

for the kingfisher is blue lightening

and you have overstayed your stay

away my lad away wayward home

where dinner awaits on your favourite tray

the one with the sun and moon setting both

up up on the bedroom stairway

take the day and dream it away 

away away and away