ethereal, a slight aromatic
adrift in time, fainter than dew
left after blades flens sward
before its possibility
earlier days’ traces linger;
stale ales, linament,
sweat and certified under-arm deodorant
fails to mask an exotic musk,
rare even to memories, dreams
beyond experience
sniffed with leather
when it edges their bats
or pummelled by ours;
with luck to taste on lips
as they lick fingers
before each dries with anxiety
you’ll [...]
At ten-thirty today I’m to be interviewed by Ronnie Barber of BBC Radio about what words poets don’t like. Any that end in -ly except sly, since they’re adverbs which means the verb isn’t doing its job well enough, and generally used by politicians and the like to evade rather than seek truth and meaning [...]
It is one of those days: from the top of a 13 bus observe the increasing pavement rain dapples down the Finchley Road. Nearly didn’t get this far as a silver Honda Jazz driven by a bitch of a silver-haired hag tried to total me crossing the road just because she wanted to turn right [...]
Brother Ben,
Life brings its own frustrations.
Eyes beseech the heavens
Leaves all in place as before.
Thy task is to dismiss by thine own labours
Without pleas to those with especial powers
To do thy humble work towards dismissal.
Here endeth the elders’ epistle:
Success shall come,
You leave no margin for error,
They shall succumb,
Thy will be done. ‘Tis enough,
Virtue is its own reward [...]
Play starts too soon,
too soon play starts.
Check pads, bat, box ‘n’ gloves
are where you last left them,
stretch legs, arms, tendons
and tie up laces again.
Re-adjust eyes to the light,
roll-up sleeves not too tight,
hitch up your whites
but try to forget
how play ended last night
for today’s the deepest of breaths
that flutter by -
- nervily.
after original ‘If I were [...]
