sijo 6

fluffy white clouds in blue sky foretell the lifting of morning haze;
the postman appears from round the corner just as I let the dog out —
I haul the lead in rapid before someone gets hurt.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 7th November 1997

Publication

1998 Sijo West (USA)

[6m]

© Gerald England

Composed: Stockport, 28th October 1997

Publication

2005 World Haiku Review (Internet)

Sparking

SPARKING

(for Joy R.)

we move in different circles
you and i
running rings around each other
snatching at tangents
that turn into curls
which spiral outwards
aiming for stars
we cannot reach

sometimes we spin
in opposite directions
and sink into a vortex
from which there is
no escape

one day
a tiny spark
will ignite the flames
that lie dormant in our hearts
fusing together
a möbius strip

then there will be no sides
just an infinite continuum
we will travel along together
into your moonless space

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 27th October 1997

Publications

1998 Images (Internet)
2001 Skald (UK)

Limbo Time

LIMBO TIME

two-thirty in the morning
i am wakened by my wife
with “do you want a cup of tea?”
a rhetorical question
it is already made.
we sit in bed supping the welcome brew
“the clocks go back,
we can have an extra hour in bed”
mentally i count them,
bedside, microwave, video,
computer, grandfather …
a baker’s dozen or more
it will take me at least an hour
to adjust them all
it is two fifty in the morning
or is it only ten to two?
we are living in limbo time
have we lived an hour twice
or did time stand really still?
i turn the pillows over
and try again to sleep.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 26th October 1997

Publication

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
2008 Poet in Residence (Internet)

Truth?

TRUTH?

There are 16 million shades of grey
There is no black
There is no white
You have to draw your own line
It may or may not be straight
There are always mitigating circumstances
Judgement can only be based
On passed-down wisdom and self-experience
Stopping to take stock
Is not an option
You can never find yourself
You can only conform or differ
From each perceived image
The cataracts of common sense
Can never be removed
Focusing on reality’s a fallacy

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 28th September 1997

Publications

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
2007 Famous Poets & Poems (Internet)

*****
ADEVARUL?

Exista 16 milioane de nuante de gri
Negru nu exista
Alb nu exista
Trebuie sa-ti trasezi singur linia
Poate fi dreapta sau nu
Exista intotdeauna circumstante atenuante
Judecata se poate baza
Doar pe intelepciune si experienta proprie
Oprirea pentru a cantari
Nu este o optiune
Pe tine insuti nu te poti gasi
Poti doar sa te conformezi ori sa te diferentiezi
De fiecare imagine perceputa
Cataractele bunului simt
Nu pot fi indepartate niciodata
Concentrandu-te pe inselatoria realitatii.

GERALD ENGLAND

Romanian translations by Octavian Blaga and Florentin Smarandache

Unpublished?

What is Good for the Goose

WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE

half an hour per pound
and three-quarter hours more
gas mark 6
middle of the oven
don't forget the roast potatoes
horse-chestnut stuffing
goes down well
oops
wrong kind of goose?
goes up well
crowded bar
on the way out
just one finger
make sure your mate
is right behind you
to catch the lefthand
slap to the cheek
look shocked
walk out quickly
do not look back
better be a turkey

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 26th September 1997

Publication

2005 Outlaw (UK)

Background Music

BACKGROUND MUSIC

sharing breakfast
with my son
in the grease-spot
I rock my feet
to the sounds
of a 30-year old
top ten;
Dylan, the Beatles,
Elvis, the Rolling Stones,
Tell Laura I Love Her.
My son eats his beans
tucks into his toast
smiles at his dad
knowing he’s happy
if he’s happy.
We drink up
rush away
to catch a train
leaving the 60s
a memory
still ringing
in our ears.

© Gerald England

Composed: Manchester, 27th September 1997

Publications

1997 Gallery Zandraat (Internet)
1999 Pennine Ink (UK)

September In The City

SEPTEMBER IN THE CITY

Autumn breezes blow coolly
through City Centre Manchester;
a peek-a-boo sun creates sparse warmth.
The peace of Piccadilly Gardens
is shattered by the presence
of Gore & DeKoning’s Family Fun Fair;
loud rock music drives away the pigeons;
teenagers scream on the dodgems;
children dance to the incipient beat.
Queen Victoria surveys the buses
that leave for Glossop or Stockport;
she has her back to the noise;
she is not amused.

© Gerald England

Composed: Manchester, 14th September 1997

Publications

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
2004 The Same (USA)

San Remo Coffee Bar, Rochdale

SAN REMO COFFEE BAR, ROCHDALE

The same formica-top tables;
wood-grain-effect wallpaper
lines the lower half of the walls
the upper — emulsioned plaster-relief;
the ceiling is polystyrene-tiled;
in the centre a huge rotating fan;
wall-brackets at intervals
hold forty-watt bulbs that glow
through plain, frilled lampshades;
above each is a framed picture of Italy.

The young couple with four-week old Melanie
remind me of how in love we were
meeting here twenty-four years ago.
They are drinking the same
frothy coffee;
nothing here has changed.

© Gerald England

Composed: Rochdale, 13th September 1997

Publications

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Poetry Monthly (UK)

(f43)

passing McVitie's
the warm odour of baking
makes me feel hungry

© Gerald England

Composed: Stockport, 9th September 1997

Unpublished

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

Photograph © Gerald England.
PICCADILLY GARDENS, MANCHESTER

fiercely competing
for old ice-cream cones
pigeons fly down
from their perch
on the roof of the ladies loo
to vie with a solitary sparrow
that hides in the flowerbeds

over the heads
of single mums
couples cuddling on the grass
quietly kissing
and jaded travellers
who rest on benches
a cabbage-white flutters by

the noise of nearby traffic
and the hoot of trams
barely penetrates above
the gentle cooing
of the pigeons
in this City Centre haven
where the ratrace stops
for a minute or two

© Gerald England

Composed: Manchester, 17th August 1997

Publications

1997 Afterthoughts (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Lateral Moves (UK)

[Note: The gardens have long since gone]

tanka 25

i.m. Geoff Tomlinson

at your funeral
we sit all quiet in pews
waiting to begin
then suddenly — the brass band
blasting out "Hail Smiling Morn"

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 13th August 1997

Publication

2005 Anglo-Japanese Tanka Society (Internet)

(f40)

[text not to hand]

Composed: York, 25th July 1997

Publication

2007 Curlew (UK)

Morning Call

MORNING CALL

A sudden knock
on the wooden door
sends the dog leaping
from one to another room
against background of barking
two men at the doorway
talk about God and Satan
witnessing to Jehovah
The dog yaps
the owner listens
answers quietly
neither agreeing
nor arguing
In a room upstairs
his naked wife
curls under satin sheets
suppressing laughter
Beaten but undefeated
the men leave
the door shuts
the dog quietens
the woman rises
the man maintains his silence.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 11th July 1997

Publications

1997 Cyberscribers (Internet)
1999 Skald (UK)

(f38)

the double-decker
abandoned in the layby
— driver gone AWOL

© Gerald England

Composed: Bury, 4th July 1997

Publication

2006 Curlew (UK)

(f37)

all the way to Bury
alone on the upper deck
of the 139

© Gerald England

Composed: Bury, 4th July 1997

Publication

1997 Zimmerzine (Internet)

(f36)

his bare bronzed skin,
eyes fixed firmly on the ground
— the hunch-back jogger

© Gerald England

Composed: Prestwich, 4th July 1997

Publication

2011 Time Haiku

Haiku for Minden 1200

[text not to hand]

Composed: Gee Cross, 3rd July 1997

Publication

1998 Minden 1200 (Video)

Note: this was a contribution to a mail art project celebrating the 1200th anniversary of the city of Minden, Germany. A video presentation of the exhibition was released after the event.

(f35)

supermarket caf' --
waiting for the food to come
my coffee goes cold

© Gerald England

Composed: Dukinfield, 12th April 1997

Publication

2011 The Journal

(f34)

this cold Good Friday
I walk with my son down town
to buy hot-cross-buns

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 28th March 1997

Publications

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)
2007 Curlew (UK)

*****
ovog hladnog Velikog Petka
šetam sa sinom donjim gradom
da kupim vruèe-križ-pevivo


Gerald England

translated into Croatian by Marijan Èekolj


Publication

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)

Viewing the Comet

Photograph © 1997 Valentin Grigore.

VIEWING THE COMET

(for Mother)

The day before your funeral, as I bath my son,
I tell him. "Tomorrow we are saying goodbye
to Grandma; — she is going away
to meet and be with Jesus."

The knock on the door is our neighbour’s child
hoping to borrow binoculars which we lost years ago.
She points out the Hale-Bopp comet, bright in the Northern
sky, visible even above the city lights.

Because of the biting wind, I return indoors
to dry my son and my eyes.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 26th March 1997

Publications

1997 The Pink Cadillac Review (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Aireings (UK)
2008 Ackworth born, gone West (Internet)

Changing Trains

CHANGING TRAINS

It's shoo-dee-dee-shoo-shoo
on the Intercity up to Crewe
where we're happy to be able
to visit a loo that is standing still —
then it's clickety-clack-clack
on the local train back home.

© Gerald England

Composed: Sandbach, 29th December 1996

Publication

2000 Breathe (UK)

(f33)

intercity train --
in the "No Smoking" toilet
an empty ashtray

© Gerald England

Composed: London, 29th December 1996

Publication

2011 The Journal (UK)

(f32)

first hesitant words
coming out of the coma
— No! Yes! Coke!

© Gerald England

Composed: Woodley, 14th December 1996

Pubications

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1999 NASA (USA)
1999 Sparrow (Croatia)
2000 MIR (USA)

*****
prve neodluène rijeèi
dolaze iz kome
— Ne! Da! Cocal-cola!

Gerald England

translated into Croatian by Marijan Èekolj

Publication

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)

(f31)

at the platform edge
a mouse scurrying along
— Embankment Station

© Gerald England

Composed: London, 30th November 1996

Publication

2011 Time Haiku (UK)

(f30)

the magpies gather
on a mobile-phone-relay
— dawn on the M6

© Gerald England

Composed: Whitgreave, 30th November 1996

Publication

2011 Time Haiku (UK)

adam 8

Human beings
have freedom of thought
yet demand
freedom of speech —
how absurd are men —
do they not know
that the doors of fortune
open outwards
and therefore
cannot be stormed?

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 7

his charming surface judgements
did not look beyond
the tissue of truth —
he'd been floundering for some time
— overwhelmed like fish
washed out to sea with the tide —
the gulf stream of life

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 6

this guileless bubble
came to exist
within the womb
as fruit implanted
in a rich pasture,
suckling on its mother,
absorbed in a world
of tissue, cartilage and blood

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 5

said the mountaineer,
condescending,
— It's easy —
provided you remember —
don't look down
— said I —
that's all very well
while ascending
but what about
when you are coming down?

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publications

1999 Psychopoetica (UK)
2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 4

Have a nice day —
Sheila stared dumbfounded
at the daisy wheels
in hellish torment —
she had created
a direct course to his throne —
it lies between walls
yellowed by committees.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 3

He is awakened by them
as the door creaks open;
blood flows thickly to his brain;
he can produce flowcharts
of God's blackjack games
typing messages
that glow with each issue.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)