And what of god?

And what of god?

And what of god
Your childhood friend
Long ago sent packing?

So once again the much-tried

Cure, the self-help guide
With careful steps
Or packet mix repellent
But weight-loss guaranteed
And fast
The serious exercise regime
Row for your life
Breathe in, stay calm
Repeat this mantra daily
Above all keep the faith
Another glass of red?
Or mindless televisual
Crap, always a store
Saved, to be replayed
Numbing, hypnotic
Charm of babble and of noise
Prattle, a tale told
Neatly, sweetly
Organised to soothe
Imbibe ingest the drug
Of fiction and escape
Marian Keyes I
Swallow you, devour you
Or is that in reverse
Me, lost gone obliterated
In the pages and the verse?

And what of god
Your childhood friend
Long ago sent packing?

When all and none
Of the above
Will do the trick
Still the rats who gnaw
And bite, not pretty sight
Gruesome, reeking havoc
Then do you yearn
For mum and dad
For black and white TV
Before the F word everywhere
For good behaviour sure
To be rewarded
And are you tempted to your knees
Arthritic now and painful
To call upon him
Childhood friend
Long ago sent packing?

18th November 2009, Hounoux

Luca's Moons

Luca’s Moons

The sickle moon
Crescent, cheese-knife paring
Slivered from the whole
He bids me draw
And draw again
His eyes in O
Of wonderment
Another moon he cries!
It is his passion
His delight
On paper or on high
A ghost at noon
Or lit by night
Vast lantern shiny hung
He counts them left and right
Not one, but multiple
In his small world
The magic of the moons

November 14th 2009, Hounoux

Love

Love

Just the one word
Umbrella
Insufficient
For all the world
Its depth and breadth
From love of life and country
To child and friend and wife
For family pet and favourite food
For football team or colour red
Designer shoes by Jimmy Choo
Scent of grass or wood smoke fire
Remains of passion
Worn with age
Or current surging
Brand new lust
Imperative and must
All senses filled incontinent
From searing heat of fireball
To tender mother’s bliss
Kiss of newborn
Just the one word
Omnipotent
Love

8th November 2009, Brighton

Clear as Stars

Clear as Stars

You write
So poignantly
Clear as stars
Bright message
From eternity
Of love, life blood
Pulsing, of
Fire in the veins
A perfect pairing
Two halves made whole
Dire separation’s purest pain
Your taste forbidden fruit fantastical
Of heaven and of hell

You paint a passion
Sharpened steel
Stiletto slicing skin
Bleeding crimson
Drop by drop
Each other’s drug and need
Completion
Clear as stars
Bright message
From eternity
Of love

6th November 2009, Brighton, for J with love

Thoughts on Fry and Forster

Thoughts on Fry and Forster

Only connect, imperative
The writer's stout command
And by god, by Google
Twitter tweets and blogspots
Online digitally doors
Ever open, portals posted
Facebook friends texts twitched
From modern thumbs, rapid fire
Touch pad touch base
Click here befriend/ un-friend
Comment console critique and cry
Pluck a rabbit from a hat
Blow bubbles in a pipe
Something out of nothing
Chimera dazzles on the screen
All sorcery and sleight of hand
Flummery and froth
Puffed up, drummed up
Trending blasting down the lines
Plastic celebrity
Virtual or real?
Fickle-fingered fame
Thoughtless thumbs
Respect, man, respect
Engage brain before blog
Tread softly
Daydreams trashed in trample
Fragile under foot
Only connect, reflect
Handle with care

3rd November 2009, St Michael's Place, Brighton

Survival Guide

Survival Guide

I bought a book a life ago

To keep the wisdom in

Words to cherish, comfort, cheer

Provoke or soothe, my own

Anthology and treasure trove

Battered now and cover worn

From thirty years companionship

Trips abroad, in rucksack

Pocket, bag

Ever there, in India

Chennai's dust and shoreside sand

Recording lines from Gandhi

Rabindranath Tagore

Confucius, ancient and anon

Some thoughts

Found in a Bondi book store

Or engraved in stone

In Arlington, redolent of grief

Regret

A poem posted on a tube train

London underground, haiku emailed

From a friend, or Sidney Carter

Lord of the Dance

Guardian obituary page

Another etched in a Sussex graveyard

Or read at mother's passing/

Son's wedding/ world's welcome

For a sweet grandchild

I thank her now in retrospect

Elderly Quaker, name now gone

Who passed me her suggestion

Her emergency collection

A precious tome to rescue in event of fire

A book of wisdom, constant consolation

As faithful as a husband

Ever by my side

October 16th 2009, Hounoux

Friends' Meeting, November 1st

Friends' Meeting, November 1st

Wet Sunday

November skies weeping

For all the saints

Who from their labours rest

Day of the Dead,

All Hallows' Eve now done

Small fanged and ghostly

Creatures, sugar-rushed

Nauseous to bed

Tricks and treats dispensed

Pagan diary closed

Pending solstice hibernal

Lord of Misrule etc

December's bright enlighteners

Wet Sunday

Taxi and hobble

(Smack of ankle bone

Crack, crippling)

To Ship St Meeting

Friends in silence

Calm and quiet, balm dropping

Dew soothing soul

Like rain on desert

Dunes, the lilies shoot and bloom

Within this room

What where who?

Me, you, the promise

Quakers hold for truth

Attend to that of god

In everyone and everywhere

In stillness

Life's brief oasis

Seeker after peace

I do

November 1st 2009, Bagelman cafe, Ship St, Brighton, for Jude