Scintillating Drops
Scintillating Drops It is not as we imagined. It is not as we were told. The dendritic agent is fluid as we deduced, and flows strongly away from higher territories, but the surface seems alive. It sings and small drops dance above it, twinkling in the rays of the sun. Dimples and rills catch […]
CLANGERS
CLANGERS An accident – Scottie beamed me up where Clangers Moon taught me the language of whistles fuelled my tank with vinegar and soap flakes. Where Clangers Moon knitted me pretty in pink, fed me green soup from the Soup Dragons Well, gave me a key to a dustbin lid. Knitted me […]
I wish I was a Jovian
I wish I was a Jovian staring out at a distant speck of blue earth. Seated in my deckchair I’ll have a ring-side seat as shoemaker-Levy’s red beads fall. I’ll be consumed by fire and become the fireball’s plume. I wish I was a Jovian. Looking out at Io, pock marked with lava spewing volcanoes […]
Rose Wall or The Close of the Day
Near a shady wall A rose once blossomed Fair and tall she grew And through a gap Her tendril crept To dream Of what might lie On the other side She breathed out Her fragrance more and more It was no different On the other side Still she grew there Near the shady wall Just […]
The man who isn’t Beethoven
The man who isn’t Beethoven chords his strimmer and jams it twice on my too-long grass plays capriccio with chain-saw and ladders on holly, willow and lilac grins every time he hands over a bill because grunting might put customers off works accelerando and never seems to stop Except for him everyone hears his […]
Surgery
Today’s poem from my sequence. Surgery Not until they were wheeling me along a corridor to the theatre did it hit me: this is happening. Some time how long later cannulas inserted, ECG attached I fell down the rabbit hole never saw the march hare cheshire cat, or mad hatter: it was dark and timeless […]
Newcomer
Newcomer I didn’t like the look of him and in the heat of the moment took a stick and broke it into two pieces over his head. He fell down but only into a sitting position. He picked up the pieces of stick which somehow fused back together in his hands. He planted the stick […]
A Temperate Clime
Palm fronds gently fingering the wind Branches swaying in the breeze of night Feral cats climb tree trunks Of tufted fibrous bark Only to be told The sea is behind you Small boats bobbing on an ocean A galleon – dolphin watching, An inaccessible horizon Do the boats fall from the edge?
My Childhood
Can’t see the point of soap in my ears, my eyes, only to get dirty again. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to live alone. Mum and dad look after me, feed me the best food. In return, I’m obedient: no jumping on the settee or attacking visitors. But what’s wrong with violence? Or […]
Day 2
Aliens: Are you sure that person on the bus is human? Perhaps, it’s just a cultural difference. Perhaps. Here’s a hilarious take on the theme by Ian Duhig: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/fundamentals Be a Martian for a day!