…
& cotton buds
& woollen hats
& farriers
& flapping bats
& calendars
& cavalcades
& colanders
& orangeade
& waitresses
& winter gloves
& turpentine
& turtle doves
& terraces
& terrapins
& topiary
& dorsal fins
& snorkelers
& summer nights
& samurai
& stalactites
& traffic lights
& roundabouts
& butter balls
& brussel sprouts
& falconry
& lemon trees
& liquorice
& memories
& marmosets
& marching bands
& pickled eggs
& ampersands
…
…
even in the even’
after afternoon
sooner than you shrink
thinking of atoms
splitting like pyjamas
sleeping in banana skins
ants in the pants
of the breath we catch
twenty two starlings
murmurations, baby
sweetcorn & carrots
dangle like icicles
tricycles, bicycles
spin the unspoken
nodes in a notebook
the train is like a brain
streams between spanners
& bolts from the stable
courses for horses
& waves on the see
where the air turned
is back before back
scratch another itch then
with a phoenix feather
…
…
elon’s musk
is deep deer undertones
with fragrant shades of otter
& subtle hints of badger
( can you smell it too? )
…
…
tudor rose garden
a julius cedar tree
genghis carnation
…
…
another daze on muddle earth
around the sound of browning turf
another death, another birth
a beetle’s back, a heaving clod
the eventide, the onion’s skin
a ghost within a stroking chin
the see y’ then in let’s begin
the splash is back, the path is trod
a green retreat, the gist of so
a smoker stubs his little toe
the roar is but the river’s flow
& strucken like a lightning rod
the day’s awash – a roaming sea
a badger in a bladder’s scree
is wazzing on the ash’s tree
& sinking with a winking nod
the breezes wheeze the cheese’s chalk
& ponder as the corvids squawk
the bend is yet another fork
an odyssey in socks of odd
a scattering of chatter’s brain
a bucket load o’ soaking rain
& fuck it’s pissing on again
upon a sodden morning plod
…
…
let’s write a poem
& bore them all rigid
let’s sing a song
in the key of skeleton major
let’s catch a bus
or a hypersonic tram
let’s collect stamps
from stampeding wildebeest
let’s swim with dolphins
– narwhals & krakens
let’s ride an old bike
– a penny farthing or katie price
let’s paint a scene
an acrylic photograph
let’s eat noodle soup
& stain the linen tablecloth
let’s plant bulbs
( daffodil & halogen )
let’s go window shopping
& buy a wooden sash
let’s walk the moors
& plod beneath the grey
let’s pretend it’s tomorrow
we haven’t got all day
…
…
but can the foxes foxtrot
– perhaps a raunchy rumba?
& is the blue moon stilton
– cambazola or buxton?
do barn owls barn dance too
& sometimes roost in sheds?
& if so – are they barn owls
or “shed owls” then instead?
why’s the sun invisible?
where the eff’s it gone?
do the dead snore?
do birds dream they’re human?
do shooting stars shoot blanks?
how do those vampires shave
– as mirrors won’t do shit?
are ghosts afraid of us
– the quizzical insomniacs
who amble, stroking chins?
how do bats fly upright?
is the plough a question mark?
– what is the question?
wonders the sky out loud
sounding off again
– belt it up, orion
…
…
the war in france, the secret war
is shushy-shush – so say no more
it must be grim for all of those
albanians to flee in droves
the frightened men of fighting age
that flee what’s left of death’s rampage
it’s terrible – what can we do
as paris burns & lyon too?
i’ll wave a flag – so all can see
the bravery in humble me
the stunningness in little i
who shall become a butterfly
i’ll jab the kids & wear a frock
i’ll buy some tits but keep me cock
& bend the knee for all who come
the ones that flee the beating drum
of racist climate change’s blitz
they’ll stay forever in the ritz
the dorchester & council flats
throughout this land of bowler hats
of sausage rolls & banging pots
they’ll live with us – we’ll have the lot
beside the thames, the trent, the tyne
or in your house but not ’round mine
…
…
antediluvian
& uncle atlantis
sister cistern
overflowing
father than you think
or a country mile
mother flutter
– moths or butterflies
brother blubber
then green bottles
hang like a bat nap
on the garden walrus
son on the horizon
bishop & away
daughters all & waterfalls
twilight cousins
doctor photographs
professor profess
captain whistle
sergeant owardness
missus the target
& mister riverbank
all organic
non-conformists
…
” scorchio “
( paula fisch )
…
grit the lanes again
as jack is back, grab a hat
– thermal underpants –
( ! )
…
resarf poetry 