SOOTHING THE MUSIC

the piano was angry
he tried to sooth the music
that kept biting at his fingers

each note...each note
the world fading away 'til there was only
the music alive in him

just him & the music now
sharing the same body
the music snatching at his soul

when the music left
it took time
to become human again

he sat with a cigarette
having a conversation
with the smoke

the music loved him
he tried
to love it back


*

My friend had a breakdown and the music seemed to swallow him up...devour his personality. This is his description of what it was like to be him whilst playing.

TO WOOF OR NOT TO WOOF

wasn't a word
out of the room
furniture fell silent

refused to say
anything
anything at all

drunken chair leaned
over and touched
the floor with an arm

tipsy table stood up
on its hind legs
looking very

very guilty
at being
caught thus

books ran all about
the floor like
birds that couldn't fly

a glass looked
shattered
milk raced across Lino

"Wot...wot!"
barked Hamlet
the great Dane

trying to look innocent
lifting his leg
peeing against the wallpaper

COMING IN FROM THE COLD


searching
in a second-hand shop
among the bric-a-brac

I found you
in a white Mac
I in a white Mac too

as if
we were both
spies

& had arranged to meet
here to hand over
secret dossiers

I kissed
the top of your head
as I always do

‘cos that’s how
far you
come up to!

“The secret word
is Love! ”
I whisper into your hair.

“Love! ” you echo
as if it actually were
a prearranged signal

although
only chance
had brought us here

us two
secret
agents

in the  sacred
espionage
of Love

SKIN & BLISTER
( for Junie )

We grin & grimace
drop candle wax onto our fingertips

as the storm
rattles our window pane

angry that we won’t let it in.

All night
it rages

toppling chimney
pots with a crash

smashing slates
it strips from rooftops

as we safe
giggle & peel off

our waxen
fingerprints

hold them
(tiny whirlpools)  
in our palms

those whorls
of self

unique to each.

I wearing my sister’s
fingerprints

she... wearing mine.

*

SKIN & BLISTER is Cockney rhyming slang for sister. We were so close we could have worn each other fingerprints and as a little boy I was delighted to do so. I was her and me was she. This I guess is something we did to amuse ourselves before...telly arrived.

THE ME I AM

I laugh
with a dead man’s laugh

(a man I never knew)  

my grandfather’s laughter

flowering like Springtime

blossoming in my mouth

not listening to the years.

Time joins the dots.
Painting by Numbers.

I see
with my mother’s eyes

the world
stealing into my mind

become music

anything it
chooses.

Time joins the dots.
Painting by numbers.

This gesture
is my big sisters

gathering me
up into her

nearness

tenderness.

Time joins the dots.
Painting by Numbers.

My father’s love
beats in my heart

sings in everything
it touches

amuses

me to see

how I

am

all those others
as well as me.

Time joins
the dots.

Painting by Numbers.

WANTED:

Run down human
being

heartbroken
at the end of a tether

wannabe poet

sixty somethingish

must have own mind

Irish or at the very least
able to do the accent

be unable to tell
a lie

must have the double
initials D.D.

must have seven heads.

"Begobs..!" says I
to myself says I

the very job for me!"

I could do it standing on
my head>

Apply within it said
and so I did on a whim

the job was mine as long as I could be
all seven of my selves.

I ONCE WAS YOU

and so
in time to come
I will become

your ancestor
someone you will know
nothing of. .  .

I will fade
be
a mere name

if remembered
at all
a footnote in your history

maybe survive
as a photo
locked into my present

as you are
locked into
your future

all you may know
is that
once I was

a stepping stone
to you
becoming the who you are

you as unknown
to me
as I to you

know only
that we shared
the same smile

and loved how
sunlight felt so
good upon our skin