Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Cross Country

We have left the Brighton to London
Commuter line
And are travelling cross country

No longer heading for the city
The carriage is quiet, nearly empty
And outside an early frost
And watercolour sky

I spoke too soon
Into the carriage pour
A hundred school or more
School children

Why do they shout?
Why such loud conversation?
Why are their voices so shrill?
The cacophony and impatience
of the i-phone generation

Oh, where is the quiet girl, reading a book?
Where are the two boys engrossed in chess,

Where is the boy with the nervous glances
And unrequited fantasies?

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Forecast

The guillemot
Gazes at the sky
And hopes
That today’s weather report
Will be more accurate

Than yesterday’s

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Artisan

Her hands,
large, but delicate.

Her fingernails,
Bitten, cracked, unadorned.

She is painting an old,
French, sanded-down headboard,
Antique gold.

Why is she painting so meticulously,
Her face, masked in concentration?

I knew you would come, she said,
As she removed her apron
And, naked, moved through the cold room

Towards me

Monday, December 09, 2013

The Night of the Knives

In the Pizza Express
The young man on the next table
Asks the waitress
Do you have the new knives?
She says, We are supposed to have them by now
But they haven’t arrived yet

The young man continues,
Because I was in Stratford the other day…
He lets the sentence hang
And does a cutting pizza mime
Then, as she walks away he says,

They’re one hundred times better.

Saturday, December 07, 2013

Counting Spiders

Six mischievous spiders
Tumble out of the dice shaker

One has the gift of healing
One is poisonous
One is drunk on fly brandy
One is a loser
One has no redeeming characteristics whatsoever
And one can never stop cracking jokes


It’s your move.