The Thinness of Things

I am late this week because I have been in Dorset for a couple of days visiting friends.-more on that next time.

The photograph is from about 1960 and is me with my bother Peter-he's the tall good looking one. 

This is a poem from a few years ago. It describes a difficult time.

The Thinness of Things

1. Any Work Morning

I climb the stairs

Three floors high

Grey smooth steps

Panic kindles

I spin inside my head

Panic ignites

I see the concrete

Become quicksand

I sink

I fall in space

I keep walking to my hot desk.

2. Teaching

9.30am the time to start

So I stand and almost taste

The expectations of the group

I feel the carpet under my feet

I could fall through the weave

Through the floor

Through the job

……..through the world in free flight

Around 10am I make contact

With the truth

Of the words

Of the individuals

And give of myself for another day.

3. On The Run

Off with stress

Off in the car

Off back to Widnes.

I cross the Avon Bridge

My palms wet

In my head I describe

The space beneath the arc

My car slowly sinks through the tarmac

Panic rages

Spins through my head

Shakes my hands

I talk to myself

To ground me on solid ground

To keep from screaming

I talk to myself

To keep me moving

To cross this void.

The photograph below show my sister Dorothy with two of her dogs-there is about a ten year difference between the two. 

And here is the follow up poem to the Thinness of Things

Burnt Out

I had not even noticed

There were no flames

No fires consumed

Rather each day

Another small part of me disappeared

Then when I was hollow

I realised I could not find me anymore




This last one combines two different incidents again like the photographs of Dorothy they happened about a decade apart.

14 Lines on your Life

For J.I.

1.  

In Yorkshire on the coast

He marries for the second time

I saw the photograph

Chernobyl bloomed overhead  

They stand slightly apart

In the bright blue sky

Their dinner date is forgotten

We waited sat at the set table

2.

I saw you in the distance

Locking that red car

I measured the space between and my options

Then walked toward you and your surprise

Tell me what have I missed?

We go to a pub

Chart our disjunction

Parallel paths of misery

Bond us again in our distress


I shall be posting on Tuesday. have a good week.