At Woodstock rock
rolls heavy round
the hill, as,
Jimmy Hendrix style,
the stars and
strikes of battlefield,
with copter crews
from cotton fields,
the pickin strings
by singing flag,
that guitar falls
on silent field.
The food they
found, shared sixty fold
beyond the
Galilean hill;
those hickey folk
said sons the same,
won’t have them
starve, enjoying selves,
though most their
lads had Nam and eggs,
their will, to
share joint exercise.
First published by Foxtrot Uniform, Sep 2019
My cut out work, order excised,
the lingua scooted franca by,
as written codes are in a spin,
that first impression, plumped for term,
but first edition, draft, revised.
Imagine, me, reading your words,
when orchard trunks are worn for swim,
an orchid seen, such fruitless leap.
From capital I take the lead,
or is it plumb from column head,
the problem, read, when seeing red?
I before E, save after C,
rule pointless, if after, before.
I take the plunge, recall the sounds,
but syllables beyond my count,
as if a haiku, different sums.
If shape my mouth, they think I’m deaf,
but trial and error only test,
a plunger diving, U bend blocked,
the structure fractured, disjointed,
my reading age reduced to eight.
That’s why I use the gift of gab,
my moving script performed, not scanned,
until they note, page upside down,
pretend my glasses left at home;
a strategy, dyslexic games.
First published by Ariel Chart, June 2021
It lies
beneath her surface sheen,
the
real disturbance of disease,
dementia
spread, synapse collapse,
while
outwardly she knows the rules -
the
courtesies to strangers shown,
as
even dares to hold her hand,
mutters
sweet nothings to her lobe.
He
daily comes from swimming baths,
stiff
exercise for sinew strength,
some
lengths of pool as butterfly,
prior
to residence - not home -
the
space where breast-stroke tackles width,
that
gap between her mind and his;
from
highest board, diving for love,
through
water for the flower God,
his
Lily, surface tension float.
Tomorrow
it will seem the same,
unless
more fumbles locked in brain,
meniscus
broken, given way,
as
lightest touch may break the skein.
Pale
sunshine may give way to rain,
endearments
whispered, leaning in,
cold
shoulder proffered in return,
stare,
a rejected sacrifice,
this diamond wedding
alien.
First
published by Poetry Potion, Nov 2020
A strange
condition for a row
amongst the
headstone rows that flank
the hill side cemetery,
that hangs and
flows,
marble chips and
chips off marble, chip paper,
scree of lager
cans and driven flowers;
sunlight bearing
on the granite backs
lapidary curlicues
of the shade.
Does she entreat
or remonstrate
as they pace on
and through the slabs,
an avenue of
undying love inscribed,
he silent,
power-walking ahead against the wind and mood?
She, some pace
behind,
outstretched arm
and cupping hand towards him,
relaying, I
assume,
the beg to hear
her, or impress the point, backhanding.
I wonder if,
affected by the tight clipped yews
and angel wings
and comforts versed,
and likewise
outstretched arms,
she solicits
advocacy of heaven.
But as I muse on
irony,
the hope of
ancient dead to hold sway,
to influence for
good,
I realise that in
her extended hand
is her phone.
First
published by Ink, Sweat and Tears, July 2019
Growing Patch
For years it was a briar patch,
the spittoon for my tar babies
where dog-ends crouched and mucked about,
a wasteland, harsh for lions’ teeth,
few tattered rugs for undergrowth,
a two-piece suite though downside-up,
no longer fire-resistant kite
flying as passers tipped more dump.
Deep roots beneath the mats required,
agent orange or napalm spray
from TV dinners, Nam and eggs;
but then despite my settled view,
like greenstick-fractured sapling torn,
my seasoned outlook snapped in two,
algebra working in my bones,
now marrow spreading, open flowered.
New groundwork digging in my mind -
a landscape under my control,
working not against, with the clay,
the carpets floored a compost heap.
I burned brambles, skipped furniture,
nightshade cleared from the deadly dock,
laid grass where the couch had strayed,
from mattress rot, created beds.
Now creepers climb where nettles rashed,
an arbour necklaced jasmine gems,
prim roses replace trailing dogs;
the paving crazed, thyme on its stones
the garden broom flings seeds about -
while honeysuckled by the bees.
Herbaceous fills the spacious soil -
I put flags out to celebrate.
First published by Here Comes Everyone, Feb
2020
He has been nominated, like so many, for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
His blog is at https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/
Marvelous. I enjoyed these poems immensely.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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