polar bear love song
Oh polar bear rolling,
So tousled, so rumpled
such spikeywet furrings
so fluff and so jumpled
And growlings and strokings
And grumping and gruffing
And paddy paws loving
Bear tender and rubbing
And rolling and butting
And nuzzling caresses
Oh polar bear loving -
It always impresses!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Thursday 30th December 2010 8:49 pm
you called me
You called to me
We played, just for a while
When blackthorn blossomed and the sea was soft.
The to and fro of tides can catch you out!
A high tide, dangerous as the fullest heart.
And blackthorn branches bear the sharpest thorns.
But gentleness beats passion at the end
And true love, sweet as friendship
Says - all mend!
Tuesday 28th December 2010 4:33 pm
questions
So, everyone is busy but for me.
Yet I feel a contentment absolute.
Two buzzards spar across the sky.
A prelude to an early mating?
A day in hand, and what to do with it?
Before company leads me back to life.
I think I’ll spend it thinking of the year.
And counting buzzards -what could be more apt?
Each span of life that passes since you left
...
Thursday 23rd December 2010 4:23 pm
silver polish
I sit and polish silver.
First, a salt spoon with a little bend.
Then, the mustard pot.
I love the mustard pot.
It has a spoon shaped like a woman.
Hallmarked 1871.
A set of fish knives with Bakelite
Handles.
Very like a set my mother had.
Remember the loose and wayward handles!
Cannot remember eating fish.
The smell of Brasso takes me back
...
Sunday 19th December 2010 6:05 pm
primroses and tadpoles
It is a time of primroses and tadpoles.
The ice of winter cracks and melts.
Life bubbles through the water of the mere
and skeletons of trees smudge into green.
It is a time of life made new.
The shadow of January’s cloud is fading
and wrens are building in the ivy once again.
Sometimes the warmth of spring melts me like butter,
but still there’s frost upon...
Saturday 18th December 2010 7:19 pm
Surround me - London cries
London was never so full of ghosts.
You wore your coat, black and white check,
your own style, with your swept-by fringe.
I thought you might be humouring me
but you felt it too, no way was it a favour.
We had our A-Z, picked up a leaflet
and we wandered. And we got a little lost. . .
It wasn’t really cold. Ducked into the Museum of London
for ...
Wednesday 15th December 2010 8:38 pm
plump blond girl
Plump blond girl
Sits next to me
Cute as a muffin top.
Takes out her lunch
And begins to munch
A roll, a cake, a bag of crisps.
Plugs her earphones in.
Gets her laptop on.
Gavin and Stacey.
Plump blond girl starts to laugh.
The seat next to me bounces up and down
Animated by her joy.
I sit glum
I never could laug...
Tuesday 14th December 2010 7:25 pm
ghazal (ruby slippers)
I tiptoe to your house in my ruby slippers
I have a date to dance in my ruby slippers
Twirling toes in holly halls take merry chances
Dervish dances in my pointy ruby slippers
Tie your bow tie, quick as it spins my darling
I’ll spin and spoon with you in my ruby slippers
I wade through frozen snow, they’re in my hand, held tight,
My own spark...
Wednesday 8th December 2010 6:45 pm
ghazal ( Fibonacci swirl)
She met him surrounded by dahlias in a Fibonacci swirl
A sure shock to his delicate system in a Fibonacci swirl
She was the fluorescent ghost a-haunting, she was not his cool pale girl
Carbon copy daguerreotype posing with her Fibonacci swirl
Cut her cloth to fool him, stared at mirrors, scared herself, made her hair curl
Tricked him, jilted him and then ...
Monday 6th December 2010 6:37 pm
ghazal ( snow for me)
Oh come through swirling tempests of snow for me
I’ll warm your hands, leave your gloves of snow for me.
Rivulets fashion into veins of crystal
A mathematician out of snow for me.
Glass hexagons on ivy sprigs crack and freeze
In rubix cubes made of ice and snow for me.
The blood red sun is my evening candle flame
And thunder the tympani of sn...
Friday 3rd December 2010 7:02 pm
mole
I am so low.
Maybe I can join the moles
in their happy unambitious explorations?
Little mole, inglorious,
humble creature
let me join you in the earth.
We can be blots on the landscape
leaving air and light
preferring to stay
safely out of sight.
Dispel all grief
with our repetitious toil.
If I could join you,
I c...
Friday 3rd December 2010 8:25 am
tunguska
You are my beacon,
I’m headed your way.
A speeding comet into
your darkness.
Lie in waiting
for when love hits,
the crater will be immense.
When it knocks you off your
stable core
life may at last begin upon your planet.
The dinosaurs will have to die
but you and me
and all the birds
will learn to fly!
Thursday 2nd December 2010 6:47 pm
is this a fibonacci poem?
Home
is here.
Never one
alone, no.
Enraptured soul mates
encapsulated - twinnedinlove.
Thursday 2nd December 2010 7:17 am
priviledged boy
Semaphore flagpoles
Red sails in the harbour
Formidable matrons and
Anti-macassers
A feast on the beach
With the brown china teapot
Boys with bare feet
“Come roll up your trousers!”
A parrot called Peggy
A dog called Dorita
A cloche in the garden
Oh whatever next!
The first car in the village
A chauffeur called William
The yearly reg...
Tuesday 30th November 2010 9:29 am
skylark place
I miss my skylark place
tumbling down to the sea place
sandaled walk along cliff edges
wind in my face place
I miss the song of summer.
I need freckle making warmth
when muscles lax into a-melting
as limbs loll and hair is damp
and pollen flows
I long for sensual summer.
glitter crunch of sand between the toes
smell of heat on skin
sti...
Sunday 28th November 2010 6:36 pm
poetry fairy
poetry fairy’s gone away
poetry fairy could not stay
more folk to meet
more tales to tell
more wishes in her
wishing well
poetry fairy’s gone away
I hope she comes again one day.
poetry fairy’s left my house
left me alone to grump and grouse
she flapped her airy fairy wings
she always was a flighty thing
she never even waved goodbye
...
Saturday 27th November 2010 3:37 pm
love visits from another planet
Love visits from another planet
talks in a language I can’t understand
knocks me flat, throws me on my back
in seconds.
Love visits from another planet.
Love visits from another planet
with quiet voice, subtle demands
kills me right, every night then
I'm abandoned.
Love visits from another planet.
Love visits from another planet
is ...
Tuesday 23rd November 2010 6:08 am
stratigraphy
Dig deep and delve
Go underground
beneath life’s leaflitter.
Explore stratigraphy.
Go below earth’s annual pulling curtain
where earwigs scamper
and woodlice curl and cower.
Go down down down
‘neath roots and worms and skulls and crowns
and roman glass and buried urns of bones,
patterned crockery and unexploded bombs.
Igneous, calca...
Sunday 21st November 2010 11:22 am
daughter
you cannot die
you cannot grow old.
I would defy, yet there is grey
above your temples.
but you cannot die
for how could that be?
you were born of me
so
how can you ever die
if I say “no!”
and that is why
when the wave came and knocked you down
I smacked you hard
and made you cry
for I
was fiercer than any wave
could ever be.
...Friday 19th November 2010 6:37 pm
coach E
The lights don't work in carriage E.
The Train Manager, a caring sort of girl,
explains that really we should be evacuated
but the train is crowded
and, well, we are all grown ups aren't we?
So every time the train goes through a tunnel
she stands, torch in hand,
and shines it up onto the roof.
We all feel very special in coach E.
I lo...
Sunday 14th November 2010 3:07 pm
whale music
His passion is a ten foot tendril
reaching for her
like a climbing plant
reaches for the sun.
Their love echoes round oceans.
Twining, stretching out
so vulnerable,
for love.
He fondles her
she opens
completely
and together
they fall into that heavy nothingness.
And I am left alone to think
only whales and
you and I
make lo...
Wednesday 10th November 2010 1:39 pm
rainraingoaway
The rain comes like a friend
tapping on the window
but I don’t let her in.
She patters, batters,
wants to speak to me,
wants a gossip.
I turn over,
go to sleep.
The rain comes again
in the night
insistent, sharp and hard,
relentless.
So I shut the window tight.
I don’t want to hear her news
not tonight.
The rain goes...
Monday 8th November 2010 7:20 pm
salsa with orion
We stumble through darkness
torches raking emerald hedges
three women off to salsa class.
Never been before.
Laughing and shivering
in the January night.
The church hall is warm and bright
the teacher young.
He tries to show us how to dance the salsa.
We stand in line.
It looks so easy
but I can’t do it!
I add steps that ar...
Sunday 7th November 2010 10:45 am
only you
Your hand my hand
intoxication.
Shadow play
on walls alive.
Feather touch
imagination
as your eyes
look into mine.
Candlelight
passion migration
miles diminish
disappear.
Electric
communication.
desire transmission
you are here.
Separated, sliced in two.
Two rooms.
Two hands.
But...
Saturday 6th November 2010 6:57 am
epitaph
My heart is an ivy covered stone
bound to earth by a strong green rope.
Lichen encrypts my name, my date,
loving mother, my identity
and I am glad
for never a mate
had ownership
of me.
And in one hundred years from now
all will be a mystery.
Thursday 4th November 2010 1:34 pm
dust
My dear
You look so small
Beneath it all
The curving arc of life
The world
And all we know.
Troubled, taken in pain,
Your heart’s refrain
Is to battle hard
Against it.
But just let go.
For all we know
Life and love and everything!
That’s our eternal span.
Enjoy it while you can.
For dust is all and dust is - us
My master.
...
Tuesday 2nd November 2010 6:11 pm
sleepless
I can walk.
In winter
before dawn.
I can walk.
Allowing me to sleep.
To sleep.
To sleep before the sun.
Nights.
Nights are so very long.
But if I wake.
I wake and walk
before the dawn.
Then life.
Then life it will be over soon.
Sunday 31st October 2010 3:19 pm
dusk
Dusk speckles in as bats flitter along skypath ways
moths scrap against the lamp.
A primitive time, twilight,
a putting on of cardigans as chill comes in.
Dotted lights spring out across the valley
birdtwitter muffs to silence like a dusty blanket.
Beyond the window black cows disappear in misty fields.
A walk from you to me, from me to you.
Din...
Saturday 30th October 2010 6:22 pm
the man from rejerrah
The man from rejerrah
has eyes specked with mica
a voice warm as amber
carves bibles from jasper
eats crumpets with marmite
wears corduroy trousers
and bobbly jumpers
reads Beowulf by gaslight
cooks stew on a rayburn
grows carrots and rhubarb
makes a good crumble
walks miles to the pub
plays euchre with locals
spots Perseid showers
h...
Wednesday 27th October 2010 7:42 pm
coda - hebden bridge
Opposite the Shoulder of Mutton
the pedestrian zone and
moss tiled rooves of
Hebden Bridge
I make my strong Americano last.
A man who looks like Dr Kildare
leaves the coffee shop.
Two hours to kill
until my train to Leeds.
Pelargoniums in window boxes falter.
Pigeons roof huddling, couples shopping,
Grannies pramming it.
Ea...
Monday 25th October 2010 10:22 am
three signs
I asked for three signs.
I found
a rock crystal in the earth
when I planted a rose.
I saw
a seal suspended
in the curtain of a wave.
A storm came
lightning woke me
thunder bruised
the sky.
I asked for three signs.
Now
teach me how to read them.
Saturday 23rd October 2010 6:20 pm
villettedada
Villettedada
or
The Maiden’s Lament.
Turkish dignitaries.
Where are they? Why don’t they come?
I make my own bed and do my housework.
What do you mean, you’re hungry!
White wine Waffles.
Desiree needs a particularly watchful eye!
Look here, how clean she is, this young Miss Lucy.
So, do you like this alleyway?
(Maintaining an air of innocence.)
...Thursday 21st October 2010 5:40 pm
turning circle
sitting in a turning circle
on a rusty digger bucket
bashed about pitted and beaten
mobile silent in my pocket
saw three muntjack deer who
stared and ran away.
sun appears through leaf lace golden
in the end a little sadness
sitting on the digger bucket
opposite the locked green casket
in the churned up turning circle
mobile sleeping in my pock...
Tuesday 19th October 2010 5:07 pm
winging it!
spinning over the horizon
white winged doves
playful, racing,
beating the gale
at its own game
rushing whooshing turbines
chuck the breeze to one another
and shout
“You’re it!”
gathered in groups
enjoying the heights of
their moorland playground
these catherine wheel
windchasers -
dance for me!
...
Wednesday 13th October 2010 11:00 am
freedom - no such thing
I can’t imagine freedom.
Everything comes with a price.
Take love.
Love comes with the biggest price of all.
“Will you die before the morning
my beloved?
For I can never sleep
knowing that there is doubt.”
“Do you still love me?
As much as I love you?
My heart is in knots of anguish,
for I can never know the answer.”
...
Monday 11th October 2010 6:20 pm
vortexing
Rock’s in profile,
forehead, nose and chin.
Sea’s a mountain,
a cascading avalanche,
white and foamy as milk
boiling in the pan.
Figures on the hill
are warriors.
A kestrel hovers as if
hanging on a string
and boulders lie
calm as elephants
upon the sand.
Oily grey gull feathers
tell a drab story
of October gales,
...
Friday 8th October 2010 7:43 pm
crooked toe
I look at my toes
neat and straight.
Except the little one.
Bent because I broke it.
The day I learned that dad
was having an affair.
I remember, on the settee
my baby on my lap.
It was summer and
my feet were bare.
Mum and dad came round.
Later
going to the bathroom
I stubbed my toe.
I couldn’t walk for days.
...
Thursday 7th October 2010 2:50 pm
london journey
So many London journeys have the smell of death.
So often funerals or illness take me there.
And so on Thursday, on an empty train,
a flying visit, to see your mother.
I dread the flat. So many pictures in my head.
The faded green settee on which we sat
our hands clasped, hidden between your thigh and mine.
Though in our forties, it was still a thrill
...
Saturday 2nd October 2010 5:16 pm
two women on the edge
We sit above the blueblack sea
as the sun settles.
Wrapped in winter
coats in our September.
Two women crying, laughing,
going crazy
with our pink
champagne.
All the others are inside
for warmth
and music.
Our teeth chatter but we feel
alive.
Below the doomy sea
can crash
but we are here,
above it.
...
Tuesday 28th September 2010 7:07 pm
plastic garden
Brown plastic flower beds, dimpled, holed.
A mesh of flowers, steamroller flat. Colourful
in cellophane, a child’s colours.
A blunt dowel, your plastic spade.
Now, begin to plant your plastic garden.
A row of sunflowers at the back
they plunge in, thump in, whole.
Rose bushes are a little complicated
spread out like a fan.
Force the dowel ...
Tuesday 28th September 2010 11:19 am
Nineveh
There is a place called Nineveh.
The name is etched on cloudy glass
above the squat wide door.
A door for coffins and their bearers.
A place called Nineveh.
Once the old range was warm
with the peppery smell of pasties
and the sound of miners' boots rang.
It had its time for guests to stay
in this place called Nineveh.
Of breakfast bacon...
Sunday 26th September 2010 3:34 pm
or gently go . . . .
My cat, old
shrivelled, shrunken,
tufty furred.
I stroke,
a backbone sharp and knobby
as a tooth-ed comb.
Dry rattle-leafed one
with slight hips
wishbone thin,
you haunt me now,
holding my gaze.
Yours is a hunger no food
satisfies -
you pace.
Please
tell me when it’s time
or gently go . . . .
Saturday 25th September 2010 5:57 pm
bullet
fear the bullet
hear the bullet
smell the bullet
see the bullet
feel the bullet
catch the bullet
own the bullet
snatch the bullet
hate the bullet
love the bullet
kiss the bullet
shove the bullet
blow the bullet
suck the bullet
know the bullet
fuck the bullet
Thursday 23rd September 2010 6:49 pm
pteradactyl
dull metal heavy grey bird
pinkingshear shut scream and screech
coming down out of the sky
onto my head knocking me
onto the rainsplashed paindashed pavement
Thursday 23rd September 2010 3:33 pm
juggling peonies
You’re the twin sister I never had
With a nun for a mother and a wizard for a dad
Your boyfriend’s called Sir Galahad
And here you are juggling peonies.
Your umbrella’s made of Chantilly lace
Cos you love the rain upon your face
With your skirt in your knickers you’re a real disgrace
And here you are juggling peonies.
Your boots are made from ca...
Sunday 19th September 2010 8:10 am
nosing towards america
Lazy waves break over the rock
round and smooth as a seal’s head.
My hand cups to pat it
expecting warmth,
expecting a flick of a tail and then
away.
Across the bay
hummocks of blue green nets swaddle
Smeaton’s Pier where cars are gathered
out of place.
St Ives, all rooves and windows,
looking down.
A slate rock rubble far ...
Friday 17th September 2010 3:46 pm
gulled
Strolling down old Back Road West
I thought “I know what I’d like best!”
I usually stick to my Ryvita
Today I fancy something sweeter
A smile upon my face did beam
“I’ll treat myself to an ice cream!”
Strolling down the sunny Quay
Nothing left to worry me
I slurped my cornet yum yum yum
Until to Smeaton’s Pier I come
Where lined up smiling was...
Wednesday 15th September 2010 8:49 am
manhug
Why do I keep hugging men?
I’ve only done it twice
but it’s so nice!
1)The gentle taxidermist,
quietly collecting coffee spoons.
2)The anorexic poet,
all whispers and gl-i-i-i-ding gestures.
3)The jokey local butcher - well,
I haven’t hugged him yet!
But I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
Now I’ve started hugging them
I don’t w...
Sunday 12th September 2010 7:16 pm
9/11
Oh yes! I remember that day.
You’d gone back to London
the old taxi chugging.
I waved goodbye
as you rounded the lane’s bend.
There’d been flies in the conservatory for days
and you never did approve of spray.
I went to the hardware shop to buy a can.
The man behind the counter said
“Have you seen what’s happening in America?”
I walked h...
Saturday 11th September 2010 7:17 am
dance around the kitchen cos it's . . . Thursday?
Thursday 9th September 2010 8:40 am
watching sparrows
love in middle age is
standing in the supermarket carpark
fumbling in your backpack
for your phone.
rummaging for your spectacles
so you can read the text.
juggling technology
as your heart breaks.
hiding your eyes behind sunglasses
feeling stupid and too old for this.
love is a ridiculous woman
sitting alone on a
sodden bench
in ...
Wednesday 8th September 2010 8:30 pm
camille, emily and me
Sitting outside the Sloop Inn
with my half of cider
reading Sexual Personae
by Camille Paglia,
wearing my sparkly pink spectacles
and taking notes
on Emily Dickinson
I feel enthroned in
independent womanhood
Only occasionally
are we truly
ourselves.
Sunday 5th September 2010 12:39 pm
visiting connie
She's all woman, Connie the lioness.
She pads around her home -
she lives alone.
A little overweight, and getting on.
Once there was a lion but he's gone.
The keeper says he died after a fall.
Seems odd to me a cat would fall and die,
the platform that they jump from is not high.
On Connie's back are deep dark marks, old scars
from some rom...
Saturday 4th September 2010 6:17 pm
comet tails
Home was warm buttery potatoes
a thermometer under the tongue
Lucozade bubbling orange on the bedside table
cream of tomato soup after the doctor’s been.
A firework buying expedition
walking through chilly streets with dad
mum left at home.
In the shop Brocks’ boxes
blazing black and red and yellow
Jumping Jacks and Catherine Wheels
an...
Thursday 2nd September 2010 2:34 pm
zooday
A resignation of sleeping owls
dusty newel posts, swivel heading.
Two plump packed zebras in
chocolate and ivory
one hoof coquettishly angled.
Anonymous creatures on secret missions,
fossa, agoutis, kinkajou and pangolin.
A perky bat, chittering, almost within reach.
Connie roars then sleeps, sulky browed.
She licks like my homecat but her...
Wednesday 1st September 2010 8:08 am
a song - salty girl
The kestrel he hovers above
Like your heart, he’s a hunter for love
His wings are so strong
His tail is so long
He’s silent but good company.
The driftwood it lies on the beach
Echoing the highest tide’s reach.
I’m driftwood myself
On the Atlantic shelf
But I hope you’re the lover for me.
Your hair it is salt from the sea
Brine-stiff...
Tuesday 31st August 2010 7:41 pm
Oh No! It's Dance Round the Kitchen time again!
Sunday 29th August 2010 8:09 am
mermaid wedding
the cave is dark and deep and wet
where all the mermaids hide
they keen and cry and pine to try
and catch a sailor lad
they swim in circles
at great speed
and he is sucked right down
a willing victim to their greed
oh what a way to drown
a mermaid wedding is the thing
a glorious sight to see
the sailor's final word is yes
as she...
Saturday 28th August 2010 2:00 pm
field boundaries
a yoghurt pot crushed in the muddy verge
black plastic rumpled by the field gate
a buzzard flaps, hunting, shaggy winged.
dull trees oppress.
and at the fields’ edges as I walk
I sense the shades of other quiet lives
there beneath the ashes and the oak
many dim figures soften into green.
interminable windings, little hills -
the road drones...
Friday 27th August 2010 4:22 pm
Josie my Bristolian Maid
Oh Josie oh Josie
Bristolian maid
If I was a man you need not be afraid
I’d love you forever my blond blue eyed pear
While you suck your sweet thumb
You know I would dare
To ask you to marry
Don’t care for John James
He’s not worthy of you
He’s just a big pain
With you in my arms
We would have such big fun
Oh Josie I love it
When...
Wednesday 25th August 2010 9:21 pm
pearlfisher
If I was a fisher of pearls
In nacred palaces I’d dwell.
A folio of fantasies distract
Swimming deep in opalescent wells.
Crawling up the sparkly sand
Crabs scatter like iron filings
Drawn by the magnet beneath.
I find eight ancient bottles
Lined up waiting.
I write eight poems and scroll them
Tight into the vitrine necks.
Stoppered, I place the...
Wednesday 25th August 2010 11:44 am
poem for daljit
talking in the kitchen with Daljit
he says to me you have to persevere.
his undercurling smile is full of love.
not for me but for poetry.
to publish poems is to give yourself
in a concise abbreviated form.
you sacrifice the adjectives and lines
not needed for what you want to say.
but i am still afraid of letting go
of losing audiences that...
Monday 23rd August 2010 9:37 am
synchronicity
Tis life in death appeals to me
So said my love -
Infinity.
Do not fear death but dance with me
Enjoy our synchronicity.
And when my love
The dancing’s done
A flake of ash
We’ll be, as one.
And when my love
The song grows soft
On high, in love
We’ll fly aloft.
Tis life in death appeals to me
So said my love -
In...
Sunday 15th August 2010 10:28 am
on being emily dickinson
I take up my embroidery
I stoke the fire
So carefully laid.
I walk to church
My prayers are said
I banish all desire.
Yet in my room
Passions consume.
Scraps of paper
Barely owned
Scrawled on
By my perfect hand.
My poem.
In all my life
Scant six
Have seen the light of day.
Yet I know where...
Saturday 14th August 2010 6:18 pm
iron lung
God knows why we went
Wendy Pedley and me
To the Camping and Caravanning Exhibition
At Earl’s Court.
We must have thought that something else was on.
And there we saw it.
The iron lung.
Why? Why was it there?
Displayed as an exciting new invention.
Near scared two girls to death!
A long iron coffin
With a window where the eyes would be.
...
Saturday 14th August 2010 4:20 pm
no matter
It doesn’t matter if I cry
It doesn’t matter, no one sees
It doesn’t matter if I cry
For want of love
For want of thee.
It doesn’t matter if I speak
No one can turn my words away
It doesn’t matter if I speak
No one will hear
The words I say.
It doesn’t matter how I seem
What look is hiding in my eye
It doesn’t matter how I am
...
Friday 13th August 2010 2:38 pm
he moves through the fair
His life was a roller-coaster ride
A “Look! No hands!” experience
With the smell of chip fat and gallopers
And the tang of candyfloss on the evening air.
A fairground of tawdry prizes
For the winning.
Girls eyes flash as he lights a cigarette
And a gold tooth and a gold earing glitter.
Pretty legs dangle from the ferris wheel,
Fluffy toys are hugged to ...
Wednesday 11th August 2010 4:26 pm
leavetaking
Nodding heavy damp hydrangea heads hang low
Mauve and brown
And snapdragon flowers moulder in the flower beds.
Grasses seed at the lawns edge.
Summer is soon leaving.
In the town, bedraggled bunting hangs listless.
Carnival time, and posters flap.
Swallows gather on phone wires
Planning their departure.
Another summer gone.
A voice insid...
Wednesday 11th August 2010 5:25 am
fishes
Sometimes I think of WOL as an aquarium
With the poets as the fish.
We swim round and round.
Some live at the top of the tank
Skittering about and bumping into each other.
Some have little shoals they swim in for protection.
Some live alone in the dark depths and suddenly splash up to dazzle all the rest.
There are a few snappy piranhas!
Down below, we hear...
Monday 9th August 2010 7:19 am
the incubus
Gritty dry-eyed morning comes
Glimmering around dead curtain edges.
Grey murky shroud of repetition
Forms another day.
The incubus of loneliness perches
At the foot of the bed.
I catch its glittering eye.
Soon, he’ll make a grab for my toes.
Nervously I tuck them in.
I know that next
I’ll feel his feet
Slithering up my legs
Like ...
Saturday 7th August 2010 5:33 pm
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
I thought of you today.
In a teashop in Penzance.
There were blue plastic gingham tablecloths.
It was light and airy,
Sitting with a friend
Over coffee.
And then (for there was Classic FM)
I was swept away.
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
And oh, my darling,
You were there
You really were.
The teashop and ...
Friday 6th August 2010 9:04 am
circle of protection
If I could, I'd make for you a circle of protection.
A glade of bluebells where the warm bees drone.
A place of peace for you to sleep in.
A dwelling that you could call your home.
Where tears and fears and dreariness can never reach you
Where obstacles are none.
A place where all is calm and filled with beauty.
And it would be your circle of protection.
...Tuesday 3rd August 2010 7:42 pm
Groove round the kitchen - it's SUNDAY!!!
Sunday 1st August 2010 10:26 am
little cardboard box
I've never looked at them.
They're in a cardboard box.
Very environmentally friendly -
you'd have approved of that!
I can't scatter them.
For that, I'd have to touch them,
feel their texture,
let them pass between my fingers.
And I can't do that.
I remember the first time I saw them
at your mother's flat
on a high shelf.
I didn't...
Saturday 31st July 2010 8:51 pm
incurable romantics
Are you an incurable romantic?
Do you need an escort when you go out
To prevent you falling prey to love?
Have you had counselling
For your love addiction?
Do they tell you
There’s no hope
Then pat you on the head and go?
Do you suffer from a form of Tourettes
That makes you shout
I LOVE YOU at the top of your voice
Til people, shock...
Thursday 29th July 2010 6:33 am
under the willow
All is green under the willow tree
As chiff chaffs echo
Above the ferny fronds caressing
The divided trunk splays
From dry soil
Like an open hand
All age is in this tree
From ancient twisting base
To light young summers leaves
A white butterfly skims giddily beneath
Hurrying through a gloom
That presages autumn
Badger paths...
Wednesday 28th July 2010 10:25 am
sunday afternoon
Like butterflies they flock upon the beach.
So many colours!
Stripey awnings fragile tents boogie boards
bare legs and flowery shorts
sun hats and pink shoulders.
All as busy as bees!
There’s such an urgency
in damming streams
and making sandcastles before the tide comes in.
The sea is wild but welcoming.
I brought a book with me.
...
Sunday 25th July 2010 6:46 pm
ithell
When I have a dog I'll call her Ithell.
A boisterous shaggy madam she shall be.
We'll walk in rain and wind and drizzle
no one will dare to stop us, she and me.
Our hearts will race as we climb up the mountain.
No one can catch us 'til we reach the top.
We love the wild the windy rugged weather.
There's no fear in us when we see the drop.
We'll ...
Saturday 24th July 2010 4:34 pm
german boy
That rock there, reminds me . .
So many years ago
On holiday with mum and dad
I was about fourteen
Some days I saw a boy
Sitting on that rock
With his family
I think they were german
Our eyes never met
And yet
Every time I see that rock
I see him
Long bare legs, light khaki shorts
And sandals just like mine
H...
Tuesday 20th July 2010 4:54 pm
crystal clear
A crystal clarity
Clinks against my cheek
Cold as ice
There’s nothing there
Ice melts
It will only leave a tear
To trickle
Brittle as stars
Love shoots off
At a tangent.
Sparks, then gone
Did you see it
Or were you looking
the other way?
Ask the Titanic
How it felt
To knock into
A transparent not...
Sunday 18th July 2010 7:55 pm
surfing
the sea sucks to the leeward side
a subconscious urge
a gut-tug
saving lives is automated now
with gravely klaxons bleeping
red buggies on the beach
loudspeaker warnings
and a jet ski throbbing
such a tiny strip of sand
is safe
like one inch marked
on a ruler
we all start here in the safety zone
then slowly we get dragg...
Sunday 18th July 2010 6:37 pm
ladys bedstraw
Chewing on a filbert
Pondering and fingering
Lazing on her bedstraw
The lady thinks of love.
Of basting and of baking
Of dutious lovemaking
Of listening to tedious tales
The lady thinks of love.
A pomander of lavender
that she is loathe to squander
A noble book for reading
A cherished gift of love.
No more the hills to wan...
Saturday 10th July 2010 8:00 pm
a childhood
Death came to the cottage,
Visited about five years ago.
Unexpected - she was only forty-two.
Left three girls and a man who couldn’t cope.
No hope.
Sometime later,
Saw him rushing down the lane in shirtsleeves.
Guessed who he was
On that freezing January night.
Something not quite right.
One day the eldest daughter sat behind me on the bus
...
Friday 9th July 2010 7:33 pm
loves parachute
Two climbers die
Fall thirty thousand feet.
A man and woman.
And my first thought is -
I hope they were in love.
To see the other fall
When you are safe
Must be the saddest thing of all.
How long would it take
To fall thirty thousand feet?
If you fell alone
Perhaps you’d have that cliché time
When all your life cascades bef...
Thursday 8th July 2010 10:26 am
his first time
The lime green nylon negligee held a fascination
as did the fluffy lemon yellow mules.
She flicked ash and her nail varnish
was a little chipped.
He was entranced.
She smelled of sex.
She led him up the stairs on slender legs.
The mules clack clacked and
her heels shone orange
in the light of a 30 watt bulb.
Her room was chilly
and the gas jets hisse...
Monday 5th July 2010 9:45 pm
High Tide - 10.47
Above the beach
the heather is purple on the clifftop.
The tide is in.
Red and yellow flags stand sentinel.
No one is in the sea.
The sky - a woolly grey.
The sea a demon.
Soon the rain will come.
We sit on rocks.
What sand there is, too wet.
Everyone looks out to sea.
To a chaos of waves.
An anarchy of raging water.
If you were ou...
Sunday 4th July 2010 2:41 pm
I'm bored - feel like dancin' anyone?
Saturday 3rd July 2010 8:04 pm
knightmoves
We play chess. . . . .
Can a queen take a knight
If it is her dearest wish?
Rooks and castles clatter to the floor.
The king is gone to another country.
The pawns are all against her,
The bishops are irrelevant.
But the knight, the knight
The queen so loves the knight!
Lifted onto his rangy nag
The queen catches her breath f...
Friday 2nd July 2010 6:44 pm
curled as a shell
Curled as a shell curls
Pale opalescent nacre skin
Pearlised in a moonbeam.
Her neck curves gently
In seahorse shape.
And round her face,
pearled,
Sea anemones coil.
A foetal-angel
With body turning
As the wave revolves.
Shooshing waves will never wake her
Sharks sharp teeth will never take her.
Dreaming deep, whe...
Wednesday 30th June 2010 8:42 pm
new twenty pound note haiku
no enigmatic
moustachioed composer but
some banker named Smith
image - Dysanovic
Wednesday 30th June 2010 10:06 am
falling in love by surprise
When you’re unaware.
That’s when I can touch you
lose my fingers in your hair
stroke your arm, caress your shoulder.
When you’re unaware.
When you’re unaware.
That’s when I can watch you
from my window, from the stair.
Watch you as you’re working
and admire you if I dare.
When you’re unaware.
Take you by surprise.
Just as you’re ...
Tuesday 29th June 2010 6:58 pm
groove round the kitchen - it's SUNDAY!! xx
Sunday 27th June 2010 7:35 pm
pussycatdreaming
Cat curled loosely on the wooden chair
in front of my computer
on a needlepoint cushion.
Old unkempt fur taffeta tufted.
Beyond her dreams she hears
the sounds of sparky sparrows
that nest behind the gutter
just above the open window.
Lots of chatter, the young are nearly fledged.
Suddenly, through the opening
flutters a baby sparrow.
Timidly fighting...
Sunday 27th June 2010 9:01 am
slumber
Starfish sleepingswoony dreaming
softly sprawled.
Turning in sleep
as a wave turns on the shoreline
when the ocean breathes.
In, out, in, out
sleep gentle lover, sleep.
Heavy head sunk in the pillow
stubble jawed,
those wicked eyes are closed.
Sleep angel, let peace be yours.
I’ll bring a posy and lay it at your feet
while you’re...
Thursday 24th June 2010 7:11 pm
love to the blood and bone
he loves the very heart of her
the blood the bone the womb
and every part of her.
scrapes passion from her skin like fishes scales
his fingers close around the very core of her.
the hot iron smell
the taste of salt
as teeth clash -
love by default.
love that doesn’t care for yesterday
or for tomorrow.
for names, for histories,
for anyt...
Monday 21st June 2010 7:57 pm
maelstrom
She steps through mine fields, my love.
Thinking her innocence is her protection.
But she is wrong.
Wrong to believe that her heart is innocent
It's black as devil’s coal.
Songs and lilting provocation are her aids.
A pleasurable distraction from a previous pain
For her.
But stir up the deep dark depths of his soul
And a maelstrom is created.
Its ce...
Saturday 19th June 2010 7:51 pm
a pinch of salt
I take it with a pinch of salt
Or so I try.
But salt stings,
I’d rather let the pain go by!
It’s honey heals,
So I’ll spread honey on the wound,
The sweetest honey, from my silver spoon.
For often love and pain come,
Holding hands.
One lover may be true,
One may have other plans.
And on we sail, at loves old beck and call
Until we die, then...
Friday 18th June 2010 7:34 pm
lifemodel
She intrigues him
descending the staircase
into the studio.
He imagines her,
having breakfast on the grass -
as he admires her arse . . . .
His studio is chill and damp.
Dark maps of humidity grace the walls
and the floorboards creak.
There’s a grimy kettle on the hob,
the grainy window panes are cracked
and in the centre of the room -
a bed...
Tuesday 15th June 2010 9:53 am
lost pebble
I was born feet first
dipping my toe
into the world
an only child
perhaps a lonely one.
when I was four
we moved from a
linoleumed Brixton flat
to Ealing and a garden,
an apple tree,
delphiniums, forget me knots.
I made houses for snails to play in
but they ignored them.
there was an allotment to explore.
and the park with pa...
Friday 11th June 2010 7:20 am
alfresco
we moved into the garden,
don’t ask me why.
we sit near the rhododendrons
lit by the firefly.
and through mothwing muslin curtains
we watch the world go by.
a peal of bluebells is our door chime
the dandelion clock tells us the time
a hearth set in a pebble circle
to boil rainwater
for our birch bark tea.
a sacrament made by nature
for you and me.
branches are ...
Wednesday 9th June 2010 4:58 pm
morse
will men ever understand
why women love morse?
the most unobtainable, romantic,
idealistic, cerebral -
most fascinating man!
a brainbox!
the most erotic fix
for any woman
worthy of that title!
thinking, dreaming,
searching for perfection.
he would be . . .
the perfect fuck!
Sunday 6th June 2010 2:40 pm
unfathomable
take me down into the well of passion
let me lose myself in the seaweedy ocean
rushed back and forth by unknown currents
to give myself up to the tide.
dive dark and deep, dark and deep
on the seas rough bed,
with tangles of black kelp
and brandy snaps of coral,
serenaded by the whales song,
to feel a salty freeflowing pleasure
at your sailo...
Saturday 5th June 2010 7:45 pm
pink
i can feel the heat rise from my skin
the hot pink temperature of pain
self inflicted!
oh foolishness!
why did I never think the sun would be so hot!
a soreness makes me aware
of my vulnerability,
of the softness that is me.
a delicacy of skin and flesh and bone.
when even clothes cause pain.
delicacy to dying
is but a short journey.
...Friday 4th June 2010 7:54 pm
gone
It’s gone now
And all is pure.
The water has no ripple
The breeze has fallen
And in the sky
The heavens are smooth.
The clouds float seamlessly
And all is clean once more.
The grass is green once more.
At nightfall the moon rises
Like a wise witch,
One who knows it all.
For the breeze has fallen
And the grass is green once more.
The fox sl...
Tuesday 1st June 2010 7:38 pm
grains
ease your toes into the puddled sand
and squeeze the softness
between those baby bones!
you’re squeezing rock
you’re pressing eons
vast periods of time
trilobites and iguanodon!
and maybe somewhere
there are pieces
knocked out of the moon. . . .
a comets trail
a shooting star
a meteorite
all the way from Mars. . . .
...
Saturday 29th May 2010 7:09 pm
the poetess
She gives good head, the poetess
because her mouth is full of poems
and her inspiration is love.
Words spill out of her when she comes.
Her breasts are a rhyming couplet.
The poetess is good in bed,
her pillows are full of soft vowels
and her eiderdown’s a sonnet.
“Make me rhyme” she says.
“Show me a good time”
(for her poems are not very good...
Wednesday 26th May 2010 9:37 pm
family
The lioness shall be my mother
Her huge strength will be my shelter
Golden arms will hug me tightly
Lioness will be my mother.
The elephant shall be my father
In power and wisdom he shall guide me
With noble thoughts he will instruct me
Elephant will be my father.
Let the zebra be my sister
Let us run in joy together
Ever playful, ever cheerfu...
Tuesday 25th May 2010 3:01 pm
women of the world
"I am the woman who lives in a cave
on the beach, out of reach.
I didn’t always live in a cave
I had a home, was not alone.
I don’t wear shoes
no blue suede blues
seaweedy hair
but I don’t care
my food is free
and good for me
and as I sit
the water drips
the rocks are black
against my back
the roof is high
the seagulls fly
and I...
Sunday 23rd May 2010 12:50 am
pandora's jar
I’m formed from clay
turned on the potter’s wheel.
Spinning made me
and I spin still.
Smoothed thumb and finger
and wet earth.
From honest mud,
that was my birth.
The gods made me to carry the can.
Poor womankind, to get the blame from man.
They put in my possession all the gifts
without my knowing
when the pot was raw,
that they were t...
Wednesday 19th May 2010 5:33 pm
heavy with green
In the woods the trees are heavy with green
but it is cold for May.
The fat brown dog shambles her way along the stream.
Quiet scatterings of wood anemones pale as ghosts
gather under hedgerows
and a few thin bluebells hang their heads,
ink blue.
The trees are heavy with green.
The colour hangs like guilt,
a soft miasma of potential sadness
yet to u...
Tuesday 18th May 2010 7:14 pm
withdrawal
Withdrawal of love
Causes pain,
Engenders blood.
The spiny shards of love
Are hard to lose.
It’s like removing some great thorn
From flesh
Made tendersore by loving and by kisses.
Withdrawal, more than murder,
Causes pain.
When love is pure,
Was certain
But no more.
Withdrawal of fine love it causes pain.
And so, with heavy heart
...
Monday 10th May 2010 9:27 pm
a stan laurel kind of day
i woke up this morning and right away
i knew it was a stan laurel kind of day
my hair was standing up like fresh cut hay
cos it was a stan laurel kind of day.
avoiding bossy wives with rolling pins
wearing my stripey nightshirt that comes down to my shins
carrying a piano up twenty flights of stairs
another fine mess i’m in and no-one cares
didn’t go ...
Sunday 9th May 2010 3:37 pm
the biggest splash
His final hours were happy ones, remembering.
Back in the days when he was a lauded YBA
in black framed glasses and gold lame.
His style and his Yorkshire tongue
incongruous in 1961.
His mind drifts back, he’s there again
painting portraits of beautiful friends
with their hounds lazing at their feet.
On opulent Chelsea afternoons.
And then those ...
Sunday 2nd May 2010 12:31 pm
phosphorous
I always felt so sorry for the hound
the piteous beast, alone and chained
up on the tor,
his lips and eyes lined all around.
With phosphorous.
The pain he felt was never mentioned in the book.
I never cared for young Sir Henry and his fate
when that dumb creature
with his heart so great
was imprisoned there in ruins ancient.
Distorted, tortured to i...
Thursday 29th April 2010 3:18 pm
behind a dark moon
Two steps on the water
That’s me.
I’m the devils daughter
That’s me.
You wouldn’t think to see me
That’s me
You wouldn’t want to be me
That’s me.
An angels wroth the deaths head moth
The quicksand strand the speckled band
The poisoned dart the straying heart
The fever you catch the itch you can’t scratch
The note that’s flat the mummi...
Wednesday 28th April 2010 11:57 am
marshmallow
now mine to hold.
Sunday 25th April 2010 4:39 pm
dance round the kitchen it's SUNDAY!!!
I have decided that we should all dance more! Instead of discussion threads that sometimes end in fisticuffs (this years latest fashion accesory) POETS MUST ALL DANCE for at least 10 minutes a day. Well, I will if you will!
eternally yours
old bossyboots!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...
Sunday 25th April 2010 9:06 am
blackthorn
She was pure as the blackthorn
Sweet as the apple tree
Trusting in nature
Oh how she loved me!
Her heart, an open book
Her soul was a dove
And when she looked at me
Her heart it said “love.”
I courted her in maytime
When blossom hung low
I told her I loved her
Wanted her to know
That my heart it was heavy
As the flowers above
...
Friday 23rd April 2010 11:46 pm
the joke
she swoops and dives around him
like the first carousing swallow
chatters and sings
on loves new wings.
she trusts him.
circling him
like bright ribbons in maytime
she doesn’t care
where the path will take them.
up and on they go
cloud-high now
into the sky’s breath.
the path is steep and stony
but she does not see.
...
Friday 23rd April 2010 3:44 pm
welcome
I have a bedroom full of rooks and roses
A willow tree grows on my window sill
A cooing owl is perched upon my wardrobe
And down my staircase runs a rippling rill.
An iron cooking pot steams in the kitchen
A woodworm table stands upon the floor
A hundred candles gleaming in the twilight
A golden heart, the knocker on my door.
A silken rug as thick and...
Thursday 22nd April 2010 11:25 am
Venusienne
Men and women aren't the same
it’s written in the stars ;-)
Because I come from Venus
and you lot are from Mars.
Yet on a summer evening
if you would hold my hand
gaze into my Venusian eyes
I know you’d understand.
You’d speak sweet Martian nothings
into my shell-like ear,
translated to Venusian
t’would say “I love you dear.”
And our eyes wo...
Wednesday 21st April 2010 7:18 am
ROCK
sitting on that rock
smooth and twirled as a rollercoaster
or the oilyslinky hide of a minke whale.
that was me!
breezy fingers ruffle hair
smiling, eyes squint at the sun
hoping, alone, not lonely though.
that was me!
imagining the space beside me - filled
yet still content to leave it empty
gently dreaming.
that was me!
w...
Monday 19th April 2010 10:15 pm
mother nature's victory!!
the men thought they'd be centre stage
they trained their wives
they chose their ties
they lay in wait!
they'll be on the front page every day
no escape for us!
but what did they know?
VOLCANO!!!!
(and in the cities they can hear the blackbirds sing)
Sunday 18th April 2010 7:51 pm
dance round the kitchen - it's sunday (part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FEocnp2qiw
hope you're all chillin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCYf2pBdZvg
like this one too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnWVCWNnkQE
tres bonne xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xx
Sunday 18th April 2010 1:43 pm
doxy
If I could be your doxy
we’d meet down dogshite alley,
we’d rage, rampage and copulate
as the old rough bells tolled two.
You’d tear my smelly petticoats
I’d call you my old smelly goat
but I’d luv ya and I’d luv ya
and you wouldn’t care what you’d caught.
If I could be your doxy we’d never mind the poxy
or the blemishes of skin,
the pits and ...
Friday 16th April 2010 7:37 pm
pinny
I get so sick of married people.
All those husbands and wives.
The Bisto-flavoured Katywomen.
Coupledom, smugness, all that crap.
I hate that!
Why am out here on my own
chopping wood?
Why is it that a glass of wine
is my only friend at the end
of the day?
Where have I gone wrong?
Why do I have to be so strong?
I know it’s not rea...
Saturday 10th April 2010 4:06 pm
patina
I see it in others.
The gentle touch.
Been together for so long.
The patina.
Why did you leave me
long before the surface
was all rubbed to a gentle
mirror shine?
To make that object
that we feel the need to touch?
The patina.
The glow, the richness.
Being robbed of that conclusion
seems unfair
somehow.
And so I polis...
Friday 9th April 2010 7:55 pm
insurance
I want my own dedicated water damage claim handler
because emotions are flooding through my house.
I want my own dedicated water damage claim handler
because your tears are flooding,
forcing me out.
I want my own dedicated water damage claim handler
to sort out the condensation of my guilt.
It’s steaming up the windows and I can’t see out.
...
Friday 9th April 2010 7:26 am
missing person
So, shyly, she slips out of her life.
She tried it, tentatively,
she dipped a toe into the water
but found it to be cold.
Life turned out to be a shoe
that never fitted her.
A shade of lipstick that was just too bright.
A song that played
always too loudly.
So now, slipping through
the sea green opacity of another ocean,
at last sh...
Wednesday 7th April 2010 5:57 pm
cavemen
Just as cavemen wondered about rainbows
I find I sit and wonder over you.
I marvel at your mystifying glory,
don’t even understand the things you do.
What is it that my beloved’s made from?
What focus’s the glory in the sky?
The fleeting wonder was a joy to cavemen
too dim, like me to understand the “why”.
I can imagine all those lumpy cavemen
sitting r...
Tuesday 6th April 2010 2:42 pm
doe/doh!
Whisper-rustle bushes tell a tale that I am here.
Hiding from you, huntsman, wishing I could disappear.
And yet, and yet, to see your face I’d willingly appear.
For you are the sweetest huntsman
I have ever come upon.
Your stealthy soft approach I fear
it really turns me on.
To see you follow stealthily
in your leggings green.
They really are the sweete...
Monday 5th April 2010 7:53 am
lemon pips
Peggy wanders down the rainypuddle path
rescuing worms from a drowny fate.
She walks quicker now.
She mustn’t be too late!
She pops them by the hedge
where they can wriggle free.
“Goodbye worm. Good luck!”
says she.
Peggy saves the pips from her lemon tea.
She plants them in old baked bean tins
with holes stamped in the bottom.
She never gets le...
Friday 2nd April 2010 8:23 pm
a poet's death
let me die a poet’s death,
a what shall my last words be?
kind of a leaving.
to make sure there is no-one at home grieving
as they just ponder on my wise words of departure.
let me drift off just as I’m composing
how I wish to be remembered, as I am reposing
in my best poet’s lacy shirt
with wild neck tie flowing,
so they will not dwell upon my go...
Thursday 1st April 2010 7:21 pm
the bat
little goblin-face
hanging up like an unfurled black umbrella
spread the webbed gabardine of your wings
and twitter your secrets to me.
Tuesday 30th March 2010 7:26 pm
le weekend
couscous and petticoats
a bidet and faded wallpaper
in a fusty room
that overlooked the Gare du Nord.
the Jeu de Paume.
art nouveau lamp posts
and strong black coffee in a tiny cup.
hands tied gently to a rusty bedpost.
a long lost french weekend
seems so long ago . . . . .
Sunday 28th March 2010 7:42 pm
for all the men I love
Sunday 28th March 2010 7:31 am
spelling . . . .
I hate you!
You can’t even spell!
I love you!
Must be your secret smell!
Why is it ?
That I cannot resist?
I love you!
And that’s the final twist!
The pain!
Your beauty binds me so!
I love you!
And you will never know.
Surely
Behind those eyes so blue
I must see
The inner truth of you.
You fool me
With such cerulean gaze
Yo...
Friday 26th March 2010 8:12 pm
the drone's lovesong
Intoxicate me, lady bountiful!
Let me sink into your wantonness.
Sidle up to me with your lazy glamour.
You are so gloriously soft
with a generous sumptuousness
and a voluptuousness profound.
Somnolent with pleasure
you are the queen of all the bees.
And all I can think of is
Your honey, honey, honey!
Friday 26th March 2010 6:14 pm
beast
If you listen you can hear it
padding softly up and down.
Whisperpaws and fleeting shadows
just that feeling, it’s around.
In the space between the shadows
there is safety, there is hope.
Just slip through to where it takes you
clinging on to safety’s rope.
I can hear you, feel you tremble,
rugged creature of the dark,
of the sea and win...
Wednesday 24th March 2010 10:26 pm
Fanny My Indian Cow
Fanny my Indian cow
She cheers me up somehow
She’s got one horn
Her tail is gone
But she cheers me up somehow.
She’s probably got dry rot
And that’s not all she’s got
Her feet are broke
She’s a pig in a poke
Fanny my Indian cow.
But she’s got such a pretty face
Even with no style or grace
She’s sweet to me
Though no beauty
Fann...
Tuesday 23rd March 2010 7:32 pm
goddess
One minute she looks like a goddess
shimmering on the brink
glowing with a secret.
People stop her in the street
“You look so beautiful” they say
amazed indeed at such translucent loveliness.
A moment passes and a thought.
Suddenly faded, who is she now?
They don’t recognise her anymore.
Like a plane crashing a thousand feet
in one second
...
Sunday 21st March 2010 2:28 pm
butter
I thought I’d met a man
Who saw the real me.
He held a buttercup beneath my chin.
He said “My God!
You don’t like butter!
I’ve never heard of that before!
You are a living miracle!
For every maiden’s chin blushes with gold
When beneath her face
A lovely buttercup I hold”
I was impressed for he was right.
I don’t like butter.
Butter mak...
Sunday 21st March 2010 6:09 am
sampler
It's 1832
And I am nine
This is my house.
I'm sitting by the fire
But I am cold.
My clothes itch me.
And I have to do my sampler.
Here are the windows of my house.
And there are flowers in the garden
But I don’t know what they are called.
This is my house.
My mother died.
But we don’t talk of her.
This is my house
And it...
Friday 19th March 2010 7:57 pm
be witched
I love you
my wicked little witch!
Is it the whiff of sulphur in your hair?
Or your cat’s-eye pupils when you look at me ,
with what?
Love, pity, fascination?
I can never tell!
But now you’ve cast
your potent spell.
And so I love you
my little witch.
Is it your pointy little feet
dancing all around me in the street
leaving n...
Thursday 18th March 2010 5:51 pm
losing
And so I lose you
As I lose every man.
I never had you
For it was over
Before it began.
You’ll never know now
The passion of my lips
And it’s lost to you
For all time.
The pleasure of my hips.
If you could hear me
But you were deaf to all.
You have your safe life
Why would you choose to fall
For such a strange one
So...
Wednesday 17th March 2010 8:06 pm
foal
spindly rickety ballerina,
so lanky you’ll fall off yourself.
you sweet poem of uncoordination
a prayer for your mother,
your world is opening in sunlight.
new freedom as your legs learn to obey.
warmmilkmother nurtures
and everything is new,
everything is joy.
you lanky daffodil of springtime,
tremulous on skittering hooves.
new smells sp...
Tuesday 16th March 2010 9:05 pm
evolution
if sheep had long necks
so that they could reach more grass
would they be llamas?
Tuesday 16th March 2010 6:37 pm
rosequartz
Entomb me in a chapel of rosequartz
for I need healing,
with incense at my head
for I need sleeping,
a pink tinged tomb
where I can find oblivion,
a dawnpink home
where I can rest my heart.
Just lose me in a chamber full of light
for I seek dazzling,
with candles all around
me in the night
for I need warming.
A safety zone
wher...
Monday 15th March 2010 8:28 am
mothers' day
mum, still in my heart
children grown but love still strong
two cards - I’m happy
Sunday 14th March 2010 6:32 am
trash
fox comes thursday night
scatters trash willy nilly
. . . bin men come Friday
photo Sam Driscoll
Saturday 13th March 2010 7:31 am
Watch out! There’s a Thesaurus About!
Diplodocus blunders through the swamp
He’s munching moss and singing to himself
He’s humming cos he doesn’t know the words
Diplodocus is a little thick.
Tyrannosaurus boxes through the trees
Punching the branches biff biff boff!
Grunting and puffing
Tyrannosaurus is a street-wise dude.
But even he admits he’s getting on a bit.
Stegosaurus daydream...
Thursday 11th March 2010 5:41 pm
dogbo
my dog's got an asbo
but 'e didn't mean no 'arm
'e was only playin
when 'e chomped off your arm
'e was only teasin
an' tryin to have a laugh
'e didn't really mean it
when 'e bit your kid in 'alf
an 'e was only jokin
when 'e tore off your dog's 'ead
i know 'e's very sorry
that the sweet chiwawa's dead
and anyway, it's all your fault
so don't ge...
Wednesday 10th March 2010 6:28 am
twine
If you were mine, if you were mine
they’d never see us more than half an inch apart.
No one could get a piece of paper
in between us.
There’d never be a time
when your hand was not in mine!
When I wasn’t running my fingers through your hair.
When my arm was not around your waist
and my tongue wasn’t tickling your ear.
I could always be found
...
Monday 8th March 2010 5:17 pm
Dave and the Mermaid
They’d been a romantic item
for really quite a time.
They’d met one night in April
when he’d been fishing on a line.
They’d started with a struggle,
arguing over a tasty fish.
And it had really burst his bubble
when he saw she was such a dish!
He takes her down the local pub
where there is no mermaid ban
and all his friends and cronies
think he is a ...
Sunday 7th March 2010 9:36 am
family history - for hatta
they thought he was just
cream crackered
then sadly they realised he was
in fact
brown bread
Saturday 6th March 2010 2:08 pm
the carpet fitters broke my pot
The carpet fitters broke my pot
they didn’t even care,
they tipped the pieces in the bin
like it’d never been there.
I must admit that I was wrong
to leave it on the shelf
but I just feel so sodding cross,
not going to blame myself!
They thought I’d never notice it,
that was the real insult.
If they’d just apologised
I would’ve excused their guilt.
...
Saturday 6th March 2010 7:21 am
Ebay raven
He stands so still
Like a real person
His presence so complete
His character so strong
Aged and tatty
He’s almost too big to contemplate
His head is on one side, to look at me
He has a kind face
Like a Martin Brothers’ oddity
But there’s no denying, he is unsettling
Nearly too big for my room
I hope we’ll be used to each other by the morning
But I...
Saturday 6th March 2010 6:48 am
mapping
I lie against you
looking up at the
pale hill of your hip.
Getting to know
the lie of the land,
familiarising myself
with your contours.
Suggested bluffs and plains
as the moon sets behind your shoulder.
Fingers wandering along new pathways.
A meander into paradise.
Slipping off the beaten track,
I know it will be a smooth journ...
Friday 5th March 2010 4:17 pm
christian
we are, I think, a gentler
society, nowadays.
A tv presenter,
young and gay,
comes to a sticky end
in his own way
but still, sweet little old ladies
are so proud to call him friend.
Wednesday 3rd March 2010 9:20 am
Eve's lament
Slippery eel, slippery eel
no one knows how you make me feel.
Look forward to grasping your coils all day,
you hiss, you smile, you slide away.
Poisonous snake, poisonous snake
you don’t know the risks I take.
Give my heart, you swallow it whole,
just a lump in your throat, and that’s your goal.
Greasy worm, greasy worm
knowing all night I twist a...
Wednesday 3rd March 2010 8:09 am
the back of my knee
there’s no name for the back of the knee
or so they say.
that delicate area of skin
so gently folded when we kneel
a whispersoft place for your secret knowing.
there’s no word for how I feel,
a million spring to mind
but they won’t do.
no, nothing can describe
that exquisite tingle that floods through me
when you kiss the back of my knee
...
Tuesday 2nd March 2010 12:04 pm
moon-tired
I’m so tired today
The moon kept me awake all night
She wouldn’t let me get away.
There was so much moon-energy going down
She kept pulling me back from sleep
Wanted an audience I guess.
For her beauty.
Or was it all a ploy
To make sure I was just too tired
To appreciate the sun?
Monday 1st March 2010 8:39 am
windy day
The wind’s busy today.
It bustles and hurries
flipping bin lids
as it goes.
The wind’s forgetful today.
It rushes past me,
can’t remember where it’s going,
turns back
and rushes past me
again.
The wind’s playful today.
Stripping the leaves off the trees
to leave them naked.
The wind’s chatty today
laughing and giggling
...Saturday 27th February 2010 6:53 pm
delft
a delft bowl
a fragment of coral faded like old lace
a carved fruit made out of apple wood
a long black feather
a marble with a flicker of flame at its heart
*
the window sill
*
Look out of the window
*
a trampled path
reflexions in puddles
a scattering of sparrows in the hedge
a field sloping up a hillside
seven black cows
*
...
Friday 26th February 2010 9:15 pm
loving you
Tuesday 23rd February 2010 8:01 am
the heart it smells of iron
So here’s to the heart then.
The pure and beating one.
So full of blood
hot and pulsing.
And here’s to love
love and the heart
as one.
Debauched in its own sanguinity
or pure and true,
it is the life
and it is the death
of you.
Turned into a benign design,
a posy or a valentine.
But the true heart
it smells of...
Sunday 21st February 2010 7:14 pm
Dance round the kitchen - it's Sunday!
Sunday 21st February 2010 11:42 am
cold feet
Walkin down the road I got
Cold feet.
Something to tell ya I got
Cold feet
Back of my mind I got
Cold feet
They say love is blind I got
Cold feet
Maybe it’s not worth it got
Cold feet
Shiverin all over cos of
Cold feet
Got to say I love you but those
Cold feet
I just seem to clam up, it’s my
Co...
Saturday 20th February 2010 8:26 pm
Ladybird Ladybird
Ladybird ladybird
fly away home
your house is on fire
your children are gone
The fire engine’s racing
up over the hill.
Where are you ladybird,
far away still?
The neighbours are crying
cos your babies are burned.
You’re always lying,
you never returned.
Going out on the town
just whenever you can,
going out drinking
...
Saturday 20th February 2010 7:28 am
WRECKING BALL
Grief is like a wrecking ball
made out of ice.
A lump of ice that thumps you
in the heart.
You go for days,
it’s like it always was.
And then . . . .
a name, a thought, an image or a song
and here it comes.
Here comes the wrecking ball again.
I wear a hard hat every day,
it does no good,
I know that I am going to fall -
and here it comes...
Friday 19th February 2010 3:41 pm
fox dreaming
Little fox little fox
what are you dreaming?
Cascadings of blood and
downpourings of feathers?
Of red coats and trumpets,
of fleet hounds and horsemen?
Or screamingscreetch couplings
in cold winter meadows?
Of mother’s milk warmth
and the tussles with brothers,
of hiding and seeking
and pouncing on flowers?
Or do you dream nothing
but just soak the warmth up
in you...
Thursday 18th February 2010 5:56 pm
Cornish Holiday
The key with it’s number tag.
Ours for the week!
The slightly damp chalet,
the scratchy grey blankets.
A pink flash of foxgloves
at melting green windows.
Pastel blue egg cups
found in musty cupboards
with glass salt and pepper pots,
a dish for the trifle.
Jazzy grey lino
and bunk-bed excitement.
Rainy-day puppet shows
with toys playing ...
Tuesday 16th February 2010 9:12 am
Gemma
Slender as a sliver of paper
as she slips through the door
ajar.
Light as a leaf in autumn.
I pick her up
she almost floats away.
Eyes swivel slowly
to look at me.
We love each other.
I know this.
And I know this too.
People who say that cats can’t love
are wrong.
My cat
at eighteen.
We are a knowing pair.
...
Tuesday 16th February 2010 7:23 am
Valentine's Day Blues
I got the valentine’s day blues
I got the valentine’s day blues
I ain’t got no valentine
I’m not yours
And you’ll never be mine
I got the valentine’s day blues
I got the valentine’s day blues
Go to bed each night on my own
Wake up in the morning
And I’m still alone
I got the valentine’s day blues
I got the valentine’s day blues
...Sunday 14th February 2010 8:04 am
Chinese new year poem of the highly sexual rabbit and the ill-matched dragon.
The highly sexual rabbit
pokes his nose out of the hole and sniffs . . .
sniffs the fire breathing dragon.
He can detect smoke on the air.
He feels aroused,
the highly sexual rabbit.
The skinny rat he lives with
pulls him back in.
She doesn’t like the look of him.
Dragon feels happy alone
free and breathing her fire
but . . ...
Saturday 13th February 2010 6:46 pm
egg
egg is perfect
egg is full
egg is patient
egg is still
egg is power
egg is grace
egg knows all
there is to know
egg eternal
egg transcends
earth cracks
egg mends
Friday 12th February 2010 6:20 pm
collision course
We ricochet from pillar to post
buffeted like an atom in the Hadron Collider
smashed up from emotion to emotion
from love to guilt to fear
to lust to passion back to love again.
Made dizzy in this hollow biosphere
and round and round and round
we go again.
And on the windscreen of the world
we only form a smear.
A brief streak made from
blood and swea...
Thursday 11th February 2010 7:50 pm
Love and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Let me back, just a little.
I know you had to hide my picture in a drawer.
But it’s been two years now.
You can let me back a little.
Can’t you?
I know you’ve painted the kitchen pink.
That’s O.K.
I’m cool with that.
But maybe you could bear to look
at my favourite book
again.
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.
You coul...
Wednesday 10th February 2010 6:08 pm
BIKE
I want to be your bicycle
I want to be your bike
I want to be your bicycle
let you do whatever you like.
I want to be your coffee cup
pressed against your lips
I want to be your leather belt
pulled tight around your hips
I want to be your handkerchief
I want to be your hankie
I want to be your handkerchief
you can wipe your nose on me.
...Wednesday 10th February 2010 5:15 pm
avocado
It was a few months before
I could eat an avocado again.
They were a sort of ritual with us,
we had one with our evening meal,
half for me and half for you.
When you were here.
It always was a risk.
They were such temperamental things!
Sometimes their skins were thick and leathery
you couldn’t tell until you’d cut the flesh
if they were hard as rock...
Tuesday 9th February 2010 8:37 am
unrequited
I know you’ll never understand me.
But does it matter?
The magnet that draws me to you
is shaped like love.
I’m mesmerised by its weight and texture
the smooth curve of the magnet -
a horseshoe on which I sit and wait.
I swing my legs.
When will you come?
photo jiformales
Sunday 7th February 2010 3:47 pm
coromandel
Don’t build me a coffin
of coromandel wood,
just leave me be.
No ormolu brass handles,
not for me.
No church, no pews, no prayers
and not that final curtain call.
Please.
Dress me in white lace
as for my wedding day.
Carry me to the meadow
and just let me lay.
Circle me with daisy chains
if you must
for there is nothing more to say
...Saturday 6th February 2010 4:46 pm
Wolf Rock
Strong and lonely light house,
bleak master,
faithful presence
guarding me from harm.
Never to have a companion -
for what good would two light houses be,
standing close together?
You are wisdom,
strong father,
faithful lover,
but in your isolation
I want to cry for you,
tears salt as the sea.
For you, for me.
No one will ever visit you,
...Friday 5th February 2010 8:42 pm
bath time
The soap slides from my fingers
like a slippery mango stone.
Gleaming blue,
your eyes sparkle,
bright-cut,
engine-turned.
And I splash you.
Your toes dig into my hips
as I lean forward
to kiss your lips.
Thursday 4th February 2010 3:54 pm
The Candle Game
Take off your clothes and come with me
it’s Candlemas, so mote it be
pure nakedness, we’ll feel no shame
it’s time to play the Candle Game.
The men are sitting in a round,
a tinkling bell, the only sound,
a candle passed from hand to hand.
They really are a merry band.
Each woman stands behind her man
what she must do, that’s if she can,
blow ...
Tuesday 2nd February 2010 3:23 pm
Botany
Please don’t trample on my heart,
step carefully where bluebells grow.
Admire the violets of my eyes,
the roses, as my lips I show.
Don’t steal the blossoms from my breast
or snip the blooms with your sharp blade
to press my petals in a book,
and rob the garden I have made.
In secret place I bloomed alone,
you found me in this valley deep.
Wit...
Tuesday 2nd February 2010 6:10 am
masturbation song
feathers.
When I think of you
I feel feathers
Tickling the soles
Of my feet.
They feel like
Turquoise feathers
Long, lush, soft.
I think maybe
They’re feathers from a fan
And each spoke of the fan
Is studded with pearls
And opal spangles.
And then . . . .
You make my toes curl.
Palomino.
And there are gilded...
Monday 1st February 2010 10:52 am
incantation
The awful Eve within me lights her fire
Puts all my ease and comfort on the pyre.
A hateful Harpy zooms out of my head
She takes command, she rolls me in my bed.
I toast the ancient goddess - love and lust
I let my good name fall into the dust.
Where has all my well-trained goodness gone?
Just hunger, with your flesh to feed upon.
Excruciating pleasure, let me go
...Monday 1st February 2010 7:35 am
swimming with humans
Each day they come. We see them on the shore,
come rain or shine.
They climb aboard the boats, some with excitement,
some with trepidation.
Some look really sad.
Poor things!
The boat speeds out to where my friends and I
are frisking in the waves.
We wait for them - it’s our job, it’s what we do.
Now.
With help, they timidly descend into our r...
Friday 29th January 2010 4:38 pm
Recent Comments
David RL Moore on War in Season
3 minutes ago
Stephen Gospage on MEALS ON WHEELS
38 minutes ago
Stephen Gospage on Donkey Jacket
46 minutes ago
Stephen Gospage on EVEN THE OLIVES WERE BLEEDING
54 minutes ago
Stephen Gospage on IT AIN'T ME, BABE
1 hour ago
Pragya Pal on Why not
4 hours ago
TobaniNataiella on Nothing Has Changed
7 hours ago
Hugh on Pensioners suffer a death sentence !!!
10 hours ago
Marla Joy on Gracefully
11 hours ago
Marla Joy on The Doughnut She Couldn't Eat
11 hours ago