Random Journey
Is the inception of a voyage the end of an abstract nothingness
and beginnings of conscious life like driving to town and buy the papers
I remember a song: “set sail at the sunset” can hum the rest but have
forgotten the words I see in front of me with eyes closed
A red sun and calm sea, this is not the crossing of Styx after sundown or
is my immaturity making fun of me again you can't sail to Afghanistan?
I could sail there on a balloon and land when the Taliban shoot hole
in it and we can drink coffee smoke American cigarettes and laugh.
The problem is you can't look at women in in Afghanistan it is a shooting
offence, they do read the Guardian newspaper in Afghanistan too.
So I will sit here and wait not to cross the river but to sail the oceans.

Good News Day

Yesterday and it was a long day I’ve edited poems written
15 years ago, spelling tends to let me down, but slowly I get the hang of it
Back from the ecologist, I'm cancer free and that is great.
I had hoped we could eat out, but my wife is frying filets of fish
that has been breaded and look like schnitzel no matter what you with fish
I still don't like it, perhaps canned tunny.
But truth be told – always? - I have to do the dishes when dining at home
the only good thing with hand wash the dishes is clean fingernails.
My mother had so much dirt under hers, it was possible to plant cabbage,
but not deep enough for potatoes; it is fair it was mostly tobacco as she
hand rolled her cigarettes; I tried to but got nicotine fingers it looked
like I had my left hand permanently stuck up my ***.
For the sake of the good news, I will not carp eat the fish and be glad.

Fleece a dream

The man with thin shoulders and a sack
slung on one of them, used to stop outside my house
open the bag and strew a handful of feather light dreams,
and some dreams landed on the window ledge.
I remember she said, be careful don't fall out when
trying to grasp a flake of a dream so easily forgotten.

The man with the thin shoulders has disappeared from
the street no one knew where he had gone, so I went
out looking for him all I found in an empty pond with
a rusty tin of castor oil a product long since in use.
I left the can in the garden in the hope enticing the man
to return with his sack of visions.

A Holiday Photo


Remember Pula, in former Yugoslavia, thirty years ago,
I have picture of you in my blue shoebox, smiling look
Pretty, the people around you are incidental just locals
And other holidaymakers who don’t know they are forever
Caught by my camera, getting nowhere in my box.
The plane ride, back to Liverpool on that old aircraft that
Shuddered and had wings that moved as a seagull’s,
We were so glad we landed that, strangers spoke to each
Other till they came back to their senses and shut up.  
I know you must look different now, but what I recall is
Your smile since it, for a moment, hid the problems that
Made us part. Looking into the mirror I don’t think I have
Aged much, a grand illusion, of course, that make old age
Tolerable; I wonder if you when looking into the mirror
Think the same as I, or are you delusion free, if so I do
Feel sorry for your bitter reality.

The first dance

My outing into the big world was to go every
Saturday to the local cake shop eat cakes and drink coffee
But now I had to go to a dancehall
I noticed there were several women no one asked to dance
I asked one of them she said no, I asked the second one
She said not too, totally destroyed I looked for the exit.
Surprisingly there was a woman by the exit who said yes
Without being asked.
My dignity restored I danced with her several times
There was an alehouse near she wanted to go there
And I was only too happy that a woman spoke to me.
She drank several beers and when I asked to go back
She told me to *******.
I walked home alone

007

On the train going west, a snooping man asked questions
asking about other peoples but saying nothing about himself.
I told him a tale so violent he paled and left at the next stop.
Believed in my story when the train stopped in Liverpool
had few pint looked at my visit card stating I was a bookseller,
but that was a ruse; I was a Russian assassin sent to **** some
agents that had turned and they sat in the pub.
When the smoke from our revolvers cleared, they were dead
and the landlord refused to serve me, and the game was up
Yes, your Honour, I’m in the book trade.

Goodbye Alfred
  I had not seen Alfred for a while, had been busy
selling off my donkey farm, with this down I drove into town
but couldn't find him and his flat had been rented out to others.
Found him in rundown old peoples home, four old men to a room.
What the hell are you doing here papa? Well, it’s about the money, he said but get me out of here. Alfred who had now accepted me as his son was wealthy his grandfather had been in oil, and he feared Olga- my mother-
Would take the money, had placed most of it in Portugal.
As he had given me the power
of attorney I got him out and into a posh private home for the aged.
Alfred look frail, his wavy hair was reduced to a few strands of
White hair and his unafraid, one could say arrogant, ways had gone
The home had phone number should he get worse.
The call came in his room sat Olga she embraced me called me my son, my son.
Sitting by Alfred’s bedside, I fell asleep only awoke
when a nurse said Alfred had slipped away, strangely Olga had disappeared also, but
in a way I was content, it had not been an imagination, they were real I had a family,
although it must be said that Olga’s vanishing puzzled me and the nurse said there
had been no visitors other than I.
Alfred's last wish was to have his ashes strewn over Portugal I hired a helicopter and had it done. It was a sorrowful time, yet I was
glad that my dreams had come true.

The Ballerina and the *******

The Ballerina, at the left in my Degas print it hangs
in the hall and I have neglected to look at it for some time,
has moved to the centre stage where she goes through
her warm up routine.
She teaches little girls to dance now that she is married
and have three children; she had to go back to work
as her husband was a sloth; but she is still graceful as
a leopard when r it is chasing lesser pray on
the Savannah, or gliding up to kiss the Popes ring.
She sees my argumentative mien, but will not be drawn
into a fight when I suggest Degas was a *******.
My dog, although it has no business being there,
enjoy the attention it gets from girl ballerinas that
crowd the print with chatter and eager sincerity.

The Night Goat

Through a sooty canopy, stars gave light, but not enough for me
to see where I was going; fell into a ditch, so deep that I couldn't get up and
spent the night fighting off giant rats.
At dawn the canopy broke, like spider's web in a storm; when the new sun
dried wild flowers a nanny goat came lowered her head so I could grab hold of
her horn and she pulled me up.
We walked to where the sea begins; we parted she back to graze in the glade;
I swam in till cured of my melancholy; a frothy mare came, and ******* I rode
to the end of the horizon.

Reflection in sunlight

I'm sitting in the sun in the yard it is getting its strength back
and I try to get a tan, you see when I was young I blushed easily
this was because I lived in fear of being found out be sent back
as the intruder, I was the one who escaped poverty.
On a royal navy ship, they had six trainee officers from Ethiopia
who had their own quarter but had no one to cook and look after
them; racism was audible back then, it still is, but it is the Arabs
who get it now.
I, having been brought up by my communist mother, had no such
qualms took the job.
Mind, I also saw it as an escape from the mess hall. Beautiful people
I grew fond of them; the work was easy as they only stayed on board
four days a week. Talking about skin colour having had skin cancer twice,
I no longer sit in the sun, but use a self- tanning cream – it is not only
Trump- but what the hell I look healthy.

Leonard Cohen

The elegant poet
Has died
I good looking Hebrew face
I admired his hair
And stylish nose
His enchanting voice
Singing the same poems
What people like
I read a collection of his
It told me nothing it was
When he sang
His poems
Chorus and suitable
Setting
Came to life like
A late blooming rose
This old charmer I liked
To watch him
Singing his poems
A poet
Ought to be an entertainer

Interlude

The air was still, and trees in the forest stood in frozen silence.
A rare day, animals listened to the echo of last summer.
Hare trails in the snow made without haste, the persecuted
has nothing to fear the day when the mountain lion dreams.
The bear is in its den deep under an oak, dreamless sleep
whether still or storm, but do not wake him before spring.
The tranquillity of peace is only a brief interlude, **** or be killed,
eat or starve are wild life's merciless destiny.
The Calm cracks as the cold identified; there will be a toll to
pay if spring is too late with its promise of continuity.
Behind the forest where the blue mountain begins, a pack
of wolves howl to the moon, the soul of the hunter lied bare,
in an endless nocturnal dream.

This crazy world
Steven Hawkins is dead his contribution to science
was magnificent, even though I do not understand.
In the meantime, we pollute the land big cities are
running out of drinking  water and future wars will not
be about oil but fresh water.
We continue to fight wars that are about ism and power,
yes, the isms that by its nature is hateful and
only good to make those who live here dislike into ogres.
Space is full of debris, our ocean so full of plastic
that marine life die, but still, we carry on over a cliff
and down the abyss, icecaps are melting showing
Islands we want to use for oil- exploration can we not
Delay this haste to our doom,
Perhaps Steven Hawkins’s had a point!

Clouds on Dreams
To believe what we see is often a fallacy on a video
a rat attacked a cat; the moggy scared ran away but was it so
I think not video and pictures can be doctored so we are
left with a sceptical mind
Yet in the Sahara, I saw in the sky a ship sailing upside down
I know what I saw yet it was a mirage so therefore I can
talk about it without being made fun of like the day I saw
a flying elephant it was slow and met a crocodile
that loved me, of course, it was a mirage
That is why I'm fearless telling you this; you will think mirages,
was whisky involved?
There mere suggestion will send me into a rage and I will
never speak to you again.
The cat ashamed, turned around and killed the rat, just in case
you were curious. In the world, the strongest win just looks to Brazil  
and what the heck was I doing in the Sahara?

The president of
USA
Spoke in the UN
Assembly
How boring
Later the show
Was enlivened
By a famous actor
For a time I thought
Obama could change
The world
Alas he was swallowed by
Washington
And spat out as a talking
Machine
I had hoped he would help
Palestine but kissed
Israel's *** instead
Drones are his forte
Killing at a distance
To think he was given
The peace price for peace
The truth is they gave
It to him
For being a black president
Inverted racism
If you ask me

The Sober Seraph

I had been to my doctor is always a female I have no choice
Said I was too heavy – her words- I had to slim down a bit
Skipped lunch had soup in a café where everyone sat
Starring at their I-Phones and didn't see what I saw and angel
Stopping a man from going into a bar
I could see they were arguing the man took a step backwards
The angel won the argument and disappeared, the man
Came into the café and drank orange juice, his mien was dark,
But then lightened up he was safe…for now

He is one of the unfortunate for whom a glass of wine is one
Too many and a bottle is not enough if he listen to what his
The angle says, the inner voice of love, he should be safe.

The Land we loved


So the USA dropped the biggest bomb ever made
on an empty space and become overnight
the biggest terrorists
in the world. A weapon like this is mass destruction and
unless it is dropped in a city, quite useless.
The neo-liberal that hated Trump hates him less now since
he has shown some muscles.
It is spring, but with a MOAB hanging over heads it feels
like winter has come early.
Once in the fifties we uncritically loved America, it was
back then a welcoming place but it lost the sense of proportion
now it is a terrorist state with a madman as President.

As the time of spring beckons
                        

We all have this moment of clear-sightedness
when we see we are of little importance other to the world
and clear-eyed grasp our smallness.
We can in our tiny ways push the world forward an inch
perhaps to a fairer society where children do not die under
the rubble of concrete.
We can do nothing to stop these people who will push
us into an Armageddon, and will they somehow think
they can avoid the calamity when there is no one to blame.
There was a time when one could travel unmolested
in the Arabic world, then the smell of petroleum and
the white man came and destroyed the peace for greed.
No, not us the lesser people, we are victims too of their
hunger to dominate and enslave us in mortgages and loans
that can never be paid; so we watch and wait and when
the day of disaster comes shall I help the ruffians to my lifeboat.

Hyenas
Hyenas are untameable they are the Bannon of the evolution
plotting their own course on how to sow destruction and enjoy
the consequences. If you are a fisherman and throw a hand grenade
into the  sea, you get plenty dead fish, but  fishermen who follow
rules will hate him for it; the world belongs to the one that kills
the most but you end up eating the mutilated and waste.

In Africa, I suspect Ethiopia; a village accepted a group of hyenas living
near them a working relation the animals come into the village at night
and eat the leftovers in the roads, job done they go back and rest in
the tall grass outside the village, one can say man and beast practice
toleration, why can't we do the so instead of threatening other nations
nuclear hell that will also, in the long run, **** them.

Tanka
Under the church's floor
Hundreds of rotting coffins
A Jesus made of marble
The priest shivers when alone
His flock had sought new pasture

The Sea

Silent sea dark and deep,
on your surface, I skimmed
for years, feared you too sleepless nights,
mountainous waves when
my only defence was luck;
romantically thought that you had secrets to divulge
when hearing whispers in the tropical night.
Now I know it isn’t so
and that makes life sadder than it ought to be,
endlessly wet you are Saragossa ****, fog and
terrifying sharks;
like everything else, you suffer from advanced
pollution    
but when I hear the melancholic fog horn sing,
late in the night, I wish I were skimming your surface
again.

Continuity
Inside the greenhouse
I laid out dead roses
And the smell of spent
nature made it clear
no waste of tears
as the sun bore down
on sterile beds.
Only the beauty of dust
sparkling
in a shaft of light
danced a promise
of continuity.

Baltimore.
They came here, the black population, from the south, to get work
In factories and the rate of pay for them the poor from the south,
Was good and a neighbourhood evolved, there was progress and
Peace thriving working class districts. Capitalism is not about safety,
Shifting luck the industry moved abroad where wages are cheaper,
And where should the people go? Boarded up shops, factories and
Broken windows, where should the people go? Restless youth no
One has given them any education, where should the people go?
Being black and suffering the stigma of having been sons of slaves to
Break out of the stigma of inferiority is not easy and often its ends
In frustrated and depressed violence.
The black people of Baltimore are suffering the same contempt as my
Parents did in Norway simply for being working class. Askew is
The capitalist foundation, force into life a socialist party, a force if needed
Without compromise, a political transformation.  When politicians say
they work for the middle- class people; we know the black working- class
is blissfully excluded.

The Enemy among us
The western world has lived in peace for sixty years
mainly because of EU and shared horrid memories.
This has not been the Palestinians case who were
shooed away to give room for a colony called Israel and
those who object – freedom fighters- are called ISIS.
The USA have dropped bombs in the middle -east for
a long time and produced more ISIS fighters which now
is a common name of all who do not like being bombed.
Ex-president Obama sends drones they are intellectual
from the out- set. Trump drop a bomb the biggest in
the world it made a terrible noise, and 36 Taliban were
killed, they too are called ISIS.
(In Trump's case one wonders if he suffers erectile dysfunction)
China and Russia is ISIS in disguise, as are left-wingers
and those who do not believe in the American dream.

When Alfred was witty

Alfred, the pianist who insist he is not my father
Told me he could walk on water,
to prove it we went to where the water is shallow
he sank slowly, legs, torso and his head
I was not unduly worried,
at the bottom, he walked back to shore
and I gave him back his alpaca and French Beret, but I said nothing
he hadn't stepped on water only walked on it.
He borrowed my shoes to get home I; his son had to walk barefoot
and he never returned my shoes

Meatloaf

The old man had bought minced meat it wasn't much
he had to friends coming for lunch, so he added two eggs
maizena- flour, white flour, and milk and mixed well.
He left the dough in a bowl by the sink and had a coffee,
when he came back tiny ants –very tiny- had covered
his food, perhaps a thousand of them, as he didn't want to
throw the dough away he mixed the ants into it and
added a bit of colouring to make it look darker,
he then made a meatloaf and served it with mashed potatoes
and fried onion.
The three old men ate well and as one of them remarked
this was indeed a meaty loaf.

Of men and plants
  
The endless growing of new leaves
in my indoor plants, the shedding of leaves
all over the floor, like discarded dreams
getting in the way of the day.

Female hyenas are good mothers teaching
Their litter how to scare off lions.

Restless minds are no right as leaders of men
Overthink everything and has a nervous breakdown
Sits shaking in the corner of the bridge of warships
Excellent dancer in the ballroom in peacetime.

The Lady on the Island

She lived in a big villa with servants, on an island
connected to the mainland by a bridge, she had house arrest
wanted free elections and democracy.
A hero of the west and she got a medal for her tenacity.
The military junta set her free yet kept their power, she accepted
after all, she was a general's daughter.
As a de facto president, she turned out to be a racist, didn't defend
The Rohingya people who their villages burnt to the ground and
had to flee the massacre by the army, she stayed silent and lost
credibility, she was just elite racist didn't want to be a leader of
people who were not of her blood.

The farewell
She had to see a doctor once a month, uphill most of the way,
"When I'm grown up I'll buy you a car so you don’t need walking there
She smiled, patted my head knowing well I was
not practical or very smart.
I was forty-five and mother was eighty when I finally bought a car,
an automatic, easy to handle but I had no license. For that, I needed to
learn many new rules

Ok, carried her down from the second floor flat, she was feather
light hoped we would not get stopped
So we drove to the coast, she wanted to see the sea.
Down a narrow lane and I was worried how to turn and drive back.
On the way home we stopped at a café, we drank coffee and had a
creamy cake each and everyone was kind to us.

Mother was tired, went to bed, in the night she called me, She wasn't well:
"drive me to the hospital," she said.
I did. the staff took over, they gave her a room of her own,
I sat by the bedside, looked at her folded hands; like a sparrow's folded wings.
She closed her eyes - we didn't speak
and after a while when the sparrow didn't flutter I knew she had died,
for a long time I sat there pretending it had not happened;
mother looked so at ease I was glad that she had had a good death.

The Repairman Cometh
It was the sweetest of morning all I had to do was to pick up
a car from the garage nothing is simple in the Africa’s stranglehold
on Portugal, its relaxed attitude have seeped into the very corner of
what is called the Portuguese endearing soul
The car stopped I called the garage, alas it was lunch time which
is sacred,
oh yes they promised to come,
the man I spoke to was
chewing on a bone, I waited for three hours which is the time
a lunch break takes.
I was left sitting on a road far from a nearby café, but that is
beside the point, many call this attitude charming folkloric even
I think it demonstrate a lack of regard for Fellow man especially
if he is the foreigner and it is a well-known fact the Portuguese are
fine people,  they tell us so in every booklet you care to read
But there is another picture of Portugal on my mind
The atrocity their army committed and the following cowardice
By the leadership is forgotten in a common amnesia and the young
will ask a question; Father: what did you do in Angola besides poring
cement down hotel drains out of pure spite.

The end of a life

There were many flowers on her grave
from family, friends and foes.
They feared her lashing tongue.


The evening and night were cold
in the morning the flowers looked
white and bloodless.

Why does it end like this?
The utter silence it is as she never lived

The morning traffic is heavy
Friday, the week is coming to an end
and no one will ever know here wisdom
the suffering she endured.

If remembered, she was an old woman
who spokes the truth?
No one wanted to hear.

Mean Machine

The locomotive was an old mean machine
only used for carrying gods at local stations along
boring flatland. Once it had been a young and
the President of Portugal rode on it, not only him
but many other high up all the way to Lisbon.
And now? It wanted to go hiding somewhere dark,
but where does one conceal an iron horse?
The train passed near the parking lot in Faro
I was out with my dog, and there I could let her
run free. There was a hole in the fence were
the tracks. Naturally, she jumped through.
She saw the train that seemed to speed up with murderous intent when she jumped clear it
was too late. I had her buried and the following
days were long and full of sadness.

Murderous Laughter
From world famous violinist to a murderer was the headline of our newspaper.
I knew the man a musical genius but so shy he only made recordings and appeared
on radio. You never get famous unless people see you in the flesh so magazines
can publish a picture of you shaking hands with politicians and see the blessed one
with movie stars, he was persuaded to give a life concert. The hall was full as he
entered the stage applause broke this was a highlight, no doubt a musical genius.
As his music filled hearts with the immense beauty, he became taller and his
trousers fell to his ankles. Dead silence, then nervous giggles that ended with
hysterical laughter from his audience who could not stop laughing, concert over.

He went to live in Alentejo in Portugal; no one knew him, got a job as a shepherd,
had a room next to the sheep, but took his meals in the kitchen. One day a tourist on
a walking holiday came to the small farm asked direction looked at the violinist and
said:” you are the one who lost his trouser on the stage.” The tourist told the story
of this to the farmer and his wife and the all laughed, dogs, cats and the mouse
in the corner. The musician got up went to the barn picked up a pitchfork and stabbed
the poor tourist to death and, at last, the laughter stopped.

Martin Luther King

It is 50 years since he was shot dead
It shocked America and naturally uproar and looting
by the black population followed.
I remember the man because he saw that poverty
is the enemy and we must try to eradicate it.
For the black population not so much have changed
a horde of young black men have no education and
live by gang violence and drugs.
The white live outside towns and pretend no to see
that there is cancer in their midst.
A massive amount of money must be spent to give
the unfortunate an education which is a way out of poverty.
If that doesn’t help inter-marriage is a good solution in the USA today it is up 17%,
but will a darkening America be a better place.
No, it will not unless we tackle poverty.

The Fable of Jesus

Jesus was skeptical of his tribe, as a trainee carpenter
so lousy couldn't even make a bookshelf, they kidded him
for that and Jesus took umbrage and criticized
the priests who served the Romans.
He took to hanging out with a group of radicals of the day
and since he was good with words, became their leader.
They had groupies too, one of them was Magdalena and
Jesus took a shine to her without saying so, but them all
knew from the way he looked at her.
Being admired by his flock, Jesus thought he could take
on the establishment, like when he chased money lenders
out of the temple; he was wrong.
When the Romans mocked him and crowded him a king,
he thought the people would come to save him, no such
a thing happened, he was strung up (Crucified).
The women came to his rescue, healed his wounds and
sent him to France where he took the name of Pierre,
married Magdalena had seven children and was
a much-respected Goldsmith

The Big House  

I could not live in a house with many people
Voices at all hour of the day no privacy the precious moment
When the world rolls slower and I can hear time's clock tick
In a house full of people there is a din of violence to come
And whispering sin at night
Flushing toilets, subbing feet
The tears of the misbegotten those who are cheated on
Drunken brawl screams and police sirens.  
TV that is full of banalities
Every news programs from the same supplier.
To live in a house full of people must be very lonely
With no time for reflection

The rain that fell on the night was of the type *** plants like,
it has stopped the air is mild, and the flowers smiles except the lemon tree
that is born grumpy and bears bitter fruit, which incidentally is good
with fried fish and it refreshes otherwise lame dishes, say fish cakes with
boiled potatoes, a meal crying out for something bitter to hide
the Norwegian boredom food like seeing Oslo's municipal building
ten times a day. My wife has watered the indoor plants that were green
with envy not being allowed to go outside.
For lunch we are having soup, it has too much pepper in it and again
I have to ask the lemon tree for help as roses are pretty but useless.

Truism
An axiom is a sturdy plant
You can asphalt it with lies
But it will always be an axiom
And break to the surface in
Time for reckoning

Ageing dictator

The dictator is entering old age
his face is taken the appearance of a shrunken apple
but he still likes to look masculine.
Sitting wide-legged in a suit that is too tight.
He is not able to hide the beginning of a girth
he finds this annoying and swims several times a day.
He reads a lot but often draws the wrong conclusion
his anger toward the west is understandable
the broken promises of NATO and the USA
fills him with wroth he regards this as a lack of respect
for his beloved Russia.
The war in Ukraine is to say, will you respect me now?

Bremerhaven  

Bremerhaven, 1957 was a stunned town
Illegal bars and whorehouses for the many sailors
Who brought material to re- built the town
It was a summer and in bombed out neighbourhoods
There was accordion music
And patriotic songs from the war were sung
I was so young back then, and the ****** spoilt me rotten
So many ships coming in they were busy and
Then there was the American base to service, but even
Then, at my tender age, I could not stop thinking
How efficient the Germans were they had lost but were
Strangely happy re- building the lost years, the war
Had cleaned their souls.

The Pyre
“When the moon, kiss the sea,” was never my line
but I once saw the sinking sun painting oak leaves Auburn
and olive leaves green as old gold
The mules in the field had eyes of onyx, and the sky was
Nursery pink to please the children and me.  But this sort of levity
was not on my mind it was getting cold the man who delivered
short sliced wood could not come this year he had moved into
an old folks home
and his son did not deliver a small amount of firewood I remember
him when he was a lad eagerly helping  his old man, just waiting for his turn
to make it big, we are all capitalists now an agency has offered to
sell my books, no problem they say 40% of everything
they give a **** about Auburn colors on leaves and old gold unless it
is cash they often rings my wife answer the phone I'm not in she says
but sometimes I'm caught unaware the thought of parting with
my books are too much they are packed in plastic awaiting my death and
then the horde will come and burn them in the garden a pyre of helpless thought
pathetic attempt writing something beautiful, pathetically failing
I cannot fly on romantic wings I’m not a poet only a smithy

The carafe

Bought a bottle
Of posh red wine
I look
It looks at me
I look
It looks at me.
I get furious
It is empty now
Threw it in the bin
Who wants to?
Look at an empty    
Bottle
If you are not
A collector of labels

A friendly Story
He the modest farmer was cutting green juicy spring grass
those that had spring flowers entwined it was for his donkey
that had been in the stable in the winter
He put the fodder in a jute sack and when it was full carried
it home to the donkey now in the yard
The animal ate and ate alas there can be too much of a good thing
its stomach full of gas it took flight over the mountain to Spain
where it landed outside the famous cathedral in Seville
Its arrival caused some uproar the believers looked up and said
but where is Jesus?” An *** and Jesus they had read their Bible.

For one day there was not a word about presidential election
In the USA, but a story of a beast that had eaten too much spring
grass and was full of gas but the story ended well the donkey was
sent back to the unassertive farmer in Portugal

Street Walker in Oslo

As the black-winged night occupies my balcony
and spread its wings in triumph and shop lights
try in vain to illuminate and gladden a grubby street
I see you leaving your flat and begin your night shift
As you walk past splashes of yellow light,
I can see your white powdered face has not yet
settled into its customary inviting grin and your
lips are a machete slash where blood has coagulated
into lumps long ago.
Dressed in red tonight in the hope of attracting
rampant lust, but since you are an old bird
you are reduced to service those with a putrid need
for violence, but even in your disgrace I know
your heart is pure.

A day in a Market Town

The café had a big window facing the street, it was almost empty
except for three scientists, they were talking about trees
I noticed a dog running up and down apparently it was lost and
tired of listening to the- none of my business- I walked out spoke to
the dog, come with me to the park plenty of trees there it followed
Me at a distance. In the park I sat down, I had biscuits in my pocket
gave them to the dog, it was thirsty, so I lifted it up so it could
drink water from the fountain, quite happy it ran around and peed
on trees leaving its marks: saying I was here with a human.

The scientists came into the park also now they talked about the string
theory until one said he would rather discuss marine biology
The dog was chasing squirrels as the day seamlessly slid into evening
I walked to the car wondering what to eat tonight would it be
meat cakes with stewed cabbage and boiled potatoes.

Wool backed

On top of the green hill,
Sheep stopped grazing
Looking at the sunset,
Eyes reflecting pink tint  
And stillness.

As the orange sun went
down behind the horizon
painting the sky burgundy  
the sheep began grazing
once again.    

The Shepard is ignorant
the sun is the only god,
sheep know that he doesn’t  
now this drinks wine and
feels alone.

Domestic Landscape


There used to be many small farms or homesteads around
Here where I live, they are abandoned now,
Except for some wretched relics unable to move, acres so
Small earth could easily be ploughed by a mule.

Nostalgia is the name of poetry.

Carob and olive trees grow unseemly branches
Looking like a film set in a horror movie.

The neglected has mystery by itself.

Nature is moving back in, animals the kept a respectful
Distance from man, like shy deer
, and wild boars have been seen crossing the road at night.
Housebound flowers too has felt the freedom
Leaving ceramically confined, to the delight of goats.
The hares that people thought had been eradicated,
are competing with the blue rabbit in some clearing.
Beauty beholds, there is the talk of a golf course so players can be close to nature.

The good Baptist

Was coming out of a shop in Roma,
I knew it was him,
Long hair and trimmed beard,
The ladies swooned
The Vogue wanted him on its cover,
he wore an Armani suit
a white silk scarf
carelessly slung around his neck.  
Scintillating angle wings quivered in warm anticipation,
will he gaze at them?
No, he had loftier things
in mind, he wasn’t going to
get seduced by beauty yet again,
hailed a taxi:
“To the Vatican,” they heard
he say, “I have an audience
with the pope.”

To see clearly

Over a cold Nordic coast a seagull flies
between the island and the mainland by ferry 20 minutes
but time is of no interest to a bird.
It was an old seagull it knew me when I was a cook on
the ferry and it waited for me to throw scraps overboard
it shrieked fiercely I took that as a thank you.
The ferry was sold to an African state after the bridge was built
they used it for contraband, and I think of my spotless kitchen.
The gull moved to the outer island, and anyway scraps of food
thrown into the sea is against the law.
Waste food is good for the life at sea I can't say the same about
plastic wrappings were floating about the inner harbour.
The day is clear I'm a seagull and can clearly see the past but
need glasses to see the future I see those who took up arms
against the tyranny of the exceptional capitalism.
Falluja is the name the downtrodden took up arms, they lost
but showed the world we need not buckle under USA's
weaponry, you can't **** faith.
The old seagull flies beside me now harshly shrieks the way
we seagulls greet each other.

Traitors

The red roses over there,
yes those in the blue
ceramic vase on the table,
are eying me hungrily,
they could so easily
grow roots in
my belly and
produce black and green roses.

Till I had no more
nourishment left and
was a skeletal being drained
of a useful mineral, and
petals would fall off seeds
blow in the wind to
other hosts, the last indignity done.