I DREAMPT THAT I DWELT

"I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
With vassals and serfs at my side"

my father would hum or sing
or da da dah'd as he sawed.

"And of all who assembled within those walls
That I was the hope and the pride."

A shining smile of nails
as he hammered the tune home.

Carpentry was for me
songs and words and stories.

Tall tales and wood shavings
from my father's "reminiscings'".

Saw dust floating in a summer
were to me atoms made visible.

I played with wood instead
of planning it.

The various tools transformed
with one imaginative leap.

Hand drill and spirit level
became Star Trek ships

attacked by a fleet
of tape measures.

Hacksaws...jigsaws were
all the one to me really.

And yes I knew that tooth spacing
and tooth shape were important in a saw.

A wavy set and milled teeth for plastic and metals.
A side set and ground tooth for a fast clean cut with wood.

But to me they were merely the teeth
of various pterodactyls in my Harryhausen mood.

And yes I planed wood
but only to release the genie of the pine.

The scent a magic
carpet ride.

And I planed and planed
until there was nothing left

but the graceful curl of
a sea of wood shavings.

Later he would laugh
when I brought him Carroll's parody.

"I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And each damp thing that creeps and crawls
went wobble-wobble on the walls..."

Or an Orwell even...

"I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And woke to find it true;
I wasn't born for an age like this;
Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you?"

Or auld Jimmy the Joist
and his warping words

"When you dreamt that you'd wealth
in marble arch do you ever think of pool beg slowe."

Cracking up when
Finnegans Wake'd

"... at this passing moment
by localoption in the birds' lodging,

me pheasants among,
where I'll dreamt that I'll dwealth

mid warblers' walls when throstles and choughs
to my sigh hiehied,..."

"Ahhh Dónall lad yer a great one
for the books but

ya never took to the wood
it was always words words words!"

"But I also dreamt, which charmed me most
That you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same
That you loved me, you loved me still the same"

Be,
where there is room
for voiceless songs
like
silk breezes from the wind
Feel
Caressing eyes inviting you.
In silence.
Find solace deep within
when sadness makes you numb.




Shell ✨🐚

When the grand kiddos were little
We’d dream, big eating Rainbow skittles

Illuminating adventures in their mind
Telling fantastical story, to Unwind

They had a room in Nana and Papa‘s home
It was an imaginary place to freely Rome

One year it was the Pirates of the Caribbean
A bunkbed ship top bunk for lookout see’n

large canvas sail and fishnet to the ceiling
Glow paint the night stars realistic feeling

The captains quarters maps for steering
A talking parrot for laughter cheering

Imagination is in the minoot details
Starfish, sharks barnacle on the side rails

Looking at the finished room created
Pirate ship, Sea foam walls, stars stated  

Three boys, chose pirate names
For nightly stories are pirate games

Parents  never cool Nana the exception
Mother of invention, honorable mention

Bubble bath ink octopuses perils at sea
Captain jack to the rescue them three

Sleepy time, tea on the Shanghai express
Sail north to dreamland pirates , PJs dress

The story began each pirate made it grand
Ship battles buried treasure in white sand

Imagination fizzled started to fade
An epic Story completed well played

Listen, while the cobwebs feel their head
Prayers said success they’re asleep in bed

From the song "Scared" off the album "Walls and Bridges."

"Hatred and jealousy gonna be the death of me . I guess I knew it from the start ."

I was going to wait until
until December 8, 2030 for the fiftieth anniversary of his death to post this but I'm thinking why wait around so long . "Imagine" that . It's "whatever get's you through the night" . Too much "steel and glass" in this world anyway . Besides "no one loves you (when you're down and out)"
"No one loves you when you're old and gray . No one needs you when you're upside down ."

"I'll scratch your back and you knìfe mine ."

"I'll see you on "cloud nìne" ."

come, look
see painted walls

see crime
see heart
see the last light fall
on abandoned halls

hear the running still
of a silvery river
through slivers
of a stricken city

time rushed away

run your fingers
up the rusted rails
flanking gate and chain
and with the same disdain
they show you

climb steady

taste the silt
stand
with wilted pillars
drunk on verdant shores

breathe a new sound
feel the stifled air
of a cloudless night
languish in your lungs

come, look
fresh walls to paint

Clinically depressed
the clinic's a frickin mess
clinician's under stress
popping patients' cipralex
at her dinky off-white desk
still wearing last night's dress
reminiscing on the days
when she just tried her best

Head won't give it a rest
wishing she'd failed the test
could have been an insta queen
at least got in on the tiktok scene
instead she feels bereft of the chance
to take a breath

She'd rather take a slap
than see another fat smackhead
but she has to pay the rent or
start living in a tent
"It's a living"
that's her mantra
written on the pens
and every one they send
is another couple cents

So she just pretends that
what she does makes sense
punters in
prescriptions out
no time to make amends
patience measured in pence
she can potentially spend
perpetuating searches for
that promised happy end

such majesty

a nightjar call


eyes of a tragedy

after the fall


sprawling winter

baleful

gleaming


pale steps

hinter


ever redeeming


those before

swallowed whole


a horizon to go