Strange

… no matter how
often I laugh out loud,
my rascal son’s liable
to glance sideways
and take off
from where I stop
making sure I’m within
his whimsical line of vision
and, in one glittering
sound, chortle out loud
with hand over mouth
his body shaking
a miraculous stream of
mirth into moments
of folly for him and for me….

Battle

Not sure, although
it’s up to me,
whether to hate
my enemy

but love’s a word
harder to rhyme
than hate and so
it takes more time.

Call Centre

Press 1 for new product
you’ll have to go get that
Press 2 for any product
I ain’t set mine up yet
Press 3 for insurance
can’t do that, don’t want it
Press 4 for reservations
get onto the ‘net mate
Press 5 for blue moon
it’s O2 now innit
Our website’s online
I don’t know the password
ring later - or what?

Curved ball

Rain is falling like
tennis balls lobbed in the sky;
Wimbledon started.

The Band

I fell off my bike and cracked a rib that
catches me out, even as I tackle
teeth. In bed she grabs my heart,
nagging me to notice her - by stabbing,
forcing wakefulness; ‘health and safety,
stay alert, and how about
symmetrical?’ A shallow breath grips
every waking step - to keep my ribcage static.

What is a force that holds my chest so safely in
the shallow end? No strength from me can
override a partial breath! A power, strong containing
hand, holds my trunk within a band, for healing time.
I’m in a cage because a mother-force beyond my ken dictates
a gasp. Why? For greater purpose than we ever know.