some days come like that
despite all the free talking
the fixing things

it happened in one moment
reflecting the rain
and that other thing

that catches unawares

so we said to the bear

is been ok a while
now back talking to you

these things happen

good plan and hope things work out

one way or other

it has been known here to utilise
the power of thought and circumstance

to escape the box

and while you ride the rail bed
i walk the track for it is a differing

language

your vests are not ours
nor your tank tops

and while I wear neither
have the most magnificent

combinations in my collection
hanging on the bathroom door

she praised the sonnet remarked she did not fully understand though


i agree for neither do i understand why there are rules on how to convey a feeling, an idea


why there has to be a pattern
to follow


the words come easier with flow
yet it did come out different

i guess than usual and maybe
that is a thing


it took two days of dithering and rearranging


and hurt

should like to see that
do you have a photograph?

i have a drier and have noticed a touch of rust
and a clunky sound though

i don’t use it  much with having the washing
line in the garden

and a clothes horse in the outbuilding
and the other thing above
the name forgotten

occasionally I will finish off a few things on
the little toy airer by the radiator

a gift from my friend jim who lives abroad now

he is a hairdresser

you know

gob stuck painfully wide
rubber fingers probe inside

send your fourth child a
lone her gassed extraction
thinged traumatic, an insistence
on rhyme by past dictation


scared absolutely ,the bleeding
rules scraping, filling
pussed restrictions feeding
the lines gone wrong you see..


difficult teeth, poetic lines
line my painful mouth shouting
elizabeth, the ****** sonnet oh
farthingales a starchy **ing

this can be an abbreviation it seems for the era according to predicted


unlike the clothing all starchy ruff and farthingales


nothing at all to do with dental hygiene


and I understand there were lots of rats about
for fat was used for a multitude of things
besides eating


anyhow we done the draft

then turned it round about


a few more hours fiddling
and it may suffice
with a double eff

this is what i was like at the beginning before all that happened which now is past

this is what I am like now , back to that beginning and maybe a differing shape outside

yesterday i wrote of comics
free form

now challenged to talk of teeth
and dentists as elizabethan sonnet

form

we know i prefer no rules nor restrictions

with all that stopping to count
and refigure

yet will rise to it in mine notebook
first then down onto the device

today and finish tomorrow
in plenty of time

maybe you had your own money
not the exact amount  handed

to my brothers
with prime instructions

and no looking at the
forbidden places

nor loitering by the cafe

or

bought by mother
independently
as a gift

where were  the choices

you seemed to have

not here, not here.

james

remember those comics with stories on space and rockets
all dan dare and boy’s own


that we all read despite the gender


do you think they used protonmail alongside ray guns
for protection


here  we went up the hill to the little shop
for dandy and beano

sometimes the beezer

it was bigger


then occasionally she bought me sunshine stories

there is no reaching the summit here
the story changed

an avalanche of news
and wet weather

dampened the spirit
so we nipped out between the storms

to post the letters
and that was all

there is no reaching the summit here
the story changed

an avalanche of news
and wet weather

dampened the spirit
so we nipped out between the storms

to post the letters
and that was all

on warm afternoons i sit on the terrace
in the sun reading

looking up to watch the washing move

trying to concentrate
on climbing

crampons heavy

we slowly move upward

while laundry dries nicely
on the line

not yesterday though
nor today for we have a storm with no name

and you guessed it Jim , I am aiming  for the summit  of

everest

James

i write it here now amused to it

with all the predictions and quality spacing


or am i used to it

putting words in my mouth
like sweet sultanas in chocolate


they come in twos

the sentences
as if they may rhyme

only instead of except they don’t
do they jim?


we have light rain here

with worse predicted
that all came wrong too

earlier this week as we had sun
and a good book

when I was a kid
it was after the war
i know as they talked of it a lot

sometimes would hear a car coming
and would run to the gate to watch

it and the dust man’s lorry
one driving
two to run and carry
i think

not much traffic then
like now

on a solitary day i may climb
the graveyard wall
stand high and watch it here

like to see the bus , mansel davies

and especially the rock lorries
from up the quarries

helping on the sea defences

king canute

the neighbour had put plants for sale outside and unlike last year they were all desirable so now are mine. much reorganizing and planting in the morning.

roofer arrives after nine and will take about 10 days he says. is friendly from the roof and no bother at all.

is fine here too this morning
a pinkish tinge with fluffy clouds

only I guess they ain’t fluff when you get up there
and no angels with harps sitting

for they would fall through
and fly or splat down

is like stars have no points really
is all a drawn out myth

mistake

the nicest thing about lighter evenings
is that I can lie in bed and see the big
old planes fly down the estuary and if
lucky

back inland again

i appreciate your excitement
and remember my first adult bike
in a nice shade of blue
from the shop by peter’s hill

i guess I rode it home..

then out and through the lanes
up over the hills finding freedom
a while

until the stuff crowded back

sensibly it was used to go to work
all responsible and occasionally miserable

though whizzing along those feelings fled

you know

i still have that bike in store
and I think it cost seventeen

pounds

we find it when the rain stops,

light comes through.                       yesterday morning

looked nice

 

find it in the leaves scattered in piles waiting for the wind

to scatter

 

hope in the plane flying over

run out to see

 

i found hope in the mountains here

a home, a refuge plain

 

and simple things, the ordinary

become as sacred in our life

and brings a sort of hope

 

we can hold onto

cherish inside of us

 

without

there may be

nothing……..

i guess you are out on the bike speeding about the tracks


whizzing along
and i may have found a photo and wonder if it is true


exercise came unusual friday

a walk with the cat in tow

not too far for fear
of losing her


then a repeat with seceteurs in the lane 


the log run came heavy unloading then stacking


required coffee after
and escapist drawing

i hear that all is arrived and tested
well done everyone

those that invented
those that made and packed
shipped

and he who unpacked and put together

romping was the focus
after crawling

it is all remembered
like riding a bike
they say

hope all came delivered and nicely packaged maybe cardboard 


i save old card for drawing on and bending about all messy


charcoal gets everywhere and causes coughing 
so have been neater recently and careful with that whitlow which remains covered


up


the road they are painting too

a heavenly blue

lawns are a thing
i watched the history
been to a museum in southport

pretty place that for a town
with council gardening you know
all neat and patterns with orange
usually

here it is left longer for the wild things
to live and hide

then mowed much later
in the summer with grit
and determination

i have a real old green one
hand pushed yet I keep it safe
and use the electric mower
carefully

was the bike delivered safely?

thankyou
we are all looking after ourselves
carefully here as you suggested

family, few friends too

as I hope you are too

there is a routine come natural
with walking peering
and poking with sticks

there is drawing as you know
and they come as magic for company

the red especially

thick and covering the plainess

i give them cardigans with buttons
and sometimes dots

i looked out yesterday at the raining
on and off all day

washing in and out

then cotton bits ironed for i like the feel of it

you look after yourselves too

yes is amazing. the babies **** on tree roots underground for 17 years then when they emerge make sounds enough to drown out any planes.

nice she gave you cabbage again.

i have an overload of mushrooms so I **** them in the air fryer with home made bread n oil then finish off with toasted cheese.

thankyou

is not any good really

just drawings. the little people appear as company

the day sounds similar.  gardening and  drove to the garage with their payment.

walked a good way then coincided with him so chatted a while.

 may have made a temporary potting bench yet not sure. watched a film with nervousness and had a generally nice day really.

hope your day goes well

we wonder who may arrive on paper today

So we survived another storm more gentle than the predictions. 


I am here cosy with a heart drawn in my diary where the word mill used to be.


I never minded going yet pleased today that I am not.


I shall miss the customer conversation if any customers there are.


Yet not the guilt at judgement which may have come involuntary.  My mothers shadow.


So a nice day here with all that entails.
I hope the same for you.

maybe you play chess  in bad weather
or another pastime

here they forecast an awful rain yesterday
yet it came quite warm and gentle and

i shared some nougat with the delivery man
after chatting about our days in children’s  homes

a coincidence
a distant memory

he also brought plants
and new pencils

i have a wounded finger
either from the drawing

or a whitlow with an h

we like a good rainy day come cosy

he seemed surprised yesterday that i had completed the task


to ensure the proportions looked right for me


it is part of the job and if it is diaried must be done ticked off when finished

 
the sham crow bird was rearranged for it was too high  to look good


later in the studio the work that had continued the same so long made a change
with a sigh of relief 


thankyou

one enjoys the names of colours here

would have liked a job in that department

ignoring the racist ones from the fifties

smiling at those from farrow and ball

heritage colours come dull

as lockdown hit here first

i painted my outsides in happy yellow
drawn by the name not just the colour

and oh that name come true
on opening jim

is fading now
yets remains as the description

a new bike
how joyful

maybe it is a code word
or pseudonym

i wonder each time I hear from you

and yes there we go with those assumptions  again

we all do it
have our own stories

unless we are told somehow

that is all we shall have

some places we have only passed through
and if the history were told we may understand it different

than reality

these slower times I find more exploration yet only of the now with patches of this and that to photograph

to lean and wonder

there is a mist in the valley and pink in the sky
the promise of a pretty day ahead

hopefully

as always

on monday which was mayday bank holiday only may day was saturday with monday being the third already

i drew pictures on scraps left over from the other pictures i had cut round carefully

all day it rained hard, drumming

a little world here of characters and stories none of them famous nor commendable

it was mentioned that some people don’t know what whitsun is and he agreed and said

what is it then?

have a sort of family member
lives in texas you know

it is a long story
and though interesting
not to be written of
so maybe should not have mentioned it really

in my tiny world of work
do not write of family nor friends

and though I explained that he seemed paranoid
thought it was all about him
in abundance

need less to say that some of it is truth while the rest is imagination

as are the drawings

it is a junction

the old railway track

the road to the farm there

tidy and organised

they saw me coming, waited and said hello

said they were coming so we waited to see

them come running the quad bike behind herding

all excited and we laughed to see

the calves run out into the field the first time ever

with their mothers

the dead tree is gone now

cut down
hard

branches scattered as it hit
solid ground

changing the view
it has not rained a long time
thought it did a bit last night

did I tell you about the sapling
now in view?

i miss the old thing
and think how nice to know

that I can love a dead tree

this is good
maybe this is what the time has been for
to clear

a reassessment

of stuff
our preferences

i have to tell you in all excitement the new pencil sharpener arrived yesterday

described as longer lasting and made my pencils pointy

the lines came fine
i told her and she
said she will like
one too
so it is in the post

she was given a bottle of jersey milk with an image of a cow imprinted and planned to make
rice pudding

with grated stuff to taste

i don’t  like milk puddings yet did not say so as not to spoil the story for her

i like liquorice

this word came, was forgotten & reappeared suddenly this morning

he is my aide memoir when mine does fail when we have troubles

here

he helps now & then between sleep or just sat looking

it is now a simpler life and these new interruptions come surprising

the tree came down in two parts with great noise and  excitement  yet only from me


i guess the guys are dead cool and used to it all


an early sapling showed, once overshadowed

a new view , quite acceptable


a noisy  day so I went and drew pictures

an osprey flew down the estuary late
while I hung out the window
to watch the propellers spin

upwards

yesterday four private planes came
explained by the app

undeniably the white microlight
sounded odd while we shouted

words  lost in air

as a child walked down the airfield to see

the buckle broke
caused great difficulty
in walking

i always like planes Jim

overcast today

early sunday


traffic back to usual from lockup

which came quiet


we went down along the river

a new route to hear the cockerel

to find the little flowers

plus evidence from the night before


she remarked that animals spread disease

as do people just as much as we have noticed lately


they say they feel safe

yet

that don’t mean they are



the zoo is back open again today

should that dot be approved

and how about the predicted?

we came here early with many thoughts and remnants of the dream

it was another lockdown

with discussions on milk

that seemed important

then we heard voices distant, watched with a comma, saw the group walking the lane early

red tops and shorts

six thirty a.m.

can you fly from the window up into the hills where the trees are sawn down now

or maybe they used the machine

he was correct you know about the work along the estuary being drainage

the cut is ready
ditch is deep
mud banked

do you become tiny
walk there in mind

find the chosen pathways
watch the birds and wild
flowers grow

below the scene plays out
the dead
with wildlife as punctuation

yes

so I won the challenge yesterday
and have set a new one
will judge it on may 4th

not saying much of intelligence
really

the weather is beautiful here
all sunshine and bird song

so I guess they will come
and turn places into car parks
again

even though buses are provided

i did not want to win though

no major side effects except dreams of side effects

wanting to be noticed?

looking for a friend then

wear your interest where it can be seen easily and maybe smile

meanwhile

as predicted

some don’t care….

refer to the notion that there is no looking back
as in the circle

the circular form
then sometimes no title

it all does not matter
though it became like a book to dip into
here and there

things will do for now
until it changes again

slightly

blimey. is like a little insect
hopping about up there




it has been a pleasant few days
regarding weather and rearranging

things

especially garden benches
increased in price recently

with the need to assemble

it was decided to swap the one out the back for that up by the lane here

carried through the house as the hall runs front to back

previously an alley between
where swallows nested

now closed off and furnished
all a bit of an obstacle course

with the garden seat in hand




it did not fly very high

white bird

sits on dovey bridge

#apt

the thread does not show here
nor the subject matter

and it is missed

am presently writing my reply
whilst composing a letter in my head

which will change my life

james

black crow bird

sits on fence

#resting