A day has feelings

Blue bird he sang
on the day she went.
The day he never remembers.
Or never admits.
The day that the sky went
grey and he went empty.
He sang this day the blue bird.
He never sang again
even when the sky turned blue.

The day sings for him.

The Bridesmaid waits in vain

Random word: The Bridesmaid


He waits until she is asleep and then slips down stairs into the backroom. Naked, he slips on the silk dress and it slides over his skin like a delicate kiss. Standing in front of the mirror, he cries at the beauty he sees as the dress slowly falls away.

She is not forgotten

when I started school in 1959,
she struggled like the
goblin of our dreams.

we stared when she wet her knickers,
laughing at the fear it could be us

We played and then
she was gone

fifty years later,
she haunts me still.
was she disappeared
to die faded

Resolution

‘Tomorrow is the day I start healthy living’, she said, snuggling back into the warmth of her bed and savouring the taste of dark chocolate as it melted in her mouth.

Her husband never bothered to get his gym membership changed to a family subscription. He settles for what happens.

The Netflix price of freedom

One of life’s ironies is that when Edison first imagined moving pictures he saw machines in your home where you whirred the handle and images jumped. Instead, we continued to experience, huddled in darkness, the magic of public performance.

Now even water cooler moments are the past. Somewhere Edison laughs.

A live once lived

Once I danced free as courting linnets,
my feet and body a beat free of danger.
A stick ran along an awning,
a distant tune strayed
called me into the street.
As I danced,
gloom fall away
making joy, the sun of my life.

Innocent days, when love
shouted to be the answer.
Now my body sensible and fragile
watches the children strive
hiding behind my smile.
the stormy weather waiting to conquer.

Careful what you wish for

Well, Mavis whispered to the village witch about wanting a bottomless charm. Not out of any spite, you know. She just thought what fun to see Boggin’s face when no floor and a great hole. Had she thought how the charm actually worked, it would have saved so much trouble.

On greeting a stranger

do tell of
tea as
morning
clock
strikes

it is the
eye of
God,
hard in its
brownness

oh,
and what
of
tea
as the
morning
fades

we are
called to
worship by
the ringing
spoon

I expect
you
have a
tale of
afternoon
tea

as a vision it
appears
to guide our
way

is there
more,
of
tea

of an evening
it comforts
with the
silences of
summer

no,
more
no
more

What makes a good read?

Lying under the bed, the world was dark and dusty. I was safe from the muffled screams below. Opening my secret tin of cold rice pudding, I dipped the teaspoon in and licked it clean before putting it back. Placing my book in the slick of light, I slipped away.

Revolution

to betray when young
is an act of innocence

once in blood we
rose and rejoiced

to take land to make
a fist of famine

our victory an iron bed,
two cows, a cart

first came the sour
looks and then lots

they came for the
frail and failed

they came for the
fit and fresh minded

those of us left
turn twisted lies

now cold and old
past principles die

those who could
cry covered in soil

to betray when innocent
is the curse of youth

The stupidest thing about Gaza

‘Have you heard about the Jews? Knocks in the night, herded in trucks and taken for ‘resettlement.’ The League of Nations wants us to broadcast a humanitarian appeal for the children.’

‘Awful, but we have to remain neutral. The news must be impartial and independent.’

‘Cold comfort words.’

`Duty, first.’