“How queer? The wretched undertaker told me you were in a bamboo coffin When in reality you are alive and well living inside my head If it suits you, you are welcome to stay put here awhile I’ll tell you what, I’ll go imagine, for us, a spicy fourposter bed Also, I recall you always … More THE ROOM BEHIND MY EYES
WITHOUT THE PALISADE OF TIME before him a photograph two genial faces lovers no doubt a holiday snap? backdrop Rouen? Cathedral Notre-Dame? has he seen it in a brochure? must go there one day pointedly she says that that is ‘us’ ‘us’ when we had no secrets love struck ‘us’ still love struck ‘us’ her … More WITHOUT THE PALISADE OF TIME
when crimson satin meets medallion augmented uniform without exchange of hard cash then you know a war is won an armistice set in stone a time for revelry wanton the survivors such is the hyper sexuality of victors coming home and those who greet disinterred heroes another time; another place before the war perhaps? crepuscular … More DECREPIT DIARIES
I met an absolutely gorgeous swoony sort of chap just the other day at the garden centre where I was busy fondling a sapling whilst at the same time shedding a tear for a wilting bonsai. With so many people about I had, of course, kept my kit on. Anyway the chap I met worked … More THE SAD DEMISE OF JESSICA DOWNLOW – THE TREE HUGGING SUICIDAL POET
she is blithe in Fantasia now not a care in the world be it of forged legend or of unfeigned history the word of the vanquished is legitimate evidence of a reflection of what once was essential the open door heralding impossible freedom turning the door handle she found it locked foul words and a … More TO THE TUNE OF THE GUARDS WHISTLE
Cairo between the two world wars hustle and bustle and open doors The old walled city of a thousand minarets about the great Citadel of so very few regrets Sublime Islamic creations upon which greedy eyes must feast tobacco burning in a sheesha the naïve one will get fleeced Pickpockets and charlatans the thrill of … More THE BLACK SHEEP OF THE EMPIRE
How strong the woman, how frail the man He chanced upon her dressing She had got so far as tights and knicker elastic allowed Naught else As is her way A private conference With the unborn babe in her belly Telling him to Get his act together And show up or fuck off She turns … More HOW STRONG THE WOMAN
THE SCULLERY MAID a nebula of apathy dims the moral high ground there is nothing enlightening to unearth atop Mount Virtue no reward at all however cathartic the climb looking down from the crest the ever open canopy the lush savannah plains a land the Blameless claim to be a defiled Eden a place of … More THE SCULLERY MAID
TONY, WESTSIDE STORY (from a song by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim): ‘There’s a place for us, somewhere a place for us, peace and quiet and open air, wait for us, somewhere’ A EXTRATERRESTRIAL’S ALTERNATIVE: Somewhere within someplace, perhaps a fool’s paradise island, although conceivably not, the abundance of smart-arse nincompoops of this dreary, erstwhile … More THE CRUELEST TRICKERY OF ALL
blink and you will miss me me the old fool I exist in this moment as do you my friend too soon both you and I will be the dust of cosmic storms our purpose whatever it may have been as unsure of itself and as mystical as in the now before long we shall … More BLINK AND YOU WILL MISS ME
