1

to be sensible
of cold, the decay
of light

 

2   (Uplees)

a silence
on the Swale,
or near enough:
incoming tide,
bird calls

cement slabs, on which
black-faced sheep forage

the explosive factory
blew up in 1916

 

3   (London Victoria)

the shake-spe-herians
rant at a neighbour table

(as the deaf would drink
at the Forest Lodge, their signs

speedy, erratic)

(poetry is not
endless speech)

the roaring queens roar on

we in the pits
put up with it

then head out for Kent

 

4

on Clapham High Street:
         – VOLTAIRE –
– drycleaners of distinction –

 

5   (Brighton)

the Sunday market:
battered legs of a shop dummy
fireplaces
a broken exercise machine
Cliff Richard’s ‘Hits’

 

6

ice expected
the night of the launching

long shadows across fields
a hint of mist

sunset, south of Rochester
a sickle moon over Westminster

 

7

the door knob
cold to touch

frost on the western rooftops

ethereal blue plastic
on rows of vegetables

 

8

past the shortest day
at last

arthritis
apparently

the writing, shaky
the fog

(at least)
lifted

 

9

I’m not allowed to be ill
I oughtn’t be, shouldn’t be

lying on my back in late sun
it’s chill outside, then dark

take meat out of the refrigerator
chop the Chinese cabbage

(movement of leafless vines on a neighbour wall
a rusted blue ventilator

the head of Gautama
transported into the yard
stone among the shoots

an old filing cabinet
moved to the garage

 

10

hop poles recede in fog
‘a delay in services
due to a fatality
in the Meopham area’

 

11

hail over Ferry Marsh
mud underfoot at Halstead
fields of chipped crockery and stoneware

 

12   (Chanctonbury Ring)

after the Great Storm a broken crown
wild anemonies under the lip of the hill

 

13

At night

all things sleep
save rats

in the walls
(wondering if

they’re any good
or not)

outside, yellow
streetlight on gillyflowers

a moss rooftop,
who knows what con-

stellation overhead
or the whereabouts

of ducks at 3am

 

14

a sky
full of
small
movements

 

15   (May again)

creeper on a wall
turns ochre green

a young blackbird
becomes
a black
bird

 

16   (Imagined America)

Confederates take over the village square
guitar, snare, voice and double-bass
twang, reverb & hiccup from the pub

 

17

a large chick balances
on the edge of a bucket

 

18

late light
hits the bar window