"floating"

                       small, empty, vodka bottle
                              scarlet label up,
                                    floating
                                    silently
                          among the duckweed        

Match

hard as rock,
frozen white
a handful of boys
hang around in hope
shivering in the morning chill -
'Match Called-Off'

Listening to Johnny Cash

Listening to Johnny Cash sing Hurt
Gazing at the hills yonder.
In the faded blue twilight
A jet plane shifts west -
An incandescent trail of orange pink brilliance...

'Physics'

Boiling, sizzling, mass of bubbling matter
A shifting force of physics -
Lunchtime pasta bake

Visitation

Greasy spoon warmth
January isolated outside.
Through splintered clouds
Light touches glass -
A myriad of translucent jewels

earthy sounds

a heavy, clink-edged, thud
the bovine tearing of tussock grass -
digging brambles with a mattock

liberation

with each step it recedes
this rumble of humans -
clinking spoons against cups
the gabble of voices and scraping chairs

the heavy glass door opens
into mild winter air
and liberation  -
save the murmur
of a lone seagull

Cutting Willow

no desire to switch on the radio -
today I am filled with conversations
and laughter from the stream

Delight

Road drilling cacophony ceases
revealing a collared dove's
    'coo-Coo-coo'.
My soul vibrates in delight...

Transition

vanished winter sun
suffusing the flax blue, pristine sky,
a rose quartz pink -
as rooks return home
before nightfall

Steam

steam moving upwards in a wavelike dance from the barbeque -
the frosted tarpaulin melting slowly in midday sun

The Return

glancing at the shelf
noticing the impulse to reach out for a book
the desire to dive into another world
to lose myself completely....

but something breaks the spell
a pause.... causing reconsideration
a conscious breath completes its cycle
silently another -

and I return to this world.

Movement

Jade, swollen river moving at speed
Silt laden
A solitary crow stalking its bank -
Cycling through morning mist and glimpses of sunlight

Flowers

flowers by the road
for the boy -
killed one dark, drunken night

remembering

remembering yesterday -
no small stone discovered...

Drips...

worry....
long
and
drawn
out....
-
like
the
slow,
agonising,
drips
from
the
cold
water
bath
tap

'Lay-By'

tick - tick - tick - tick
lay-by idling warm engine -
burgundy haze of birch trees in wing mirror

Shoe

sodden field in cold ceaseless rain
        the squelch and suck

                of a shoe
                  stuck
                    in
                    m
                    u
                    d 

'Home Spicy Home'

returning home and into the curried warmth of the kitchen

6.35am

 The clack and chatter awakens me -
 Jackdaws in an empty street

Lost it...

Heart thumping, head in hands
Harsh words spoken
Lost it....

Hands

Hands soothingly slide and glide,
palms caressing, half-orbiting, each other
in hot soapy water

Tracks

Brought to a sudden halt emerging from the alleyway -
tiny bird tracks in the snow

'Text'

The text read: "I feel grateful and blessed for all the love you gave me...."

Morning Rain

Like a long calm wave receding on a shingle beach
The slow steady swish of a passing car in morning rain

Morning

Damp shades of grey through the top floor window
As hot, sweet, tea fills a cheap glass tumbler

'Takeaway'

The pneumatic whirl and clang of a dust cart
Taking away what's left of last year

"You Were Wonderful"

Glittering flakes of snow amongst crimson bells,
Gold velvet hearts and white flying doves,
African stars strewn with glowing beads of light.
Christmas tree - "You were wonderful..."

The Feather

"What's this?" called the boy picking something up from the edge of the wood. He turned and held up the long and silky, tapering, chestnut and silver feather of a pheasant.