A Taster

Here is one of my favourite poems from my book, The Overture.

You can hear me read it on The Shed Poets DVD to be launched at The Space Inside on Tuesday 1st May 2012.

Crossing the bog of Alan

The road undulates
in a timeline of pits and pots
rising and slipping
like an unseen storm.
Seasick
in our ship of fools
we sail on
flatten the earth
brown and bursting
with bodies
spliced with decay.

 Who was this ancient man
 this giant dandy of beaten bronze
 whose manicurist knew him well.
 Had he dishonoured the king’s wife
 pulling her under his blanket
 with hands as soft as bog cotton
 feeding her buttermilk and cereal.
 
 And when they stabbed him
 threaded his arms with twisted hazel
 sliced his nipples
 did he remember her smell.