The clarity of that light
apologises for the fact the cold
will still shrivel your extremities

Once again
we sit in wait of the first hot pulse
to wake our state

They say it’s coming
but we’ve been (not) burned before
so cautious underwear is worn

But be sure
that ****** foil barbecues will sell
in panicked droves come Monday

Do you know what’s good in this world?

You, you ****** idiot,
expending all your energy
whirling and worrying
about what others think
while your very industry stops them sinking,
you almighty dingus

You bally fool!
Your absence injures
in increments felt by each person
you vex for, who miss you
which add in mounds and scores
and you shaped piles
while they would run for miles
to keep you in their orbit

So,
you massive plum,
let yourself feel it

Put your ear against the day
lub-dub beat slows
throttle hand gives
deep breaths release
kinked shoulders
and the tears that come could be
for anything

Mens sana in copore sano
so they say
which these days is a worry
as the sedentary blur
sees a time-lapse
of my fattening *** shift
marginally on the sofa
while the pallor of my skin
makes corpses wince
and message u ok ***?

Given my increasingly potato shape
what state will my cabbage brain be
when they finally give the all clear?

When we are once again allowed near
I envision sitting with my primates
grunting fear as the brave one
reaches for the monolith

Six assorted buzzards and kites
claimed this sky today,
their joyed metallic calls proclaimed above me
while I pottered slightly mournfully below
in a fecund but disappointing garden

From their strident majesty
I should take inspiration
and bend the land to match their empire

I got as far as picking some crisp packets
out of a hedge

A day will soon come when you will wake
after a full, unbroken night
with no asides other than kooky dreams,
and materials for breakfast
will be at hand and in date

and your plans will be loose
and peopled with easy love
and activities that boost your soul

the weather will be just the way you like it:
that crisp, bright, balmy, bracing, intoxicating kiss
you’re perfectly dressed for

the memories you carve will remain
to glow in the dark
like the stars on your bedroom ceiling

a day like this will come again
so hold on my loves,
hold on

I grew on after she was gone
unaware that routines of love
high days and Sundays
had woven spells

Bay leaf smell
kindnaps back
to a kitchen where windows,
steamed with riches baked and boiled,
wombed us from the outside world

Born to patience and a place at the table
each chair full, with more squeezed if needed
while more than food sustained us