Category: Uncategorized

  • On a Street in South Africa

    I worked as a crossing keeper  On a lightly used railway  There were five trains a day  In each direction  On this remote single line branch  The last train of the day  Passed the crossing  At seven in the evening  I then locked locked the gates  Until nine the following morning  When the first train […]

  • The Invisible Metropolis 

    I have found that  If I close my eyes  When walking through  The city by the sea  That it becomes invisible  And all that remains  Are my cherished memories 

  • Sandwich

    Sandwich used to be a busy port But after the great storm of 1287  It began to silt up and by the !7th Century  Found itself two miles inland from the sea  Sandwich also has the distinction  Of suffering an earthquake in 1580  Which damaged a church and some buildings  My name is Anna Geraldine Blake  And […]

  • Only the White Pumpkins can Fly 

    Today I purchased three pumpkins  Orange Green and White  These made a colourful addition  To my autumn kitchen  Yet as I cooked my evening supper  I felt was safe in the knowledge  That only white pumpkins could fly  And that the others would never leave me

  • Bus Shelter Poem (undated)

    I have never been able  To work this one out  Why do we love LAND so much It is nearly always about LAND  Fields Hills Mountains  Deserts Towns Cities  Rivers Seas and Dust  Husbands Die Brothers Die  Sons Die Daughters Die  Wives Die Many Die  Even this bus shelter suffered  During the last war when […]

  • Canzone del di luna

    After the music of the crimson sunsets  I spend my nights watching the moon  As she travels silently through eternity 

  • En me suicidant, le moment venu

    Today was a day of white light  I spent it high on a promenade  Never had the fading year  Looked so beautiful  Yet I was not totally happy  As I knew that that the day  Would not last more than a few hours   And that the darkness would soon follow

  • in a time of autumn leaves 

    you were born  in a time  of autumn leaves  a time of white skies  and crisp golden shadows  you are a child of the tenth month  who inherited the beauty of the world 

  • Tender is the Night

    I was sitting on a speaking seat  Not far from a crazy clock reading Tender is the Night  As I always did  When the days were fair On this high promenade  You asked me about Nicolas Hawksmoor  And about the colourful beach huts below  I knew nothing of these silent mysteries We shared a slow […]

  • La Sauvage Elisabeth

    I found Elisabeth Olsen sleeping  In the Church of the Unknown Martyrs  This was quite commonplace  A typical behaviour  I believe that Elisabeth liked me  As when in the right mind  She could pass through all levels  Of polite and genteel society Yet I nearly always found her  Covered in mud wearing only a shift  Having […]