Dear Don Alberto
Flamboyant Octogenarian
To a pair of weather-beaten families on the Camino
And to Backpacker Bridget from Granada via Barnsley
And to all who seek shelter from the Galician downpours
You sound
Like an Angel
As you hold aloft your otherworldly radio
And play for us Tina Turner’s
Simply the Best
On happy repeat.

Dear Don Alberto
With your doggy entourage
To a bunch of Ryanair Refugees on the Camino
And to uber cool Bridget naturalised Granadina don’t mention Barnsley
And to all who seek sanctuary from the Galician heatwaves  
You taste
Like a rustic slice of empanada
Rich deep and
Eternally replenishing itself.

You weren’t ever on our map
Don Alberto, were you?
The ID cards you offer up for inspection
Make us laugh at the farce of our controls and borders.

And so
To us make-shift pilgrims on the Camino
You show us how to journey properly
Dancing the salsa
On every roundabout.


Simon Piesse

I was very pleased to find
A fungus that sometimes (not always)
May contain algae
And so may be described
As partially lichenised

So when I can't make up my mind
I am just evolving me
I'm not divided
Undecided
Only naturalised

A naturalised immigrant,
a subject and a leader,
acquires a strange but familiar territory
at the utterance
of “I do.”

Season after season,
familiarity bribes patriotism
while betrayal sneaks past barbed loyalty,
recruiting every whisper, every soft touch,
that swore allegiance
and vowed nothing
but infatuate
with goosebumps and urge.