…
climbing up snakes again
scaling green serpentine heights
life beyond the treeline
breathing in the black clouds
& sliding back down ladders
…
Poems
uncle susan’s diary
…
gathered like a teatime
guaranteed a deep, deep
sigh & an eye-roll
over the clover leaves
from the greenest pasture
gone like a cuckoo
toodleooh then
since wore more pringle
& rediscovered ovaltine
since was slowly down
a grainy midlands town
vast glacial cracks
until one magic june’s
rainbow revelation
rebooted, regenerated
life on the patches
after the wife ran
off with the milkman’s cousin
todger intact
thank god for that, though
( free online to read )
…
fifty p in change
…
fifty p in change
underneath the sofa
eight greylags
vee a skein above
honking over rooftops
slates & chimney pots
sixty six freckles
upon your uncle’s arse cheeks
gravy skin suit
the parson’s nose job
best before the twenty eighth
reheat on gas mark four
pardon my parsnips
slide like a friday
thirty three minutes past
two in the afternoon
…
the darling buds of maybe
…
yes, perchance the ants will dance
in a bumpkin’s barn
probably the breeze will sneeze
beavers dam & darn
badgers might invade peru
if the sapling twigs
beanstalks scratch magonia
penguins fly with pigs
fatter lambs on pastures graze
scotch egg hatchlings preen
poets unwrite purple prose
traffic lights stay green
certain stirs more than the rest
yet that west wind blows
southern norths & east again
up the parson’s nose
at a toss the sea could wave
at the midlands far
rubber chickens cross the road
as we umm an aah
balladeers with big ears could
bore us all again
woods in oakest albion
shelter us from rain
it’s likely – like v.d that
june is next as well
possibly the wasps will bee
if the bluebells knell
( ? )
…
calcium
…
atomic number twenty
the fifth most abundant
element on earth
as seen in limestone
gypsum or chalk
oh, builder of bone
you’re two ninety nine
for thirty tablets
in boots
…
( author notes )
boots is a shop
in case you’ve never heard of them
…
spatchcock friday
blessed bee thy bumbles
thy stumbles & thy staggers
but there’s daggers in the eyes
of the hi-vis enforcers
~
voltaire’s horse
bolted after thunderclaps
captain birdseye’s cousin
will meet you in the cubicles
~
bring your own sandwiches
& speak unspoken languages
fear the lollipop
the lady of mortlake
~
crematorium
we’re scrawling down in lieu
yes, in memoriam
plodded like all tennyson
~
the dismal drear of yesteryear
yes, drizzle disappear
a momentary tortoise shell
a herring-red admiral
~
or hannibal, the punic wars
but animals in human form
will scowl us tossers to
& fuckers fro, then home
…
outright ban
…
ban banjos
ban banisters
ban banquo’s ghost
ban bandannas
ban the bloody bandstand
ban bandwagons
ban banjaxing bantamweights
ban the banal bandits
ban the banker’s banquet
…
re boot
…
blücher the future
like a loveable brogue
in the mud or snow
or walking on the shiny moon
– yes, give it some welly
…
may, may
…
may, may
a day & a pole
yes, perhaps a horsy foal
prancing on the pastures
like a young queen camilla
or anne hathaway
– that-a-way beckons
may, may
the aquilegia soar
all is an almond
if reason is the rhyme
then it’s time for swingball
pan faked it all
like an ancient john darwin
may, may
the dead were never dead
said the makeshift scarecrow
to the crickets in the thicket
& the cuckoos in your mind
as a snark sings hymns
in the throbbing hedgerow
may, may
where the gnomes sunbathe
as the milking maids
gargle pink lemonade
barefoot on the garden lawn
dawn is a yellow
wagtail’s egg
may, may
trainers or walking shoes
hoodie not jacket
scibbles in a notepad
gladder than sir galahad
glowing goes my muse
deep green be thy elbows
…
lost in five
…
lo-fi in hi-fi
an astronaut in asda
dry robes in the midlands
pikes on bikes & scooters
bluebirds of inner-earth
…
resarf poetry 