rain takes my face in both her hands says see ? i do almost and then i don't see what ? playing here for time rain laughs way the hush comes way the leaves come the way when you come writing this down words aren't and this isn't can you see it ? i'm trying i tell her [...]
look at the cows my soul said someone's got to do the fat work of sitting in clover
day is dark and wind blows greasy low across apples slumped in rotted grass the sun isn’t bothered by last night’s bottles sentinel row of sour mistakes i’m sat here at the table nosing into soul this is not the worst i’ll feel today it doesn’t matter though and none of it matters as somewhere on the other [...]
making something always making sense stitching the woman who served my lunch rice or potatoes ? onto my dog's face the second time i left sewing that onto tomorrow and again onto my dog's soft eyes that onto next year and a man i once loved onto all of these feelings coming and going and some staying longer sometimes [...]
i went to the matisse cut-outs saw plain my soul need : explode colour with colour shunt word against word make bombs there's something in me which says fuck peace : let's make fireworks
i've changed my mind decided after all i don't want to sit peaceful for a thousand years stories life all passing through so many clouds on empty air i want to get my hands dirty all the way up my arms and then i want to flounder day and all the night in thick mud of my own creation i [...]
marquee of stone squats vast as pyramids each granite arch yawns wider no sun no warmth may enter who owns this space ? not god not me not the priest here not the devoted who file through each day ants moving over granite to kiss a picture a pair of pigeons made black by the stone flaps [...]
past sits heavy on these shoulders leeches from the fabric of the coats makes heavy weather on the pedestrian precinct yet in amongst the old burns the new: it's in the surge of the puppy on its lead in the flurries of the seed head swirling up as though earth isn’t the only place it’s in the child who offers [...]
the girl said where you live you not have ownerless-dog ? no I said expecting congratulation on the super-efficient ownerless-dog-free land from which I come her face turned fretful to the open window which gaped on the street sad she said, so sad we loves the dogs and the dogs loves us i turned to where she looked [...]
i went to church today and i asked jesus if i could be like him show me i said the way he laughed and said sweet thing i showed you that already i said (aware of the iron hot in which i was) is there any way you could could be minded to put me in the way of it ? he said [...]
come to the edge of the map take the boulevard pocked by the past drop off the page into uncharted where faces read cyrillic and sense makes other and fear pries its fingers into what happened and those lighting candles and signing the cross and coming out backwards still wear their anoraks: they might not get home meanwhile [...]
thirteen years and tasting freedom roll out dark across the tongue blow that smoke into forever through the open bedroom window through the branches of the tree through this small town getting smaller french inhale and taste the freedom time is mine and on we ride towards horizon and a happy ever after not yet thought [...]
grey sky won’t crack: can't risk blue dirty traffic rumbles on people move about their days along the pavement across the road off the bus alone and all together galaxies of dreams and plans and sadnesses spiral out through every head: a universe within a universe moving towards a better one some day always today [...]
wind through poplar silvers ear lifts leaves turns them silver sweet tongue whispers words I cannot make hold wide my ears to prayer still I cannot hear my own mouth comes : blow through my hair turn me silver bowl me through this town and out the other side to where the hookup knows this [...]
words make boxes fit things inside nice-neat manageable like: how are you like: i am fine good small bite size put on lid shut up tight and stack file under things i like or things i don't like soul not happy soul need wings say: if you don't got nothing made of this: (snorts, stamps hoof, [...]
Who knew everything would turn out so bossy ? I’ve hardly walked in the door When everything raises up Comes tumbling to compete Each voice loud: Wash me up Throw me out Pick me up And put my lid on. Even the garden can’t keep its mouth shut. If I’d wanted this I’d have had [...]
Wolf throws back her head Cries out in the infinite lack The sound goes Over and over against mountains Comes back unchanged No wolf no thing answers Not even the north wind For who can answer that ? There won't be an answer: Everything we need to know Is written on that first sound That [...]
Fact: I want to get with you. I’ve wanted it my whole entire life. Which is why I spend my days looking to bump into you My nights planning my days And the places inbetween so restless I’m delirious. You’re so fucking elusive I never find you on facebook Or outside: don’t you like fresh [...]
The girl who’s making my coffee tells the other girl The French one with the same earrings as me (£5.99 from the shop on the high street) ‘George met a girl’ ‘Oh no’ (the French one, laughing as in: we all know what that means) ‘Yeah’ (my one) ‘and then she died’. The French girl’s [...]
Ducklings came today New as pins Fast as gold And good as ping pong balls Zipping out all over the river I watched one bounce a foot And land its legs splayed wide apart Spinning in delight Of feather and flesh and spirit All combusting for the first time here And I thought Fuck the [...]
I came past a cherry tree all out pink in flower It smelled so delicate, so fleeting sweet It reminded me of happiness And for a second I was happy. It got me thinking How could I be always happy? The answer came: If that cherry tree was mine And stood all day outside my [...]
Last night I saw trees Standing over rooftops against the blue bright night Still like card Yet so completely jazzing I was stunned Then I saw the moon How is it I had never seen the moon Except through borrowed eyes ? I saw houses Each brick burned Laid one on top by hands from [...]
I am seared with a longing so burnt in So hardwired I’m afraid one day I’ll suck the whole world down And when that's not enough I’ll scream tears until all of life drowns Then I’ll come roaring through the four corners sat astride a grief to finish what's left. This thirst is desert: I'll [...]
It's right there on the uneven line in the cobbly upcurve of that Beatrix Potter roof And there again in the dizzy cherry blossom stuck ridiculous all over that tree The one that will start blizzarding anymoment candyfloss pink And it's there in the roundy shapes of the bright white clouds bobbing all over the [...]
Last week I got hold of the longing for what is missing I swear to God I saw it all the way around and laughed. I bundled it used bubble wrap and put it in a box. And sent it to myself Special delivery. Next day when the postman knocked I had on lipstick And [...]
Apparently everything you write down in a poem comes true Especially - they say - if the poem doesn't rhyme Which is why I'm writing In particular order none Porsche, midnight blue (cream leather interior). You. Words. In wild new arrangement allowing new worlds, all worlds, possibilities, things, no things. Flying things. And ecstasy. Of [...]
The heart asked again today If I could allow her sadness. I didn’t say anything. Just hurried around Making plans Planting sweet peas Writing down words like: ‘Today I planted sweet peas As lately there’s been a lack'. The next time she asked I said of course And went up the road for cake All the time [...]
You. Are. It. Look down At each of your darling little toes And know what every one of them already knows: That You in all your razzle dazzle stardust You in all your fear You in all your great small greatness: You. Are. It.
Last night I dreamt a little red fox jumped over the round clear moon I was the moon and you were the fox That doesn't matter though What does is that right there in that moon jump was the magic I've been trying to get to forever I woke sad and made it my work [...]
You weren't in the museum amongst the illuminated manuscripts. And I can tell you, I looked really closely. You weren't in the vanilla chai latte I had later on in the cafe. (The girl who made it could have told me that). You weren't in the gift shop. Nor in the cry of the seagull [...]
I just read a Rumi poem that pissed me off: The one about the Love Dogs About how the howl of the dog for its master IS the connection Bollocks. I can tell you right off: This time around that's not going to be enough.
Beautiful old willow Last week curled and draped upon our river Nodding sagely to the passing ducks Today stands devastated Split in two by last night’s storm Interior milk white grinning Gaped entirely to the world Tragic end to noble tree? Or just the answer to the question it was asking its entire life?
i Think: does crocus put the brakes on crocus? Brave first flower. Pale cup reaching, opening, gold heart first into the light. Is crocus always questioning, ordering: Not like that. Like this. Purple, really? White I think: Improve or die unloved. Always angry mending Until crocus has no idea of how or why or which [...]
It’s late and the soul picks her sweet way through the debris: ‘I can’t believe you said that, ate that, smoked that; of course they don’t like you; why would they?; look at the state of you’. She picks her sweet way between smoldering rafters, over burnt out stories. Through smoke and flame and the [...]
Hard to remember always that we share a soul You, I, the vicar who almost ran me over on his bicycle The one who frowned before remembering. Offered an 'even vicars...' kind of smile. The one who might do a sermon on it On patience at the weekend. 'Even I' perhaps he'll start. Ego speaks and soul separates Into me. You. My dog The vicar. On Sunday high up in his eyrie. I'm wondering what remembering looks like: Silent, infinite love-orgy And what the password* for that party might be. *PM me pls if u got it thx :)
Today my soul will not take flight On flock of words to wheel and scatter To make new shapes Turn silver in the light Today it stays down here sulky flat and dark as lead It says it's trapped between my body And the earth The thing is right now I can't be bothered to [...]
Sorrow wants to know how we met and through whom and whether I’m actually entitled to know her. ‘You see’ she says in her softly voice , 'You don’t have a child who is dying Your partner has not gone terminal Your clitorus appears to be intact And even the lump growing from your dog’s foot [...]
