Wednesday 21 September 2016

Urinal song.


I love the sound of piss on zinc

Donna's sleepy tales
of rain on Trinidad tin roofs
that she told me as we lay
in a Gloucester park how
she reeked of passion
and coconut oil
The downpour
on the corrugated school bike shed
where Mandy and I
traded tobacco smoke laden kisses
and held our own geography lessons
discovering America
The rusty dutch barn
in which we made hay
and then hasty crop circles
in that hay
and planned al fresco escapades
in the ripening wheat
Come the sun
Of the beach girl
dancing naked
save a transparent plastic mac
the deluge
drumming on the upturned boats
as I drowned in her exclusive proximity
Before realisation that
it was the breaking of our 'summer'
30 years have leached out all but
the salty memory of those monsoon kisses
that creeps up my spine
At the sound of piss on zinc.

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Dreaming of tigers. Daddy what's it like to die?

Daddy what's it like to grow old and die?

It is like going to see the tigers.

Imagine it is a lovely sunny day and you say Daddy I want to see the tigers.

We get into the car and drive to the zoo and you say Daddy I want to see the tigers.

We get our tickets, you are half price and you say Daddy I want to see the tigers.

Daddy I want to see the tigers.

I tell you that the tigers are at the other side of the zoo but we will get to them eventually.

But on the way we see giraffes and eland
springboks and hippos
chimpanzees and wallabys
sad bears.

And you forget about the tigers.

We see seals and penguins
aardvarks and zebras
macaws and owls.

And you forget about the tigers.

In the insect house a butterfly lands on your arm momentarily and you forget about the tigers.

We see wolves and rabbits
dogfish and catfish
gorillas
ants.

And then we see the tigers and the tigers see us, they have been waiting.
You smile and yawn.

It is a lovely day so we go to sit in the park nearby
lie on our backs looking up at the sky
searching for animal shapes in the clouds.

We close our eyes and drift off to sleep

dreaming of tigers.