Spoof CV

Graduated from the school of misery;

Flunked hard knocks;

Took a stab at whingeing;

Ended up on the rocks.

Old Haunts

1966

See where he stands,

Glorious to behold,

Like some Roman God

Flushed with the spoils of life,

Re-entering the shrine of youth,

Resplendent in old school tie.

And, in his mind,

The bridge of time

Is idly spanned,

Back to the lost cities

Of his youth.

As he passes,

Small boys wonder at his bulk;

He marches on in state,

Down the halls of yesteryear.

The Prodigal Son

Returns to his own.

Continuum

Was there life on earth?

Did ghosts in ancient times

Walk village greens

Thinking themselves eternal?

We, on other planets, know

Little of what they were

Or might have been;

Whether, like us, they sought

Enlightenment.

The silence that reigns

Through space

Might tell us more;

If only that

What we don’t understand

Is endless.

Dog's Life

‘Look me up, ’ she lied.

I took her at her word.

She lived in the Royal Kennels.

If there were other animals,

I couldn’t see:

Just columns and windows,

Brooding like butlers.

How easy access is

If you pad in unannounced;

Everyone’s barking,

Of course.

A slum dog

Down Millionaire Row

Soon learns the part.

Now, if the plates aren’t gold,

I send the food back.

Voices

The voice in your headphones

May be wrong

When it says the painting ‘breathes’.

There are no obvious signs.

The voice is blind:

It can’t see thoughts;

But nor can you.

Jumping a few old masters,

You move on:

A minute per picture

Seems too short

For a lifetime’s effort.

You are a masterpiece,

Needing no expert commentary

To prove yourself.

Back in the open air,

You sit, perplexed,

Consulting the day for answers.

And who’s to say

That darkening scene

In front of you

Isn’t some future Rembrandt?

What If

‘Does it rain in heaven?’

You ask.

If it does,

I’m sure they’ll have

Perfect umbrellas.

Momento

When we were young,

You’d sit us down

And tell us wonders

Of love and loss,

Surviving two wars;

Meeting Gran by chance

In the days when wireless reigned,

And sail still ruled

The waves you’d swum

Since childhood.

You spoke an age

In photographs

Distilled from memory.

I glimpsed you last

As I boarded the ferry home

(before they closed it down):

An arm,

Enigmatically raised

In a brief salute.

Ignoring the final click

Of the shutter.