Fire door

DangerThunder and lightning CautionA box that opens(but should not) CautionRed seeds you could eat(but should not) CautionA bargain to make(but should not) That doorKeep shut Only those who dareDo not. — Earlier this week I took a photo of a door that entertained me: I liked how the list of commands added up to make

Visitation

All in whitedescended on my doorstep,in a cloud of cologne:the amoretto, the deuce,the quicksilver sonof Mercury. Some spellsare an intercession. — Other poems about visits, hellos and good-byes: Different rides My heart was a rogue balloon Pavement Writer On a traffic island halfway across High Road, evening The mattress turned over In this place, I

Hope and Sky have disappeared

“Northern (Hen) Harrier” by Len Blumin from Mill Valley, California, United States – Northern Harrier. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. a poem written in London on Sept. 26th, 2014 Sky’s signal stopped September 10th. Three days later, Hope’s did too. Birds of their kind hunt small mammals. Birds of their kind are

“on the table – a glass of water”

This time last year I wrote up an explanation about “Winterreise”, a poem in which a glass of water features as a symbolic object. (Regular readers will have noticed that water is a recurring motif in my poetry.) “Winterreise” describes a meal out with my father, who passed away on the 5th May five years

Every Sign of the Zodiac

The radio station holds a ‘phone-in about How to Seduce Every Sign of the Zodiac. Every star-sign, says the guest expert, has a romance silhouette. Taurus to Scorpio sound good. Pass on the Virgos and Cancerians. 22/12/13 — Anything to do with signs and symbolism pulls at my imagination. Just today I was thinking about

Twenty Auspicious Cranes

Twenty Auspicious Cranes, 1112 On the day after my birthday, 2013 The Emperor Huizong opened his palace to the ever-busy common folk. I sat on my bedroom floor. Twenty white cranes appeared flying in the sky; two alighted upon the palace gate. A brown-winged bird darted into my room; there he hovered, over my bed.