Saturday 24 October 2009

Down's boy

He just walked in and down to work

because, today, there’s work to do;

winching-you-in - hug seeker –

far away from normal folk


and you, you’re lucky to get caught

by a shock of hair, swinging gait

and, drawn, you choose to follow on

beckoning hands to crazy fun


until a break point; when he turns

to crack on with his mission,

tack along different breezes,

mischief, toys and glancing eyes.


Oh yes he’s work to do. Ta-ra.

Goodbye.

Thursday 22 October 2009

Blue

When he wrote ‘Prayer for my daughter’,

Yeats knew everyone has a curse;

ugliness, youth, old age or beauty

fixation, fear, control, abuse


and curses bash exuberance

- so how come Andrew oozes verve

with every glass of lemonade,

or song and any disco dance?


I ask him straight ‘Who teaches best?’

and he replies ‘It’s me, I do!’

‘What do you teach?’ he glances ‘Colours.’

‘which colours?’ and he answers ‘Blue!’


Known as the colour of humility – Blue -

a fractal of love and such a magnificent curse.

Monday 19 October 2009

Elemental family

To gather rocks and build a house

To gather breath in springtime air

To gather fish from seven seas

To gather round a fire

To live


To life


To love

Together near a fire

Together swimming seas

Together breathing air

Together climbing higher rocks

Sunday 18 October 2009

Terrorist

A fat Accountant rides the Tube

in pinstripe grey with shiny shoes,

plates of meat (at least Thirteen’s)


while on his left an Indian woman;

petite, squashes her arm against

the carriage wall and to his right


a youth, skeletal, struggles with cookpots,

equally squashed, in orange boxes

balancing high a free newspaper,

flicking, flicking pages quickly


while big-man glances right and left,

sniffs and leans, holds a fuse:

Canary Wharfe, London Bridge,

Burmandsey, Southwark, into Waterloo.