Hendra#1

And that morning,

You were a mountain.

Dust and crystal.

We were running.

You were faster,

Through the gulleys that caught my sneakers and twisted them,

So I fell.

Into a pool of glittering young black frogs -

Each reflecting its own tiny sunrise.

From the perfect point of the spoil tip,

We watched the dawn spill

Into grey water below.

There’s a village buried here.

Black mirror,

White dust,

A new sun,

And you, the mountain.

Cornish Poem #1

You better be back

I see you

I hide

In the salt of your lover’s sweat

His swell

And his rough hands on your body

On the tube you sport a bruise that isn’t mine

But I will call you back here every time

My jealousy will crack the cliffs beneath your dwelling

And pull you down

To roll in the breakers

And bleed into the water

And I will wash you up

Leave you half-buried on the shore

For a dog-walker to find

And tell stories about

At dinner parties

In London

Southern Man

I adore you with my dog heart.

And my other heart beats a little slower for that.

I steal from you this cut-glass diamond.

This hard, invisible kiss.

And I know full well it is thievery.

I stole a knife when I was a child,

Cut my name into the tiles on a bathroom floor.

I was caught with the knife, but not for the name.

What I wrote, nobody recognised.

We are what the world sees, after all.

But the world turns its face away most of the time,

Perhaps in kindness.

I have heard often enough:

“You are perfect just the way you are”.

I see them look through me,

And I do not want to laugh at them.

But, you..

You flush me from my hiding place -

Sometimes with a blow, sometimes a bait.

I love you with my dog heart,

And my other heart can wait.

Old Rock Standards

The mirrorball spins in the ambient light

Accidental reflections

Memories of last night

As they played the old rock standards

And we danced on the parquet floor

And I saw you again

For the first time, my friend

In the spaces between

The strings on their guitars

And I know you were with him again

And I shouldn’t care

I know you were with him again

‘cause I saw you there

In the music of my parents car

The old songs stay new

When they’re about you

And the empty glasses will be filled again

So keep on rocking in the free world

I know I’ll try

Somebody’s bright future is

Somebody else’s days gone by

So dance and never fall

Under the mirrorball