In the set square sat a round
racket of positivity, molecules
cherished in cherry smiles
chimed 18 x 9am daily dongs
a song known through sound and
vision secrets saved in silent cheeks
mothed up in ***** of tremulous tongues
tough eccentrics bull dozing blindly
baked on 1000 degress, ovened out
softened in soap suds, sponged
free, out of site of the black dog who never
wags his tail, hung dog look gallops
through the aisles, hopping hopscotch, set
squares sitting with round racket ruminators

Infectious wounded words, gargled grief,
ring leaders in foul filled filth,
door opening to the left of the blackened
wallpaper, stooping from its support

Floor, a waterlogged mess of yellowed
****, stabbing stink, suffocating, like flayed
corpses, acidity burning in the back alleys
of wounded worn out hearts on sick leave

Cowering in crumbled crevices, filmy outlines
of themselves, insides outgrown fulfillment,
faded, grasped their gasp and sold it,
folded into walls....gross with age

I would have cried but, energyless, I'd fallen
out of my body long ago, beat the light from
my eyes, layed down in yellowed tears of ****
alongside the ratted out corridors of squalor

Austerity emblazoned in silk
fallen out of the ranks
in the popularity stakes
the iced tea on the hob
warmingingly out of character

Do you recall turning the page of irony
yellowed blotter, signature book
of those you'll never meet again
autographed in old inked scrawl
holed up with cobwebbed coats

Well, they don't bother you now
even though they stared you down
head hunted the perfect prefect of popularity
seeking you to check out the aged paper trail
their current capabilities warranting a slice

Settling, the nest felt comfy
nurturing, gifts placed at your feet
you dislodged the parrot from your shoulder
it left its calling card, a neat reminder,
chatted  up colourful clowns in the corner

Squatting within a lurch of emotion
fried eyed, stop tap turned off
zero shifting into first place
cashing in their deposit too late
they paid in full willingly....it seemed

Steamrollered, you left the game
parked your plastic smile
scrubbed clean the mossy mess
sat back amongst daisy/buttercup armies
felt the hot poker of rejection, water.....devoured it

Tracks trembled, catering for my destination westward, field
alongside industry courted, dancing the miles ahead, celebrating
scenic mystery, roaving in splendour, hills pumping spellbinding
grassy greatness, devouring, readying for mountainous masterpieces

I am sun drenched in strobed springtime, relishing the thaw
of rivers running forever, snowy peaks holding onto winters
shivering tale, huddling cold coats like pashminas trailing....
unfinished,their needlework on pinpoint exercise

Inside I sit next to myself, folding minutes into moments of memory,
tracks decreasing inner city air, and I regard
evermore with special splendour, the developing rocks and craggy cliffs
arriving neatly at the foot of the sea waving white flags, receding, chasing....

Row upon row, I saw them, instantly, ‘I did’,  
shuffled bodies bulged past me, they ‘did not’.
Fingers, lived to touch, light dim in part,
not here, spotlit, it said “Do not touch”,

how can I know?  Disobedient held
up in my palm, angling my hand
this way, that way. It happened then,
our grey blue pupils, like full stops, clung,

I did not know it would be a memory pocket.
A sentence in time snatched my happy face,
fear bought me. Under my skin, groping pins
pricking the base of my neck pushed into my skull.

Spun, bumping bodies smelling of beached waves,
hard gulps, sweat caught in between my fingers.
It was time to tie up loose thoughts, forget
I pushed away with speed, in a strange place,

street, shop,  where was I? Where are you?!  
By your side in safe sofas, I hand swung
down the banister, released the bolt,
safety catch hanging...and gone....

Flower
Bold

Sat

Proudly
Wrapped....in
Strands

I looked up
You were gone
Traces of you

Her soft head
Rested....

                 'wore me out'

Merest delicacy shot through
As though irons had clung to fire
Dressed in red hot pain