flat liner deniers

 flat liner deniers 

the graph flatlines

for not one more concerned in mind

is added to the warming warning 

the seas boil

yet not one irate mind

not one scream

is added to the welter  

the spectators watch 

adverts are consumed

time is consumed

not for one but for all

time is of the essence lost

not one finger is raised

not one frown is traced

to oblivion at thought’s edge

they are burying the graphs 

inverting them into smiles

simple similes do not hold water

that is turned to steam

some scream still stop yet still

not one sorry lily lies

upon the coffin of our times

tinted

 tinted 

look this rose

as pink as a baby’s mother’s flush

edged with the white of eyes

that only note the warmth suffused 

where love entwinéd lies

how and why

 how and why

how long is a cry

how far or how near

how long is a why

how close is the fear

that the end is far

that the start is near

how everything we hold dear

has been lost in this war now

you are laying down history my son

as you bone there dead in the bleaching sun

generations

 generations

the king

after this king

and the next king and the next king

hasn’t been born yet

neither has his subjects

how many branches in the line

before i am next in line

unless on this game of snakes and ladders

the asp bites in time

queen takes pawn

i bloody nose

 i bloody nose

then

every once on a wall

the graffiti gives you a bloody nose

i bloody know

you want to write back

but it has past & you have passed

until the next wall

you’ll keep your chalks dry

why rain on your parade

reign

the very word genuflects

you reach for the chalk

i bloody nose

baffled

 baffled

they named the streets where the widows weep

after the battlegrounds where the flowers sleep

where there are no streets named after the widows 

where no children play their games

‘it’s the same the whole world over’ someone wrote

you kick a stone

and another stone 

drip drip drip

 drip drip drip

i want to write a poem

but the tap is dripping

i need to effect a repair

i need a plan

and all you do is drip drip

pass me the spanner 

a magpie arrests in the cherry tree

and all the birds in the garden explode

a petal floats down like a drip

there now

the poem is finished replete with drips

the tap waits until coffee has written another poem

if the spanner fits