i like to see the way you
like to lay in your books,
the class that borrows you
and lets you take it home.

life moves like a chess queen,
instantly
                  i pray
to hold you too tight some days.

they are -
and their presence
that shakes the air
was thick

with a bass

thump with the

breakbeat bump

into the kind of other skyness,

then suddenly
I was surrounded by razors
shaving off one breath at a time
a loom and singing wood winds over and
Something broke my grasp, running away
from these bad memories.

the young morning wind asked me for my name today

I whispered it was a secret.

like to keep my distance that kept us from chicory's moon-dark blue down in a swoon
and now, he said,
hear the narrow graves calling my questions with more questions you never wanted to
shine in his sphere.
But say
i hadnt meant it -
sulfur's tangy odor permeates the worm, canker, and the evenings;
go for it - a day is long
for the song unwritten score or a dream yet-to-be.

She painted my toe nails blue,
And said that they were magic now,
As long as the varnish stayed true,
Our love would be as blue and bright and never-ending
As when the sky stared at the sea
And forgot to blink.

-10-
Regular Albert Whisker,
FE Squadron,
born 1939,
joined up at 18.

First time away from home and loving it, sir!

-9-
One day,
I’m just minding my own
at the airbase in Stranraer
when two officers appear
out of nowhere
and they ask
they ask if I’d fancy a long weekend?

Why not? I say.

Why not?

-8-
We’re staying at the Governor Clinton Hotel,
It's in New York.
Everything laid on.
Trip to Broadway and all.
Three whole days of paradise
All on the MOD.

-7-
Oh Gor Blimey!
What a sight when we stepped off the flight
onto Christmas Island for the first time.
Crushed white coral dust.

Like nothing I’d ever seen.

-6-
Our job is mainly to just do our job
which is mainly just military driving.
Land-rovers, lorries, tankers and that.
And avoiding the island ***** -
three times a day, they'd all crawl up the beach -
but they didn’t pay us for that.

-5-
Someone showed me their diary today
and it had a letter ‘H’ under today’s date.
So I’m working on the beach
when the tannoi sounds:

“Sit down and cover your eyes.
Testing will begin in five, four…”

-4-
And there was light.
A flash right through your skin and hands.
The biggest bang I’ve ever heard.
A flash.
Through your skin and bones and hands.
The biggest bang I’ve ever heard in all my life.

-3-
Then it was over.

Nothing much changed.

-2-
Except the mushroom cloud was there for quite a time.
And the Canberra bombers, the white ones, they flew through the cloud like little spores.

-1-
Then one day they just said “You’re done”
and we queued up to fly home to England.

Saw the new ones, the ‘moonies’, getting off the plane.
Sad to leave I was, yeah.
It was a good posting.
And nice weather, never rained,
Not rain at any rate.

Then, not long after, I was sent home for good.
They said I’d caught a cancer off a someone and
for me own good
I had to be discharged.

-0-
Sad really.

It was a good posting.

And I am left with nothing
but empty streets
to guide me home
from your world
to mine

It starts to drizzle and I wonder
if the same cloud
hangs over you

These lights
street lights
illuminating nothing
but a hope for something greater
to swallow us both whole

Because there is
something comforting
in having two homes
something comforting
in surrendering control
to a shallow greater purpose
a god I can relate to
somewhere
other than here
to store up my self

Poetry un-messes messes
Poetry de-stresses stresses
Rhyme and reason suggestes guesses
But words' meanings' mean with messy message.

A mess.
Squeeze past the bed
Drawers reluctant
A suitcase on the floor
Coming or going?
Not sure.

It’s a mess.
Perhaps if I clear it up?
But to clear the clothes off the floor
I’d have to open up those drawers
Reluctant to.
Where’s the hoover?
I found the vacuum.

Life’s a mess.
What with all that going on
Going on in the West
With the banks
And the robbers
They should sort their act out
Make some efficiencies
It’s just
Oh it makes me want to

My life’s a mess.
Life’s a mess.
My life?
A mess?
Life.
It’s a mess.
Messy.
It’s life.
Just can’t be
Bothered
To get a
GRIP
On it.

1. Is it my life?
2. Is it a mess?
3. If it is my life and it is a mess, does it follow that my life's a mess?
4.