A Bristol Boy 1

First memory. Still damp from the Sunday bath, wrapped in a warm towel, I sink into Dad's old armchair, with it's itchy surface. The black and white telly blinks on and it's an old cowboy - Tenderfoot - very apt. The flat feels comforting with my family in their places and now fixed in mind forever. I'd be about three, I suppose, and the world was small, if rather strange.

Tiny Shoots

Broad beans.
We hope there will be broad beans.
The garden rarely gives up much -
thin rhubarb, the odd potato plant,
and a dogged apple tree.
Lack of time or effort -
the things it takes to make a garden grow.
Don’t bank on any silver bells -
I've had enough of cockle shells -
but this morning’s tiny shoots,
whilst not a promise,
are little stars of mercy
that I accept over all
the pretty maids
all in a row -o-o.

Growing Season

Hands as hard as tree roots,
you work the acid soil of Islwyn
with tongueless wisdom
and tools ready for the scrapper.
You stalk the night,
fishing for slugs in the lettuce beds;
dropping them in a cold steel pail
for a secret deposition
over the barbed-wire fence.

There are lessons to be learned
from a life lived by the seasons.
Year by year, you turn your face
to the white winds;
the ghostly moon winks over the hill;
you wear a suit of Autumn,
sour with the sweat of work.
Sweet blessing of abundance -
there'll be times the crops will fail.

A Lemon & Two Limes

Unable to sleep,
I arose at 3.44am
to make myself
a cup of tea.
On entering the kitchen,
I was surprised by
a lemon and two limes,
resting on the work-surface.
I thought to myself,
'Two limes and a lemon ?'
and fetched a brown
felt-tip pen
to write it down.
Then I drank my tea
and went back to bed,
where I slept like a baby.

Working Late

I’ll be working late
So don’t wait up
I’ll get a takeaway
A Chinese
And I’ll grab a cup
Of coffee from
The machine
It can’t be helped
There’s pressure
From above
You can’t live on love

I’ll be working late
Tell the kids I’m sorry
That game we’d planned
Tomorrow I promise
And I’ll do the story
And I’ll make it up
At the weekend
The pictures and a pizza
Bowling or the park
It’ll be dark
By the time I’m home

I’ll be working late
Just paperwork
Boring stuff
But it has to be done
Martyr to the cause I know
I’ve already paid enough
Soon we’ll get away
Take a break
Could find another place
Don’t worry
We’ll have some fun

I’ll be working late
Don’t say that
Of course I care
That’s why I’m here
Things’ll be fine
Just need more time
To straighten things out
It’s not easy you know
You need to relax
Life’s not fair!
You’re not on your own

I’ll be working late
The paperclips
Need unbending
There’s no ending
To this mess
I’ll be working late
I hate me too
But the files
Are revolting
Of course I’m yours
But you’d never the guess
The state of the drawers

I’ll be working late
Fate has decreed it
So I have to concede it’s
Crappy I know
Don’t down the phone
Just yet
Forget what I said
I’m sorry
You did look great
It’s the way it is
I’ll be working late

Whistling To Robins

The woods are filled with robins,
threading the trees with their thin wire of song.
Halfway along the ash path,
beneath the spread of beech trees and conker trees,
we stop and listen:
a sharp chirrup! with a twist and a peep!
I’ll never be a bird amanuensis,
but that’s a rough idea.
A robin flits through the air;
a pugnacious puff-ball,
it skips along a fractured branch,
curiously eyeing our movements,
then scatters its wild triplets
and quarter tones into the blue –
a true jazz maverick.
Impulsively, I whistle back;
my song a sad mockery
of its quick witted trilling.
You look at me open mouthed
and you whisper, ‘Don’t do that!
People will think you’re mad’.
‘Yes’, I reply, ‘They will’.

A Little Piece of Paper

Off-white, sun-aged,
left behind -
a little piece of paper
flapping softly in the breeze.
He picked it up,
the little piece of paper.
Studiously he folded it -
then toddled off,
between the dog-roses
and the willow tree,
where he digested the contents
of the little piece of paper,
laughing aloud.
It was mushy on his tongue
but went down easily.