Thursday 29 December 2016

Silver Thimble


 


Protector stars exploded
in the grind of steel on silver,
they’re on my finger still, as bell,
clapper away, the bright fancy.

You stitched a lifetime
into gone clothes, glasses
pitched at the end of your nose,
two points of glint behind,

relived the start by the fens,
sewing hopeless in your lap,
thimble swinging on the eye
of a cushioned sharp.

Its pattern grips the push
through my patchwork now
and shaping peals out silence.


Monday 12 December 2016

Reaching for Annecy


 


We drove down to the lake.
Behind us the road rose
steep to the mountain.
Snow clung to the pines.

As you look back
to the head of the valley,
reflections break slick
in the water's melt

and I can tell by the sting
in the wind 
that rain is near.

Tuesday 6 December 2016

Stoke Newington Churchyard


 


The morning’s raw with frost;
there’s no one near to see
how lichen smears away
old names from graves
stacked high as tables,
nor number the leaves
that flake from planes,
branch-bare above
those who walk, crisp
through the park, eyes
turned from the gate ahead.

I count no feet on the slabbed street,
only the dead under their stone.

Sunday 27 November 2016

Lord High Doggerel





Hey, diddle, dicey, Chancy’s on the town
where some like white bread and some like brown.
If you want it buttered, it’ll meet with a frown
‘cause Chancy heads the money ring, approved by the Crown.

Our Chancellor’s a bonny lad; he’s said to be nice.
You might trust him once, but you wouldn’t trust him twice:
his budget is his cup of tea, some say his nest of lice
breeding easy fleas on the Bank of England mice
who won’t stand down
before they flop and drown
when Chancy floods the town
with his frown.  

We’re glad he’s not in Scotland; too many quotes from Hume
would give a touch of cachet in the face of doom
when he snatches at his lineage, the Lords of Boom,
as the money-pile he’s riding on slides down to the tomb
that’s the economic bust.
Will he lust in the dust,
or will he just rust?
Yes, he must.

Oh, no, he won’t; he’s up again! He’s in his proper place
aside of the Prime Minister, aslant of the Mace,
which he thinks he’s ace at wielding when the EU’s on his case;
he shams a market fight, but needs more to save his face
in the resurrection game.
All’s aflame.
Such is fame.
Shame!

So hey, diddle, fiddle, Chancy’s always round the town,
where some snatch white bread and turn away the brown.
They always have it buttered and ignore every frown
as Chancy tweaks the money ring.

All fall down.

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Painted Eggs


 


They nest in a basket,
as whole as Faberge’s toys,
a revolution in colour the children
have painted for Easter.
Voices dictate and one demands to eat
infertile eggs boiled hard as ritual.

Beside the tatters of waste my plates
are crazy tondos, mosaic masters’ palettes,
the chaos of icons stripped from screens
in Petersburg, piled ready to burn.
Now, these three are spending their morning
piecing a picture from shattered shells.