first meeting* based on Reiner Stach’s description of Franz Kafka’s first meeting with Felice Bauer (see page 100, ‘Kafka The Decisive Year’s by Reiner Stach, translated by Shelley Frisch) only a few words yet enough to put you out to sea silly boy you liked her to the ‘point of sighing’ you spilled out to…
Category: Poetry
white cross on sea
white cross on sea* για ο,τι μου δόθηκε απο την καρδιά αυτού του λαού, απο τον ήλιο τους, άσπρη καρδιά της θάλασσας for what was given to me by the heart of this people, by their sun, white heart of the sea they had it hard as any land’s lot ever was forced to…
the girl on the swing
The girl skipped off the swing and walked away. That swing is moving still; caught, I thought at first, by a slow wind. But its twin, the swing next to it, is dead still. I think that I’m lost in the sky, the leavings of a butterfly; eyes upon the ghost…
The Road West
The road here slants west, carving to the hill, past the tender tumble down homes, past the crouching thatched cottage in its frozen secret place; beyond the flinty corner whose face bends the wind. It is a place of endless shadow, prickled frost. Time has put an edge on this land – hardened it and…
Ode
Was the manuscript going to be a hoax or a codex cipher He was appointed to the imperial distillery Then placed to take charge of the botanical gardens and be a personal physician Linguistic patterns of language Contextual arrangements of notes and words The words broken down into letter by letter character cipher Awkward to…
Sweet Music
Quite florescent mist lingers after the rain our mounts are quaking about the wind The breeze when it blows is full of the salt of tears They sense the incoming storm Tenderfoot I feed them carrots pat them calm Sweet music wills me towards you Your stare transparent in my eyes Me an urchin in…
when I think
when i think in the style of an old lament when i think of the friends the few i have that touch a distant part of me where the mystery of self a flicker amongst flickers in a vastness is rolled back a little like a walk out along a low-tide shore when i…
no other weather
no other weather raining as if there had never been any other kind of weather just this rain settled in on the volcanic hill cloud right down to the foot as if it had rained for a million years before there was grass there ever was a hill rain falling out of the sky…
oranges and lemons
oranges and lemons ‘oranges and lemons say the bells of st clements, oranges and lemons say the bells of st clements oranges and lemons…‘* a low sung afternoon i learnt that round on that concrete driveway now in rain a stone’s quick throw from the sea we held each other’s hands as someone stood…
The Attic (first poem posted)
My mind attic to my house, cluttered with antique furniture, paintings, books, boxes of pads of scribbled poetry, a grammar phone to listen to a collection of vinyls. Dank and dusty yet nothing to fear of the memories embedded there when its time I can escape ambulance chasers, attention seeking bible sellers…