For look, here’s a book

It all began with a Moleskine, pristine
white pages daring:
Go on, start
Make a mark 
Summon the words, arrange, rearrange
never mind the scratch and scrubbing
disorder, chaos on the page
the wrestling into shape
is it done, words spun
sufficient sparkle and polish? 
Squint from a distance, peer at it close
say it into the silence 
deep breath, next step... 

Up on the internet, bold in a blog 
go well my child, released to the wild 
first poem out there on the web
and ten years on the progeny
so many now and varied 
down from the ether, returned 
arranged, rearranged 
much artful editing 
And I’m glad for the Moleskine daring: 
Brave start
Make mark
for look, here’s a book 
my self revealed, my soul
spilled on the pristine page. 

February 28th 2020 Hounoux 

Cuppas, never-failing

Cuppas, never-failing 

Here's a happy Valentine's he said 

and handed me a cuppa, morning cup of Rosie

tea in bed he said

and made me laugh as I tried to do the sums,

multiplying years by weeks by days

all those non-Valentine's, cuppas never-failing 

daily Rosie Lee. 

So later when I saw the love-hearts posted

flowers, chocolates, lavish
Instagram and Facebook pinkly overflowing 
I thought of cuppas never-failing, thousands 
upon thousands, daily down the years. 

17th February 2020 Brighton 

Unremarkable today

Unremarkable today 

Dawn at seven, pink
eastern watercolour sky
mist on cloudy fields 

Sun in upward arc
stark skeletons of trees
dew pond's beacon beam

Pale track falters
hibernating vines in lines
unremarkable today


February 8th 2020 Hounoux 

Emergency rations

Emergency rations 

There is poetry piled unstable as Jenga
book-marked, thumbed, beloved
by my bedside.
Also on sofas with the crochet wool, hooks
half-finished knit, sewing kit
coffee table, alphabetical on shelves 
paperback hardback dusty, brand new
single poet, mixed bag, Rattlebag, anthology 
for solace and balm, for calm, 
out of the noise.

Soul food, 
emergency rations 
stock-piled
books piled
barricade. 

February 3rd 2020 Hounoux 

What can art do?

What can art do? 

What can art do? 
Horror at the gates of hell
Now all the light is gone 

Paint paper brush
art-mother beckoning
what  can art do? 

Inner window wide
Peter Pans on the sill
up, up,  lift and fly 

Paint paper brush 
butterflies in fields of flowers 
blooming  on the page

What can art do? 
Beauty at the gates of hell 
When all the light is gone 

January 31st 2020 Hounoux, commemorating Friedl Dicker-Brandens who took a case full of art materials with her when sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp. She set up an art room for all the children of the camp.