A BEE'S GIFT TO THE QUEEN FOR THE SWARM

The bees have been up all night

Broke into Duomo church Milano

They have sculpted candle gifts

In thick creamy beeswax thanks

One for each side of the altar

Where queen sits in throne near God

How sweet

She is as sweet as God is good

All winter Winnie-The-Pooh would not

Hold a candle to her binges

Craving honey

As she carried the new swarm

To birth

She has left the bones of the comb now

Her work is done she is old

And worn like the Old Testament

Her wings in flitters that can't even fly

The angels notice how low her

Bumble is the queen makes it to

The top of one of her wax candle gifts

There she is the light flickering up

To her heavenly home

BANK OF FLOWERS

Brilliant flowers

In ornate rows

Upon rows of

Colour flooding

The bank

Why do you

Wear a uniform

Cast it off

Grow up from

Any random spot

Flower you're free

Don't let them

Cage you up in

A bank or a bed

Grow wild

Catapult your

Rich stamens

Unordered

Till you're a

Gardener's nightmare

Brilliant flower

fc

BERRY BOG I

We've been cutting the turf all day

Slicing it into thick clods for

To feed bread to our fire in the cold

Slice by brown slice

I'd hold it in the mouth of my arm

Known as my hand and feed the grate to size

I'd measure the flicker of the flame

By the number of sods I'd throw on

And watch how they fit the kettle

Singing a long slow tune

Or minute by minute

I'd peer in the pot

Measure the length and height of the bubbles

Enabling me to throw

The spuds on top of the sods

Or spaghetti dumped in for bolognese

The nights we're feeling exotic

By our turf fire from Berry Bog

BERRYING IN BERRY BOG

Cuttin pickin savin all the same in Berry Bog

Tying your skirt up into a bow's

Knot won't be the first time you're

Dress held fruit in the front

Plait that flaxen rope out of your eyes

Be ahead of them staring straight

At the golden thornheads to avoid

Those thieves of blood vampires

Go straight for the flesh whether

Black or red make sure the

Shape is heart and round

Volumed to the split in bloodred juice

Empty a sampler in on top of your cement

Molars check the depth of their sweetness

Outcry a squelched eaten to the pulp

One in a spit of tartness worm

Never thought such sweetness in ditches

What a Turkish delight each

Bramble laden down in gravity fruit

Won't be long till the rain will sweep

It back over its ditch like a strand

Of hair I'll have lessened its load

The chosen ones with blood seeping through the

Front of my dress in exoticness juice

Like menstruation

Busy berrying in Berry Bog

CHILDREN'S DAY '87

Sun you are a hob

The brightest candle lit ever yet

Where are you

Hiding in heaven or hell

Shine out loud

Like Children's Day '87

With sweat dripping off me

In ringlets of tears

As I climbed the pigsty

Breathless pouring myself

Into O'Connor Morris's field

With the brood called sister brother

All dancing the blades

Between our shorts

Arguing over who ought

To carry the lemonade

Or the six bags of crisps

Of Kinder Surprise

And who'd be ladled

With the picnic bedspread

Should it be eldest by eldest

Or the youngest

For being the youngest

Did the same principle apply

As the front seat occupant

When there was

No adult to fill the space

We ploughed on roaring

At each other about this

Crib that gripe

As we neared the

Grand Pallas Lake undressed

Entered in its puddles

To cool the fights down

Turn our backs

On the sun

Hugh the eldest

Gave out our rations

By a game of donkey

We ate our picnic

Arguing right across the lake's echo

On Children's Day '87

COIL

Coiled in the

Unraveled-ness

Of lang-uage

Drop a th

Carry an s

Pour on an

Old wives' tale

Of can't get

Blood from stone

Or liquid words

As in

Water-fall

Pregnant pause

DENT-DE-LION

Dent-de-lion

Dent-de-lion

The lion's tooth

Hour has struck

With a growing

Spurt overnight

To make the

Downy seedface

Less the hands

Your sunshade

Has fade out

To fluff white

Innocence

I blow you

Long and wide

Dismantling the circle

Scattering cottonwool

Clockwise in rosary prayer

Of one holding

Anew with the

Leaf shape echoing

Dent-de-lion

Dent-de-lion

Oh wish I had magic

fc

HIDE AND SEEK IN BERRY BOG

I jumped between dents

Of the earth the homemade valleys

Dark brown the colour of bland

I imagined a run for cover

A bell of siren in yell get down

I would crouch my body dwarf

Lie roaring laughing face down in bog

It’s smell as natural as fig in leaf

I’d hold stillness like the early morning

In Berry Bog wondering which delve

My friend had occupied was she down full length

Stretched out coffin-like

Or was she all-fours for the ground

Arms as paws or just on twos

Which drain or dike

Was she poured in to

Was it the one two dips

Away from mine or had

She run far down the bog

Would the bogey bog-man get her

Then I’d sunrise out of my

Punctured earth and run from bog hole

To bog hole calling Berry Berry

At last I’d catch the rim

Of her head peeping

Caught

HOORAY FISH-BIRD THE SEA IS A SUN-SKY THE SUN-SKY IS A SEA

Exclamation of joy or applause

Cold blooded vertebrate with gills

It's flesh as food and creature with

Feathers of wings the female of

Which lay eggs

The definite article mass of

Salt water covering three

Quarters of the eath's surface

The third singular present of be

The first letter of the alphabet

The sixth note of the diatonic scale

Of C major the first hyperthetical

Person or example the highest class

Of category the first known

Quantity a human blood type

From A to B from one place

To another completely the star

Around which the earth

And other planets revolve giver

Of heat and light in the upper

Atmosphere as seen from the earth

Great ladder height the ceiling

Of God is the third singular

Present of be and a mass

Of salt water covering three

Quarters of the earth's surface

Hooray fishbird the sea

Is a sunsky the

Sunsky is a sea

Stand at the centre of gravity

The middle of the atmosphere

Look up and look down at

The same time the sea

Is a wound the sky is a wound

Drown your sorrows in a blue

Wavecloud heed not the

Sun's paper horoscope basing

Your future on the position

Of the sun moontides

Mouthpiece a jump boat of

Two islands tonguing them in

A second chain hello tug tug

Away to the middle of the

Ocean don't join that boat in

A sometime island pull away

Out out out journey the Atlantic

The Pacific the Arctic the

Antartic taste the Indian

Floating around in the wound

Lifting your eyes to escape

The wound lifting them high

Into the sky stare straight

At the second wound the

Echo of the sea the sky

The twin of the sea the sky

There's no getting away from

The wound the hole in the moon

The big bang they're all there

Looking at us looking at them

Cry your sea of tears out

Rain them right out of

Your heart so you have

A clear view again hurry

Fishbird the sea is a sunsky

The sunsky is a sea

Sky rain your tears into my

Ocean fill me I'll send you two hundred

Foot waves to touch you come

On we both can turn on the

Taps equally whinging cry-babbies

Seasky of water rain

And the birds' wings are the

Waves of the sky

The starfish are the stars of the sea

God angels live in you both

Sea pearl of words like gem

Come from your bottom

And your crown and glory sun is your

Heat you radiate the world in bright

Pearl of the sky snowtears

Another echo of each other

Casting shell sewerage

From the sea

The sea is a jewellery shop

Of shell-stone button-glass blue-green

Trinkets weed of the sea bursting

In bubble-wrap underneath my bare bikini-feet

Worms weaving spiral oysters

Boticelli oyster cases cast off

On the beach bodies washed up

Thief of full cargoes of

Titanic go on spill the oil

Drown a swimmer float a boat

Crash a plane dead birds dropping out

Of the skyclouds

Sunsets kites balloons parachuting

Songs of words from the featherwinged angels

Ear of shell bone of shell tooth

Of shell washed ashore

From the rough water chop

Watch a seahorse jump sea

Dog seacow seacock seeabee

In the seaway sealane route

Lift the waterguage read

The yearly calendar with detailed

Information on phases of the

Moon of the low tide of the

High tide of the Pelagic-zone

Benthic-zone estuary area

Littoral inter-tidal zone

Supra-littoral climaxing the

Horogenous zone cascading

Foam up onto our banks

Arm of the sea armlet reach

The loch the bay the fjord

Bite the gulf the bayou the strait

Swallow it down Saxa and all

Through your mouth

Magnitude seagod billow surge

Heave swell peak great

Neptune's ocean foamsnow

Snowfoam the sea is a sunsky

The sunsky is a sea

Pleat the waves tunic of the god

See its nakedness carrying a load

Of Lot's stuff my world of waters

Spring well or natural

My vortican serpentine

Spirit of the seagod Neptune

Triton Nerid Varuna mermaid

Flow stream issue pour

Surge run gush flood spill

Cascade splash spurt eddy

Me a full Kleenex

From your wound so that it

May be cleansed forever

Comb your wavelet by an

Angel from the sky comb it true

Banshee-like

Bask the sun low over us

Stretch the waves high

Near the Heavens the summit

Sky-blue sky-dive sky-lark

Sky-light ascend get better

Rocket a skyscraper a tower

To the heavenly gods' bodies

Crack the light source to

Night time the period

The year dry sun-bake

Sun-burn drinking a sundae

To the sea race the fowl

Against the torpedo the fish verses

Woman in a bird-brained sanctuary

Take seafuge under a sunbeam

With both toes in water

Pray with the animals of the

Wound hooray fish-bird the sea is a sun-sky

The sun-sky is a sea

LOVELY LIA

MY AFRICIAN SWALLOW

Life as it is

Blue sky above with cloud

And inlay bird flock

Green grass bellow

Studded with first primrose

Bluebell will follow

Ringing out to onlookers

The quietness of the afternoon

No school dinners to be prepared

No collection of kids now

Since my daughter has fled the nest

Spread her wings and flown away south

Now this house is an empty nest

Of soft feathers and down

Waiting for her return

Lovely lia

My African swallow

MORE POEM

Say it out louder

The S word the orry

Recite by heart

Know the stanzas

Without the hiccups

Spit of lisp on tongue

Stammer it out

Lisp through the buck brace

In a tongue twister

I need more words

In downy cotton comfort

Like soft vowels

Until I can hear

The sorry sound

Ringing in both drums

Talk it to me in whispers

In miming bangles swishing

Without full stops commas

Or the mark of question

Bleed it out

Weld it out

Dripping bronze tears

Of unfinished syllables

Light a church candle

In delicate cast iron shapes

Don't let the flame flicker

The line keep the light

Pouring straight between

The space where big O's

Or S's take shape

In horizontal ink dream

Of posy pop up intoxicate

Inhale deep on the passage exhale

Sighs of bloodgrief gushing

Weeping words in tiny

Teardrops from the eye of Bic

Flood the ball with Bic

So the letters fall in to space

In ink gallons

Shaping that very line

After line black ink tears

Forming words like dark moons

Of O's and R's and silent lateral Y's

Go on take off the brace

Of your mouth let the words

Flow free like bondage assonance

And strapped resonance

Lift the pause from your tongue

Clear your throat

Say it out loud the S the O

The R R Y in your most silent song

Make the cotton wool in to a soft

Ball of noise rub it over

The sentence stomach the truth

Of the malachite wound

Rub it out clean slate

In stillness with the brace

Gag off in podium rostrum hanged

MUSE POEM 1

Daddy Zeus mammy Mnemosyne

Listen to the ding-ring-a-ling

Someone's playing my eardrum

I've got the call

Not to a religious order or nunnery

But the inner voices

Syllabling limping out a verse

Saying the sounds inwards

In five feet

Are you one of the nine children of

Daddy Zeus mammy Mnemosyne

A goddess in rhyhme

Pointing me to the metre stick

Sing beat roar it out

Stomach the truth of the malachite wound

In doggeral

Lame verse limping in metre

Halting it versemonger it

Apoetastery in oral poetry

I call for poetic license

Poetic language and lastly poetic justice

Oh Daddy Zeus mammy Mnemosyne

Spill in elegy all over me

Paint a gazelle in front of me

Recite a Sapphic ode

A Horatian Petrarch a sloka song

Line up the archlaureate

Arrange his sounds

In villanelle Troubadour chanson

Dressed in pastoral

Two one two one one two three four

A B B A A B B A

Tap one tap two tap three four five

Right out of the metre

Beat out S-T O-M A-C H-E the

Truth of the malachite wound

In spondaic pyrrhic anapestie stichous

A foot long

Daddy Zeus And Mammy Mnemosyne

Beat it out of the poem with a metre stick

PRAY ME A PEACH OF A POEM POPPY MAMMY

Pray Medusa Medea Gorgon Stheno

There's a revival meeting attend the

Camp meeting the tent meeting the

Watch meeting leading to the great prayer

Kneel on your knees at the pulpit

And pray for Hoodoo shaman

Voodoo and Merlin mime the

Ave Maria the Hail Mary with

Your rosary beads for your hands

Clap handies benediction handies

On blessing the sign of the

Cross drawing a box shape over

Your head co-worship the peach

Tree and the poppy tree

Mantra chant a hymn of

Matriarchal mother Holy Mother of God

Make an anthem of it hommage it

Be washed in the blood of lamb

Dried by the shepherds

Look up don't stop raising your eyes

Until the tower the spire

The steeple on the lids down

Turn observe the prayer

Rug the kneeling mat the

Altar cloth

Listen to the story of the diamond

Cutter the lotus of the true law

And the pure land Sutras listen

At the poppy head pew which is

Ornamented on it

Listen for the bell the boom ding-a-ling

Watch the gifts being offered

The bread and wine the altar gift

The charismatic gift and finally

The outrageous gift of tongues

Cant lip service mouth honour

Lip hommage lip praise lip

Reverence in no solemn mockery

Worship the ritual of it

And the babble that comes out of

None-talk let me betray you with a kiss

See the predella move the

Tabernacle move speak the

Divine faith in the spirits of

Life and peace in your soul and Buddha

Chanting deep kisses love love

Without end

Suddenly orange sun uncovering

A peach of a person for me

By the name of Nellie Melba

Peach or Persian apple a

Round juicy stone fruit with

Downy cream and yellow skin

Flushed with red quality within

Don't bite it Eve either

Or they'll impeach upon you beautiful

Thing oozing in orangeness they'll

Get the Muses to write you

A verse in syllables in rhythm

In metre in movement oh Apollo

How could they punish so hard

For eating a peach of an apple

Sturmer Pippin Cox Granny Smith

Write a po-e-ma a po-e-ma a poi-e-ma

On the stone of your peach

A poem of stone that will call

The great poets' corner in

Westminster Abbey Poet Laureate

Dead poets rise and recite

Mammy mammy black nurse maid in

Charge of white child

Matriarch mother of God

Mama old woman hag forget

Your belly for once Eve

Forget it of baby and a bite of Adam's apple

Look to the poppy instead of apple core

A showy flower of milk sap and round it

Seed capsule sounds like pop

Music crack the capsule

And opium your eyes up till

You have the gift of tongues

Then recite compose a po-e-ma

Po-e-ma po-e-ma poi-e-ma

Instead of crunch bite swallow the Coxes

Recite with your mother tongue and

Call it pray me a peach of

A poem poppy mammy

PURVEYOR GENIUS OF COFFEE

As one's business make provision

Provide supply articles of food or

Coffee grains talk talk what is your

Trade furnisher doner caterer

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

Victualler chatter chatter vivander

Are you a retailer a merchant

A quartermaster storekeeper or a

Steward none of them

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

Oh wise as an owl or serpent or

Soloman for that matter simply expert

Connoisseur a clue wise men percolate

Wise coffee simply blend and roast

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

As good as a spirit any day

Powerfully influencing good and evil

From the roots grain go on you'll

Have a mug of drink made from

The roasted and ground beer-like

Seeds of a tropical shrub

One or more seeds which

Are contained in each berry

The seeds can be raw roasted or ground

A pale brown colour ultimately from

Turkish Kahveh from Arabic

Kahwa and chicory to percolate

A cast iron pot of the genius cofea

I'll have coffee grains in a cup from

Kenya's finest mountain Blue Jamaica

Seed full-bodied accompanied by a

Coffin nail of tobacco French Roast

For between my index and forefinger

With the cup in my thumb an index

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

Chatter bladder through your false

Teeth things of the earth

Talk talk talk till the sediment

Of Columbian bursts out

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

Talk what's really in your heart the bean

Stuff is rich in spirits and

Guardians drink drink inspiring

Muse fire of purveyor

Genius of coffee

Have another household god of coffee

Costa Rica Columbian Cafe blend

Mocha decaf Java rich roast

With sugar and cream

Chatter chatter chatter shake high

In nerves as caffeine presses on

Your endings exploding

What's inside outside

Not just weathertalk or hello

Talk of the finest excelsior beans

Produce prose fiction pure poetry

Pouring out of all

The percolated people

Percolate percolate clap

Applaud the connoisseur

The purveyor genius

Of coffee who opened the

First raw tavern in eighteenth century

Cheers cheers

Down the hatch at the coffee klatch

THE ANGELS IN MY MEATUS

A member of the lowest

Order of the nine-fold

Celestial hierarchy

Descend in palm

An old English coin

Bearing the figure of

Archangel George

Piercing the dragon

He stood at the

Channels and passages

Of my body flew

Right up to its opening

That leads in to in

One ear and out the

Other he released

A flowrun paragraph

Delivered it to the

Top of my forehead

With a bang on the drumskin

Uttered in murmur

Eyes up in a hole

Are squashed asunder

Because even the odd

Cow in India is

Saving up his blink

THE HEN PERFECTS AN OVAL

Drawing a square

In your stride

Around a coop

Chicks in tow

Shaping a triangle

Echoing the pyramid

Trying to keep

Up with you

Shapemaster

Around and around

Dizzy you go

Forming a circle

Pecking little grains

Of gold

To make a shell

Not a Boticelli

One with Venus

Midcentre

But in its

Stead a staple

For humankind

An egg

One cluck and the

Hen perfects an oval

THIS EARTH FULL OF COLOUR

LIKE MARVEL

People

Flowers

The sun

Italian and Irish mix makes a lia

A single bee orchid in burren

In Latin ophyrs apifera

In Irish magairlin na mbeach

The sun same colour as primrose

In Latin primula vulgaris

In Irish sabhaircin

Conjuring up

Hue

Tone

Shade

Light and dark

Black and white

With no predjustice

Juggling and clowning

A mystery a marvel

WRITING MAKES ME BOW DOWN

Writing makes me bow down in eyelash prayer

Like irises drawn inwards

Curvature of hand encircled in bracelet

Almost fisted in a clenched roar

Each character dripping burst veins

Blue blotch all over my leaves

And all the time the spine's arc

Releasing talks down to my wrist bigmouth

Utterances noises echoes like words stillborn

Writing makes me bow down in eyelash prayer

Like irises drawn inwards

In awe at what may spill forth

Blood ink ink blood drying in

The shape of I love you

Writing makes me bow down in eyelash prayer