cobbled nights
taplow terrace and rifleman’s row
a war bought night black
unsure footed
slagstone cobbled above the village
a terrance of neighbours stretching
the hillside’s boundary
from the up road
to the down-railed steps
to the slag tips beyond
a boy’s ankles speak in prophesy
of the next stone’s twist
the next plunge and savour
the knowing that the dark has language
that ouch was a cruel teacher
of a lesson well versed
that wings on heels are earned not given
and that street lights sing
so what now
come on
when you pray for prey
you might as well stand mute
it passed a while ago now
how youth is wasted while …
well you know how it goes
it went
stalking time
that
they say moves in both directions
as you well know
so what now
"light breaks where no sun"
and there is this poem
by dylan thomas
that i read to my two boys
and now it reads me of that hour
when my voice was not his voice
and my words meant not what he said
but visions conjured up to sit stubborn
on the throne of time to rule for all time
for did you not read and say and think
that way
and now why should the new thoughts
beg change in this passing of time
oh no
let the idiom lie where it fell
where closed eyes slept the still of dusks
and nights and dawns and dusks
let lie it there where tongue first curled
its meaning
and three minds combined in that moment
when time itself stood still to read us
love’s lullaby of a rare moment
halted
for Martin
when they ask of him
as they surely will
then we will surely say
~ he swam against the tide ~
bound and bidden
tongue tied on convolvulus
i am really in a bind
butterflies on the buddleia
run rings around my mind
faeries and nymphs
lisp along in time with me
tongue tied on hieroglyphs
carved on the old tree
but hey up look here see
there’s a flower virgin white
wrapped around me tight
in this cool summer’s shady lee
wreck on
someone
kids i reckon
have removed all my pebble poems
from the promenade seats
thrown them into the sea
i reckon
it was a full tide yesterday evening
and this moved them
and my poems moved them
i reckon
never mind they will emerge at low water
and someone will find them
saying oh look a poem
i reckon
what do you reckon
shadow lands a question
i ask my shadow
what is in the gap between us
what connects us
is it something in the light beam
or is it there in the dark but we cannot see it
i spread my hands in supplication
so does my shadow
you tell me says ditto’s shadow
tap dancing
with my shadow
in the footlights
