Friday 28 February 2020

Dead Poets
Outside the night was filled with stars,
a sky full of dead poets
if van Gogh is to be believed.
But he was inside now
and all he remembered
was the red curtain
coming down over his eyes.
Red first and then black.
So black it turned everything black.
They told him that
he had died
for a few seconds,
or was it a few minutes.
Then he was back
looking out
on the starry night.
He wondered how long it took
for a dead poet to become a star.
Was a few seconds,
or even a few minutes,
sufficient.
And now,
now that he was back,
was he still shining
undead, living
up there with all the dead poets.
Unless the raising of the curtain
put out his light.

Thursday 27 February 2020

Buzzing
I can hear the flies buzzing
since I died.
In life I could shoo them away,
open a window
to persuade them through,
though usually they were
too stupid
to grasp the chance of freedom
offered and escape.
Now there is no window to be
opened.
This is a closed space.
Eternal night.
No possibility
of freedom,
or escape.
Not for me.
Not for them.

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Wednesday 26 February 2020

Tulips
Gleaming globes of gold,
and scarlet
and pink,
the brightness of their colours
masking the shadows within
and the blackness at their heart.
Too soon their coloured shapes
will fly away like birds of paradise
glistening in the sunlight,
petals of paradise.
But these are transient beauties
already in their death throes
as they soar,
ready
for the dusk to dull their colour.
Ready
to decay,
to become dust,
while their black hearts
grow fat on what lies beneath,
like the black crows that feast
on the bright flesh of below them.
Surviving
to live another day.
Surviving
to make seed
for another year.

Tuesday 25 February 2020

On Our Watch
If it had been on his watch,
he would have seen,
he would have given the alarm,
would have been heard
and catastrophe would have been avoided.
She also was alert,
but it was not her watch
and no one heard her warnings.
On their watch we would have heard
the warnings.
But it happened on our watch
and we were sleeping.
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Sunday 23 February 2020

Half Light
The taxi's waiting
and it's getting light,
the half light
of day break.
And I'm ready
for the journey
into the brightness,
optimistic that
the daylight is coming.
Optimistic
that the taxi will take me
to a place where everyone
is in their place.
It’s a picnic.
A cloth spread out under a tree.
That's where we're going.
That's where we'll be.
A picnic in the sunshine
with sunny, smiling people.
But I have to stay awake
or I may not
get there.
Have to keep
my eyes open
to let in the light.
Stay awake
to open the door.
Get into the taxi
while it's still light
and hold the door open
for the rest to follow.
in the half light...
Is that the light leaving us.
Maybe it's the night
closing in on us,
the half light of evening.
Not the dawn,
but the dusk
enclosing me.
I am afraid.
I am afraid that
the taxi will leave
me behind
to a dark awakening
from the half light.
And when I wake
will it be light?
Bright
like the dream of a day,
or dark,
a dark nightmare.
Not a picnic.

Friday 21 February 2020

Against The Tide
Will we wait for the tide to turn.
to carry us away
wave after wave
gathering up the debris
which surrounds us
sucking it up like so much dust
getting rid of it all,
everything going
with the flow
sinking
beneath the waters.
Everything.
But not everyone.
Some of us will swim against the tide
take the risk
strike out
hold on
ride the waves
and survive the back flow.

Thursday 20 February 2020

Transient
Snowflakes lit by sunbeams
blowing gently,
fragile as shadows
making rainbows in the sun.
Smiling in the soft light.
So soft.
So soft.
Catch them quickly in your hair
to melt them
while the sun
is still shining and smiling.
For only as long as it falls,
can the snow renew them
when they melt away.

Wednesday 19 February 2020

So Many Words
It’s getting crowded
inside my head
with so many words
tumbling
around
trying to sort themselves
out
trying
to get out
of my head.
I should help them
but I can’t let them out
while they’re in such a jumble
and they can’t seem to put themselves
in order
I have to do that
inside
or out
I have to decide
what to make of them.
They can’t seem to do it alone.
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Tuesday 18 February 2020

Earwigs
My neighbour was sweeping up.
“Beware of earwigs,”
she said.
“they go in through your ear,
crawl round your brain
and tickle you to death”
Her name was Rosie.
She cleaned trains for a living.
No earwig survived where she swept.
Fortunately not many travelled by train.




TRASH-WORLD.COM
My neighbour was sweeping up. “Beware of earwigs,” she said.

Sunday 16 February 2020

Back Then
He was so exciting
back then
such a dresser,
quiff falling over face,
cigarette hanging from lips
cool, cool, so cool
back then.
And he found me exciting
he found me cool,
I was the envy of my friends
back then.
And now,
where are they now
that boy and girl
from back then.
Not here
though
still
sharing space
but remote
disconnected
from each other
with uncool clothes
and uncool hairstyles
dreaming of what they had
dreaming of what they lost
dreaming of how they were
back then.