Halcyon

When the vessels of the day break

and the scent of night pervades the dusk

we’ll gather in the glade and dance

amongst the shade, the stones, the musk

Dark’s soft blanket, in spreading we will greet

the march of time with onslaught swift

make shadows thick, the flower to dust

and in joy comes glory; an embrace, replete

Dawn’s arrival reveals fragile, silent grace

dark dismissed again to rest awhile

in briar-strewn thickets, a smile

like light itself, plays wild upon your face

We go gently back, through valleys of the morn

dual footfalls in the dust we tread

amidst chords of chaos, a single thread

unbeckoned swiftly, forward, born

Austral Symphony

What gauche sounds they make,

This reptilian flock

A crescendo, part cheese-grater sharp

Part mellifluous

They knock, drone on my supine head

Caving lesions in

And challenging

The notion of sweet birdsong

For now, do dada

Becomes a harsh caw-caw

and the boundary

between tone and raking claw

eroded, splits

Roadsong

Under cliffs rejoiced and ducked

Spanish lips and Catalan fists

Black eyes, black eyes and backlit eyes

Scrambled dells and spat bad Basque

Walked across fire and slipped into

Forgotten villages with uncommon vistas

Danced on street corners and squares

Ate squid once, tiptoed, smoked

Got scraped by Noah’s leathery hide

And bounced on rocks, sand and grass

Lightning lit Cane toad faces up-turned

Crushed by velvet tyres in the night

Smelled roadside sugarcane fires

Held hands with glory, fate, chance

Whilst Wallaby eyes glittered, ageless

In palaces lost hours and spent

Brain cells on exquisite Mexicans

Chewed Betel-nut miles from home

Made friends with gabba fans and

Dodged dumped asylum patients

Left to die in the hazy light

Whilst outside iguanas were stoned

By less than rational thoughts

Met heroes and realised zeroes

Crested miles in laden Mercedes

Laughed with Scottish farmers

Drunk tequila with German schoolgirls

Fanned phosphorescence in Mandalas

Kicking splendid ripples on the stroke

Composed polemic verses and discarded

Dreams again and again and again

Smelled the west and its direction

Got lost, got lost, got lost again

Saw car-long catfish drying in sunlight

Dwarfen bears and wolves in cages

Wiped myself with the pages of novels

Became Soviet water-child

Staggering beauty alongside danger

And trusted vagabond peasants with

Mouths of blackened gold

Conjured peace and otters at St. Farnans

Heard shrikes and ptarmigans call

Propped up Soho bars and paced

Streets in the morning, whilst suit-

Wearing men went about their chores

Ate Borges, Hesse and James

Spoke at length with unshaven prophets

Forecasting doom and spattered blood

Onto porcelain tiles in dancing heels

Swore at the future, swore at the past

Streaked across serene plateaus

Clutch head in hands for days on end

Dilated pupils in Bristol squats

Realised the futility of chemical love

Bought temple balls in Nepali alleys

Saw burning flesh on funeral pyres

Voted liberal in a crumbling church

Silenced by stained glass sculptures

Mirth on the faces of poets and preachers

Forged connections in moonlit water

Got lost, got lost, got found again

Road sung, back on the march

Light of various senses

The shades of the day snapped

Belted by simple

Star-gazing, and meandered

Allowing

Thoughts to match up and intertwine,

to unravel

I stole a glimpse at us

As we approached

A parked car

Gave thanks

For the fires we started,

The embers

Caught in my dusty throat

We proceeded to Paris, France

In convoy

Me watching you watching me

You spent a lot, I did too

Because it seemed that time was running out,

And it was the one thing

We could do

In an alleyway of cobblestones and

Artistic sensibility

At a fine establishment

Somewhere between caffeine and a glance

We met a madman, who,

amid lifts of his crutch said:

“Ever read F.K. in the morning?”

Later in that endless journey

In a roadside café

I came across graffiti

“I love Kafka”

Someone had scrawled

Then in black marker, superseding it:

“But Sex is Better”