The Garden

For Charles

the garden waits in silence

opening its gates 

with a welcoming creak

its leaves rustle with anticipation

its grass receptive to touch

like a waiting lover

its shadows lie in slumber

heavy beneath sturdy bows

Its flowers open their petals

to welcome an inquisitive nose or bee

its conversation is the susuration of myriad leaves

an occasional phrase of bird-song

dying to tell the tales of coming autumn

its smell damp earth

fecund like the scent of a dozing giant

its promise the peace 

of slumber under leaves

motionless like the land

The Rolling Severn

the river calms my mind

as it meanders carefree

past sandbanks

waving rushes

with black-grey seeded heads

beached sea birds

feeding in the shallows

tiny footprints crisscross the mud

an old barge lies crumpled

on the bank

a hark back to canal-born prosperity

when wool was king

the river its carrier

the canal, iron rail, tarmac road

pylon and ugly power plant

in the future

slow flows the river

oblivious to changing times

Abstract(art)

”No attempt to represent external recognisable reality”

 blank

white 

empty

a challenge

a taunt

a dare to express

a move towards permanence

external scrutiny

self derision

self exploration

with colour

or space

palette knife

tube

pot

bucket

brush

finger

wall or canvas

board or floor

bored with introversion

bored with display

bored with the need for approval

a hairdryer can spread thick paint

or a squeegee

or a palette knife

covered with plastic

flattened by roller

bulked out with filler

extruded by funnel

smeared by nail

pierced with knife

levelled by sharp edge

curved by wrist

a wrap or a lap

like the fall of tide

drip or rush

pour or brush

thought with expression

expression with no thought

chance or no chance

quick or planned

sympathetic colour

or merging clash

radiant or clear as mud

filled with meaning

or just the look

the right colour

the right mark

a good ground

to land colour on

a changing vista

on a blank of nothingness