kept from the saddle by sleep and cider,
nestled in this cluttered room, this dimlit
hibernation station, wallow fallow in
the gathered gloom, the afternoon moon
this is the time for those who dream in daytime,
those who gather and hunt, those who like me
watch from windows, making shade from shadow,
form from substance, the things that dreams are made on.
Four minutes past late
The long and the short of it…
Cleared out the empties.
Priced up cheapo books for Juul;
Made some fresh coffee;
What’s to do next, Boss?
Review the twelvemonth, Arthur!
The third Afghan War
proved a futile sacrifice
same as the first two
Old top brass eye up the next,
mothers weep for a tearless world,
alcohol poisoning
has doubled, trebled, wobbled
quadrupled…collapsed.
Anything else, Boss?
A hard shoulder to cry on
Last Night of…
extreme dreams,
stark monochrome fluid,
freeway floral wallpaper,
rotting damasks, shillelagh,
almonds and formaldehyde.
White light, white sheet.
Jammin’ Jerusalem
Jute wailing bunnies.
Then,
exhausted from the lie-in:
cobalt clear still sky
flossed with high flying drifts,
orchestras of demi-gods trail
home spent.
We scavenge the tepee for beans,
celebrate love apples with libations of strong coffee,
and weep and fear for the band snakes,
Asian gators, and tigers on the fridge, hiding behind
the fabric conditioner, still ready to pounce on sleepy
Moorhen’s eggs.
Your runnin’ and
your runnin’ and
your runnin’ away
from yourself.
poohsticks gone eleven
lesser spotted orangemen
after their endeavourings
removing crud
from one’s broken footpath
and sublime resurfaced road—
tootled out to sneak a keek in
my little black boxers,
gait of a failed weightlifter,
minus safety belt and talcum powder,
and exaggerated out blasts
of plump me up breath;
Xmas card
from ‘Jason, your devoted milkmaid’.
Blake & the Gilchrists, Palmer the Painter (not the poisoner, or was he?)
Sub-bucolic seditious
portrayals just show the hell of rural life—groan unpleasant land yield up your fish!
Either way
they brought Mad Blake deserved fame·
after all that’s all that matters·
resurfacing·
rediscovery·
readershipwreck·
~
Mad panning meeting:
sludge, silt, plastic beads,
Jock McRock—lapsed mason,
Well bonkers demi-scourge
bristling with bad ideas and good intent,
impresario in the do’s and don’ts of anarchio,
former surgeon to pinocchio— slopes of early
into that good night of sturgeon’s seed
& introverted ptamigan’s
Eggs Benedictine
Compensate for tedium
Pitiful compensation:
Mandelbrot chipolatas spark
Kaleidoscopic twilight…
Gerraway with you!
Prospect of Summer
in the Peak District provides
A pleasing enough distraction
From progressive viola
A Popedream well worth puffing on…
Six o’clock roll trolls droll dread
AA Gill—he Dead
Famous for fifteen minutes
Nothing like Andy Warhol
He’s been dead famous for yonks
A Larkin moment!
Brass rubbing in Matlock Bath
If it’s not been pinched by oiks
In Purple Brothel Creepers
Hanging round coffee houses
Contemplating patricide
No good to man or beast
If the truth be known
Tea tree pungency
Midday twenty three.
Kilbride’s secret went
to the grave with him
everso tiny
peanut butter sandwiches
stitched into his stomach lining
there were no flies on Kilbride
just wasps and hornets
Pretty common for late August
In Andalucía
poetry
is
an
absorbing
way to
carry on
…
a
frustrating
palaver
at
the best
of times
…
pecu
liar
ly
enjoy
ab
le
…
mi
asmic
put
res
cence
…
stag
nant pool
quint
essence
ally
…
like
omni
buses
it
takes you
places
…
some
quite
odd
like
Timbuktu
red cross parcel weird ripped
Open by calm alacrity
Strident cumulus
Any colour you pick out twice
Peculiar paint box bollard
(at this juncture-named red house—
You know the old barns?)
Straw broke tallow willow
Sceptred broken leather clasp
Strange Misericord
makes definition
stop making sense by
form without we breathe
What bliss awaits me below?
Something hot & spicy
Most probably not
You’re really struggling
Hey-ho dontya know the cats
Seethe despair differently
Mucal chissled grins
Hang hissing round the door
Most insistently
They beg for essence:
Ignored children shout a lot
Love trains leave by night
How swift desire passes
in this Wistful age of steam
Ecstasy clouds good judgement
All’s unfair in love
We are all war Criminals
Awaiting trial by peer
Group hysteria
Tread wary hunted Minotaur
Now standing on Platform Four
A seagull bound to tell lies
Omniscient eye seas lullaby
Grimbeau 