EQUAL IN GREATNESS

(For Michael Collins – Astronaut 1930-2021)

The fourth person to spacewalk

And the second

To orbit the moon alone

While fellow crew members

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong

Walked on the lunar surface

Sometimes glory is shared unevenly

But greatness often depends

On those backstage

Silently pulling levers

And watching instruments

Al...

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LOVE IN A LOCKDOWN

Love in a lockdown intense and obsessed

Anxious at first then gradually stronger,

Fighting back fear, wondering how much longer,

Love in a lockdown unstable, undressed.

Love in a lockdown longs to be released

Makes resolutions, wants to try harder,

Yearning for freedom to travel further,

Love in a lockdown confined and compressed.

Love i...

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 DEATH OF NELSON

 (Benjamin West 1738-1820 – Walker Gallery, Liverpool)

 Some think victory complete

 Raising hats celebrating,

 But others huddled solemnly

 Around the pale figure

 Know death is waiting,

 That he only lingers awhile

 To say farewell and to savour

 A little of the triumph.

 In the background a confusion

 Of sails and streaming signal...

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 A QUIET ANCHORAGE

 Out there she floats where usually

 Only small craft are seen

 And the odd dolphin.

 A monster of a merchant ship

 Modern, business like

 No sign of a mast

 Carrying cars to Dublin

 According to the local paper

 Waiting for a berth.

 Meanwhile she has found

 A quiet anchorage;

 We stare through binoculars.

 He...

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  ALEPPO

 Experts say if the stones remain

 What was within can be restored,

 But they make bombs now

 That can penetrate

 The strongest cover;

 Expensive but occasionally

 They use them.

 And lives destroyed

 Cannot be recreated

 By mechanical diggers,

 Architects or builders;

 Only silent museums

 Filled with the debris

 Of destruction.

 The...

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A WELSHMAN IN CROATIA

In Croatian the word for three is tri

Just as it is in the Welsh language.

It is tre in Italian and trois in French

And in Spanish it is tres,

But the Croatians have got it right

Although all their other numbers

Are quite different in Welsh.

Here in the summer Dubrovnik sunshine

There is time to wonder about such things

Seated...

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 A55

 Wet windscreen

 High up

 Near Holywell,

 Relentless rain

 Pounding glass

 Obscuring

 Merseyside's

 Distant landmarks,

 Eyes focussed

 On tail lights.

 Soon we descend

 Heading eastwards

 Leaving behind

 Welsh hills

 Veiled in mist,

 Wipers waving,

 Overtaking,

 Still listening

 To Liverpool

 On the radio.

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THE ROYAL CHARTER

(Wrecked off Moelfre, Anglesey 1859)

From Melbourne to Liverpool bound

in less than fifty eight days, by sail

and steam the Royal Charter comes

via Queenstown in Ireland and around

the Skerries with cargo of wool and hides

weighted with golden dust and coins

from fortunes made in a far off land.

To Moelfre’s razor rocks on Anglesey coast

a total...

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 WHERE IS WALES

 Where is Wales in this library

 Between wooden shelves

 Or sitting obediently

 With more confident

 Bulkier neighbours

 Is she leather bound

 Or plastic covered.

 Is she hiding quietly

 In the reference section

 Grimacing silently

 At teenagers

 Playing with phones

 Holding chewing gum

 Conversations.

 Or is she at the de...

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After Mass                                                                                                    

you would walk us

to the newsagent

in your Sunday best

with waistcoat,

watch chain

and monogrammed

umbrella.

As you chatted

over the papers

Sunday Times

with News of the World

hidden inside

we each chose a gift.

I reme...

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CILLA

Not the TV host with a brazen giggle
Winding up the gormless on ‘Blind Date’
Or tugging tears on ‘Surprise Surprise’
Nor the glittering star, clutching champagne
In morose interviews after Bobby’s death
Her grief bubbling up
Pressing behind aching eyes

But the fragile, stick thin girl
Trembling on stage
Warmed only by a single
And cruel spotlight
Picking out every contour
Of...

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HEART OF WALES

Early morning leisure centre
Fresh from the pool
Hospital doctors huddle
Discussing surgical problems
And financial investments

A receptionist smiles
Refusing politely
To disclose the code
For free Wi-Fi. She says
It is for staff only

I buy a cup of tea
After ringing a brass bell
To summon service
Feel time pumping slowly
Through the heart of Wales.

Da...

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TOOLS

This is a chisel of precise age unknown

With handle smoother than the skin

Of a child. I have sharpened the blade

By rubbing it on stone. Feel its bite.

This is a wood plane given to me

By an old man who had it

From his father. Their spirits guide

My hands. Feel its weight.

This is a machine I bought myself

Under its skin of shiny plastic

Is an...

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