(23)

beyond mere breathing
lies the use of our organs
senses, faculties

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 3rd January 1971

Publication

1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)

Cynthia

CYNTHIA

Remember Cynthia
It snowed on Sheffield all day that day
and you drove smiling
down the road,
snowcovered,
smiling.
It snowed on Sheffield all day that day
and I skidded into you on Suffolk Street.
You were smiling
and I smiled too.
Remember Cynthia.
You whom I did not know.
You who didn't know me.
Remember.
Remember that day.
Don't forget,
Cynthia,
a man was smoking,
sheltering in a bus shelter,
and he cried your name,
Cynthia,
and you ran to him
through the snow,
and you threw yourself in his arms.
Remember that, Cynthia.
Don't be mad if I speak intimately.
I speak intimately to everyone I love
even if I've only seen them once.
I speak intimately to all who are in love,
even if I don't know them.
Remember, Cynthia.
Don't forget
that good and happy snow
on your happy face
on that happy town.
O Cynthia
do you still drive through the snow?
What's become of you
under the atomic snowballs?
And he who held you in his arms
amorously,
is he dead and gone or still so much alive?
O Cynthia,
it snowed on Sheffield all day today
as it snowed before,
but it's not the same anymore.
It's a snow of soreness and desolation,
not an atomic snow
but simply clouds
that die like dogs,
dogs that disappear
in sodden, snowbound Sheffield.
I am not smiling now.
O Cynthia.
Remember, Cynthia.

© GERALD ENGLAND.

Composed: Sheffield, 1st January 1971

Publications

1973 Krax
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1997 MYSTERY OF THE CITY (Tring, Photon Press)

Birthday Presents

BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

A week's eternity
drags on interminably
but quickly passes
in the quiescent pathos

Answers unhoped for
yet expected
are not expressed as such
but induced by nonchalance

Indifferent love
lies worse than hate
Fuel-deprived fires
soon cease to smoulder

The darkness
of the year's equinox
fails to foretell
any future fulfillment

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 21st December 1970

Publications

1990 Minotaur (USA)
2002 Poetry Cornwall (UK)

Front Room Party Recital

FRONT ROOM PARTY RECITAL

The catgut squeaked
some nonetootuneless
vibrations
at varying speeds
of 40-1300 per sec.
whilst keys tapped
a merry sonata
and deservedly
terminated
with raucous reverberations
of flesh
hitting flesh
in awed appreciation

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Huddersfield, 12th December 1970

Publications

1973 Radix (UK)
2000 Snakeskin (Internet)

Love's Electricity

LOVE'S ELECTRICITY

The silkiness of your hair
the glinting of your eyes
the patience of your ears
the petiteness of your mouth
the softness of your neck
the roundness of your breasts
the flowing of your curves
the tenderness of your hands
the heat of your heart
the plumpness of your thighs
the firmness of your legs
the daintiness of your feet
create in you
a magnetism
to which I
like an opposite pole
am attracted

Until the power is shut off
the magnetic force
will hold us
inseparably
locked
together

GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st December 1970

Publication

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)

Love Poem

LOVE-POEM

With whom do I rest my thoughts
the whole day long ?
Who lifts the burdens of the day
from off my shoulder-weary frame
in happy contemplation
of the time when next we meet ?
Who was so kind to me that I
think only about the kind of ways
in which I might reciprocate ?
It is my galant galumptuous girl
who is a Killarney girl through and through
with all that that implies
Unlike this poem love does not end
but endures long past the ending of the written word

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 11th November 1970

Publication

1971 Cork Weekley Examiner (Ireland)

The First Time

THE FIRST TIME

He’ll always remember
the first time
She was only 11
and he just 15
A Sunday-school outing to the coast
Everyone else
played ball on the beach
or swam in the blue ocean
They went for a stroll
along the cliff top
and in the long grass
they found it
for the first time
They did not know
that at her age
it was strictly
illegal
They'd had no lessons
at school
Their parents
assumed their innocence
of such matters
He has not seen her since
They both moved on
He did hear
one year
that she married a plumber's mate
from Castleford
Now
He finds it more comfortable
in a bed,
more relaxing in private
after a cosy
fireside drink
But nothing
could ever replace
that first time
in the long grass
on the cliff top,
both of them
scared stiff
in case
someone might walk by
No-one did

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 1st November 1970

1972 Stillborn (UK)
1986 Pennine Platform (UK)

Autumnal Visit to Cambridge

AUTUMNAL VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE

At first
I did not stay
to watch canoe-racing
on the River Cam
on account of
the cold wind
which swept across the land,
rippling the waves
where young boys fished
and swans swam

I walked over the green grass,
conversing with a
friendly Latvian,
refugee from '47

We parted
and suddenly the wind dropped

Back by the river
it rose again

Pausing
to capture the scene on celluloid,
I was hit in the neck
by a sycamore leaf

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Cambridge, 1st October 1970

Publications

1972 Contac (UK)
1990 The Old Police Station (UK)
1997 The Bard's Library (Internet)

Pointless Pubs

POINTLESS PUBS

All the hectic routine,
the toing
the froing
the flitting
the flying,
the eternal round
of pubs selling
watered-down beer.
Never getting anywhere -
not even back -
the route is different
but the journey's the same,
beer-flavoured water
is all we find to buy.

A million pubs,
a million roads,
motorways
and country lanes
and at the end
the pointlessness
of one more pub
to add to the list.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 26th September 1970

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

This City

THIS CITY -

which was once my other home
which gave me freedom
          a centre to wander from
                      explore from
which filled my life with
     friends
     memories of
          the hustling and bustling
          of a city
          teeming with culture
          symphonies, poetry, the theatre,
          a shilling to stand in the gallery
          for Mozart's Magic Flute,
          the dirty little backyard bars
          full of good cheap beer and mutton pies,
          the greenery of the parks
          with duck-filled ponds
          and bread-stealing pigeons,
          art-packed galleries,
          shops for paupers and millionaires,
          statues in the square,
          the Sunday market sprawling over the streets
          thronged with sharks and bargain-hunters,
          the riverside - its dockland dreariness uninviting
                          its bridges graceful and longing,
          life oozing from every part
          from the near-city-centre slums
          to the mansions of outer suburbia

is dead for me now
          returning for a day
          after an absence of years
          Its one-way systems
          and network
          of newly-built ringroads
          make my motoring a hell

And gone are the friends I shared it with

The surface glitter is still here
but the life has gone
as I make my way
through this now alien city

I am glad I cam back
I need return no more

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th September 1970

Publications

1972 Headland (UK)
1992 Xenophilia (USA)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)

(22)

the newly-born child
capturing his parents' love -
the frightened cat sulks

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Cambridge, 12th September 1970

Publications

1972 Wormwood Review (USA)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1990 New Cicada (Japan)
1993 Mirrors (USA)

(21)

A47 -
lorry-laden connection
of hamlets and towns

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Swaffham, 9th September 1970

Publication

1992 Bear Creek Haiku (USA)

Herbert Howells: Rhapsody #1 Op.17

HERBERT HOWELLS: RHAPSODY No.1 Op.17

(Michael Cleaver on the organ of St.Peter Mancroft, Norwich,
September 8th 1970)

The quiet
ruminative
commencement
The cud-chewing cow
The sense
of no impending
crescendo
until
The bull running wild
The massive
crescendo
is built
reaches climax
Calf-producing coitus
The peaceful
post-ecstacy
relaxation
The time of maturation
follows

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Norwich, 1st September 1970

Publications

1973 Intak' (UK)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1993 Daily Cow (USA)

Tar Distillery

TAR DISTILLERY

Black outlined structure
Black-brown water-reflected buildings
by riverside built
Sky-coloured river-water
Gray, hazy, smoke-filled, industrial sky
Petroleum ethers -
cracking products
Refining
of crude organic mixtures
The eyes tolerate, appreciate
the symmetry
of water-reflected ugliness

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Wakefield, 16th August 1970

Publications

1972 Pommegranate (UK)
1991 Hybrid (UK)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

This is Music - Two Decades On

THIS IS MUSIC - TWO DECADES ON

Back in the fifties
when Bill Haley rocked around the clock
and Marty Wilde jived on the 6.5 special
when Billy Fury and Adam Faith
were Britain's answer to Elvis
the "Third" was all Bach and Beethoven,
with jazz and pop just the youthful noise
of a beatnik generation -
even Stockhausen was hard to accept!

But tonight, in the seventies,
on Radio Three
I heard rock-an-roll and skiffle
played hard by Marty Wilde and Johnny Kidd
Harry Webb and Lonnie Donegan
And I heard Tchaikovsky on Radio One this afternoon

If we'd known this then
we'd have died of shock
and our parents would have too!

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 8th August 1970

Publications

1971 Bogg (UK)
1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)

In Sherwood Forest

IN SHERWOOD FOREST

Robin Hood,
who was born at Woolley near Wakefield,
who fought with Thomas at Boroughbridge in thirteen-twenty-two,
who was outlawed afterwards having witnessed the execution of Thomas in his
    castle at Pontefract,
who lived for two years in the forest of Barnsdale,
who was the hero of ballads,
who received a pardon from Edward, our comely king,
who served as 'porteur' to the king before returning to his chapel at Norton,
who died at Kirklees,
could have been proud of this place!

Losing one's way in the forest is easily done,
treading through the undergrowth now scarcely half as thick six and a half
    centuries on.
Most of the trees have gone,
been thinned,
giving way to farms and collieries.
Sufficient remains still to lure the ardent forester
and trap the unwary in its maze of pathways.

All this is true on a winter Wednesday evening,
but on a summer Sunday afternoon
the children, and adults too, often outnumber the trees -
people mostly who know not the true facts of history
but who can be led to believe in the Sherwood myth of Nottinghamshire
  with the trappings of a Maid Marion brought over from France two and
  a half centuries too late for her English lover,
and a friar of a disputed order.
Tourists may believe in a figure
distorted from roguish reality
into a fun-loving freedom-fighter hiding from incompetent sheriffs in
  the largest tree in Sherwood.
This tree,
surrounded by ice-cream wrappers, cigarette-cartons and other discarded
  paraphernalia of the masses,
propped up with ropes and metal sheeting and four poles (telegraph type),
is a Mecca for the naive led by tourist-gleaning southerners spinning
  their fabrications over a solid foundation conveniently buried and
  overlooked.

Robin would have retched at the thought of all this
for the Sherwood that he knew
was a tiny, barely significant place in Eggborough
where stands now a massive power station feeding Yorkshire with electricity.

In a modern car the journey takes an hour between the two.
In Robin's day, on foot, it took a day.
He may, on his way to Nottingham to receive his pardon from the king,
have passed this very spot,
for the forests were his domain and through these his route would lie.
Then might he have been proud of this southern tree,
but of latter-day misplaced hero-worship he would only have despaired.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 7th July 1970

Publications

1989 Yorkshire Robin Hood Review (UK)
1991 Legend (Canada)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1992 Yorkshire Robin Hood Society Newsheet (UK)

Beauty Spot

BEAUTY SPOT

Bare midriffs above belt-like skirts
dangerously diverting drivers' eyes
Low gears on steep summer-sun-sweating hills
forsaking the motorways for country lanes
A Metro-van chasing an Audi Sports
obliquely overtaking an old VW
Sun-seeking families of all shapes and sizes
spilling out of Volvos, Vauxhalls and Fords
Ice-cream vans and mobile tea-shops
carrying on their business with acumen
Babies wailing, children playing,
radios blaring out news and noise
And somewhere behind the hoary, human hordes
lies the beauty of the scenery they've all come to see

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st June 1970

Publications

1971 Bogg (UK)
1973 Eulogy (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1990 Eavesdropper (UK)

(19)

walking in footsteps
of another's path, dying
where the footsteps cease.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st May 1970

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1992 Quickenings (USA)

His Four Homes

HIS FOUR HOMES

His first home
is a bedroom
in his parent's house in the country
One bed - for sleeping in
        - for sitting on
        - for strewing papers on
A collapsible table - for writing
          typing
          collapsing
                     on
A bookcase and a bookshelf - filled
not only with books
but the memories of youth
A music centre - for filling the room with sounds
                 of Mozart
                 or sixties American pop
Here, by motherly love, he's
         waited upon,
         fed,
         and gets his washing done

His second home
is a one-roomed flat
in the big city where he works
yet does not even know
the girl who lives in the flat opposite
A sink in one corner - the electric cooker
in the diametrically opposite corner
Odours of fried bacon and other foods
fill the air
Here he fends for himself, cleans and dusts -
shut in from the alien city
with views over window-box tulips
to housing estates on distant hills

His third home
is a six-year-old car
- a mobile home
Four-seater with two and often three
seats empty
A boot full of tools, first-aid kit,
spares and luggage
Fed on petrol and loving-care
it's more than a means
of commuting to work
   visiting the supermarket
   and transportation between
   first home and second
   or into the heart of the fourth

These three homes are personal to him

His fourth home
is the whole wide world
- limitless -
Here there are no walls to enclose

This home he shares with countless others

Here everyone has rights and freedom

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th April 1970

Unpublished

Hutton-le-Hole April 1970

HUTTON-LE-HOLE, APRIL 1970
(for Barbara)

Little lambs are playing
in the pale, green field,
but beneath the warm sun
a cold wind blows.
Four ewes come up
looking for a bite
of chicken sandwich
or a swig of vacuum-flask coffee.
The beck still races
through the village,
down the waterfall
and out again.
What visitors there are
have room to move about and walk
over stepping-stones and bridges,
though shoes become muddy.
Further up the dale
there is snow to be seen -
the last remnants of winter
remaining, withstanding
the onslaught of summer,
(heralded by the lambs)
with its hordes
of tourists,
ice-cream vans,
hot weather,
and the sunshine of money.

© Gerald England

Composed: Hutton le Hole, 10th April 1970

Publications

1972 Datr (UK)
1991 Hybrid (UK)

(18)

the first of April
two inches of snow - nature's
April Fool's Day joke

© Gerald England

Composed: Hallwood, 1st April 1970

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1987 Red Pagoda (USA)
1988 New Cicada (Japan)
1990 Candelabrum (UK)

*****
ni sun hodo
yuki tsumoru towa
shi gatsu Baka

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada.

Publications

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)
1988 New Cicada (Japan)

(17)

the doors of fortune
open outwards and therefore
they cannot be stormed

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 26th March 1970

Publications

1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

(16)

have freedom of thought
yet demand freedom of speech -
how absurd are men

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 25th March 1970

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

(14)

overwhelmed like fish
washed out to sea with the tide -
the gulf stream of life

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 14th March 1970

Publications

1972 Platform (UK)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1993 Mirrors (USA)

(13)

echo is my friend -
I love sorrow and echo
takes it not away

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 3rd March 1970

Publications

1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

Flight of Love

FLIGHT OF LOVE

The car which is parked
outside my door
is large enough for the whole world
since it is large enough for two.
Under its bonnet is a wild engine
impatient as my passion,
spirited as your thoughts.
Command it, my love,
and I will carry you away -
not from one place to another -
but out of this world
The engine starts,
the car revs up;
heavenward through the clouds
we ride,
the wind whistling about us.
Do we sit still
while the whole world moves
or is it our daring flight?
Are you dizzy, my love?
Then hold on tight to me!
I shall not become dizzy.
Spiritually
one does not become dizzy
when one thinks only of a single thought
- I think only of you!
Physically
one does not become dizzy
if one fastens the eye on a single object.
- I look only at you!
Hold fast, my love!
Should the world pass away,
our car vanish beneath us,
we still hold each other close,
floating
in the harmony of the spheres

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st March 1970

Publications>

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1993 International Poetry (USA)

(12)

not just sitting there -
he was sat, as he always
sat - not just sitting

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th February 1970

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

(11)

run, man, run, man, run -
it takes all of your running
merely to stand still

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 12th February 1970

Publications

1990 The Yellow Pages (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

*****
German translation by Martina Orlitsch

(text not to hand)

Publication

1983 Lyrik-Mappe Austria

(10)

piece of sodium
a little drop of water -
instant raging fire!

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 7th February 1970

Publication

1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)

(8) & (9)

instant tea and milk
in a paper cup with four
saccharin tablets

*****
kettle on coal fire;
a warmed staffordshire teapot;
five minutes to mash

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 2nd February 1970

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)

Fragment of Life

FRAGMENT OF LIFE

I saw a dead hare
by the side of the road
over Kiplincotes
It may have run
into the path of a car
or died of some malady
indigenous to hares
Drawing near a flock of birds
flew off into trees
Through my rear-view mirror
I saw them return
to feed their winter hunger
on the meat of the corpse
The one is dead
so the others may live

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st February 1970

Publications

1972 Datr (UK)
1992 International Poetry (USA)

Foetus

FOETUS

Without guile
the little living bubble
within the womb
came to exist
as fruit implanted
in a rich pasture,
suckling on its mother,
absorbed entirely
within a world
of tissue and cartilage and blood

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 20th January 1970

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)

(7)

note the appealing
casual intimacy
of an unmade bed

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 11th January 1970

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1991 The Affiliate (Canada)
1991 Next Exit (Canada)

Reply to Gwen Wade

REPLY TO GWEN WADE

Shoo says her wits are failin
an her rhymin's gerrin warse
Shoo thinks us young uns slaw
ti get agate an pen sum verse

Wah nah a mun admit mesen
Ah've written i t' Standard English tongue
better ner i t' Dialect
an still mah songs are sung

Nay cum off it Gwen tha knows
we arn't browt up jus t' same as thee
We were allus telld ti speyk - proper -
else we'd neer mak t' top o t' tree

Soa we hasta larn ahr speech
thro thee at speyks it nat'ral lahke
Doan't chide us lass Jus gie us t' chance
ter write some proper Tyke

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st January 1970

1970 Yorkshire Dialect Society Summer Bulletin (UK)

(6)

first the snow will fall;
the thawing wind will follow;
the weather remains

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth 26th December 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1972 Roots (UK)
1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

*****
yuki furite
soyokaze fukite
jo tenki

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada

Publications

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

(5)

child lost in big store;
mother arrives on the scene -
spanking and crying

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 24th December 1969

Publications

1973 Mac (UK)
1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1987 Red Pagoda (USA)
1993 Mirrors (USA)

*****
haha mitsuke
maigo wo uchinu
nao nakinu

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada.

Publications

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

(4)

the work of a year -
three hours examination -
fail and that's your lot

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 21st December 1969

Publication

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

*****
nen matsu no
ghiken ni nayamu
san jikan

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada.

Publication

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)
*****

(3)

lunch almost ready;
distracted by bridegroom's kiss -
first burnt offering

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th December 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)
1991 Envoi (UK)

(2)

snow on southern slopes -
I, sweating in summer's sun
on the road below

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 14th December 1969

Publications

1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1972 Roots (UK)
1987 Red Pagoda (USA)
1994 Candelabrum (UK)

*****
nan men no
yuki no saka-michi
asebamite

© Gerald England

translation by Sakuzo Takada

Publication

1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

(1)

a cold grubby thumb -
a lorry grinds to a halt
further down the road

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 13th December 1969

Publications

1972 Moonshine (UK)
1991 Haiku Quarterly (UK)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

Don't Smother The Fire Mother

DON'T SMOTHER THE FIRE, MOTHER

Don't smother the fire, mother
we all of us feel the cold
Don't smother the fire, mother
you need its warmth when you're growing old
Don't smother the fire, mother
its cheery flame dispels the gloom
Don't smother the fire, mother
let its warmth invade the room
Don't smother the fire, mother
but let it burn up bright
Don't smother the fire, mother
for it is our only light

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 12th December 1969

Publications

1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1993 The Affiliate (Canada)
1997 8 (Internet)

Snow

SNOW

A thin layer of virgin-white snow,
freshly fallen at 1 a.m.,
covers the road of mud
and dirt left by lorries
toing and froing the building site.
The track of the tyres
of a late-night car
stand out upon the newlaid snow
like pioneer pathways
across the terrain of life.
Soon these marks will vanish
beneath yet newer snow,
and at daybreak
pedestrians will curse the snow
churning it up with the mud below
revealing again the builder's muck.
But, as here for a moment I stand,
I see, reflected by streetlamps,
the beauty which is winter's;
yet the cold shivers
send me running to the warmth
of my electric-blanketed bed.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st December 1969

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

Reflections on a Government Poster

REFLECTIONS ON A GOVERNMENT POSTER

Say Yes
to S.A.Y.E.

I would
if I only could
say No
to P.A.Y.E.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st November 1969

Publication

1972 Gargantua (UK)

Christmas Present

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Jesus Christ was God's Christmas present to the world!
Oh yes!
We opened the gift up very carefully
but we saved the wrappings
and threw away
the present!

© Gerald England

Composed: York, 7th July 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Pontefract & Castleford Express (UK)
1970 Tait's Quarterly (UK)
1972 Roots (UK)
1972 Ludds Mill (UK)
1973 ENVIRONMENT (Thames Ditton, Ember Press)
1973 Purston Parish Magazine (UK)
1985 New Hope International (UK)
1990 Omnific (USA)

*****
WEIHNACHTGESCHENK

jesus christus war gottes weihnachtsgeschenk fur die welt
o ja
wir haben das geschenk sorgfaltig geoffnet
abet wir haben das geschenkpapier aufgehoben
und das geschenk
weggeworfen

gerald england

aus dem englischen ubersetzt von elly grothof-nouwen

Publications

1983 Lyrik-Mappe (Austria)
1985 New Hope International (UK)

*****
PRESENTE DE NATAL

[Portuguese translation by Teresinka Pereira- text not to hand]

Publications

1985 New Hope International (UK)
1986 Literatura Internacional (USA)

Epitaph for Two Vultures

EPITAPH FOR TWO VULTURES

Two demented vultures
sitting on Lover's Leap

Says one to the other -
The Age of Love
I fear
is over

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 7th June 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Pontefract & Castleford Express (UK)
1990 Verve (USA)

Gainest und Matisse

GAINEST UND MATISSE

Gainest und matisse,
la ville de gaunt san Andermet
in all der thunder score
fim landersu et kunlet

Twa many a canter down
these deux enfants mak faire net sooin,
kan sude les matter nut thier stan
fim officestat les cumin und gooin
mak such a fuss, la ville pour score
none kunlet landersu, mud sink
und if la quakering nut plan
les Varingarians ud mak a proper stink

Ney nut a vik ur voe
wer ivver in les officestat
wat Andermet und ithers gay
wim sintering und gat
Nut all fim landersu et kunlet
twa moitherings sum vat

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st June 1969

Publications

1972 Numquam Mens (UK)
1994 Nova (UK)

Fust Moiter-Car

It looked a bit like this but less shiny - from original images of a car sold on Car and Classic.

FUST MOITER-CAR

That fust moiter-car Ah ivver did owhn,
shoo war nivver up ti mich
Ah nivver dare tak her on t' moiterway
fer fear on her brekkin dahn

I' Ah ivver gat her up ti fifty mahles an hooir
shoo used ti shek abaht lahk a jelly nutset
Two on tyres war ommost new and two war pretty gooid
bud t'spare war worn an nut much cop

Shoo hed ti goa ti t' scrapyerd, Ah'm sorry ti hev it say
fer t' fuelpump packed in; t' carburretor went anall;
t' engine war rockin an t'sterter-moiter cracked
an one o' t' windscreen wahpers hed jacked i' in

Mi back-suspenshun war affy rough
an t' gasket-seeals war leeakin oil;
t' plugs war fouled an t' points war pitted
an t' body war ommost rusted reight through

T' brakes war efter relinin an t' clutch gat stuck i' third
Shoo needed complete new wirin an ither sich-like jobs
soa i' t' end shoo simply hed ti goa
that fust moiter-car Ah ivver did owhn

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Pontefract, 5th May 1969

Publication

1990 Yorkshire Dialect Society Transactions (UK)

The Sands of Southend

THE SANDS OF SOUTHEND

When I think of sand
I remember the golden sands
of a beach little-visited.
The sands of Southend
on the Mull of Kintyre
is made of softest gold,
stretching along from where hens
play in the road,
down to the waves
rolling over towards Ireland.
The old dilapidated lifeboat house,
long-abandoned in favour of
the calmer waters of Campbeltown Loch,
lies waiting for some industrial archaeologist
to rediscover and investigate anew.
White flat stones, the silver amid the gold -
ideal for skimming, (my favorite occupation);
those stones could bounce
full thirteen times
before sinking beneath the rolling waves - .
The sky above is sometimes blue as amethyst,
sometimes as sapphire,
but always precious, even when
from dark clouds the rains
of heavy storms pour
and mists obscure the view across Sanda Sound.
These are times when no-one walks
on the sands of Dunaverty Bay and Brunerican Bay.
Always the mist and the rain clear,
giving way to the sun,
on the golden sands of Southend.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st April 1969

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

Christian Unity

CHRISTIAN UNITY

"And when he was departed thence he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him and he saluted him and said to him, Is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be give me thy hand: and he took him into the Chariot" — 2 Kings 10, 15

Heart to heart
is soul to soul
Your opinion is thine own
my own -- mine own
I drink the wine and eat the bread,
You have a silent still communion
I may baptise my children,
You when they become adult
My worship may be odourless,
Your air filled with incense
These are secondary things
for if heart is to heart
soul is to soul
If you truly hold your opinions
then be true to them
and I will be true to mine
If your heart is with my heart
then love me,
not as you love your neighbour,
not as you love a stranger,
not as you love your enemies,
not with latitudinarianism
as Wesley put it,
but love me as a brother in Christ
heart to heart
soul to soul

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 1st March 1969

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1990 Outreach (UK)
2000 The Poetry Church (UK)

Peter Went Out and Wept Bitterly

PETER WENT OUT AND WEPT BITTERLY

(Matthew 26, 75)

Poor Peter

To act against a man
inexcusably
a man so noble
he does not reproach
or condemn
but forgives
does not hold it against you

To take advantage of him
treat the matter
as if didn't matter
and everything really fine

Poor Peter

He is human

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 1st January 1969

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1988 The Old Police Station (UK)
1991 Poet's Forum (USA)

Pilgrim's Progress

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

It's there alright
It's certainly there
but you'll never reach it
actually get there
You can motor up the road
part of the way
but it stops a long way short
It's possible
to walk along the footpath
for quite a good distance
as far as the bottom of the hill
You can climb the hill
if it suits you
and scramble down the other side
If you are very very careful
you might pick your way
across the peat bog
and over the quicksand
but even then you'll not be there
If you get across the river
as you just well might
then perhaps you'd be almost there
But...

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st December 1968

Publications

1986 Periaktos (UK)
1988 Envoi (UK)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

*****
O PROGRESSO DOS PEREGRINOS

Estaô laô mesmo
Estaô laô certamente
mas nunca se alcanòóÒa
na verdade, chegar ateô laô.
Pode-se subir a estrada de carro
parte do caminho
mas para-se longe de chegar
E' possiôvel
caminhaiô pelo trilho
por longa distaÔncia
ateô ao peô da montanha
Pode-se subir a montanha
se puder mesmo
e voltar pelo outro lado
Se se eô cuidadoso
pode-se ateô escolher o caminho
atraveôs do musgo
ou sobre a areia movediòóÒa
mas mesmo assim naÓo se chega ateô laô
Se se vai atravessando o rio
se assim quiser
entaÓo talvez se chegue ateô perto
Mas ...

GERALD ENGLAND.

translated by Teresinka Pereira

Publication

1987 International Poetry (USA

On a Journey Between Manchester and Oldham

ON A JOURNEY BETWEEN MANCHESTER AND OLDHAM

Rain beating down
on flag-stoned paths,
the bus trundling on
past row upon row
of all-the-same houses.
In these houses,
back to back standing,
working men have lived
with their families.
They still do.
Some are living more in the corner pub -
home just the place
where they go to sleep
and to beat the wife - .
Daughters dream only of the time
when they can marry out
to chic suburbia -
a modern council housing estate,
one of tomorrow's slums -.
One of the streets is called
- Evening Street -
There was never morning here,
where it always rains,
though the streets are not always wet.
Nearby is Rose Hill,
a reminder of when
flowers bloomed
even here,
but that was long ago.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Oldham, 1st September 1968

Publications

1974 North (UK)
1990 Poetry Peddler (USA)

Note: It all looks very different now - see Streetview -



View Larger Map

Bridlington 1968

BRIDLINGTON 1968

There's a cold wind
racing along the prom
Few folk venture on to Bridlington beach
when the cold wind blows
A fortnight from now,
when the sun blazes down,
the beach will be overcrowded
There'll be Joe with his kids, from Castleford,
Aunt Emma from Heckmondwike,
and a Sunday-school trip from Liversedge,
totally obscuring the sand
whereon someone has scrawled
with pebble, stick, something sharp,
- Home Rule For Yorkshire -

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st August 1968

Publications

1970 YORKSHIRE POETS '71 (Sheffield, Grove Publications)
1973 ENVIRONMENT (Thames Ditton, Ember Press)
1973 Platform (UK)
1974 North (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)

At Objet-Lar

AT OBJET-LAR

At objet-lar dan summer wen
All for Omniall wud sen
pour fashioning his tarter well
dan icevig's green forcetell,
Gizur ta black et Keggsiman
mak far demise te wan

Far Christi's message langed sin
at Vellandkatla underbin
tair Gizur still astacum
dan in der battle sum

Whole objet-lar mun tak it doon
pour la pere et pretty soon
but non occurance cam
so Gizur all kiss yam

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 21st July 1968

Publications

1969 AN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
2004 Chanticleer (UK)

The Preacher

THE PREACHER

Christ said,
Preach my message
to the world

Later
the world jeered,
Practice what you preach

I do not practice what I preach
I therefore
do not preach

This brings us back
to the beginning
again

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 17th July 1968

Publications

1972 Roots (UK)
1998 International Poetry (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

Traces

TRACES

Returning home
at midnight,
lorries pass me
on the main road.

Years ago,
before I gained
my respectability,
I'd have thumbed
a lift
on one of those;
through the night
to morning
somewhere else,
new places, new faces, traces
of freedom.

I walk on home
to bed,
for tomorrow
I face
again
the workaday world.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 7th July 1968

Publications

1970 Bogg (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1986 Peace & Freedom (UK)
1989 Short Fuse (USA)
1993 Processed World (USA)
1999 Unlikely Stories (Internet)

Fire

FIRE

A fire burns
in the poet's soul

How many
on seeing the smoke
stop to warm themselves

© Gerald England

Composed: Pontefract, 1st July 1968

Publications

1968 Breakthru (UK)
1986 Weyfarers (UK)
1990 Omnific (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1992 Palpi (UK)

Mort de Vagabond, after Legros

Online image available at The Art Institute of Chicago.

"MORT DE VAGABOND",
AFTER LEGROS

(Knoedler Gallery, New York)

The tramp
the tree
these two
both old
both grey
the tree perhaps
         already
         dead
But yet there is
stark beauty
in the tree
There is nothing of beauty
about the tramp
who is not
       yet
       dead
He lies forlorn
and stiff
His bones of legs
lie straight
and arms that are same
lie same
Feet that have touched
the earth
point heavenward
And eyes
that have seen raw life
stare blankly
as of one
who does not fear to die

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 26th June 1968

Publications

1973 Roots (UK)
1988 Waterways (USA)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1999 Black Creek Review (USA)

The Murder, after Cezanne

Image from Liverpool Museums.

THE MURDER, AFTER CEZANNE
(Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)

In a dark Parisienne street
two men
one woman
and a knife to settle the bargain

The murdered face
shows no sign of fear
but resignation
to her fate

Had she spurned the love
of one of the men
and turned his love to hate ?
Or had she talked of them too much
to gendarmes in the street ?
Or was she merely provider
of a few easy francs ?

Murderers do not really need a reason

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 12th June 1968

Publications

1972 Datr (UK)
1990 Late Knocking (USA)
1991 Omnific (USA)

There are Others

THERE ARE OTHERS

There are others
others too Lord
Other people
other places
I have not seen
If I have not seen them
how can I understand them ?
I can't see everything
There isn't time
to see
EVERYTHING

To see
that I cannot see
is to understand
that I cannot understand

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth 6th June 1968

Publications

1969 Tait's Quarterly (UK)
2000 Poetry Church (UK)

Revival

REVIVAL

E lad, hasta heeard?
The' say at rock-n-roll is cumin back.
Ah dooan't beleeve 'em mesen,
Wah! It's to gud to be reight!

Ted cum hooam thro t' fact'ry
Ti t'waife an her Yo'ksher pud',
An switch'd on t'wireless;
The' were playin an "Oldie
Frum t'hit-parade o yesteryear",
It were Bill Hailey an his Comets
wi "Rock arahnd the clock".
E an he smahled did Ted
As he thowt ow i days o auhld
He slashed cinema seats a' t'flicks
Wi t'local gang o teddy-boiys.
The' thowt at flahrs wer sloppy
An nobbut fer kids an t'wimmen;
The' wer noan on this hippy stuff i them days!

His waife looked at him an shoo sed,
"Ere, w'at's tha smirkin at?
Get thi dinner dahn thi an hev done!"
Soa Ted ate his dinner an ha' done.

Nay lad, rock-n-roll ain't nivver cumin back,
Wah! It's to gud to be reight!

GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Pontefract, 20th March 1968

Publications

1968 Yorkshire Dialect Society Summer Bulletin (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

Responsibility

RESPONSIBILITY

By the side of the road
on Moor Top Hill
there lies
a dead moggy

It's been there
a week now
It's time
someone shifted it

Me ?
I shan't touch it -
can't stand the things !

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 13th March 1968

Publications

1968 Breaktrhu (UK)
1970 Pontefract & Castleford Express (UK)
1973 Roots (UK)
1988 Cat's Eye (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1994 The Good Society Review (UK)
1998 Graffito (Canada)

Requiem for an Unfinished Romance

REQUIEM FOR AN UNFINISHED ROMANCE

The moon shone down upon the shore
The lights of the fishing boats were far out at sea
searching for the herring -
not so much alone upon the rocks were we,
you,
I,
us two

The wind raced up the river's mouth
Some boats were left, moored by the pier,
silhouetted against the darkening sky -
quietly loving we barely spoke,
you,
I,
us two

GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 3rd March 1968

Publications

1978 TOUCHSTONE (Brookeville, M.O.Publishing Co.)
1989 Weyfarers (USA)
1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)
1990 Lucidity (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
2004 Soundeye (Internet)

A Poem for 1967

POEM FOR 1967

At first
it was easy -
too easy
Laziness crept in
ineptitude gradually gave way to inaptitude
At last
the crunch came
A crack appeared
in the structure
It held
for a time
but the flesh wasn't strong
and the spirit
had lost its will
The whole structure collapsed in a heap
the fragments scattered wide
But yet
it never
finally
died

GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st February 1968

Publications

1974 Poets & Poetry (UK)
1975 AT THE YEAR ENDING (Colchester, Poetry Press)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)

As a Clashing Cymbal

AS A CLASHING CYMBAL

As a clashing cymbal in the discordant darkness of the night
I am become
since losing Love
As a river turning inward from the rolling sea of life
as a hole in a garment that has been worn too long
as the face of a clock that has lost its hands
as a dried-up lake in the desert of loneliness
I am become
since losing Love

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 11th January 1968

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1989 Explorer (USA)
1990 International Poetry (USA)

Prayer

PRAYER

Prayer is a straight line
=========================================
God is the track not intermediate station

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 2nd January 1968

Publications

1969 Tait's Quarterly (UK)
2003 SOUNDING HEAVEN AND EARTH (Norwich, Canterbury Press)

A Prayer

A PRAYER

My God, My God, Why have I forsaken you ?

I know you are
My whole being knows you are
I cannot conceive an atheism
even agnosticism will not do
for I know you are
My whole being knows you are

My God, My God, Why have I forsaken you ?

Unsure
you showed me the way
Low
you lifted me up
Sinner
you forgave me
Alien
you took me unto yourself
Loveless
you gave me love
Fearful
you brought me your peace
Idle
you gave me a task to do
Weak
you strengthened me

My God, My God, Why have I forsaken you ?

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 1st November 1967

Publications

1968 Tait's Quarterly (UK)
1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)

Sex and Sleep

SEX AND SLEEP

I feel my mortality
like Alexander of Macedon
in sex and in sleep

Sex is the perpetuation of mortality
the only continuum possible
when parents die, and
children so soon grow old
And the use of sleep
is for the regainment
of energy lost in the battle of life

Gods are immortal
and need not sons
to perpetuate their line
Neither need they sleep
for they grow not weary
toiling not

© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 3rd September 1967

Publications

1972 THE WINE THE WOMEN AND THE SONG (Pyle, Kenfig Press)
1991 La Carta de Oliver (Argentina)

******
SEXO Y SUENO

Yo siento mi mortalidad
como Alejandro de Macedonia
en el sexo y en el sueno

El sexo es la perpetuacion de la mortalidad
el unico continuum posible
cuando los padres mueren, y
los hijos crecen demasiado pronto
Y el uso del sueno
es para la recuperacion
de la energia perdida en la batalla de la vida

Los dioses son inmortales
y no necesitan hijos
para perpetuar su linaje
Tampoco necesitan dormir
ya que no se cansan
de no trabajar

© GERALD ENGLAND

translated by Santiago Espel.

Publication

1991 La Carta de Oliver (Argentina)

Death of Cleopatra, after Carlo Cignani

DEATH OF CLEOPATRA, AFTER CARLO CIGNANI

(Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow)

The Death is the dying,
that short fleeting moment
between the living
and the dead,
which is a seeming eternity.

As the asp curls round your arm
you clasp your left hand under your breast,
you raise your right arm
in a final, feeble, royal command;
but as the asp draws the skin of your breast
between its teeth,
your eyes cry out in agony.

Even Queens have to die!

© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 1st September 1967

Publications

1968 Platform (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1994 Potpourri (USA)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)

Escape

ESCAPE

It is necessary
every once in a while
to escape
from the oppressive closeness
of the city;
to take a bus
away from the city
to a small village
up on the moors' edge
from where
I can walk up
into the hills
where there is
no roar of traffic
but the rippling of a stream
Though the city
is but a mere
bus ride away
it could be a million miles
for here is not the solitude
of the city,
which is loneliness,
but the solitude
of the country,
which is freedom

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Eaglesham, 29th August 1967

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1985 SPEAK TO THE HILLS (Aberdeen University Press)
1991 The Vincent Brothers Review (USA)