Recto:

She‘s vacuuming: the dog has leapt, afraid,
onto my lap and sent my papers flying.
Till then I‘d slept. Still half-asleep, I‘m trying,
relentlessly, to finish things I‘d made

a start on yesterday, identifying
slips and errors, trading words or phrases.
Mystifying, the way we go through phases
laid in stone, half-stunned while time goes flying

by and nothing‘s done for days. Is stasis
part of the deal? We‘re drying up, we fade? -
and then, bejaisus! - that small fire we‘d laid
that kept on choking re-ignites and blazes!

Verso:

She‘s vacuuming: the dog has leapt,
afraid, onto my lap and sent
my papers flying. Till then I‘d slept.

Still half-asleep, I‘m trying, relent-
lessly, to finish things I‘d made
a start on yesterday, ident-

ifying slips and errors, trad-
ing words or phrases. Mystifying,
the way we go through phases laid

in stone, half-stunned, while time goes flying
by and nothing‘s done for days. Is
stasis part of the deal? We‘re drying

up, we fade? ... and then, bejaisus!
- that small fire we‘d laid that kept
on choking self-ignites and blazes!

AMBIGRAM VII

Recto:

This thorny hedgehog world is rolled into
oblivious winter sleep, where fierce dreams
have clawed a hold and block the probing beams
that keep on seeking for a passage through—

a sleep so heavy and so deep it seems
the sleep of someone who had dared to go
to all extremes, had nothing left to know
or do. As winter ices up the streams

and blizzards howl and hurtle snow on snow,
the  narrow valley teems with soldiers who
must face the foe upon the frontier to
that cold new country where we all shall go.

Verso:

This thorny hedgehog world is rolled
into oblivious winter sleep,
where fierce dreams have clawed a hold

and block the probing beams that keep
on seeking for a passage through—
a sleep so heavy and so deep

it seems the sleep of someone who
had dared to go to all extremes,
had nothing left to know or do.

As winter ices up the streams
and blizzards howl and hurtle snow
on snow, the narrow valley teems

with soldiers who must face the foe
upon the frontier to that cold
new country where we all shall go.

AMBIGRAM VIII

Recto:

Yesterday was Christmas, and the days
already start to grow a little longer.
In our hand, the new year‘s fledgling, stronger
though more fragile too in many ways

than this bedraggled, aging crow, its song a
a sad, repeated phrase among the blackened
trees along a river. So sit back and
raise your glasses to it, do the conga,

auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And black and
white explode, a throng of rainbows—gaze!
You‘ll see it, wakened in  the morning haze,
ascending as the tethering s?tring is slackened:

Verso:

Yesterday was Christmas, and
the days already start to grow
a little longer. In our hand,

the new year‘s fledgling, stronger  though
more fragile too in many ways
than this bedraggled, aging crow,

its song a sad, repeated phrase
among the blackened trees along a
river. So sit back and raise

your glasses to it, do the conga,
auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And
And black and white explode, a throng of

rainbows—gaze! You‘ll see it, wakened
in the morning haze, ascend-
ing as the tethering string is slackened.






















































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­
































































­
































































­
































































­
































































­























































AMBIGRAM
­
Recto:

Yesterday was Christmas, and the days
already start to grow a little longer.
In our hand, the new year‘s fledgling, stronger
though more fragile too in many ways

than this bedraggled, aging crow, its song a
a sad, repeated phrase among the blackened
trees along a river. So sit back and
raise your glasses to it, do the conga,

auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And black and
white explode, a throng of rainbows—gaze!
You‘ll see it, wakened in  the morning haze,
ascending as the tethering s?tring is slackened:

Verso:

Yesterday was Christmas, and
the days already start to grow
a little longer. In our hand,

the new year‘s fledgling, stronger  though
more fragile too in many ways
than this bedraggled, aging crow,

its song a sad, repeated phrase
among the blackened trees along a
river. So sit back and raise

your glasses to it, do the conga,
auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And
And black and white explode, a throng of

rainbows—gaze! You‘ll see it, wakened
in the morning haze, ascend-
ing as the tethering string is slackened.






















































­
































































­
































































­
































































­































































A­MBIGRAM

Recto:

Yesterday was Christmas, and the days
already start to grow a little longer.
In our hand, the new year‘s fledgling, stronger
though more fragile too in many ways

than this bedraggled, aging crow, its song a
a sad, repeated phrase among the blackened
trees along a river. So sit back and
raise your glasses to it, do the conga,

auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And black and
white explode, a throng of rainbows—gaze!
You‘ll see it, wakened in  the morning haze,
ascending as the tethering s?tring is slackened:

Verso:

Yesterday was Christmas, and
the days already start to grow
a little longer. In our hand,

the new year‘s fledgling, stronger  though
more fragile too in many ways
than this bedraggled, aging crow,

its song a sad, repeated phrase
among the blackened trees along a
river. So sit back and raise

your glasses to it, do the conga,
auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And
And black and white explode, a throng of

rainbows—gaze! You‘ll see it, wakened
in the morning haze, ascend-
ing as the tethering string is slackened.






















































­
































































­
































































­
































































­
































































­
































































­
































































­



























































AMBIG­RAM

Recto:

Yesterday was Christmas, and the days
already start to grow a little longer.
In our hand, the new year‘s fledgling, stronger
though more fragile too in many ways

than this bedraggled, aging crow, its song a
a sad, repeated phrase among the blackened
trees along a river. So sit back and
raise your glasses to it, do the conga,

auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And black and
white explode, a throng of rainbows—gaze!
You‘ll see it, wakened in  the morning haze,
ascending as the tethering s?tring is slackened:

Verso:

Yesterday was Christmas, and
the days already start to grow
a little longer. In our hand,

the new year‘s fledgling, stronger  though
more fragile too in many ways
than this bedraggled, aging crow,

its song a sad, repeated phrase
among the blackened trees along a
river. So sit back and raise

your glasses to it, do the conga,
auld lang syne, then hit the sack. And
And black and white explode, a throng of

rainbows—gaze! You‘ll see it, wakened
in the morning haze, ascend-
ing as the tethering string is slackened.

Recto:

One of those days. The snow is falling soundless
out of a grey and uneventful sky.
A day for calling friends from times gone by?—
each one I try stays hidden in the boundless

wilderness of restless  Sunday si-
lence.  Floods, a sinking pound, less job provision—
the usual run of news on  televison—
groundless reasons for concern or high

time for despairing? Or decision! Reach an
arm  out, you can fly, your spring is wound! Less
imprecision! Let the word resound! Less
fun, short??-term, maybe, but clearer vision.


Verso:

One of those days. The snow is falling
soundless out of a grey and un-
eventful sky. A day for calling

friends from times gone by?—each one
I try stays hidden in the boundless
wilderness of restless  Sun-

day silence.  Floods, a sinking pound, less
job provision—the usual run
of news on  televison—groundless

reasons for concern or high
time for despairing? Or decision!
Reach an arm out, you can fly,

your spring is wound! Less imprecision!
Let the word resound! Less fun,
short??-term, maybe, but clearer vision.

The people in this place
—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon
begin to show himself,
although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re
all so like tin apostle
spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil
to  the inscrutible hero.
Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now
is fleeing the inquisitive
crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world
we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they do-
ing here? They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon begin
to show himself, although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re all so like tin
apostle spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil to  the in-
scrutible hero. Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now is fleeing the in-
quisitive  crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged into
that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are
they doing here? They come and go
like actors in a play whose star

will very soon begin to show
himself, although we have no clue
which one he is, for they‘re all so

like tin apostle spoons, not tru-
ly separate beings but figurines,
a passive foil to  the inscru-

tible hero. Is that him, that thin
pale figure who just now is fleeing
the inquisitive  crowd? But in

a while he too is slowly rein-
gested, merged into that far-
off world we can no longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in a play whose star
will very soon begin to show himself, although
we have no clue which one he is, for they‘re all so
like tin apostle spoons, not truly separate beings

but figurines, a passive foil to  the inscru-
tible hero. Is that him, that thin pale figure who
just now is fleeing the inquisitive  crowd? But in
a while he too is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place
—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon
begin to show himself,
although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re
all so like tin apostle
spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil
to  the inscrutible hero.
Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now
is fleeing the inquisitive
crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world
we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they do-
ing here? They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon begin
to show himself, although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re all so like tin
apostle spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil to  the in-
scrutible hero. Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now is fleeing the in-
quisitive  crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged into
that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are
they doing here? They come and go
like actors in a play whose star

will very soon begin to show
himself, although we have no clue
which one he is, for they‘re all so

like tin apostle spoons, not tru-
ly separate beings but figurines,
a passive foil to  the inscru-

tible hero. Is that him, that thin
pale figure who just now is fleeing
the inquisitive  crowd? But in

a while he too is slowly rein-
gested, merged into that far-
off world we can no longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in a play whose star
will very soon begin to show himself, although
we have no clue which one he is, for they‘re all so
like tin apostle spoons, not truly separate beings

but figurines, a passive foil to  the inscru-
tible hero. Is that him, that thin pale figure who
just now is fleeing the inquisitive  crowd? But in
a while he too is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place
—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon
begin to show himself,
although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re
all so like tin apostle
spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil
to  the inscrutible hero.
Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now
is fleeing the inquisitive
crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world
we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they do-
ing here? They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon begin
to show himself, although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re all so like tin
apostle spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil to  the in-
scrutible hero. Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now is fleeing the in-
quisitive  crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged into
that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are
they doing here? They come and go
like actors in a play whose star

will very soon begin to show
himself, although we have no clue
which one he is, for they‘re all so

like tin apostle spoons, not tru-
ly separate beings but figurines,
a passive foil to  the inscru-

tible hero. Is that him, that thin
pale figure who just now is fleeing
the inquisitive  crowd? But in

a while he too is slowly rein-
gested, merged into that far-
off world we can no longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in a play whose star
will very soon begin to show himself, although
we have no clue which one he is, for they‘re all so
like tin apostle spoons, not truly separate beings

but figurines, a passive foil to  the inscru-
tible hero. Is that him, that thin pale figure who
just now is fleeing the inquisitive  crowd? But in
a while he too is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place
—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon
begin to show himself,
although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re
all so like tin apostle
spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil
to  the inscrutible hero.
Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now
is fleeing the inquisitive
crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world
we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they do-
ing here? They come and go like actors in
a play whose star will very soon begin
to show himself, although we have no clue

which one he is, for they‘re all so like tin
apostle spoons, not truly separate beings
but figurines, a passive foil to  the in-
scrutible hero. Is that him, that thin

pale figure who just now is fleeing the in-
quisitive  crowd? But in a while he too
is slowly reingested, merged into
that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

The people in this place—what are
they doing here? They come and go
like actors in a play whose star

will very soon begin to show
himself, although we have no clue
which one he is, for they‘re all so

like tin apostle spoons, not tru-
ly separate beings but figurines,
a passive foil to  the inscru-

tible hero. Is that him, that thin
pale figure who just now is fleeing
the inquisitive  crowd? But in

a while he too is slowly rein-
gested, merged into that far-
off world we can no longer be in.

The people in this place—what are they doing here?
They come and go like actors in a play whose star
will very soon begin to show himself, although
we have no clue which one he is, for they‘re all so
like tin apostle spoons, not truly separate beings

but figurines, a passive foil to  the inscru-
tible hero. Is that him, that thin pale figure who
just now is fleeing the inquisitive  crowd? But in
a while he too is slowly reingested, merged
into that far-off world we can no  longer be in.

recto:

I send this from the little cell wherein
I dwell, a sealed room without a door,
no latch or bell or knocker waiting for
those whom some debt or doom or mortal sin

might draw towards this private tomb.But for
one single tiny window set up high
which holds a poor small square of greying sky
where thin birds’ flightlines scratch the current score

there’s no way in or out. Yet I shall try
to find that secret power that lies within,
that quiet light that I am storing in
this  room in which I live until I die.

verso:

I send this from the little cell
wherein  dwell, a sealed room
without a door, no latch or bell

or knocker waiting for those whom
some doom or debt or mortal sin
might draw towards this private tomb.

But for one single tiny win-
dow set up high which holds a poor
small square of greying sky where thin

birds’ flightlines scratch the current score
there’s no way in or out. Yet I
shall try to find that secret power

that lies within, that quiet light
that I am storing in this room
in which I live until I die.

turbo:

I send this from the little cell wherein I dwell,
a sealed room without a door, no latch or bell
or knocker waiting for those whom some debt or doom
or mortal sin might draw towards this private tomb.
But for one single tiny window set up high

which holds a poor small square of greying sky where thin
birds’ flightlines scratch the current score there’s no way in
or out. Yet I shall try to find that secret power
that lies within,that quiet light that I am stor-
ing in this room in which I live until I die.

Five times a day upon his coloured mat
he bends himself. The nurses come and go,
spectres in a slow procession that’s
caught in a loop, where only
the names change (ours too are abandoned for
the new ones we receive upon on arrival:
‘faking it’ or ‘non-cooperative’ or ‘terminal’ or
‘crash survival’).
It’s not their fault they eye him curiously.
They know he’s just a Turk. They’re different. He
gives not a sod
but prostrate on the disinfected floor
he offers, counting beads to keep the score,
his soul to God.

They snore in turn: a soft antiphony
of hoarse vibrations, left, a dull Darth Vader,
and right, though sometimes slipping off the radar,
a tremolando shudder. Stiff, uneven,
a third threads in a slow polyphony,
divisions on a ground that swell or fade, or
pause, then unexpectedly cascade, a
purred glissando, an epiphany
of coarse cadenzas. Soon an overwhelming
sadness percolates from other realms
where yellow stains an ocean’s perfect white
and who can say how many hours to go
till, rallentando, pianissimo,
the music is dissolved into the night.

They come and go like coloured birds migrating
with maps of other countries in their brain.
You are a tree in which they pause, awaiting
an inner signal to set off again.
You stop, you listen, straining to decipher
the simultaneous songs that they intone,
knowing that so many men would die for
the chance to hear just one of them alone.
Summated, though, their singing’s but a jangle
of jarring chords and rampant dissonance,
the chaos that’s passed on from age to age.
And in a daze you dare to disentangle
a single thread of perfect eloquence
and tease it free and lay it on the page.

He’s a smuggler, bearing certain small
but heavy packages across the borders.
No one knows the powers from whom his orders
come or what authority he’d call
upon, should he be spotted as he drags
himself through brambles or goes burrowing through
the undergrowth. He carries with him few
possessions and his clothes are all in rags—
he doesn’t care: his sole concern is for
the things he carries and the consequence,
should frontier guards discover and inspect them.
He leaves them in left luggage lockers or
on supermarket shelves or under stones,
and no one ever turns up to collect them.

I scribble on a scrap of paper while
she goes to buy a cartridge for the printer.
It’s five o’clock and Wednesday and mid-winter:
I should’ve stayed at home—I’ve got a pile
of work to do and this is wasting time.
Obama’s on the radio again
with promises on gun-related crime
and fighting poverty that hidden men
in long dark rooms will never let him honour.
A woman in white boots. Behind her, on a
bicycle, an old man, very slow.
She doesn’t look it, but somehow I know
she’s pregnant and they have no place to go.
I switch channels. It's an old song by Madonna.

20.

One’s speaking softly in considered tones,
a quietener to his child’s whim. The other’s
sailing the contented seas of early
love. The storms that tried to strike these brothers
down are over now, the bitter taste
has passed, and bells of laughter have replaced
the stones that once we hurled at one another.
Back in the tent, high up on the trapeze,
bracing his body for the triple twist,
the acrobat swings. The great crowd shifts and groans.
He wants their wild applause, but if he’d have it he
must seize the point where his arc has slowed and kissed
the stillness. For this is his gentle Pentecost,
the white dove motionless in zero gravity

20.

One’s speaking softly in considered tones,
a quietener to his child’s whim. The other’s
sailing the contented seas of early
love. The storms that tried to strike these brothers
down are over now, the bitter taste
has passed, and bells of laughter have replaced
the stones that once we hurled at one another.
Back in the tent, high up on the trapeze,
bracing his body for the triple twist,
the acrobat swings. The great crowd shifts and groans.
He wants their wild applause, but if he’d have it he
must seize the point where his arc has slowed and kissed
the stillness. For this is his gentle Pentecost,
the white dove motionless in zero gravity

wee ribbit, hoppin, daftie beastie
a rebber baind is in tha breastie
thou needs but waindie baindie up
and off tha hop
i *** be laith to rin an chase thee
tha niver stop

wee hoppin freggie tha smal laigs
is baitter spring than sailver stail
but i wud giv ye this advaice:
dinna tak a chance
some think tha laigs a taestie meal
dinna *** ta france

nu laieth flattie en the wa'
laik paice o' paeper gon astra'
nae mair tha hoppin in the aer
sae daft an barmy
the ainly fewture fair thee now
is origami

Doggety-dog
lived attety-at
the top of our block
in  a flattety-flat.
He hadn’t a name
as far as we knew
except Doggety-dog
of floor seventy two.
He was blackety-black
with a belly of white,
he would oftenly bark
but neverly bite.
He didn’t go out much,
he mostly stayed in
(and I’ll tell you just why
in a minitty-min).
But once in a while
he’d goggedy-go
To visit Miss Whizzit
one storey below
to borrow an egg
or a spud for a stew
and carry them back
to floor seventy-two
for Mr MacWhister -
he  also lived there
but he spent all his
time in his armity-chair.
and he never went out,
no, alas and alack
cos of terrible pains
in his backety-back.
Now for Doggety-dog
there was nothing such fun
as the days he went down
to floor seventy-one.
Was it cos of Miss Whizzit?
No, it wasn’t that –
It was cos of Miss Whizzit’s
cat-cattety-cat,
for as soon as Dog-doggy
caught sight of its face
he would chase it and chase it
all over the place -
up the walls and the curtains
and out through the door
and all down the stairs
to the bottomest floor
and then, when he’d made
that poor catty-cat shift
he would quietly go back
to the top in the lift,
while Cattety-cat
(and the egg or the spud)
remained somewhere below
in the rain and the mud.
Now eveything might have
gone on in that way
for ever and ever.
It didn’t. One day
(I remember it well,
for there was an eclipse)
while Miss Whizzit was frying
bananas and chips
she heard on the landing
a terrible din
and the door it burst open
and Catty burst in
with Doggety-dog
hotty-hot on her trail -
oh how Doggy did bark!
Oh how Catty did wail!
Catty leapt on the stove,
Doggy-dog did the same
and both of them ‘mediately
burst into flame.
“Fire! Fire!” cried Miss Whizzit
“What creature is that,
that  is chasing my highly
inflammable cat?”
- but then she remembered
what mother had taught her
and over them emptied
a bucket of water
Catty leapt off the stove,
simultaneously so did
the dog, and the stove,
being ‘lectric, exploded
Now Mr MacWhister
one tall-storey higher
was sleeping and dreaming
when someone yelled “fire!”
so often, so loud that it
made his poor brain sore
he leapt from his chair
and grabbed hold of his chainsaw
his blanket and telescope,
blue-and-red braces
(you never know what
you may need in such cases)
and threw them all into
a velvety sack and,
forgetting those pains
in his backety-back,
cried, “Oh, how many years
have I waited! Oh is it
not time now to visit
exquisite Miss Whizzit?”
- and he ran down the stairs
with a rattety-tat
and burst with a yell
into Whizzety’s flat.
Now when poor Miss Whizzit
observed him appear, oh,
she blushed like a beetroot
and whispered, “My hero!”
MacWhister meanwhile,
overcome by her charms,
had lifted her up
in his spindelly arms
and  sighing “my love,
oh my lovetty-love!”
he carried her up
to his rooms up above
Now Doggety-dog
and Cattety-cat
Were left all alone
In Miss Whizzety’s flat
where normal conditions
were slowly returning
and both now had almost
completely stopped burning
(though if I am honest
I have to admit
that they smelled pretty bad
And still sizzled a bit).
“Come, Catty,” said Doggy,
“let’s get this place tidy.”
They did so, and when
by the following Friday
they’d heard not a peepety-
peep from upstairs,
they decided Miss Whizzety’s
flat was now theirs.
And now life for the two of them’s
twice as much fun –
it’s a permanent chase
round floor seventy-one,
while MacWhister and Whizzit
gaze out at the view
from their flattety-flat
on floor sevently-two.

Facing me, you sleep. “I woke too soon—
you shouldn’t wake me up so early ...” Yes,
I know, but I’d been dreaming and I guess
I had to hear your voice. It’s now mid-June,
midsummer almost. On the seat adjacent
a commuter reads a paper, chin on hand
and, showing maybe more than she had planned,
a miniskirted woman tugs, impatient,
at her hem, returns then to her book,
not noticing it’s slipped back up again.
A tepid breeze blows through the pane above you,
ruffling your hair, but you don’t stir. The train
is getting crowded. Everywhere I look:
these strangers who remind me how I love you.