Saturday, 20 June 2026

miscarriage

 miscarriage 


train crash

some die

some walk away

with why


my carriage’s 

miscarriage 

two to collide

too terrible 


to be spilt and spilled

along the track 

in a field of thought

of missed points


the driver died

red

in tooth and be cause

       they tried


but signally failed

        to get it

forget it

       just forget it


after all

       it’s just

unjust

        after all


what can be said or done 

       for it’s done

too late now

       mutters down the track


i’m late

       the dead are the late

the living said

                               that the dead said


we have an appointment 


with …

Thursday, 18 June 2026

plop

 plop


the prince in every childhood is a frog

popping up everywhere and nowhere 

jumping in surprise 

both the child and the frog

stare in bemusement 

but i like you 

i do

but i have to go now

dinner is ready

and mum is calling

quick quick 


plop

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

RS Thomas’s white washed cottage

 RS Thomas’s white washed cottage


the white washed words

that slipped a finger pointing out 

how god could have written it

but passed the understanding 

to the wind’s night 

to the tree’s cold root-stone

when the silence spoke

his pen whistled 

now and then a word spun

and he smiled a frown

and wrote it down

for us in black on white

leaving the gate swinging

haughty

 haughty 


a quiver

above the river a spider

torn between the corn

and the flow 

a fine strand of a sun web

catches a dream’s meandering 


on the hillside a castle

out at sea a boat


now where was i 

about to cast this stone

into the thread of thought


aught i be naughty



just saying

 just saying


the king and queen arrive at royal ascot 

the king’s grandson starts at eton 


just saying


my late father left school at fourteen

an intelligent man left uneducated


just saying 


my ancestors fought for this land

then i’ll fight you for it


he said


i’m just saying

which one



there dad ~ i told them

Tuesday, 16 June 2026

on reading a poem about james joyce

 on reading a poem about james joyce 

remember barley sugar

those sticks of platted sunshine 

licked in a childhood’s passing

well this poem is 

that stick of platted sunbeams 

licked through the flickering leaves 

of past smiles smeared my dear

by the sweet blear of tears

that read me

Sunday, 14 June 2026

whirled cup

 whirled cup


the world cup runneth over

surely oh my goodness and mediocrity 

will bore me all the days of my strife

and i will dwell in the house of

oh my good lord not another match

forever