The Harvest Moon

The harvest moon   When summer loses its pace with life A time of quiet contemplation Autumn And fragrant hills Beyond Have you seen the harvest moon? The moon that is full Before an autumnal equinox Before summer ends When flowers die Trees are gold Russet, yellow And when the smell Of burning wood Lingers […]

Falling

No time to meditate on gravity’s dumb force; you’ve gone to ground, faster than a thought can pass from toe to brain, that instant when a shoe is lifted (but not quite enough) to graze the root, the rock, that unseen stick-note telling you that time is up and you are down again

Impression

Your say your name means nothing to you. Just a name like a thousand others but to me your name is a dancer bending close or a signet in the fold of a swans wing. Even when your face is crumpled like crunched newspaper and anger spills out of every pore, even then your name […]

Mornington Terrace

Mornington Terrace Leaving the soaring sandstone of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, my eye seeks out the name on the pediment of the terrace opposite. Many years ago, glanced up at that name and thought: A mornington to remember! First love left dreaming in bed as I strode into town, first day, first job.

Alphabiog

A memory of Air raids and Bombs, the imprint of flash and Crash amidst the Devastation of war in London’s East End. Then Exodus to the Foreign north, a Leeds Grimness, my first school before the return to Hackney and Uncle Izzy and Jack Myer, my demobilised father who suddenly reappeared; the same old Mick, […]

It takes two

From Peter and Jane there came Pane – and he was. From Anne and Fred came Ared – and his nickname was Head. Frank and Margaret bore Fargaret – and far be it for me to judge the upper crust. But who created NyQuil – such a small and silent child? I waited for a […]

You must know who I mean

You must know who I mean He was in that film, what was it called? The something or other. Oh it’s on the tip of my tongue. We went to see it with that friend of yours. Bob… or Bill something. It was at the Odeon in town. What do you mean, it wasn’t the […]

Day 3

What’s in a name? Here’s James Berry’s take. http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=121 Names.