Burundi
Elusive it is the dream of peace
and the Burundi the president is seeking a third term,
but the people say NO, and fight for
a fair election, in dusty streets.
Africa has had enough of presidents who will  not
give up power and lucrative ill-gotten gains.
People of Burundi, I salute you.

Buying a car

I have read and published some of my old poems
what I write these days is more about the everyday
Gone has the mermaid in the forest´s lake.
Sheep endlessly grazing and calling their shepherd
at the first darkening of the sky.
The sheep have lived in peace so long and fear
shadows dancing among olive trees.
The animals graze inside a fenced-in field for security
And for this, they have forsaken freedom.
I´m nonchalant, my dog too takes on the mien of indifference.
She has gone, but I keep her bones in a black bag
when driving around.
On roads covered by asphalt and decaying flowers on sidewalks.
Someday I will write a book of my deleted poems that are forever
circling in my mind.
Perhaps I gave away my best work to the cold stars.
Since you wonder about the title, yes, I bought the twenty-year-old car
It purrs like Walter´s cat.

By the graveside

The flowers on a heap at the grave,
some given by love others out of duty.
Some with a grudge didn’t show up
as banal revenge of the pain from
the whip of her sharp tongue.
I found it difficult to comprehend that
my impossible mother was in a coffin
she had no respect of authority, spoke
her mind sometimes unwisely.
I saw she once slapping a police officer
who got so perplexed he walked his way
after threatening to arrest her.
She was an avid reader but never wrote
which was a pity she had much to offer.
She is still inside of my head and will be
there as long as I live.

Byzantium

In August, the heat tastes of dust and desperation
the despot feels that soon a time will change
the power is but in the eyes of the general
The sun senses a mounting revolt, is prepared
will show no mercy but absorb the world in its inner core
where we can burn forever.
August is tired too, he the General gave them a lovely spring
and now the riff-raff is turning against him
The mighty oak tree whispers to the lesser trees about sedition
talks about democracy.
Stubbornly the sun hangs on, till battle clouds like warships
appear at the horizon.
His reign drowns in torrential rain downpour that will
destroy his life´s work.

Caballus

I'm a stallion
Once run for miles
To cover a mare

Tamed pulling a cart
Harnessed
I have lost the spirit

When the man whips me
It because he hates his wife
I think of hay.

Cakes & Ale

I woke up in a bakery they do start early, the aroma of bread
is wonderful, they were also making cakes whipping creams.
Napoleon cakes and Danish pastry, black forest gateau and other
pastries I have as a child looking through the windows of bakery
shops admired. Too much, I walked outside and lit a ***, inhaled
deeply and the tobacco soothed my mind, giving me a feeling of
fullness. It was only then I remembered I have diabetes, a heart
problem and have not smoked for 15 years. Has it been worth it
this forgoing of the good thing in life; I’m not sure, it may extend
my life for a few more years of pain and misery, will I die regretting
the cakes I didn’t eat and the **** I didn’t smoke?

Cakes & Ale

I woke up in a bakery they do start early, the aroma of bread
is wonderful, they were also making cakes, whipping creams.
Napoleon cakes and Danish pastry, black forest gateau and other
pastries I have as a child looking through the windows of a bakery
shops admired. Too much, I walked outside and lit a ***, inhaled
deeply and the tobacco soothed my mind, giving me a feeling of
fullness. It was only then I remembered I have diabetes, a heart
problem and have not smoked for 15 years. Has it been worth it
this forgoing of the good thing in life; I’m not sure, it may extend
my life for a few more years of pain and misery, will I die regretting
the cakes I didn’t eat and the **** I didn’t smoke?

Cancel culture

They are coming our way barefoot, and red dust
we sink into apathy.
Churches made into dance halls and brothels.
Christianity is dead, our culture based on our faith
has been debased it, is called egalitarianism.
Banners and sword.
Heads roll down a hill into a blazing valley.
God has forsaken us.

Candy bar

On a Friday I loved her
with all my heart, bought her
expensive chocolate.
During the weekend she grew
in my affection for her although,
I didn't see her.
On Monday, I fell out of love
she didn't look anywhere near
the way I thought she should.
Bloodshot eyes and her
teeth were green.
Her shiny hair was matted
and she reeked of an unmade bed
and filthy ***,
and to think I was not there.
I took revenge,
ate her chocolate.

Caravaggio

  
A painting of Caravaggio has been hanging on a wall
in a modest house when it was discovered, it was painted by the greatest
Painter of all time.
I gladdened my heart. I´m a great admirer of this robustious man
A misfit that didn´t fit in the company of artists but walked his road.
No, I have no Caravaggio on my wall, only prints of his work
his original belongs to the millionaires and collector who byes the great man´s
art and hide it from view.
Art should be available for all he speaks to us working-class few other
painters ever did.
A museum is a suitable place for him, not rotting away
in the mad people´s world
who thinks art equal money?

A career path

The fireplace is full of ash and cold spring is here
walls full of soot time to either get someone to clean
or paint the room.
A cleaner came she refused to clean the wall, a painter
wanted to paint the whole house since that was not
needed, he left in a huff, something about time wasting.
I called my friend from Krakow he has got a steady job,
but is willing to earn some extra the money he saving up
to send his daughter to university, the locals do not see
beyond lunch.
The slow thinking painter came back offered to do the job
painting after five, too late the man from Poland was
coming he left in the darkest of moods.
As for the cleaner, she is selling herself at 30 euros my wife
has got that news from the hairdresser; when thinking of it,
an easier job than cleaning soothed walls even if she has
to unplug rusty pipes.

Career versus Motherhood

We live in a strange world when someone decides
our priorities that benefit the mysterious THEM, but
not what we want but told to aspire for.

In Europe the population is shrinking because
women of the middle classes want a career and that
is fine only when they realise they have been putting
off the child- bearing too long it is often late they must seek
medical help or adopt from an exotic African state.

We have got our priority wrong and we have been
conned, motherhood is more important than being
a vice president of a financial company.
Alas, the world is not like that being a housewife is
not what she get a great pension for- she should- not
risking living in poverty when old.
Housewife a title to be proud of because she carries
our common future in her womb.

Careworn sun


It was early Sunday morning.
I saw a red sun struggling to get over a mountain range
and then it was morning.
A cat jumped up on a car roof, the vehicle's alarm
sounded, blinking light that stopped after a little while
no one came out to investigate.
The silence was profound I could hear the town breathing
rhythmically in and out, a dog barked but thought better
abruptly stopped.
The day with its opportunity, pleasure and grief began.

The Cashflow

Money notes like staying in a bank vault
Rubbing against other denominations, or shall we say socializing.
That is why I keep the notes in my wallet as long as possible
Dislike breaking up a friendship, as my pocket is warm, it is a sin to let them out in the cold.
Thrift has nothing to with meanness.
A stranger has no feel for the inner life of money
So, don´t lend to anyone who asks.
The teller in my bank is a fine man with caring hands; he thinks like me.
Counts the money slowly, often twice, before handing them over with a sigh.

Catalonia
This is my first opinion in a new slim volume of vignettes
they are celebrating in the streets of Barcelona they are and the independent nation now,
they were independent, but now they are a republic.
Tomorrow the people will be sober, where is the money coming from,
they have to print their version of the Euro, the one they had is no longer a legal
tender. Businesses and banks are moving to Spain, Catalonia is a member of no one.
If the Catalans are willing to suffer years of need, just to be a republic, that is ok,
but this freedom movement full of propaganda of suffering Catalans will hurt them
more than Spain that merely followed the rule.
It was not about independence but about money Catalonia is prosperous an as
the saying will not pay for the poorer region it is as simple as that.

Catering

When the old man was young he trained to become a cook,
which nowadays is called chef, at the time not that many
wanted to become cooks, as it didn't have a nimbus of
working-class heroics; his friends became welders and so on.
The catering business is a simple science when you have
mastered the basic one is free to stamp one's personality
on the dishes. Restaurants was glad to get a proper cook
oops, I meant chef, the one they had was usually one that
smelled of drink and smoked a cigarette of over the food,
mind ashes don't show up in your gravy.
Yet, it was an uphill struggle as everybody –women- could
cook back then, but now that the skill is lost, the chef
is on TV, showing how it is done.

The Catering life

It is sunny and warm on the terrace.
I sit with my face facing the sun. It is supposed to be healthy
vitamin D, and so on.
I'm not so sure, I have had skin cancer twice.
Once, I was a chef at a restaurant, and it was in the days when food was a simple affair,
a set menu and so on.
The restaurant on the first floor of the building (Pandemic closed)
they sell solid Portuguese food, not expensive, and suitable for the Fado
I like this place as it has big tables.
We don’t make food anymore. We ring and get it delivered
from a small café run by a Palestine couple, they also serve vegetarian food.
I tried it once but preferred meat with vegetables.
I sit indoors and think that all cooks are ghostly pale because
they are indoors and slave over steaming pots and pans.
I ended my career as a cook. It was boring and hot and badly paid.

The Catering officer
Once upon a time, I was a ******; I began as a galley boy
and after six months was promoted to the second cook,
What dizzying height. At home, I went to a catering school for cooks
and later on, a course to become a chief steward.
For three years I slaved as a chief cook on ships it was
hard and boring and then I was promoted to Chief steward
they use “chief” a lot in the merchant navy, this to make you feel
important, but in the end, you are a ******* slave.
My job was that of a purser doing the books buying what was needed
as cheap as possible and see to it the cook was reasonable sober.
This new job gave ample opportunity to read I wore a white shirt
with three silver stripes on which caused me endless embarrassment
as I dislike uniforms in civilian life. The first ships I was on had a selected crew,
proper people saving up to buy a house with a big garage when
I was dreaming of going ashore and meet exciting people.
This entire nicety unnerved me, and I tended to be rude one can
say I didn't fit in, so my next ship was less posh and from
there it was downhill all the way until I ended up on rust buckets
that birthed at small ports in South America, and I loved it.
Gone was the uniform, but I used a blazer over my T-shirt when
the officials came onboard, served them whisky till they
staggered smiles and handshakes ashore.
But it didn't last the old ships were replaced with container ships
which is nothing but floating barges, so I jumped ship
swam to the Algarve in Portugal and stayed.

Catherina Deveraux


It was a Sunday in August, late at night, there were many rats
                          eating left over from a chippy
when I met my informant, she said the revolution was imminent
they were going to take over the town of Faro.
I warned about it in an email, and it was ignored,
Catherine a famous French star warned about it a few days later,
while my email was ignored, hers became a runaway success
And that is the difference if you have named the public
listen, if you speak the truth as an average Joe you will
be utterly ignored, but then I'm quite used to have an opinion
more illustrious figure adopts that is pleasing.

She has two cats
She goes to the shops every day
Buy them a tin each

I know her game,
And excuse getting out of the house
I go to the shop too

But I have no cats
I look at the expensive wine
Buy the cheap one.

Lucky moggy lady
You don’t hear they complaining
Too many cans.

Cats
We are looking
after a cat
it is white and yellowish.
I feed it and clean
the litter box.
The catwalks around mewing
and shedding hair
on sofas and beds.
I hate the ******* cat it is
not friendly, sometimes the cat
go on the veranda on
the seventh floor
and it isn't falling down.
I like a dog can bond with it
take it for a walk and they will not
hide in empty boxes
or in your cupboard.
The lady ‘cat owner
will come and pick up the moggy
her little wonder
today and it will not be missed.

Cats
  
This morning I went into the outhouse to retrieve something
there was movement between my sacks of stuff, fearing it was a rat
I took flight but out came a cat, and it wasn't frightened by me
apparently, the cat had taking abode there.
“Little cat you can't stay here I will be moving soon.”
The pus took no notice.
I thought of being tough finding a broom and scare it stiff,
but I don't know where my wife keeps her mean of transportation
so I opened up a tin of tuna fish instead, but sternly told it
there will be no more food.
Cats are opportunists they take a look at me and think
“He is a soft touch.” And before I know it they
sleep on top of my bookshelf or interfere with my keyboard.
Once my neighbour a nurse went to Africa for a year she placed
The cat with a friend of hers, but the cat didn't like it moved in with me
for the duration, and when the nurse she came back the pus left me without
as much as a thank you.

Cell-phones
I sat in the doctor's waiting room
while my wife was (as they used to say) under the doctor.
The room was packed everyone sat looking at their phone
and there were no magazines to read.
I stole a glance at the cell-phone a lady next to me
was looking at, family photos from yesterday's party
Everyone was taking a picture of everyone else.
At the party, did they have time to eat the food, someone
had taken pictures of that as well it is frightening to
think people don't know what is real unless they can see
how good time they had at the gathering.

For a small poem


Night rain falls softly
On a cobblestones
Seen by a streetlamp
From roofs rain rolls
Down like tears and
Not a word is spoken.
                      
A little nothing
                      
A cat sits on
                      The steps
Not catching rats
Admires
The moon

Changing weather
There was spring, flowers and green grass, leaves
on trees , the lot, and I thought of immortality.
God has thrown everything at me and I had been
prodded by doctors who all had eccentric opinions
about my illness and I had survived.
I looked heavenward inhaled without coughing
and saw darkening clouds coming from the north
an incoming wind had the icy breaths of Siberia
and the rain came like cold showers given to boys
at the home  who could not keep their penises
just innocently hanging there.
I came home, was sent to bed, not for my ******
prowess but to stop me getting a cold; I thought of
Stalin mother liked him he looked so cool, not that
she would have said that it is me picking up words
from Facebook and I know how to give five fingers
not one, I used to give passing motorists; we live
in an age of overdoing things.
Tomorrow the sun will shine again I can go for a walk
and pretend it shines just for me, the winter had tried
a com back and failed

Changing  world



Where the woods of unruly domestic trees on
The other side of the road has not always been there
It used to consist of small homesteads and poverty
People left for France or America never came back  
Nature moved back and trimmed olive trees and
Carob trees took on a surreal form the undergrowth
Was left to grow a paradise for animals and birds
The kestrel catches mouse and the eagle catches hares
I know what I see will change not in my time or yours
Nothing is static it should be so if you look at a map of
The Europe you will see how it has changed and in
The middle- east Israel is just an interlude for a bigger
Change that will shape our future if it is for the worst
We will not be there to know.

Palestinian Chaos  
The dream interrupted
By the people of darkness.
Ramallah
A pink cloud appeared
God came out eating an apple.
The soldiers
Fell on their knees and
Dropped their weapon.
One soldier gave an old man
Ice cream
The old man had a brain freeze.
Mike Pence came declared
Palestine a Christian nation
Including
The province of Israel.
The pope moved from
The Vatican set up residence  
In Jerusalem.
Netanyahu
Was declared the snake
In Paradise.
Meanwhile the Islamic  
Kept being Muslims
Christianity
And Judaism
Was not their problem.

A character trait

She was divorced with one child a daughter
had met a man she liked going out for the first meal
the daughter was playing it up her mother tried
to calm her to no avail.
Her new friend lost his temper and shouted, whatever
his profession he was no a psychologist.
Deadly silence at the table, the man tried to say something nice,
but it was too late. They had chocolate pudding for dessert
which the daughter refused to eat.

Charles Aznavour and I

Once in Southgate, I bumped into him
I apologised, so did he, and we continued on our way.
Further down the street, I said to myself
you touched a famous man, thought of running after
him telling I knew who he was, but since he knew
this already, he would think I was deluded.
I later saw a picture of him on the door of a restaurant
Where he had a “gig”; one is modern.
The ticket price was high, and I didn't care too much
of his singing, his public was for the cognoscenti
who had once been in Paris.
Me, I like Edith Piaf we lived in similar streets.

Chechnya

Retina less windows
Bodies, strewn in foul streets
A photo of Grozny

Summary executions
Death sways from unlit lampposts
Friend or foe, who cares

Conspiracy of peace
Both sides declare victory
The truth is debris

The Windy city  
Chicago a city by the Lake Erin
A blanket of white and the wind
Whistles between sky -scrapers
The great city is not what it used to be
Now it is like third world place
Where bullets whistle through the night
Citizens are no longer safe
Those who can move out leaving it to
The hateful and ****** pavements

I remember the 1968 riots and ever since
Chicago looks like an African city
Demanding and intolerant of other folks
Opinion and guns sit loosely in the holster
Of friend and foe

Chicken and Fado

They eat a lot of roasted chicken with chips
in Portugal, once it was a rare food now it is eaten
with gusto most days, it is cheap and filling.
What sets Portugal apart is Fado,
I know of no other country with music that grabs
your heartstrings and makes you cry evokes
memories of yore, bitter and sweet.
I don't know the origin of Fado but to my ears
it has a mysterious Arabic undertone.
On TV there is a “Festa” from one of the many villages
in the interior of Portugal, the faces are dark brown
from the outdoor work, accordion music
is played, quick tunes the women sways and the menfolk
stay in the background drinking wine.
Here the old and the young mingle there is no drunkenness
only good humour from the land of harmony.

Chimbote Peru

I was a pilot on a transport plane when
it landed in Chimbote I worked for a small air transport
company “Vanilla Air” who accepted med despite
I wore glasses when waiting for cargo back to Rio
walked around the town. At a café, I met a well-rounded woman  
and sparks flew between us, she, Sophia was the widow
of train master who had accidentally been run over by his own train,
The pension she got from the state was paltry.
at the hotel, she told me her dream was to go to America and
I confessed my wish to write like Hemingway.
We had a few lovely days together, but then the company rang
the cargo was ready to be shipped to Rio.
The co-pilot had disappeared, and I had to navigate and fly solo,
the plane was old and overloaded it took long to get high enough
to fly over the Andes. (Douglas 47type of aircraft)
In Rio I had a few beers and thought of Sophie, a love story was
over there no sequel.

China & USA
In the shadow of banal news,
Russia and spying on elections,
lurks a threat that can lead to
nuclear war and the long night
drops by drips our mine is being
prepared for a war and hatred
this because two giants are on
collision course as the plates of
the earth are shifting, a political
disaster for the sake of power.
We who do not want a new war
are drawn into fake propaganda
learning to dehumanise a people
a war without winners bar those
hiding in caves underground with
their gold and worthless money

The choice


I could have been a farmer that was not a choice
the authority sent me there, I think as punishment for being rebellious.
I could have been an academic, but no one like me went to University
so choice never came up as an alternative.
I´m only conscious of a choice born out of necessity becoming a seafarer
instead of working in a factory the very idea of factory work
still can make me shudder.
I spent years at sea and was promoted as an officer,
it was not what I wanted I was a leaf in a stream with little will to alter
where life took me.
Tired of the sea I opened a cafe, not by choice, but I could be my boss
but I had not reckoned with costumers and talking to them, like a barber
who talk to his' about football which he privately hates.
For the reason that had little to do with me, I was a counsellor at a clinic
telling alcoholics how to stop drinking, I think of my stint at the clinic
when I have my evening whiskey.
So my only choice in life was to sit in a library all my life read and eat
a bologna sandwich, while life was going on outside, a decision that
could not be fulfilled, I blame the women for that.

The Choice  


She was a lovely middle aged woman,
who mostly only shared her vanity with the mirror.
She is watching her weight
having the strange believe that a man does not like  
women of Ruben like dimension
nevertheless through her modest education she as
able to meet people of economic status as she had
the ability of sit on the greenest twig.
But she must pay the prize of living away from here nearest
In a town that makes her feel perturbed.

choices

It was a moment when the cacophony of voices, at the railway restaurant,
became one, no longer dusty prattle mixed with cigarette smoke, but a real,
human accent making an utterance; alas, the voice spoke of mortgages,
the price of heating homes, electricity and food; the only true issue in our
civilized world that has imprisoned us with their gilded promises
So should one be shocked, isn’t that what we have worked towards too?
A life that is mundane that doesn’t tax you with any political philosophy,
any ism of this and that only leaves you to worry about the ordinary
things like the ice cream parlour in Parkgate that sells 21 flavours of ice cream,
now isn’t that nice to know and snigger about we can call it a democracy of
choices

Choices
The wind has been blowing hard today
telling of winters to come and high heating bills.
Now that I’m old and walks like a sailor on deck
of a ship in a storm I ought to be reflective
think of the life I lived and do some repenting.
“I did it my way” Sinatra, is a bit egocentric.
What happened to my life just happened I didn't
plan anything more severe than having a bath
first thing in the morning putting oil in the car
checking the tyres.
There is the death, of course, it happens to Popes
and ******, mind, in various forms yet the thought
holds no terror in my heart, I go on living till it stops
because I never planned a thing.

The Choice

I sat alone in my bunk
Waiting for the ship to reach the shore
Not for brevity

But stay docked for many days
So, I could enjoy the freedom from the ship
Down the gangplank, I walked singing
Halleluiah.

with a glass in hand and a girl in arms
I lived the life, till the captain said
You have to choose between
Ship or shore.

A ****** life was not for me
I walked ashore never looked back
Halleluiah.

I sat in a glade when the mermaid
Of the forest’s lake

She invited me to her pond
It was deep and blue
I said, no and walked my way
While singing Halleluiah.

The meaning of Christmas
In our multi-religious world and lack of Christian faith
I no longer call Christmas by its name but prefer
to call the festive season “The festivities.”
The meaning of “Christmas” was to celebrate the birth of Jesus
but commerce has highjacked the season
we are pressured into buying presents for family and friends.
The JUL is a good word that was celebrated long before Jesus was born
it is on the day the sun turns; spring will soon arrive.
The Jews have their day, so has the Muslims we
are not suggesting they should change this.
We in the west should not be ashamed of our cultural heritage
where our Christian faith places a big part.

Christmas Carols

Whenever you in any shop
they blast out the ****** carols
the business has trivialised
us into harassed shoppers
hating carols, dreading this time
of festivities and joy.

Christmas is:

The time of the year
We feed the
Poor and homeless
The rest of the year they
Can *******

Christmas Turkeys

It was long ago before ship - containers were invented
when ships were admired by their design and some were
unashamedly called swans.
A ship now is so loaded with containers it looks like Lego
In a commercial dam of contamination,
but beauty had to leave in the pursuit of profit
I was on a ship a “freezer” the ship was a gigantic fridge
and the order was to deliver one million turkeys to some
foreign troops station in Africa the Brits always have to
occupy something to feel great.
The freezing system broke down, the ship stank and we
had to scuttle and abandon ship, we rowed ashore and was
arrested they thought it was an insurance scam.
We're soon released and sent to a swanky hotel before leaving
In the morning the ambassador laid on a table for us it
was full whole fried turkey, luckily he left to go to a party for
the higher ups, the servants and cooks removed the turkey
and gave us a mountain of eggs and bacon followed by crates
Of beer. The ambassador met us at the airport to take farewell
The press was there too he was a man of enormous vanity yes,
we had enjoyed ourselves but not the way he thought a silly man
hadn't done his homework

Circus in Town
It was a cold February day when the circus came to town
animals ink cages, except the elephants –four of them-
and shockingly naked on a day like this,
tail to trunk elephants with small ears they are Indians
someone said
My mental picture of an Asian was disturbed when I see an Indian
I think of elephants the naked ones marching on
a cobbled street in a small town up north.

I did not go to the circus didn't want to see animals be made fools of.
it was the Karinis I came for and yes, when in their
enclosure their backs were covered with a big blanket,
why to let them walk naked through the town as the westerly blew

Cleaner Air

New thinking of
The old ways
Use horse and carriage
In the city
Faster than
A white van can
And for post delivery
Pony Express
Will do wonders
And the bonus
Horse manure
Is good for the roses

Clean feet

I had a check-up about my diabetes, but first I had
to see the nurse who did the physical work testing this and that,
do you want to see my feet? No, she said it is not needed.
To think I had scrubbed my feet pink, between the toes too,
like cardinal waiting for the pope to kiss his feet.
The foot kissing is a ritual humiliation to keep the pope humble.
I noticed the nurse´s dress looked crumbled as she had slept
In her uniform, perhaps she had done a double shift,
she also had a restless leg. I found tense, and a prominent larynx, or maybe she needed a ***.
The doctor spoke to the computer everything was ok, liver
blood pressure, and so on, the doctor looked like a cute mouse a narrow face and small ears, her
hospital coat was starched.
I told her my feet were better. I said that hoping she would have a look, but no, she smiled politely
and wished me a good day.

Cleanliness
On my frequent lone walk by the old docks
I came across a building which turned out
to be a communal bathhouse.
It was incredibly cheap for a few pence
I got a towel and soap and had my first shower
I was at the time, elven years old.
And when I was short of change asked my mother
for not ice cream, but for a shower.
My brother said only poofters went there, how would
I know? I Didn't see anyone wearing badges:
“I'm a gay person.”
There are shops where the old building stood and
by life's irony sells perfume and toiletry.

Cleanliness and ******

The ship was old once it had been a big ship now it was small
it had been overtaking by time, its shower system had sea water
which was nice enough to cool off when it was hot.
After having a shower, you needed a bucket of fresh water to rinse
the salt away if not you would scratch all night have irritated skin
For month we did not have a proper wash when our ship docked in
Bremerhaven for repairs and we got fresh water found I had
an extra pair of socks I didn’t know about
it was wonderful having a hot shower I stayed under it til someone
complained I was using all the warm water, even today the sense
of cleanliness makes me shudder with delight.

Whatever I had done in my youth the night before it helped
to have a shower and wash the sin away the smell of “life buoy.”
the only soap we knew about, made the difference the ******
loved it they knew you were clean ******

Clearing the Air

She rang said she was coming with the late train,
Since it was her birthday I had thought she would
Come early so we could go to a restaurant for
A meal and drink some good wine

The train arrived just before midnight, I was hungry
And tired of waiting, she was tired too, I had
Brought flowers, she thought they were nice and
Put them in the backseat of the car.  

We drove home, both feeling wounded; at home,
she made an omelet, I had a drink; later we watched
a TV show in aggrieved stillness. Next day we had
a big row and that cleared the air

Clemency

A lifetime of experiences
the struggle is to be willing remembering them
as there are large holes calling certain events
are pushed aside.
What was said or done
in the cusp of youth, I forgive myself
with a shrug.
What was done in the middle years
is a matter that cannot be glossed over.
No, it is not about forgiveness
but the acceptance we are not perfect
and thus, be more lenient
when we are trespassed upon.
I will not choose bitterness for slights done.
The river near the houses is now a trickle
soon it will be an ugly scar
across the landscape.
Once we swam her and made love by the river´s bank.
Blessed is the cynical unhurt striding through life.