…
a big cucumber
a pair of marigold gloves
& a tube of lube
…
photography
sketch up
…
then on a bench, quenching when
plums from the rucksack, mossy anus
rustic nuts, copper beech rustles
sine wave function, cockapoodle hoop
hierophant sneezes, wood pigeon swoop
to-do troubadour, a-roads whispering
waterproof shoes, grey cobweb morning
thunderless singsong, strike before lightning
endlessly elephant, pen nibs nibble
section f, eight ’til eleven
athlete’s footnote, seventeen reasons
…
we are scaling
…
a nthills
b ean poles
c rocodile skin
d ecibel levels
e verest’s peak
f oghorns warming up
g od’s greasy spine
…
saladcadabra
…
hashtag terry’s
chocolate orangutan
instant calmer seesaw
& the cat shat
on the mathematics
harpsichord happenstance
mini cheddar gorge
gorgons in love
wormwood cottage
blowfly bungalow
five red robin hoods
raspberry pageantry
typeface the music
ooze another tuesday
who ate all the
pied wagtails?
…
a few things to work on
…
seventeen down
an intermittent frown
podgy ankles
ten across
enochian grammar
& your swingball backhand
…
other than the nothing
…
up again all nightmare
but the sun’s a sausage
sleepless is a friend of mine
we play musical chairs
with the village weasels
& pigs who sleep all day
while we walk the yawnings
of another morn’s daze
hazy’s my middle name
see the swifts gathering
up & in the ash tree
by the railway crossing
eyes & dotted t’s, please
fingers clutching something
other than the nothing
burger of the bugger’s
sods instead of oddness
but this is not normalzzz
so we roger not – no
portals call instead so
climb another anthill
me, myself & ivy
scribble in a notebook
float beyond the botlings
…
( author notes )
yes, the swifts were gathering
this morning, dear reader
well over a hundred
darting ninja stylee
they must be getting ready
to go back to africa
they were swirling around
almost like a murmuration
i’ve never seen anything
quite like it – no
then back into the same
ash tree they sat
top that for an auspicious marvel
…
a few things to bear in mind
…
why it might rain by teatime
the siege of antioch
cold shepherd’s pie
the gap between the train
– & the grey platform
life beneath europa’s ice
when the cows come home
– who will milk their udders?
how to spot a leopard
…
a gathering
…
moss from millstones
dust from the dead
strobe lights, bicycles
perhaps a woolly mammoth
ash from the embers
twigs & remembers
last night’s reverie
frankincense & fragments
next week’s while away
wednesday’s woven scarf
long john silver’s
long lost cousin
ghengis khan’s
godson christopher
mister kipling’s
tart on the side
more raw garlic bulbs
gingko biloba
five gold rings
atomic cuckoo clocks
two juicy melons
plus me lucky pencil
magic carpet burns
& a skeleton key
…
( author notes )
god save sausage roll to yuh
gave sausage roll to yuh
put it in the soul of everyone
…
the twelve days of autumn
…
twelve leaf blowers droning
eleven headless horsemen
ten conkers falling
nine poets mincing
eight menopausal maidens
seven shepherds lost in fog
six pumpkins souping
five guy fawkes
four bangers scaring
three tupped ewes
two skeins of geese
& a pixie on a toadstool
( amen )
…
screwing the blue
…
see the botling buggers
poles thrusting upward
harder than smoke
screwing the blue
with twelve golden stars
or yellow instead
slava war-mongers
or oh so bravely now
around the rainbow’s rim
or up the unions jacksy
because some jug-eared nonce
or someplace in the desert
that’s none of their beeswax
might tickle their software
hashtag that
– fucking flag shaggers
…
