• on winter

    new year’s day ends with a stunning light showthe Sun demonstrating its power in a silent slow burnthe shift gradualfrom a touch of pink outlining the cloudsto this vermillion daubing of the skybroad brushed streaksstroked up and out from the very core of our stargiving depth to skeletal treesover-whelming all that is whitethe Earth glows

  • on jazz

    drumming on the paneconcentrating the mindrolls, beatsarhythmic percussionbacked by the basso profundoof the east windand piccolo whistlingof fresh airthrough a window ajarbrightens the tonelowers the temperature CLP 14/11/2025

  • on autumn

    a grey pallblankets the fieldsthe rough work of the plough has been broken downthe shallow tines of the field harrow have left a lined tilthacres of dry, dun soil home to a harean anxious family of deerstooped crows pockmark the earthplucking leather-jackets from the crumbsstaggering left then rightthe oaks watching from the margindiscard an occasional

  • on the wind

    A southerly brings warm airA wild stuttering windCrows and jackdaws are loving itLaunching themselves into itRising from the oaks on itLifted by gustsWheeling round the rain stained crown for moreA ragged flock in black tumbleBelow the scudding grey stream of cloudAbove the autumnal pallet of the lane’s arboreal borderThey fly a broken line across the

  • on winter

    there is ice in the eastits fingers stretch westpinch the earsnip at the nosethe cheeks reddenas if slappedthe call goes upcoats!hats!boots!gloves!secure the stockadebring in the herdcollect the kindlingfire up the stoveit’s time to gather roundshare heroic talessing songs of libertylisten out for wolves~ CLP 19/09/2025

  • on the island in the autumn

    the weather comes tumbling up the Channelin clumps of cloudscasting thick shadowsjacket onwhen the droplets don’t look like stoppingjacket offwhen sunbeams burst through’til the next curtain’s drawnwhite horses riding the rolling greenare broken in on the shinglebeneath the rusting pierblown along the city terracesplane tree papery leaves stickto windscreens, flagstones, the soles of shoesslimy, slippery,

  • on Rain

    dampen the spiritwash away the angry tearsdilute the spilt blood~n.b. Rain is our immediate concern. It draws our attention to what to wear today, how to travel, a review of plans, whereas it never rains rain in Gaza, and of course, summer is warm, mostly dry in Ukraine. Their rain comes from munitions factories around

  • on Ukraine

    in the alcove of an abandoned shoplaid out in dishevelled dreamson top of improvised beddingdesperate for sleepclutched by each otherdesperate for sleeptattered, battered, torndesperate for sleepas the upright peopleturn out from the last trainfrom theatres, barsthe queues for clubsanother police siren cuts into the drunken chatteringdesperate for sleepa gaggle of othersliving closeto the lip of

  • on the Moon

    Hey!it’s turned to amberslow downproceed with cautionbe alertprepare to stopfrom the north-side of Lac Lemanlooking southto winter’s last refugethe Alps are obscuredby a scarf of smokethat is slowly curlingaround Earth’s necklike a pythondriven from the forestby fireCanada turns to charcoalthe full Moon flickers on amber~n.b. That mist on the lake, I assumed was heat of

  • on snow

    look across the lakeeven through the hazeon the mountains of Franceyou’ll see gutters lined with snoweven in Junehow long it can lastnobody knows~ n.b. When the snow’s finally gone, how long before the streams run dry? CLP 09/06/2025