I cook some
runner beans
and
put the fish
pie in
the top oven.
Thirty minutes at 180c.
Meantime She arrives.
I ate and now I sweat.
The pie was
impressive,
the beans too populous.
Soon I will shower.
The afternoon is
oppressive.
Thundery,
heavy air.
It is three seventeen.
The dog barks.
There was something.
What was it?
The pepper,
the potatoes…
and something else.
French beans:
Harry Covert’s.
Speckled with blackfly.
A portent of tempest.
Slam door thud silence
Frantic lunchtime microwaves
Hard working people
five wrinkly old balls
i threw into the grinning air’s
odd attachments
(quite some minutes later…)
no!
the have not re-appeared!
well, fancy that,
are you confused!
no!
just a little bemused
as i am attached to them.
now,
there’s a conundrum…
Kodak caught the moment
Look! Say Cheese! Ugly
Your embarrassing neck
You now too can see
Appear in future times
Like Dr Who or Theda Bara
All it takes is
A blink of an eye
Like a pinprick second
Then magically
Scientifically
All the world is yours…
Birthdays, funerals, candles
Immortalised forever wrong
Stuck in sticky dust envelopes
Marked: ‘Audrey, what a treasure!
May, nineteen-seventy two.’
That was it, was it?
defensive & hostile
never listening to your
parental commands
Midday!
Phew, that was close run race.
Nearly did something worthwhile
Till I came to my senses.
Let me tell you straight
The terror was tangible, tangerine, terrible.
Now it is over I can
return to Furplefarple Land
rest easy better in my bed
than this red sweater does
but cobalt and magenta
are in the wash
and so is
a frozen chicken
…like a sub without an urb
A town without a centre
A blurb without a verb
A daughter called Placenta
An anthem to mundanity
Where chickens dance like mascots
And fuck their best mate’s bird
Rent out time shares in Damascus
Own a cat that’s never purred…
Eternal prisoners
Far wandering souls
Glowing phosphor essences
Cheap tricks of the light
Shadows of evening
Ever receding
Memories of you
Still farting around
unsettled, fidgety,
detached, remote?
Then go take Dump!
Tick the Box!
Sign out!
*
Hazy murk soon spreads,
dampens the daylight,
giant hogweed encroach
harbouring malicious intent
*
You to blister, to paralyse,
to analyse stragglers,
scantily clad day-trippers,
pale gormless nudists,
innocent blithe minors,
demented wayward majors.
*
Normality is resumed at last.
The regular service
The bland repast.
A strict diet of worms and woodlice.
The occasional festive
peppering of capers.
Stuffed Olives if you’re lucky.
*
So, go Squawk
Scrabble and squabble
for scraps cooped up in your hovel.
Grovel for a drop to drink
acknowledging your unworthiness
with ingratitude and contempt.
Afternoon sister
Leaning dogs snore gentle tunes
Whispers shudder warm
