I bring to you
serenity in a cup

time at
a standstill

material
for fortune-tellers

shadows
of the Empire

you drink
a bit

then spill
it

on your paper
the stains

spread
like a sunset

blotting out
bad news


* Empire - British Empire

We meet by the lockers
at break
I'm still amazed
that this school
has Cheerleaders
that basketball
not rounders & netball
is the sport played
that we study
the Cold War
' Of Mice & Men'
& the War in Vietnam
that we have 'Hitzenfrei' days
that our German teacher
always forgives our mistakes
that boys & girls
hang out together
that we put on musicals
I've never heard of
That we celebrate the fall of the Wall
that we take school trips
to Concentration Camps
that there's no uniform
that the teachers
rarely explain anything
that the word ' rubber'
doesn't mean ' eraser'
here but something else
that there are stereotypes
like 'nerd' & ' prom queen'
that we welcome grafitti
that we believe in Love
above any kind of Study
that we have the freedom
to pick & choose our failiures
without being sent
to the Principal's office
that we read Kerouac
Carl Sandburg & Ginsberg
that nearly everyone
has lived in at least
two or three
different countries
that we rarely fight
that my crush
plays trumpet
in a ska band
that we go
to the nearby Lakes
on weekends
& the English language cinema
on Tuesdays
that we celebrate Halloween
bit by bit I nearly forget
my All Girls school days
in soggy Britain
where I had no friends
where we sang hymns
every single morning
where we didn't practice
the Love we preached
where our future
was crumbling old Oxbridge
where we had a coat of arms
where we had houses
named after the merchant ships
of our Founder  from the 1600ds
where we didn't dream
of becoming Presidents
or Astronauts but Academics
forever lost in musty books
the flower of our youth, wasted


Hitzenfrei days were days in summer when we were let off school because it was too hot.
Wall - Berlin Wall

i.
Tread lightly
for you tread upon my heart
those nights the Angels
want to tear you down
those nights you want to talk
about Modernism
those nights you're Kerouac
under the ageless, drunken Moon
those nights on which
I discover that
we both like Columbo
& both have watched '' The Reader'',
'' Russian Ark''
& both Virginia Woolf adore
tread lightly
for you tread upon my heart


      i.i
Tread lightly
for you tread upon my heart
those nights when you are
just too smart
for your own good
& wit & kindness
seem to well up
in your every word
those nights you talk of
Northern thunderstorms
when down South
we have none
& Bronte's Kathy
haunts you
Tread lightly
for you tread upon my heart


      i.i.i
Tread lightly
for you tread upon my heart
each time you
make the stars seem dimmer
by your absence
when the broken night's soundtrack
is your ' Joy Division'
Those nights you write poetry
at 2 a.m just like me
Those nights I realize
you'll never see in me
the jazz that I found in you
Because you never looked
Those nights I want to tear down
the Angels for keeping us apart;
tread lightly for you tread upon my heart

It is a time for all the signs
the Star of Bethlehem
the hailstones in summertime

I wish I read Tarot cards
or coffee dregs or tea leaves
you followed me on twitter

& then abandoned me
is your heart so hard
or are you simply

scared of something
we both can't change
well forget everything

this is a time for all the signs
if you can't bear the truth
lets just live with the lies

you can accept
e.g my 'mental health'
which you're convinced

is the problem
unable to look
past the end of your nose

but no matter how many roads
you travel you won't find
someone like me, another

more worthy of your love
& I say ' Love' not ' Pity'
for I believe in Hope


so lets get on with it
for something is happening
in this world

which could
bring us together
some magic

beyond ourselves
can't you feel it
the call of Him

the Card Dealer
the Great Believer
the King of Love

I challenge you, Gambler
I say it's real
& that it's meant for us

It is upon us, then, the mystery
of frankincense & myrrh

two planets merge
& we gather listlessly

to glimpse the sign
of him, our Lord

like long ago
the great star shines

albeit in summer heat
we gather close

& tell the tale
that makes the world complete

eyes dart
train station waits

                      empty footsteps smartly
                      sound

the bone parade

                      wiping make-up from your face
                      you're waving to eternity

                      but eternity does not wait
                      for you,

preferring preacher men

in stiff neck-collars
downing whiskeys

                              just as you leave
                              a butterfly dies

& newspapers the next day
print an article about the extinction

of a rare species
& the train station waits

waits
waits

She hates odd numbers
finds herself in moments
in the cracks between
the pavement

she likes to go out
in her bath robe
& scare the kids
that come Trick or Treating

she likes the rain
& has just won at bingo
she's seventy-six
& she's still a beginner