Tuesday, 31 December 2019

ten
long tailed tits
tweeting
tenure
ten years
tenuous 

Monday, 30 December 2019

pussy cat
see - no ghosts in my chair
sleep now
between the covers
something i am yet to learn
turns over 
fart in a hayrick 
as warm as the harvest breeze
at years turning 
‪homeless‬
‪could you spare a small word‬
‪have a good ...‬

Sunday, 29 December 2019

the last leaf
wins the softest bed
in the forest
‪bare trees‬
‪holding up the sky‬
‪dawn‬
‪the golden joins‬
‪are stronger than the parts‬
‪we are stuck with
bin lorry
taking away the dawn
for recycling

Saturday, 28 December 2019

acorn it can’t be
a coffin from a felled tree
filled with acorns
dusk
the trees advance
black looks
the cat’s ears are cold
over the midnight mouse
the moon rises
blushing
dawn undressed 
not one leaf 

Friday, 27 December 2019

candlelight 
on the washing machine 
as it spins 
pilgrims visiting
the mountains always 
asking why
poetry maze 
more dead ends dead end there
than i have songs
so i sing louder and louder
and jump up and up down down
low tide
the long walk to the sea
and back again
fog
fighting dawn’s
uprising
mist trees
the non-event horizon
of dawn

Thursday, 26 December 2019

string quartet
at the fulcrum of the day
pools deepen
the rain is not sad 
sky bare trees are smiling
how can i not be
lub dup lub dup
the heart beats lub dup
even when broken

Wednesday, 25 December 2019

‪the cat and the fire‬
‪on an elastic tether‬
‪perfect harmony‬

no flame is the same
in the log fires of history
but they all warm you
CPR
the long farewell
pumping tears
don’t rush
into your walk of life
it’s a long road
the fire warms
as the coffee sips
a mince pie smile

love is

see how close
our lanterns are flickering
under a new moon

hold my hand
and we are there again
again

quick - swop
my scooter and your bike 
don’t tell anyone 

that one song
tearing the love from my guts
so long ago

sun always shining
glistening on tears of joy
boy did i love you

that kiss
lanterns face to face
exploding 
slowly annealed‬
‪in the breath of dawn’s furnace ‬
‪quenched of the sea‬

Tuesday, 24 December 2019

the sea
indescribably 
capriciousness
silence
fingers on my temples
just saying

Monday, 23 December 2019

pebbles grinding
each on each beach 
so lonely
those who do not lament do not truly see

Sunday, 22 December 2019

lost cat
hopes fade
with the picture
snow
my foot prints
follow

Saturday, 21 December 2019

dawn
solstice
dusk
‪it was her pinafore 
that wiped away the tears
and smelled of cakes 

her threadbare bow
tied a frown around the back
the front smiled for me

a crumpled apron‬
‪and she was gone forever‬
‪longing for a smile‬
‪its was her pinafore ‬
‪that wiped away the tears‬
‪and smelled of cakes‬
solstice - here is 
the long and the short of it
australia is burning

Friday, 20 December 2019

‪old age‬
‪inscribed pebbles rattling‬
‪as they fade‬
wet and cold‬
‪above and below‬
‪inside and out‬
mist
over a lake of frost
dawn
dawn
once removed from the window
my reflection
bullet points
pistol whipped
into a poem
shoots the rabid
shoots of spring
the cat and i 
we don’t go to work 
me and the cat
winter worries
at death’s door
spring buds

Thursday, 19 December 2019

the sea is just there 
that is all it is it is
it is all there is
lanterns 
when the candle dies
night lives
the actors 
who are they now
the play is over
fate
is never fatal
embers glow

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

log fire dying
the cat curls tight to sleep
everything flickers
‪walking to the beach‬
‪my steps quicken‬
‪always the sea‬

perhaps
the infinity of
uncertainty is
the cat accepts my terms on her terms
my beautiful wife
trying on my spectacles 
i get misty eyed
after a good meal
the crumb words dream on
the willow pattern
rooks riding the wind
cracking open muscles shells
all day breakfast
the wood pigeon says
i’m a big bird don’t you know
i say
misted glass
the snail writes home
from the greenhouse
breakfast
toasted in the windows 
buttering the dawn
crash course
in speed awareness
i’m wrecked

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

chrysanthemums 
blossoming by the docks
the old sailor’s eyes 
snow
who’s footprints
are those
poor house plant
after all these years
buried outside
secret gardens
through the gates 
of childhood
a tended garden
where the wild thoughts flower
sun kissed
alone
with time alone
is alone time
bury me with
a book covering my face
and laugh
winter falling
down trees upon the water
where no paths go

Monday, 16 December 2019

between breaths
the sea is deciding
which way
that pebble moved
what a nice surprise
a pied wagtail
reflection
in the headwater of time
you are

my shadow
in the sunshine of those days
smiling

at the days ahead
that we have put behind us
as now and then

there is a mixing
of what they still call souls
anonymous now

that we two 
have become what one calls
love too

great for a single tear
inside of the time
of our flowing
senior citizen 
fucking euphemisms
chapel of rest

Sunday, 15 December 2019

voting
for a change
that never changes
low gorse 
how you ride the sea’s knowing
of the storm

sea spume 
on the bright yellow gorse 
popping
at the fence
of a great snowfield
we halted
a flower
for the picked flower’s
mourning 
crematorium 
slowly the smoke rises
the flowers wilt
boardwalk
across the swaying marsh
alone 
life 
as fickle as the cat’s tail
even when asleep
life passes slowly 
time unravels fast
coitus interruptus
such daring
as the cold sea ignores
winter swimmer
a river of leaves
over winter’s cataract
where do the frogs sleep
no
there’s no going back
is there

Saturday, 14 December 2019

‪pricking out‬
‪the seedlings flourish‬
‪into blossoms‬
wild’s why
for a few more years of loss
upon tides turning

Friday, 13 December 2019

ryokan
you are so funny today
mountainous 
dentures
in a bedside tumbler
sobbing
the ancients 
only lived one lifetime
just like us

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

tomorrow 
i will vote then i will swim
the tides will turn
clouds
looking for the wind’s
running
the wind’s concern
for the doors and windows
rattling all night
pregnant moon
let the vastness
bear witness
a pot of glass shards is a thing of beauty

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

oh my poor cat
you are wet and i touched you
miaow miaow miaow
the storm
death brought to life
so angry
in dawn’s light
we see the rain
inside

Monday, 9 December 2019

the wax turns white
when the candle is snuffed
and so do tears
where is everyone
when the candle goes out
asks the teacher 
after a cold swim
the sun is a comfort
in old age
thoughts at dawn
bats returning to roost
in mind’s caverns
storm has passed
the bamboo shoot bows
sayonara
a part of time
until time cleaves
no time at all
‪time‬
‪bounding like a hare‬
‪in march ‬
nothing
becoming a mirror 
speaks

Sunday, 8 December 2019

single bamboo shoot
spinning the wind’s compass
laughing
the wind 
cannot stop the dawn
or the tears 

Saturday, 7 December 2019

it ends
where it started
at the beginning 
of the end
it ends
kaleidoscope
now there’s a word
to conjure with
ancient poet
did you have a cold sore
like me
every word
yours as much as mine
take these
they are not mine to give
they are not yours to take
the cat’s tail
a built-in argument
keep clear
childhood
the tricycle on life’s
broken flagstones

Jim’s World

At the end of December - 15 years of daily photographs - Jim’s World

a thought
picked up where i put it down
in my poem

a thought
  a breath
a poem

along life’s path
picking four-leaf clovers
look see
‪birds‬
‪flying over the fences‬
‪hedging their bets‬
the palette of dawn
reflected the hues
of an old eye

Friday, 6 December 2019

log fire
burning bridges
New Year’s Eve 
them poets
eating all the words
like locusts
eating all the crops
that they need to eat
the drip
waits for no one
to drop in
quiet now
wait here for
ever to arrive