contemporary poetry

the inevitable september poem

…

september, september

soap sud flakes

      eight fat ladies

      fish paste sandwiches

september, september

bailing twine laces

      time for reflection

      your anus in a puddle

september, september

the ombudsman’s chin

      a mastiff of mole hills

      plus v.a.t

september, september

almost maroon

      & yet tangerine

      the bishop’s new pubes

september, september

solvent-free glue

      deep green anorak

      the second punic war

september, september

an anderson shelter

      breakfast in a bath tub

      & rose hip hedgerows

…

don’t go wilkos

…

don’t go wilkos

wilkos – don’t go

   your little tea lights

   brightened up my winter

      your white paint

      kept my kitchen shades of

   a ghost’s cotton socks

   your spinach seeds

sprouted each spring thing

in my humble greenhouse

   your triple a-batteries

   kept my torch glowing

      you birdseed

      fed the robins breakfast

   your own-brand bonios

   kept tails wagging

your tulip bulbs

bloomed in me bed

   your memory sticks

   stopped me forgetting

      your square pegs

      fitted in me round holes

   my heart’s where

   your hardware lies

your tubes of sealant

stopped me cracking up

   so don’t go wilkos

   wilkos – don’t go

…

a stormy spell

…

s hiver little villagers

shudder shuffle gusts

t erraforming roars

tungsten tusk thrusts

o ver battered haddock

operatic dales

r asping phantom raspberries

rides off the ghost train’s rails

m agonia’s revenge

madman weather maps

y es, it’s just beginning

yet the thunder claps

…

also included

…

triple a batteries

the barbary ape of seville

marmalade sunsets

ratatouille dawns

troubadours in transit vans

tomorrow’s toenails

a spare pair of underpants

a second class stamp

a paper teapot

the earless of skegness

hedgehogs in her kisses

babybels – & jacob’s crackers

…

eggs again for breakfast

…

east is cracking up
after the cockerel

crows of a morrow
then shells smash

eggs again for breakfast
yolky yokels cheer

here lie the scrambled
like a rubik’s hypercube

so today is poached
or cackles in a pan

or a saucepan’s bubbles
eat what you’re upon

out on a dawn walk
watching the sky

clouds become soldiers
dipping in vitellus

…

then came the rain

…

tiptoes in
crackle static radio

volume up
birdsong on mute

not from russia
but magonia with love

kittens then cats
catch in a bucket

facing the grey
shades of old parrots

kisses down in africa
hard on a humdrum town

so’s track one
peter’s red lament

planes over spain
spiders climbing spouts

listen to the music
of the splosh symphonic

when the sky snarls
like a feral snark

then came the rain
quenching then drenching

dogs upon dogs
fools in cagoules

…