the engineer 

mending our boiler 

has gone very quiet 

 blather will not make 

those broad sunlit uplands

but a marshland

 words will not stop

the leaking from a dam of

broken promises

 from nests of sunshine

the blues tits go foraging

in the fennel

 let’s be blunt

there is no point

• eraser 

no plans

for tomorrow is

foggy

watching

the colourful reflection 

of the washing

sitting quietly 

waiting for the malfunction 

life support

haute cuisine

plates of chlorophyll

in the solar wind 

at my age

worrying that i have nothing

to worry about 

flapping her arms

the child fails to fly

over a milestone

conflicting signals

at the end of the line 

stop continues

questioned

i ask the questioner

ten thousand questions 

ten thousand answers

are not enough

she cannot do it

she doesn’t want to do it 

and now time is up 

 dusk

wrapped in smoke

autumn thoughts

 the crow

all alone asked the stone

and flew away with its secret

 books waiting

upon the altar of tomorrow 

today’s miracles 

 rain

walking the valley sides

fell upon us

 with their bow ties

the afternoon dragonflies

serve the river’s tables

 the weight of waiting

makes deep cracks in the soil 

- sandals rubbing

 august 

bindweed and blackberries 

yin and yang