#104 - how is the heart divided?

13.4.20

104

how is the heart divided?

this part for kindness

a region for truth

here’s bravery – pump it

in among all shadows cast

and sometimes feel the heart is far

must be a deep down thing

tame one

so it will obey

turns take it

and close enough to touch

still the heart keeps score

here for the friends and feint ruled here

loves lost and found

rhythm it keeps

cannot be called time

at one end take my temperature

have you a weakness for things of it?

a flat line wept

and have one they say

will you settle for that’s all?

here comes the girl with the tray

and will two hearts add up?

at weddings and funerals

comes into its own

wrap up a butcher’s flag in the heart

sketch – make a mind map from

comes after the stomach for

and is the heart in it?

everyone is emissary

sweet as the nothings of whisper

a pillow talks

and from the heart

(that was always a beat up)

just a few chords

round and round

must have meant nothing once

here’s eye to eye

the heart in bed

and takes to tongue

with you instead

a wail! hear new heart

fresh from the flesh

this one wears plumes

the faux polite

a painted heart

fond daub on mine

cracked, you’ll say

no oil painting

in all its centuries of toil

what conquests and what vanquishings

how often run through, torn to shreds

hoist on own petard –

that’s the heart rhetorical

(its reason of which no one knows)

here’s the fellow with the cello

and on the erhu come across

some say it sings

when no one’s looking

ear nose and throat? or with the lungs?

and curled up, unconnects

all umbilicus is

a drawer where correspondence keeps

never matter when

honeyed words

here’s volcano

dizzy after with a flutter

do the Montezuma

hold high

make maniac rant

was it the swan singing? 

the heart like a question thrown?

then sometimes when a thing’s decided

the heart will still go back

go misty

make a meaning mess

there are days truly wonder

how is the heart divided

and is this for effect?

of course it is really a part of the head

and heal it

take these pills

you’ll know later in the plot

saints candle it

old gods tear out

and when the heart is parted

the organ of remembrance

gives a little moonhowl to show the mood is right

and how do you think I remember?

take half a heart, that’s how it was

go on, divide it further

soil of your birth some say

there’s so much that was stolen away

an open mind is one thing

little bird telling

and this much faster

blew like a leaf along

how all hearts are dust

who wants to hear that?

to whom shall we listen

but our own then?

barbed heart and the wire crept under

words gone to their maker

turn, turn again

smile in the heart, all said

#103 a rising (Easter Sunday in the plague year)

12.4.20

103

a rising

it’s like this

here we are

year come round

a sun say

up and shine about

from garden

through dusty streets, uphill

that’s yesterday, the day before

ask

how long in the oven, bun?

just look at the recipe, fool

take it as gospel

trick is imagine

it happened just once

though all the prophets guessed at

flock led off

fishing trip

carpenter nailed

there really aren’t the books for all this

such is life

injustices add up

for all the good we’ve done

someone brought a message for me

personal thing

mount sermons somewhere around here

(call that high moral ground

and tone too, strike it )

make my own

rising

up and atom

it’s all DIY

Caesar salad

and here’s a little empire tremble

harrowing for hell

in how many circles

under eye?

how many days of a death will count?

might have just been poorly

but it’s like this for eternity

music to go with – Ben Hur

and feel it still today

no, I can live on an island

up a mountain, away from it all

you could say death’s rumour was much exaggerated

hunt up the egg

break out of the shell

one with wings told me

in fact all foreshadowed

though details still fill

a very personal thing

some find the dice a distraction

they shine from the box today

mock on now that the Beatles are bigger

a certain amount of father forsaking

hunt through the lost and found for grace

roll away the stone?

not yet

remember to wash your hands

believe it or not

that’s up to you

easiest thing in the world to say

all this was done for love

#102b - turn around (song)

https://www.facebook.com/KitKelen/videos/10157353513923237/

turn around

(song)

take a turn around the garden

make your way around a tree

never let the old heart harden

take a turn with me

find your way around the forest

make a trip around the world

be just one voice in the chorus

where every little creature’s curled

be well stay safe at home

take care

because

everything you need is there

get dressed up in your pyjamas

take a turn around your head

spare yourself the little dramas

and unnecessary dread

we all feel the same fear

everyone you need is here

everyone you love loves you

you only have to take in the view

take a turn around tomorrow

exercise just that idea

comes with a certain sorrow

not everyone’s still here

look around and you will see

there’s no Planet B

do you think you will survive yourself?

do you think it’s worth a try?

are you pinning all your hopes on wealth

will you swallow any lie?

every thing and every body sings

with or without the wings

take a turn around your death

kind of thing a life will bring

comes right after your last breath

and you won’t feel a thing  

but everything you’ll need is there

out of this world

without a single care

every separate single body sings

so you can too

you’ll get there on your wings

with or without the wings

#102 - laughing at Nazis

11.4.20

102

laughing at Nazis

their funny big boots

and ouch, never fit

but kick the cripple

kick the poof

old castles for torture

and death has this taste

the orchestra, valkyries all overblown

they have their bombs and scientists

mostly Nazis are not so bright

fall over themselves to salute

‘Heil’ here and there, the little corporal

picture in a pantomime

they’d like to be a force of nature

borrow the gods not for hire

see them pawing over borders

oops, set fire to the map

they are superstitious

just say ‘gypsy’, just say ‘jew’

they’re Hollywood

all foreign flustered

let’s have a look at their paraphernalia

they bite off more than can chew

but blitz it

mustn’t mention Russia

kick a door down, well hello

iron fist in iron glove

robot voice, filthy thinking

share the blue eyed sunshine

generous to fault

others are the whom-they-hate

why? because they are

don’t say Stalin, FDR

let’s sing ‘Watch on the Rhine’

dance helmets dizzy with tomorrow

top myself so the Nazis clean up

and never learned a thing

see them hanging in the public square

they hanged the others there

so comical – wry grimaces

where irony was lost

last of their fuel – they

end up setting fire to themselves

but haven’t you had these thoughts sometimes?

crush the insect with one blow! …but miss

do you think it was us in the mirror back there?

has to be good for a laugh

#101 - a passion for Easter

10.4.20

101

a Passion for Easter

God died

went meekly but

we have the last words

fish for Friday

a crowd of signs

they bring the poor boy down

it’s saddest story ever

X marks the anyone anywhere spot

And won’t you sing along with me

God in the blood 

and the body is God’s  

God’s the whole family too

see flawless selves in dark of glass

and bin the sins outside

poor believing buggers

they’re bred from the imagination

spread like a rumour

set on the truth

come from a long white beard

soul breath with an eternity

and that’s just the reward

all gospel!

barb the heart

you thorn boy

and spear God in the side

there’s money in the message

if you do it on a rock

then faith was lost

God died again  

more painfully this time

and grows into a tree too

to either end the world

blessed the lot

must not spill seed

call glory

war for it of course

shield, sword

as godly each

run through with a cross

or saved by it

no stopping here to think

consider a church of Jesus wept

the fiddling place

doors to halls

and wander under

brocaderies to flounce it princely

God’s ironed stiff

kiss this

forget

say God is with

and suffer the children a little

everyone’s a winner

mount a sermon now

beatitudes, you beauty

but holier than thou

so much of this gone without saying

yet there still the reverie

and all our wants diaphanous

because we’re going down

mortify me, won’t you

really not so hard

a little to left now

just to the right

and under skin

up family tree

some brimstone baggage for good measure

unclean in the morning

but got it off my chest

under the influence

so saintly

nailed it

nice stigmata

does anybody weep for God?

oh no, we’re well past that

all rise

imagine a revival

mouth to mouth

and better not burn

but blood upon

holy lamb

mint sauce

and mountain greens

flayed and arrow

it’s anyone, remember

gods get up and go again

you just have to believe

you keep the bow of burning gold

give me a chocolate bunny