Bukowski’s ghostis horsing in the garden – careening crazily –a grounded Red Baron flying a Fokker Eindeckerdrunken-legged – arms thrown out as wings,then elbows hunched, hands close together,forefingers squeezing triggers, letting them have ittwin machine-gun style – teeth and lips spittingbursts of rapid fire – his face splits laughing,shirt and eyes wine-stained.
Her home, but not (she knows) her house. It is his house, his wall, his garden. She takes it hard, and means to harden So far as courtesy allows. Am I alone in feeling he Could ease things with a breezy word Or passing smile when they conferred About the rent?
Crabapples strewn. I knew that lure would draw our blackbirds round the trunk. What do they care the fruit is sour? I like their pluck. Let’s us devour each acrid chunk of windfall, too, before our hour lapses. I mean the fruit that’s grown to globes of rude maturity on no such
Seizing her axe she brought it down with blows One altered morning when the same sun rose Differently on her than him, which meant She knew the backyard aspen’s lease was spent. It fell to him to prise the stump’s grudge out. And yet how intergrown he was with doubt About it all, as whether
Glad I decided against the tie, the polka dots. That freelancer Houghton is covering the Festival.I’ll buy him a pint during the break.Doubtless he’ll bang on about his latest cricket book,how well it’s selling in India. I’ll start with an icebreaker. A dog poem.Follow say with three poems about Wanda —what went right then wrong.I
We were to meet outside the stationat the top of the High Street, one AugustSaturday afternoon, and I became aware,walking there, of new sensations:the way my hair brushed my shouldersin the heat; that inner unease I’d heardwas called butterflies and hadn’t knownwhy, until now; the painful drag, of whichI was in denial, of stiff clogs
Passers-by, accelerating on your errands, you overlookthe spider’s labour — a silver thread from thorn to thriving rose,the wind waking every leaf.Crow, ego with wings — you announce yourself as king of the street.Above — a wafer of moon. Not ready to leave the sky.
Out by the river, picking over driftwood bleached like bone. Or digging in the earth for a succulent root, when the light once forged in an ancient star is found. Nugget of fire from a neutron bomb so bright that the sky still burns. Now rolled in a palm. Set beside
Stood for ages waiting for the sun to turn up and pay homage to a clutch of brilliant orange poppies. It declined. But the poppies couldn’t be bothered to get hung up on feelings of betrayal and bobbed about — ditsy and undimmed — perhaps slightly drunk on some fringe classic I couldn’t catch beneath
Young and too much lip,I’m stuck on railings, up and down the slip roadsor round the parks: topping and tailing from a paint kettle,mindful of bounding dogs, that my trailing leg might topplethe gallon stock can. I’m a gardener as well,hacking back brambles and nettles, freeing the bottom plinths.Exposed: no place to shelter or skive,
Joel tried his hand at acting,appeared as one of the gravediggers in Hamlet,an amateur production on the Isle of Man.Audience applause remained polite. Backstage, Albert, the other gravedigger,was reading Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents. Joel looked at himself in the dressing room mirror —Nose broken in a lunchtime fight with Higgins in Year 11—Joel had
Clown School convenes at midnight sur la plage — a maverick constellation of old sea-dogs and post-humous grands personnages. Chateaubriand has on a red nose and does the rope trick to a tee. Degas draws his Dead Fox in the air but wobbles and the ears go askew. Cue a snicker from Corneille that triggers
We smashed china cups, saucers, sugar bowls, plates, teapots on slabs of paved-over lawn – ripped apart bodies of teabags, scattered their unholy remains amongst the splintered finery – out of plastic kettles, we sloshed hot water, drenched the mess in pretend, ritual sterilisation – and then we boogied, in the latest footwear, on our
Would he be 60, this mantoe-punting the hook and eye latchsecuring the firm’s caravan door? Such a performanceto keep his balance, he went onto back-heel it instead when in two tickshe could have slipped it freeby reaching out, bending his knees. But this amiable man with familyhatchback and detached bungalowstarted kung fu-ing it until the
Lacing up gleaming skates, then off the rein At last, kids shuffling gouts of steam We elbowed into churned-up tracks and packed the train Of bodies bent and wobbling in the stream That watched in awe below the mirror ball As denims and drape jackets paid the price For slinging
What have I done with my one life and all the time it takesUp the ladders of alcohol and down depression’s snakesI’ve met too many predators and bought too many fakesI had too many choices and made some bad mistakesUp the ladders of ecstasy and down delusion’s snakesWhy does a simple scene in life involve
1979 Break time. Out of the staff room window through The fug of pipes and cigarettes The landscape of industrial decline Has empty smokeless chimneys signal debts To history that never will be paid Except by demolition. Cleanliness Of plate glass far prefers the playing fields Whose straight white lines mean
Wild garlic after sudden rainthat left as suddenly –each curlicue sunlit again –was part of all that kept her lonely: they’d noticed it, like everything,every spring. The firstyear alone, surely, you’d think,would be hardest, worst. It’s not, she said. I felt her shoulder.We walked back to our cars,hugged. She left. I glanced back overtheir million
White-collar workers think what elseThey need, scanning the aisles and rowsOf powders, sprays and shower gels,Still looking fresh in office clothes, White shirts exuding cleanliness,Sleeves neatly folded at the wrist:Signs of a manager impress,Along with pager and the twist Of office keys on summer slacks,Crease perfect, colours black or blue.But wait… the shopping trolley lacksA
the Blue Drawing Roomis above the Abbot’sSitting Room the blue fireplace isabove theAbbot’s fireplace (below that —fireplacesall the way down) the East Wing— missingin action the deerin the deer park— eaten antlers overthe GreatDoor a woman under-neath wheezingin chiffon dear lady (up since dawnropingthings off) do you knowcan you say thereal reason whythe fishsank? the