walk the rooms in horror,
see genius in corners,
there.

realise that he may cry
all the tears of life.

comes a differing hue
with duck egg blue
the ironmongers in town
at one seventy nine
we can walk there and back or there
and bus back you see
he said folk get used to anything

nice little house.

who knows what goes on there.

so i says to the bear when he woke,



hello,

i will be quiet today.



why, he replies.



my friend has died.



the bear says, then i shall be quiet too.

duck egg blue

the ironmongers in town

at three seventy nine

we can walk there and back or there

and bus back you see

asked me who will be afraid of our ghosts

ghosts of humans
when we are gone

asked me who will be afraid of our ghosts
ghosts of humans
when we are gone

stood in the hall

door open

chatting across the road

one pair of pyjamas to the other

one mask to another

mid afternoon

up the road they build raised beds

steady

earth arrives by truck

with a crane to lift it off

two bags at a time

by the place where we did

a sponsored walk

you in your wellies

is warm and i worry
about the ice melting

we sit quietly here, fretting

over nothing in particular.



some bemoan their lot,

others get on with it willingly.



stop and have a cup of tea.



while others walk in #ice and mud,

while others #drown,

while others #starve.



without a #cup of tea.

dark/ we painted it

all vaguely national

trust

while out on a longer walk,

met him and he explained to me,

about walking there and back again

repeat

that

i don’t paint like you

or you

&

need to convince myself

that

that

is ok

all became a thing yesterday
regarding these marks of ours
a bit of a collaboration
on twitter and we finished
on this
i hope you do not mind

hope to revert to an earlier
idea of smudge and carbonate
james


you see
there is no control
only that we think we have
which is probably all imagined

my heart is in my chest

a particular siding

i feel it sometimes

when i am walking hard or eating chilli

so i avoid that last thing

mostly

pink i expect with tubes

mostly like in the pig’s hearts

mum used to buy from the butchers

for dinner

now i am vegetarian


i think that if i have a soul

it may be behind the heart

hiding

and maybe that is where my work

comes from

it seems odd that at times of rest and when all is quiet around

that i cannot hear it

nor the other workings

like lungs and veins and stomach

oh!


except the latter rumbles

quiet slow and uneventful
it left lasting impressions
a simple drawing out

touch of red

suggested at dinner, to make
a photograph splendid, i noticed

the same in paintings at exhibition.

looking out, the grave yard, noticed
a touch of colour by the white.

we shall never know
for there is no microscope
here
moving on i feel it was a flashback
to the girl who wished for quiet and
can remember  in detail

initially it was said
that secondly should be
second and initially
should be first

i was confused that
nobody said third
and comforted
by the sound of fourth
a
memory of moth

the fall is abrupt and possibly dramatic

related to weight & gravity

like a

black ink line ruled sharply down

ending with an abrupt grand splatter

so we move forward differently once again.


.while you remain in mind.

wish i wrote like you guys, wish it were more direct.



it has been noted as abstract, yet i cannot see that.



he wanted a garden, this one. we  looked

at other houses, he wanted this one.



with

a garden as seed for the future.



when he died i let it grow and hid here. now

i tidy , grow seeds for the future.

looking up

see rainbows

&

the small plane still flies over

most days

in time

i will leave you six

items,



like he said.



five you say you want,

one to mend some things.



the bear, the other bear,

the others plus

a pin.



encapsulated.

we wonder how it will map
out

we have wondered before
when waking to a misted world

came shiny
lovely at 45 degree angle

oh no
he said
this is the wrong one

do not dignify the challenges. tread sweetly,
move on.

it is simply.
not worth fretting.

when the smaller

people go into hiding

where will genius

raise its head again,

among the flat islands of regard?

island.

island / n.1. a piece of land surrounded bywater

2. anything compared to an island,

especially being surrounded in some way

3. a detached or isolated thing

island monkeys could not
go abroad
no boat
no plane no nothing
sadly they read books on other countries
with adventures, himalayas & ranuph fiennes

island monkeys could not

go abroad

no boat

no plane no nothing

sadly they read books on other countries

with adventures, himalayas & ranuph fiennes

became slightly nervous looking up
at it
retreated to the studio

‘isn’t the sun warm?’  said the bear, ‘and look i speak in italics’



yes, it makes me feel better.



‘which the warmth or the format?’

they say, and close the stores.

it is complicated, to do with floor space and employees rights.

we had chocolate eggs, worked hard, let our arms loose.

warmer now, the sun shone, people came, visited,

smiled, fondled the wool, spoke of age and weaving.

he said there were many looms in his day.

he is eighty eight, he told me many times.

the poem read in steady voice
resounds. begs to share.

sending words out for pictures,
sending pictures out for words.

the voice reads on regardless.

a small thing remembered,
in mind, in music, the sharing.

the collaboration.

she said, the time is right
funny how things work out.

the discussion was on the crucifixion,
how things get lifted, to cook
a cabinet pudding. it may have been
early, yet you see, the swallows are back.

the buttercups are out.

that inspires

not the modern kind

more the flavour of another time

another rhyme

going quiet sometimes, not knowing why.

being smaller with the year almost gone.

marvelling at the looseness of the rediscovered vest

forget the leg moisturiser,

therefore fail as a modern being.

today is apricot

a new jar opened easily


my mum would buy a large tin and decant

there were five of us, one had left earlier


seems trivial to write of preserves during pandemic

yet it is a treat this morning with a croissant in bed

cosy


we have all sorts in the pantry with little gingham caps

held on with rubber bands

i have a pack somewhere in a rainbow of colours

yet often use those dropped by the postman

wide in brown


also have sandwich spread

more as savoury

alongside asda’s own marmite

such a treat yet not for breakfast


nearly a year now

have stopped waving

and carry on

in contentment

and maybe, and probably
i cannot fix it
so will look after it
admire it daily
unless it rains

james

the power house reflected

elected

james?

will this all be for nothing

if you make no changes

the thread does not show here
nor the subject matter

and it is missed

am presently writing my reply
whilst composing a letter in my head

which will change my life

james

they say

they

do they not know the darkness,

how the light can fade into latin,

and all things reasonable

means more if you sit quietly
in the light

life goes on
the mark remains

it was remarked that there is no hurry
that we have the rest of the winter

saw you laying on the sand, winded. no heart marks left.

i ask if you will die in the sun so strong.



you did not answer. the tide was out.



it did not feel hot yesterday,

windy maybe and i got burned.



i watched the sea swell

and ebb.



i returned you had not moved, sand stuck, flies came.



i could no longer see through you

you, beauty.



later that day an adder passed by on the path.

should like to see that
do you have a photograph?

i have a drier and have noticed a touch of rust
and a clunky sound though

i don’t use it  much with having the washing
line in the garden

and a clothes horse in the outbuilding
and the other thing above
the name forgotten

occasionally I will finish off a few things on
the little toy airer by the radiator

a gift from my friend jim who lives abroad now

he is a hairdresser

you know

painted my mug in happy yellow
drawn by the name not just the colour

and oh that name come true
on opening

jim

i looked for your work, your writing

with a comma , and would have copied and saved for you

yet it is gone for me too

should I move myself into that other space where folk may be more polite

genteel

or carry on regardless

james?

lawns are a thing
i watched the history
been to a museum in southport

pretty place that for a town
with council gardening you know
all neat and patterns with orange
usually

here it is left longer for the wild things
to live and hide

then mowed much later
in the summer with grit
and determination

i have a real old green one
hand pushed yet I keep it safe
and use the electric mower
carefully

was the bike delivered safely?