The Middle Distance

 

My eyes came to rest

As they usually do

On the middle distance

On the not quite anywhere

As one might casually

Bear witnesses (as one usually does)

With fascinated second sight

To the play of children

Or eyes cast out

To sea

In search of maybe yet a 

Ship to come in

From some less 

Slightly remembered visit

 

 

 

 

 

Lent

 

 

 She lent in to me

And it took me back

That gentle posture

That asked nothing

But gave so much

 

 

Hackles

I can feel their residue

Late hackles 

In the small hairs

Of a missed feeling

In the small discovered 

Islands of sweetness

In the lavender, left

Like a promise

In the silence, left

Waiting to be filled again

Cold Water

In. In! Disbelieving, to that 

Great grey furnace

Where our faces burned 

Iced ached hot heads

Raging against the slapping waves.

We marvelled at our ash grey then

Unblushing blue toes, 

The way our hands

Slowly closed, scorching 

Wrinkled paper.

So we swam instead 

Sometimes with fists

Laughing as if we, 

Minuscule, could rage 

Against the bitter smoke 

In which we floated.

Half Light

What is it

About the half light

The dim yield

Of candle flame

That shows life as life.

The wrapped lamp, bound

To shield and not show

What is, but to leave us

Guessing at the edges.

Forever intriguing 

Counterfeit twilight 

The could be the

Beginning or end 

Of something new

The Heat

I imagine the heat

All silent remiss

Its authority creeping

Between houses

Muzzling the breeze 

A blanket search 

Arresting even the slightest 

Stirring curtain

No quarter given

To the restless

Thick in the air 

Making the skin stick 

Of even the slightest 

Lovers

Gathered Praise

I'm sorry for the

Gathered praise

That comes my way

For the impression

That I'm a success

When really I see me

For what I am

To you, and us

A total mess

People choir, adamant

In their song

That what we do

Is worthy of 
Their voice

When really I see me

For what I am

To you, and us

A total loss

Getting By

I get by on

Barely remembered sun cream

Occasional crayons

Sometimes hugs

Buttoned down

Laundry delivered wrinkled

Neat and tidy

Lies, served frozen

Ice cream half melted

Surface deep

Twice a day white

Stainless Smiles

No trace of

Cavities guilt deep

I imagine myself

Toy tiny

In her marble eyes

Forgettable

No Hurry

I wake to his

Bristling attention

All senses

The sound of lips

Ripping Yorkshire mist

No hurry

A distant yaffle

This could be home

Quiet Breakfast Reverie

I can hear you

Upstairs, happy

We each intertwined

In our ritual

Morning bliss

Secret worlds

Later shared 

With smiles

In quiet

Breakfast reverie

Gulls

The shrill incessant bawl

Forever perched on your lips

Makes your lazy swim 

Through the mist

Seem impossibly purposeful 

As if you couldn’t care less

That the vast body of home 

Retreats with each 

Casual swipe

Centre Stage

I blinked and

You came in

Centre stage

Smiled, with

That cat and

With your light

Did humbly brighten

The darkest corners

Of my despair

Rain

I heard you

When I woke

Drumming out

Your leaving note

From sleeps tomb

I crept awake

Only to see

I was too late

Maybe next time

You'll stay a while

Long enough 

To see me smile

Escape

I miss your steady rhythm

Your frequent visits 

The way you make 

My windows cry

The battle to keep out 

Even your most tender touch

Consumes most

From door to door

But my feet 

Damn me, when

I try to escape 
Your press upon me

So I wait
Surrendering to your
Gradual embrace

A Victors Wit

She drew her eyes

Heavy

Like charging ships

Those Greek eyes

Hooded

Yet sharp with a victors wit

At her temple

He knelt

As worship law dictates

Then with drawn sword

Like blood her wet hair

Made damp his bristling cheeks

BEAT

You beat me

With your last breath 

You defeat me 

Unseat me 

From my throne 

Take my legs out 

From beneath me 

Leave my arms waving 

No one left 

To complete me

Instead I’m left unstable 

The ground gone 

I’m completely unable 

To defend myself 

No seats left at the table 

The game over 

My hand turned 

A frayed but not yet 

Quite snapped cable

No hero at the end of this story 

Just another bum 

Lost without glory 

Just turned 40 

No wait I lied 

I can’t even write straight 

My lines all jaunty 

Casting dispersion amongst

My foes that saw me 

Slip when I left 

The stage 

Into black 

No page 

To turn back 

And free

Me

Pressed

At least I felt 

For a small moment 

Pressed 

All space and time 

Stretched out 

Only your weight

And it’s significant touch

Baring down on me 

All else, if only

Briefly, banished

So I could become

Whole again 

The Storm

Imagine that 

When the wind blew 

It blew not for everyone 

But Only for you 

Not gentle or weak 

This shapely breeze 

But a storm that which 

Your soul it did seize 

A raging 

Shaping 

Changing 

Typhoon 

That mingled 

With sunshine 

And rained a

Yellow monsoon 

Imagine then 

That the wind it did cease 

No more did you feel

It touch on your cheek 

How quiet  

The nights and days

Now that storm

Has subsided 

Left only 

With the trees 

Their leaves 

Unrequited 

Easy Recluse

I miss the easy recluse

You made me

Your carefully constructed lines

Swept aside

Under dim lights

I serently bathe

Awash with the wing beats

Those ravens made

.

Had me

She would have 

Had me dead 

Had I had 

A way 

To kill 

Instead of dead 

She had me

Make her mine 

And now she

Has me still 

Flight

I see now that

Before we'd even met

I'd left 

With the nod 

To consenting escape

I'd fled 

Our melding only 

A matter of arbitration 

Another guilty stab 

From which I 

Woke sweating 


 

Scattered Me

My throat closes in horror

When I think of you

My blood

Scattered to the four corners

Then, no less furher 

Out of reach, the fifth

Left only concerning

What my senses claim

Or serves to witness

My day to day

 

Embered Embrace

He tugged and squeezed

As if he meant to rinse

The very life out of her 

As if that part of himself 

Buried deep within her 

Was all that kept her alive 

And with each thrust 

The promise of new life 

Was bestowed upon him

A Swim

She waits

Ready to sound me out

A board to show me back

As I sink into her 

Give myself over 

So that I might see

Myself in her arms

Her embrace

The shape that I make

The ripples of our collision 

Yet as I remove myself

Returning entranced

I miss the depth

That I found

From floating 

On her surface

Fishing

How eerily those islands vanish

Beneath the quickening silver

Yet still they stand

In hopeful watch

Upon that glistening mirror

In sudden gust, most depart

To seek a higher pasture

Leaving the less timid

Souls, who brave

The rising water 

Until a solitary remains

A puzzle cross his beak

No friends remain

To mark his side

Or with him help him seek

 

Far Too Far

I should be out 

Living but instead

I feel out-lived 

My soul too old 

To be added too

Again and again 

And again and

Too much new and 

Not enough end 

Far too far from 

The start now 

To say when 

Remember Gently

Amidst the noise

the battles hue

where once encumbered 

thine enemies slew

I hastened from

my measured tomb

and sort a path

whom no one knew

Re-body

(And) in time, and after a time, 

they grew to remembering 

each others bodies. 

And their bodies remembered each other. 

And warmth grew and from it and 

fond memories were made 

for both bodies to cherish.

tbc

Would every evil 

that men befate

Draw fair breath 

Or from smoke 

Make shape 

Go Out

By thunders rumble 

Or good graces touch 

Of fates entwine 

Must of we have much 

For what we do 

Or go out and have 

Makes us that much more 

Than we'd be without 

Wolfie

My life 

T wit I have lived 

Without shoulds 

Of would'ves 

Has reached 

An impass 

A boarder with 

With could'ves

So I fair 

Unbound to untie

My house built 

Of twigs 

And instead

Only require 

An abode fair safe 

Fit for pigs 

Not Long After

 

Long after, or not 

I'm still deciding 

I had into the woods and laid 

By the stove I crouched 

Listening to its drawing in 

A seamless eternal inhale 

I decided still

Not long, after

I could have for hours 

This sweet embrace maintained 

Instead to made move off I did 

From an endless bliss I refrained 

 

 

A Band Of Glass

 

Like a band of glass
She ran right through me
Without incurring a grace

Or of favour thus
Instead with beaten brow
Did he mould a humility
As grass parts it's shape
For the serpent
Which for no less slender reason
Might pause and bow

 

 

My Hairs Bredth

I set off with a smile

That this might be my last 

Not given by mine to take 

But taken by others 

By my last hairs bredth 

Is this my dying wish

 

Completely Paused

 

I paused completely

Each time my eyes

Cut the view, so to

From the floor

I might
Salvage at perhaps

A later date

To dine again upon

And savour each

Beaming morsel

The Dawn Of Creation

It dawned

Ever so suddenly 

With less worth

Than hope

Or providence

Could endure 

That not all 

Was lost 

Only his will

To withstand

What he alone 

Had created