In this age of 3D Entertainment
and surround sound speakers;
of high definition and films extra features,
electronic mail and internet dating.

Where tectonics fail yet can be shown on
paper graphs and charts and diagram art.

These decades of speed and cynicism.
Where digits reign as idols flop
from pedestals and into bars.
Where your wildest dreams lie not
in your heart but in your favourite shop.

In this land of greed and want
and discord of the highest scale.

Is it peace and virtue that won
you the right to work from home;
eating breakfast in bed, worrying
only if jokes are stale?

Is it fine that your success
has led others to fail?

In this game of snakes and ladders
who populates the pit?

Those who were unfortunate
enough to be born into it.

When I awake I become miniature;
ant to antelope, arachnid to man.
Creeping spirals, dotted lines, linear
thoughts. Calm I calculate, construe my plan.

Today is bland, grey skies, brown souls; stroll palm
in hand. I clap your smile,you touch my knee.
Contact of eyes, then lips; quivering arm,
blue eyes eclipse. I grow momentary
wings, sit on the stars as butterfly sings.

Midday passes, afternoon sun, boredom
arises. I leave you be, head growing,
you crowned my ego. Vision clouded;

I am Hercules, sovereign power.
Deluded grandeur, I perch on my tower.

I’ve spent days in stretched perception;
my elongated arms sit across the room,
my swelling hands bulge on the mantelpiece
and the room throbs like a ribbiting frog.

“Nothing’s wrong” I lie, dazed and *****
and close my eyes. One hand obscures the breeze
between lips, another clamps my nostrils shut.
But your hands are your own and bare no place
on my feverish, inclement face.

I **** bolt upright, and glare full beam.
Reel back, I tumble in and out of dreams.
Blink and the menace subsides; as cobra
turns to darting hare, you shriek and stare.

“What’s wrong?” your banshee screech pierces
ear to ear. Scrunch my eyelids, so returns
fierce medusa cursing in the mirror.
Hose me down and seize me from this fever
and for god’s sake woman, call the doctor.

Weather-beaten decadence, I lie here superhuman:
a mass of cables, tubes and breathing apparatus.

With zeal I feel the end is nigh so blink that final tear.

A lifetime on the river bank, finally I’m here.

Purifying cataracts, tilt to face my beast, the water

whisks my sharpened tongue and dissolves

these cherry cheeks. The wind bellows;

beckoning me further off these foolish, pallid meadows.


The water glistens, cracks and parts revealing

lovers, lost acquaintances, makers,

sisters, friends and brothers.

An arm transcends with open palm

mimicking the water lilies, dancing, bobbing

in the current, glistening with charm.


Inhale, grab and take the dive. The water’s clear,

where air was hollow; The soil hallowed,

not sewn with sin. All that was real is suddenly mist

all that was dear is but borrowed. My frightful gown

floats upstream, my hair sways like pond ****
and wrinkles relax, all is refreshed.


Peer upward to see that wilting flowers

do not dream of seeds.Plunge ever deeper,

do not glance back on salty cheeks, or past misdeeds.

Planet earth I have to leave you be

but I know you’ll write and one day

you may even catch up with me.

The sun cracks the sky where the albatross
flies; the clockwork waves splash
Lunacy, the morning haze disbands.

Your patchwork raft, the labour, the scars;
The salt and the spray assault
the ballet: the majestic way you stand.

Your teeming suitcase, a thousand journals,
Their iridescence forms a compass
gleaming north to your merits.

Mountains ahead are distant, hills behind are old
Marvel in awe, gasp as your youth
floats passed, whipping up paths of sand.

Grow and glow, perspire and expand,
shadows are cast for eyes to follow
a menorah of promised plans.

Sand turns to brickwork, pebbles to mortar
squint across the water and scuff a hoof
lunge and press digits on freshly laid girders.

Pull back the bow and aim, no doubt
In grey-matter but a quiver
full of knowledge, a diver in a mirage
A bridge to greener land.