it either flows
or it don’t
and if it don’t
it ain’t going anywhere

and the city
like an older
lover
gives one oh, so much
more
to discover     ..

she says last night was a bad
    idea
well in that case thank goodness
   it’s over
he says
    and yet, she says, you’re still here      ..

watching you pull up
your tights as I
lie beneath the quilt in the half
light of the morning

see my poems as
just notes on the poems
I would like
to write but don’t

love can’t be captured in a poem
but if the poem’s any good
it might be set free

says she found me a disappointing
lover
I’ll find my own, thanks

rushed to the late night shop
but too late
it was shut

no good at talking
with strangers
so perhaps we should get to
know each other

when
she
leaves
fall

can’t sleep
and so I write

doubly cursed
am I at night

holds out his hand
and I take it
and he screams give it back
you were only meant to shake it!

my legs ache
it’s a
bit like heartache
although rather harder to
stand

he could not have imagined
how things would turn out
your
pockets, said
the store detective

wondering whether or not to take
her umbrella
I said better not
she might be looking

she said it
was over between them
he said who?

discovered the penguin poetry of
the thirties
and then isherwood’s goodbye to
berlin and then
spender and mcneice and the rest
easy I was passionate
about betjeman    ..

never found that
travel broadens the
mind, I could

be wrong, but I
prefer to stay home
with a book

accepting that I drink too much
is one thing,
but how about another?

watching her undress
at night I wonder
how the hell
did I get this so right

I want to write anything
but love poems
tend to get in the way

she did not
care what he
thought

nor I,
he replied,
I care not what I think,

I think
as I like   ..

got a kebab on the way home
could tell it was on the way home
it looked knackered

try writing about something
other than yourself
who actually cares?

always wanted to make love
with you in the british library
although of course you have to be quiet
in the british library
and I simply can’t        ..

sent her a text trying to explain
but she said she didn’t get it
I said yeah, that’ll be the one

she said he should think
about looking at things a little
differently, so he closed one eye
in what she considered to be
a quite infuriating wink

old woman holding up the queue
as she fumbles for her purse
was once more beautiful than you
and far more fitting for a verse

she’s says her love doesn’t come
with a loyalty card
so perhaps I’ll just shop around
for a while      ..

remember when your foot sank in
the mud and you lost your
shoe and I laughed and you never
forgave me? alright, I’m sorry   ..

she said you’ve never
understood
me? I didn’t know what she was
talking about    ..

arrived home and unlocked the door
which thanked me and quickly
disappeared

to the house where samuel johnson
had lived, near the inns of court; leave your
bags down here if you’re going upstairs,
snapped the woman behind the
counter yeah, he’d have loved you       ..

things seldom
occur the way
one expects too much,
of course

a girl in slacks
a cigarette
agape

a grape
aggrieved
relieved

and yet     ..

he said he loved the anonymity of the
city
she said on the other hand it would be
quite nice
to know where we actually are

hey mister,
didn’t I see you
on the telly
last night?

well you look
like him,
if you don’t mind
me saying

hey mister,
what d’yer wanna go
around pretending
to be him for      ..

you get that little puff
of air
as the tube train doors
open

it’s no wonder they
gasp
those ghosts who drag open
the doors

asked the bloke in the
market
where his apples were from
he said trees
said I just wanted to
know if they’re local
he said
they’re trees, mate
they tend
not to travel

perhaps we’re like fingerprints
unique
but without its effecting one’s everyday
existence we’re much the same
so to speak     ..

hi, I hope
I’m not

disturbing
you   ..

london borough of greenwich,
there was a second hand
book shop, not that I
suppose it’s there anymore than I am
hoping
the books found a good home

only ever known two women whose
feet I found attractive
and one I married -
don’t know what happened to the
other three     ..

why should I care, it’s not
as though I know you, I don’t
know what you’re like, for instance,
how you wear your hair, why you’re here, I don’t know
anything about you; I merely hope
you’re alright

when she came to his flat
he said shyly
you’re the first

touched she said that’s nothing to
be embarrassed about

he quickly added
the others will be along
shortly

only in an authoritarian
state
could the word liberal be an
insult, mate ..

went to the george, just off
borough high street, an old coaching inn,
you can just drink in the past
in here        ..

isreal suffered terribly
and responded abominably
and as for russia     ..

no one believes in objectivity
anymore
but that’s the thing is
the facts

caught a fish in the pond
although it later transpired
it had every right to be there