Story

rest on mantelpiece

Yes several bridges & a stile

former once fond memories

of yesterwhile.





Babylon of hanging gardens & Cuneiform,

Pudding Lane, Ellisa,

old school uniform.





Minor acts of arson like the bandstand in the park,

Nero's Rome, Barbara Hepworth

& of course Joan of Arc.





Evidence plus dead pets whom I remember with affection

so please rest on mantelpiece - peace

my urn collection

x

...

a poor sod

I read about a Sagittarius

originally from Sidcup

who had the hiccups

non-stop for 50 years

it surprised 1 day in late May

in early adulthood

& then persistently refused

to disappear

ironically they died

from athlete's foot after all that

but some end 

is yet in sight

as if you stand beside their tomb

beneath the haunted silver moon

ghost hiccups still emerge

into the restless depths of night

...

weekend witches



Weekend witches & Beltane pagans

once yearly-nearly ramblers

& blue moon dabblers.





Wedding drinkers & funeral weepers

occasional tables

the occasionally unstable.





Hy-Brasil & déjà vu

a solar eclipse

or the Phoenix, of course too.





Brief glimpses of HELL & scarlet pimpernels

plus fuck-it-that'll-do rhymers

- bloody part-timers

...

the 1st of feb

Head contrary

on the 1st of February

as impending Candlemas

hangs thick in the air

just like congealed school custard

sans the upper skin layer

white rabbits - white rabbits

or a pair of mountain hares?

Beyond the edgelands of January

into the rugged vast of where?

Fuck knows - early days again

no wings but whims & a prayer

x

...

story fishy

"There's Got to be more

 to bastard life than this!"

Exclaimed my Goldfish

& fellow speaking Creature, Chris

before collapsing on the sofa

- good effort fish bliss.





"There is"

I replied

"My memorable pal

my Icthionic friend,

just sometimes swim further

- or possibly sideways

 you'll get there in the end"





"As there's often more to this shite

gilled chum

than often again

 first appears"







But Chris was sweetly sleeping

& proper bolloxed by now

so it fell on deaf fish ears.





THE END

...

Scale

As a young child
& thereabouts
little Barry Wellywanger
was terrified
of Dormice

He saw a picture of one once
in a dog-eared copy
of Hibernating Rodent Monthly
& he wrongfully assumed
that they were much larger than they really are
-probably borderline Blue Whale-esque-ish
-if not bigger
-Bloody Hell!

...Many moons passed before he finally met one

It was sunbathing on a park bench at the time

He nearly sat on it at first...