SPRING BLOSSOMS

O'night

blackthorn's petals

had fallen

on the boards

outside the door.

 

Y'day

giving them

every encouragement

i'd swept-away

winter's debris.

 

This morning

going out

an "AH"

escaped

my mouth.

 

aaahhh!

*

*

Golden GOJI Hermitage

16/march/2014

* * *

 

 

 

 

ALL CATS THE SAME IN THE DARK?

A star shines thru the plum tree's blossomed silhouette...
Crescent moon dips-down towards the tree-line of the bay...
Enough light to see the pathways carved-out in the longish grass by the neighbour's black and white cat - it obviously loves this garden...
Earlier, our paths crossed out back...
Heard it's neck-bell tinkering from the side- gate along the wall in my direction...
i whispered-out encouragingly...
The bell responded closer...
In the quiet moments following, saw the cat's white chest blaze...
It was looking at me from beside the water-butt...
Cat seemingly considering my entreaties to come closer...
Maybe i had spoiled feline's fishing for frogs from pond-side...
Sensed disdain in the tinkering bell as cat scampered back the way it had come...
Ah, Bob Marley on the radio...
No woman, no cry...

*

Golden GOJI Hermitage

10/march/2014

1a.m.

* * *

SOME SELL TEA BY A RIVER

(i)

 

(ii)

 

(iii)

 

(iv)

 

(v)

 

(vi)

 

(vii)

 

(viii)

 

(ix)

 

(x)

 

*

Golden GOJI Hermitage

21/February/2014

* * *



FOUR B'FORE FOUR (in the morning)

(i)
A little peace
in wind & rain's
more gentle
mo(ve)ments
(ii) for Cecilia White
In equal measure
il me semble
rain &
no rain
thru the night
(iii)
Buddha
blowing-in
from heaven
tonight
(iv)
Life is a dream
death is a dream
Did the wind
really pass
this way?
*
Golden GOJI Hermitage
17/January/2014
*

2 WELSH STORIES

1.
On a day-off from kitchen duties, Chef did me a packed lunch and bottle of red for my walk up the mountain : Cader '68. Cool estuary early morning blue sky start. Shorts and shirt. Great to get going first time into Snowdonia itself. Soon no sign of habitation - just sheep and dry stone walls and always the mountain above and just walking without stopping to reach the top. Plenty of energy fuelled almost from the start by picking at the packed lunch. I'd stop only momentarily to keep sight of what i thought to be the peak just some 2,000 odd feet above sea level and i had started at sea level. After a couple of hours of pleasant walking it began to get hot. It always looked like the summit was just over the next stone wall. It never was. There was always a further little hill and another stone wall. Eventually it seemed like time for a little red to quench my thirst. i had thought i would open bottle to celebrate arrival at summit. The bottle went down in just a few full gulps. i felt great as i continued over a stone wall...up the next hill...through a gate...staring sheep...over a stone wall thinking i must surely be close to top of Cader. And eventually i think i got there in my estimation. With good directional abilities i started down the mountain. Couldn't wait to get into Barmouth on the coast and started thinking of refreshment at a pub. Was i thirsty! Didn't loiter to admire the view from the top. Was i drunk! i came down that mountain at speed. My arms swinging high like windmills but somehow balanced with no thought of falling. i guess i was running down the mountain with no notion of drunkenness. Just euphoria speeding me down the mountain footpath. In town i bumped into Paul the porter from the hotel where we worked. We went into the nearest pub together. 3 pints each of Double Diamond downed in about half-an-hour before closing-time and for some reason i did not feel at all drunk. Paul was droning-on in his cockney voice about Chef's problems with getting a girl-friend...why don't those waitresses fancy him he asked.
2.
Katy was an art student from Stamford and only arrived at the hotel half-way through the summer season. She looked great in her blue check waitress gear. Keen to make friends she came down to the cove on the estuary with me one afternoon. We did not broadcast the fact. No big deal. The cove was some half-a-mile from the hotel on the Mawdach Estuary. i think we talked about art and the poetry i was writing. Mostly we sat quietly on the bank and dreamed our own dreams. So peaceful. So quiet. We stayed all afternoon only returning to go back on duty for the evening shift. i was a kp and loved it when Katy shyly came in and out of the kitchen with her orders from the dining room. But did not enjoy Chef's fat leering manner. Towards the end of service Chef said to me = Enjoyed yourself down at the cove with Katy this afternoon did you. And how would you know, i asked. i saw you, he said. And where were you, i said. I saw you from here he said, I was looking through the telescopic sights of my rifle. I often shoot rabbits of an afternoon when i'm not playing pool.

* * *

TEN WINDOW "POEMS"

"The window is a fragment of the world suspended in the world, the known adrift in mystery. And now the green rises. The window has an edge that is celestial, where the eyes are surpassed."
Wendell Berry - WINDOW POEMS.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

* * * * *

Golden GOJI Hermitage

in the morning

of

11/December/2013

*

 





4 ONE MORNING

1

of

good cheer -

pure prayer

&

the radio on

2

a spare moment -

questioning

heaven & earth

3

no slackness -

just

nothing required

4

empty bowl - 

getting-on

with it

*****
End of November 2013