Devil in a blue dress on a slow moving train
while I watched the world pass and the wind called my name.

I approached and then glimpsed what she shyly flashed round
atop her 2 legs, a sweet hairless mound.
She covered then flashed quickly, I spied but a glance
the next I knew the serpent in my pants
is eager and willing as you sit upon the wall
open, inviting, like Humpty before his great fall.

As her lips part to meet me she jumps down, I'm left standing
she's floated away, I remain empty handed.
Was it my size that stopped her, brought her down from her perch?
Should I go over the wall and continue my search
and scale that hill to the one lonely tree
or stay where I am and wait patiently?










A shadow from moon-glow

Where is my canine companion?
A way back?
No
I should have known
he's bounds ahead

Night clouds between me and the lunar her
a black pall like death around Earth-locked me

Thoughts of uncupped, leaking, fingers and broken hour-glass statues pour from there
through me to here
to you

How optimism and missed opportunities can bring aggression
How an unclear mind leaked blood on the innocents hands
How far away can they hear my whistle?
How much longer does my tape have to run?

A nimbus in motion to a moonbeam bath

My stride measures fairway
and faraway they mocked me
taunted me
teased me to erection with a flash of thigh, of lace, of nipples hardened with fear.

Above the green that holds sands tight flashes tear at the night sky as if day was more in vogue.
Maybe it's the day of today or of tomorrow somewhere not here?
A warning?
A memory?
Gunfire of distant battles?
Mental projections of my lightning strikes, my harpoon into the deep blue?

"2,3, hup"
An about turn
an about face
an "About fucking time"

The leap to hand of my terrier friend
tongue in need of moisture, breath steaming and glowing in a wash of yellow

I cast a shadow here
there the shadow cast me
a role
a bit-part cameo
the crowd scene
third face from the left
not with the glasses, though I was hard of sight, short of focus
the one in green shirt
to match eyes
to match the heart buried in pride.
My pride so brown
shitty, dirty brown.
Flung and wallowed in
wrapped in
draped in
paraded for all to see.
Coffin coloured apparel for the walking dead.
Unplaid , straight brown.
Straight from them to me.

I wear the leash about my neck like a charm
like a symbol of some long-gone slavery
like a safe place to hang a loop of flax
out here, under and in a night sky
one moment touched by the chill breeze and consuming dark
next moment back in the world of twilight
my zone alone.









I got a phone call from an old friend of mine says he's been "Hocking the wife"
life gets you like that between the mirror and the knife.
"She's not the girl I married"
Then he spoke of "Ghosts"
"The nights blur together and the day just never comes"

He quit working like a dog for a man as rich as an Arab sheik
he's been keeping company with "Rock Stars" and the upwardly meek.

The first time reared it's head, spat back the years like soured milk
the velveteen jade princess spread eagerly on purple silk.

the "Don't worry" came on like ivy-rash, all warm and unintended
"Worry"
"Me" he laughed
coughed a cough that never ended.

The kids grew up before their eyes like dreams lost in sleep
of all the faces and numbers in life mine's the one he keeps.











Families play at the beach
the sun beats down

I sit and watch and wonder "Where do they get the time"?
on a weekday mind
to lounge around and throw the ball
to drink coffee and talk and scrawl
as I now do
a day later no less
and look back and see that dress
and the girl who wore it
a fresh tattoo, left upper arm
something tribal, a totem, a charm
and the split to there
black bra she wore
Why can't she be the girl next-door?
But she is to some-one
though not me
and alas she'll be gone when I turn around
to be replaced by a memory now.










A rush that stopped a heart stone-dead
that turned a world to pain
The love that died, that bled to death
red torrents that found a drain

Psycho strokes the drunken mind
ranting tongue with ear to find
twisted round the passing time
No-one left to say

An empty chest, lost the stolen heart
to the tears that burn the night
Foot-steps that tread the weary path
shaking hands that find the light

Memory burns the future dreams
sleeping eyes that miss the screams
Ones not here denied the need
No-one's here to say

An empty bowl matches the empty glass
as the youthful take retreat
The vacant stool for the absent fool
the grown infant now takes it's feet

Spent a day too long amid the weak
to shelter inside yourself you seek
ancient hands seems out of reach
Who says who's to say?

The jaded look, like they don't believe
as if it matters what they think
They've seen it all, it's been and gone
passing time at the kitchen sink

Spread around the down they feel
dead, scarred skin they watch you peel
hatred born from truths revealed
There's nothing left to say