Wednesday, 22 October 2025

#2123 - wilt




2123

6.295

23.x.25

wilt

in the great heat

 

once upright

thus beckoned

to parrot bright

 

in full leaf

so much insect

tricked from the air

 

everyone out to flower

as if there were no choice now

 

limp with

 

old summer dread

 

entropic

wallaby lain to shade

 

edged by breeze

in the bindi eye time

 

day bites and night bites too

 

little insects that won’t

I go round killing them

but they’re too many

 

I need the vac

 

wait for the koel to come

 

they say today is Thursday

where’s evidence of that? 










Tuesday, 21 October 2025

#2122 - breathing

 


2122

6.294

22.x.25

breathing

 

it’s not like anything winged to fall to us

but bus comes

the familiar door sunshone

   it’s a breeze                       step in

 

be responsible

 

you cannot know what you’ve been signed up for

 

in a certain place at a certain time

 

of course bitten

this thing crosses your path

 

I walk for my words

they’re by the way

 

time crept to a fidget then

and that’s where we’re gone

 

in the end only words

and each a death

 

you won’t have noticed the revolution

             our rotation

things all moving on

 

we with them

 

does it occur to you

to live in the moment of a tune?

 

that this is as far as we go

 

no choice but sparkle now

 













Monday, 20 October 2025

#2121 - to fill the blank

 



2121

6.293

21.x.25

to fill the blank

for wise surprise

 

to vast it

 

take on the great between

 

take time with me

excuse a self just to be

 

here we paint the weather

there, take off our heads

 

I begin with nothing

or that’s a trick of light

 

all upward of the eye

 

a parrot drops its message

we have heard this before

 

page is a hill and climb

 

was always where I was headed

 

you’ve got to be a little breathless

have to exercise a fear

 

limber in

draw own conclusions

 

be the breeze and wing it

go for the long rhyme

 

wear a helmet for the tough patch

 

things fly into me

 

I tread the path my treading’s made

 

dive

draw up a well’s worth

old socks and coins, the verdigris

 

there’s a moon held in view

 

credible as cash

the canvas of value to be assigned

the floating worth this that, the other

 

own cloud

where else is there to be?

 

to stare out this our sky

 

sometimes make a run for it

if the coast is clear

 

take it as a dare

all hindrance let

 

this was always where I was headed

 

call it my bounden duty

 

fill up what space there is 






Sunday, 19 October 2025

#2120 - give to the world


 

2120

6.292

20.x.25

give to the world

poem for Diwali

 

light’s victory

this stretch of word

breath entailed

 

wondering what day

an echo

ship so bridge so sea

these wheels and a fire away

 

this wink and wonder

                best wing on

 

with sparkle

 

in flit of which

candlepower

 

the little car and another in it

top of the hill to explore

 

brightest lamps are furthest

are time beginning

 

with bounce through webs

on a mulberry day

 

today’s new sky

laid wove

breezeless

 

one city, another

 

we leave a trail of years behind

 

and this is for forever

I set it all down to be lost

 

the under over word

not yet still with

 

lines for the book of the gone

 

a getaway from it all

 

such as my ruins are


 


Saturday, 18 October 2025

#2119 - truth of a tree




2119

6.291

19.x.25

truth of a tree

 

is only as great as its least leaf

as the ant along

 

good news!

 

and tell rain’s frenzy

 

tell out the wind

and the still

 

truth of a tree is only in standing

 

a leaf falls for presage

dry, to be soil

 

none of this requires belief

 

whose web in the bole?

whose scat is that?

 

a tree is all these accidents

 

and, one day, falls, as all

so soil from which another

 

so seed to stretch

play tendril, toil

 

such is a tree’s truth































Friday, 17 October 2025

#2118 - the fog

 




2118

6.290

18.x.25

the fog

yours truly

 

sometimes you’ll wake up not there

 

last idea left

yesterday’s a light year gone

 

that is, of course, a distance on foot

 

my cloud unknowing now

 

and why?

none remember

least of all

 

the order as in any bird

 

a picture takes your day apart

but you can still be here

 

woke in this cloud for a habit

knew words but not from where

 

why should a person be named?

 

in all the green far of was, tell me

 

how one pill is another, head further

then the heart apace

 

that’s the aliens

no insect than bigger

 

still this music lives

 

one morning woke up without

should sharpen something else how

polish my own mist

 

there are days one ought

 

and I expect you to join the dots

who else but

 

leafless in my own treetops

 

it’s any head my own

 

don’t you worry about me

I know what day it is

 

do you feel that a day is missing?

 

still this music lives















Thursday, 16 October 2025

#2117 - on the far side of the mind

 



2117

6.289

17.x.25

on the far side of the mind

 

pixies and poltergeists, greybeard fears

 

lost shopping lists and chimney lusts

 

old light traps, charms

 

a pigeon sits in cooee

 

everything’s everywhere now

 

no one can see me

 

this is just for as long as it takes

 

here’s my receipt

there are cashback rewards

 

is it selfish this wishing?

 

in your time and mine

no one can see me

 

we race the heart for home