I swear with my hand on the heart
[mine, another’s]
that I know nothing
that I get on the train on my way home
and come off at some Glasgow terminal
that I write on my shopping list b r e a d
and rush through my front door with stolen roses
nowhere is written for how long, until when
but I hear your words climbing my body
like spiders the wonderwall
like ivy the cross
[mine, another’s]
I know nothing
and no book will be able to tell
how a hand is covering your mouth
and the screaming inside yearns for your body
like an unscrupulous *****
like ivy for the cross
[yours, ours]

[inspired by Wendy Cope’s anthology: ‘The Funny Side’ - published by faber and faber]


The sun is nowhere
This summer’s delayed
My throat is like sandpaper
Earth is my head
I read Wendy Cope’s masterpiece and I blabber:
“Will I ever be published by faber and faber?”

The news just announced
Now, at BBC
That people live longer surrounded by sea
“*******” I say and switch of the TV
“I’d live longer only if ff published me.”

So I close my eyes gently
And drift off to a dream
There’re thousands of people
Is my name that they scream?
Am I finally up on the poetry ladder?
Ms CGP published by faber and faber?

I awake with a smile
(that lasts a second or so)
My poem’s unfinished
I can hear the wind blow
The aches and the pains
Say “hello” once again
I don’t even get why
I’m a Wendy Cope fan
In fact if she’d be here
I swear that I’d grab her:
“How the hell you got published
By faber and faber?”

I’ll try one more stanza
My pain’s getting worse
My fever is up
And i turn and i toss
I have finished my drugs
But food still tastes like rubber
And I’ll never be published by
faber and faber


Alternative ending:
And I’ve run out of rhymes
For that ‘faber and faber’

we wonder from room to room carrying words
on dry lips like paper
and the windows keep them inside
so tight that we have to draw on them
with our last breaths
these fingers, once caressing the piano keys
are stuck on the wheel, tight
tighter then a walking rope under the overweight clown
but eyes are not laughing
eyes protrude the dark
like wings of a night bird in search of prey
and never look back
the answers await in front of us
so close that we can smell the fear
of all the questions we ever asked
and when the dawn comes
our hearts behave
like one..
one deer  in the headlights

your seconds stretched over me
like the arms of a lover
day and night
I thank you for my gifts
the whispers of his lips
(oh, his lips)
the air built around feathers
in towers and towers of freedom
the blades of grass betraying the wind
the blood gushing in petals of tulips
(oh, his tulips)
the sun kisses crushed by skin
like strawberries by tongue

you leave me no choice
no other choice but promise
on the silence of your lambs
that I’ll be yours,
all yours
until May do us part

..the red cheeks of children,
the scarves and the rush
the patches of snow
lips in strawberry crush
I finish today the tasks of tomorrow
I’ll make a new list of TO DO
and to borrow
more time more time
I need it for something
perhaps to arrange all these cards on a word string
the kitchen in frenzies
the turkey asleep
the spuds and the pies
and the microwave bleep
the tree in the corner the cat and the guests
and the million dollar last minute request
the presents wrapped up
the smiles in their eyes
the mulled wine smells good
(I ‘m having a high!)
the sneezing, the coughing
the ‘I finished I think’
the sore feet and headache
the ‘I need that drink’
my eyes getting heavy
my glass gleaming red
the sounds bypassing
the thoughts in my head
as I sit by the fire
they should now all agree
that mission’s accomplished

...and this is Christmas for me