sadly

happy is not coming back

sorry 

 every morning

the  dunnock leaf

of the wind’s eye

 dawn

on a scale of one to ten

slowly now

 bank holiday bins 

dog shit and broken umbrellas 

merry detritus

 it is dawn

and now the wind is rising

it is raining

but still there is the music

in the closing of my eyes

 how cruel it seems

the blue leaving of the sea

from blurred harbours

 the extravagance of sun after a swim

 five haiku for dawn

that moment in

the silent waiting for dawn

peace indeed

out of the black

black trees brutal in the dawn

of a bruised sky

dawn

my reflection dissolves 

into something else

my cat and i 

as dawn breaks over us

like gentle music

un-startling-ly

the night slowly slips away

in the breath of dawn

 at the copulation

of the right and left hemispheres 

the nose for a poem

 christmas morning 

two leaves left on the plum tree

promises promises

 christmas eve rain

the wood pigeons are preening 

in the silver birch

 epidemic roulette 

barman or professor

place your bets

 writing is easy

stopping is impossible 

see what i mean

 light out and on the 

screen the colour of dawn

a poet’s iPad

 i am a fool

how i got this far

i’ll never know

 many a haiku

has broken its back 

over a kireji

 watch night service

dad and granddad drunk again

unchristian looks

 locked out

the locked in

looking out

 the mouse

has baited the trap

for santa

 the children waited

for the Punch and Judy show

it never arrived

 it’s not

i told you it wasn’t

pussy cat

 and it so happened

that when nothing happened

i noticed

 haiku

how immensely small

you are

 that look

although i hestitate

i do

 a child sings

hosanna in excelsis 

snowly 

 a wren rush

in the down flutter of leaves

the drizzle thickens

 childhood running

we caught all the butterflies 

and killed them

 when ants are climbing

they become the tree’s next twig

on heaven’s road

 not understanding 

when the crows are chattering

i sit and listen

a haiku for nigel

a haiku for nigel 

the sadness of

a nurse in a nursing home

knowing 

 Tenby

sailing through the west wind

clouds above colour 

 i cannot think

of one thing that matters

that doesn’t

just a mark

on this snow field

my thought

 my walking stick

trusting me to find the way 

many smiles

 that one tweet

pecking at my brain

i write a poem

 wave watching

always there’s a bigger one

exclaims 

 warming up slowly 

after a very cold swim

my internal smile

 so many paintings

books full of time’s poems

so few splinters 

 dawn

one foot on a sunbeam

one on a moonbeam

 there is this one way

through the trees and rushes

where there are mountains

 worrying

about you worrying

worries me

 old age adage

answers to every concern 

senescence  

 relaxing yoga

until the alarm goes off

repeat

 glass made from sand

not these days my friend 

it’s all plastic

 s s snow

in a graveyard of bare trees

warm memories 

 sitting

after a long walk

incense 

 counting the waves

along the length of a beach

time stands still

 the impertinence 

of always rounding up

their £9:99

 now?

but it is not finished

or this poem

 ask the flowers

how long have we got

you and i 

 in the park

the three legged dog

ignores me

 rising

in the falling snow

blinking 

 silence

it never says

why not

 phoning the vets

my cat is chewing the invoice 

sunset clause

 winter sunshine 

my eyes are up my nose

taste it

 municipal tip

in two million sacks

a million lives

never too much

of this winter sunshine

through my window

 childhood

the misunderstandings

on looking back

 cleats

after the boats have gone

just rusty rock

 chattering in

the warmth of a cold meeting

how splendid

 recovering

snow across the coal tips

dead cold moon

 the beloved 

forgotten by history

are unloved

 in its quivering

a morning sunbeam

flows

 eruption 

the minds tectonic plates

uttering