seems soon to me
i have been isolated
ten weeks now and
waiting for news

from our first minister
not the prime minister

for we are another country

especially in this house
where all come quiet the
piano playing

where we come kind & welcoming

i wonder if i will go back
or draw a line on the madness

i talk to him regular about it and
he will like me to stay of course

who else will look after him not
throw him away

who else will mend his dress or
wash his pyjamas james

it was a joke
now comes serious

she said i can borrow her bike
she is taller than me james

so i fixed the water **** and down pipe
cussing the one that came before and
left it scrappy

got hot talked it through with logic

a professional would ******* the work
which seems to work

so far james

so far we have come
tomorrow i have a small celebration here alone

i wrote it down and refered to it later in the day

eggs over easy?

light rain

oh james i love this excitement
how we have become vocal with
few to hear

do you whoop and holler like
i do, do you laugh as the wind
goes by
as the smoke rises?

joy came yesterday up over the house

quietly choosing twigs by tone and colour
looked to the noise
dark with propellers it flew over low enough
to see cockpit clear
i turned to see it go
shouting up

happy and happy that earlier i saw the swallow
on the wire outside

happy that all the ******* burned
that the farmer will fetch me an old
car tyre

that the water **** is tight and tidy

now i shout and do not care who may hear
me

make my ladders
and will put one in
the neighbour’s post
box next tuesday
early

those that are kind to me

i asked her how far i walk each day
did she know
she said it was 253 miles james

do we believe her?

thirty miles is far to go these days
my calculations say i may walk 4 miles
each time, each day, unless i go twice
then it is doubled of course

so the rain came after i had cleared
from the hedge destruction

sorted the twigs

i find for each ladder
i like the same twigs
as he did

the hedge became another one in the collection
in this much longer sentence without pausing

there were two new horses in the field so i talked
to them and held out a finger, thought of louis

you will not remember him yet he was kind and
went down and the fence went down with him

they took him away

i think of him still

so the house by there belongs to a shepherd
and he done it up nice james

i remember it empy for years and us peering
through the windows imagining the history

pugh’s farm i hear

good to get out these days james
out in the air

i think of you sailing through with added power
and eternal connections

yes james it is a small white stone
colour so pure you can feel it

now the cotton creeps in the foreground

how do you know
about the prices here?

i find most things reasonable
yet then i don’t want much

like we shop in primarks for underthings
and overstuff

food comes in small prices
what i eat does anyhow

moving on
as you are now with the electrics

while mine are acting up in the outbuilding
and is all under discussion and research
out in the lane

he strimmed it severely then talked
to me kindly until she came out
with a broken zip
so they went in for tea

i killed the hedge i had hated
for 27 years then came quiety
inside smiling

i clear the debris today
james

they say it will rain
she said it is like glitter floating in the air

that it will die out

do you believe all the things you hear james
are you happy out there cycling along

i hope so
i like to think of it so

my times are up side over now james
while others sleep
do other things

i made another ladder
everyday i make a ladder
now

green by the window

waiting in the lower garden

for the groceries to come

cold so hood up thinking

looking at the mountain

looked round and there

he was visiting at a good

distance

laughing for me

i gave my sympathy for his loss

he said other relatives went this way

and good job he found her

anyway

he talked about folk in town

how the hospital is full of them

i knew nothing

been in for weeks

and those i see

talk about other

stuff like me

here we have at least

another few weeks

official

and the promise of furlough

until october if necessary

i like that word

i had burned all the stuff

and thought of you that

you can’t

i drew and made another ladder

one a day, sat on the grass among

the wild flowers

felt quite happy

then guilty for feeling

so with all that abounds

but i could not help it

i shall try sitting low again today

james

the sun came on me warm and

i understand your excitement

i share it with you

james

do you see the pattern so soon
do you see how we leave one set
of rules only to find another

this may have happened here
so we rest a while regroup move
forward slowly

like the metal soldiers
found in the button box
yesterday

bent, broken yet i straighten their
legs

and play again

i am real glad that your bike came
that it is all together and you are zooming
well

i imagine up over hills through the woods
you describe wind chasing your hair

can i come?

on the crossbar if there is one
or the handlebars
we did that as kids

or as tiny in your pocket james

i still dream of one james
yesterday the lane was busy

so i just walk along
moving to the nettles
as they pass

spurred on with your comment
i made another ladder james

while my neighbour tidied her lavender
edging

quietly

out twice yesterday james
and while down the back
road stepping out the police
drove by

did not stop
guess i look local

you see england are free to roam
free again and may roam over here
while
here they may not
as we cannot

it gets complicated
as do them ladders
now

the knots have to be just ways
and wet
to be tight enough, while nothing
is perfect nor should not be so

as to the delivery man i found it
interesting that i judged him faceless
character and demeanor

nothing hot here yet it is merely warm

i really hope the bike has come
and that all is well with you

today comes overcast with early wakings
and an insect at the window

james

mostly the same time daily