(v2)

late april sun --
everywhere the hum-hum
of lawnmowers

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 24th April 2004

Unpublished

An Ordinary Day

AN ORDINARY DAY

I open the lounge curtains
to find a blotch on the window
it has arrived in the night.
Later in the morning
it is still there.
I use a discarded note to the milkman
to lever away the tiny snail
depositing it in the bobbing hydrangea.

As I fill the kettle
my eyes meet those
of the grey squirrel
on the little fence
a yard beyond the kitchen window.
It looks away and scurries quickly
down my neighbour's garden path.

In the back garden beyond ours
a fat tabby prowls
as a wood pigeon settles on the roof.

After the rain
I watch a blackbird
digging worms
out of the recently mown lawn.
It eyes me too
but is in no hurry
to wander under the willow tree
and into the hedge bottom.

In the bathroom today
the spider
is nowhere to be seen.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 21st April 2004

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)

(v1)

relentless rain --
the window-cleaner's not been
to collect his fee

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 17th April 2004

Unpublished

Grey Wednesday

GREY WEDNESDAY

the wheelie-bin sits on the pavement
waiting all day for the bin-men who do not come

I carry the phone around in my shirt pocket
waiting all day for my calls to be returned

the postman does not come till nearly one

like an umbrella
the willow tree hangs low
over wilting daffodils

grey day turns to grey evening

© Gerald England
Composed: Gee Cross, 14th April 2004

Publication

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)

(t50)

in "outpatients"
a hospital drama plays
on the TV

© Gerald England

Composed: Ashton under Lyne, 13th April 2004

Publication

2004 OTHER (Spalding, British Haiku Society)

Spring Cleaning

SPRINGCLEANING

upstairs and downstairs
four hours in all
sparying
dusting
vaccing
polishing
dehoming spiders
sweeping out dead ants
from behind the tumble-dryer
unearthing an odd sock
two pieces of jigsaw
and an old toy car
tipping a vase of flowers
over the television
moving chairs
to find unfaded bits of carpet

after they've gone
we rearrange disturbed ornaments
search for the handpainted ashtray
that was under the vase
they knocked over
empty the dishwasher
and microwave a late lunch

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 7th April 2004

Publication

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)

(t49)

above the city
a police helicopter
encircling Venus

© Gerald England

Composed: 6th April 2004

Unpublished

*****
crepuscul
un avion vine zburand
pe licaririle lui Venus

Gerald England
(in romaneste de Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Publication

2004 SARM sporadicastroumanism (Internet)

(t48)

orange-tipped half-disc
peeps above thick mist
last sunset in March

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 31st March 2004

Publication

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)

(t47)

returning home
the cat comes to greet him
halfway down the street

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 27th March 2004

Unpublished

Mast

MAST

stark
sharp
sentinel
standing
on top of Winter Hill
illumined by the light
of the early morning sun
seen from my bedroom window
thirty miles away
for the first time
in twelve months
since the counci;
felled the trees
that blocked the view

one hour on -
the moor's outline
fades into the clouds

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 24th March 2004

Publication

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)

Wouldbesonnet for Spring

A WOULDBESONNET FOR SPRING

O to be where you are
now that Spring is here
uphill blows the wind
overturning wheelie-bins

under the bending willow tree
bright daffodils stand proud
hailstones rattle at the windows
the birds are nowhere to be seen

clouds scamper in the greydark sky
no sun no moon no stars
we turn the central heating up
put on an extra layer
pull curtains across the door
and wish we were elsewhere

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Gee Cross, 21st March 2004

Unpublished

The Webmaster Sleeps

THE WEBMASTER SLEEPS

and so the webmaster slept
dreaming of nested tables
in a whirlpool of jpegs
his gifs weren't interlaced
there was no longer any sense
in ordered lists
fonts changed size
headings failed to stack
dead links
spewed 404s
his body
was unsafe color
the clock ticked on
the alarm didn't sound
the sun shone through a window
hus style sheets fell off
and so he awoke

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 18th March 2004

Publications

2004 Soundeye (Internet)

A Snail Bounces

A SNAIL BOUNCES

So here I am
mid-morning
lounging on the lazyboy;
I've been up for hours,
had a shower,
done bacon and eggs,
checked my email,
cleared the spam,
picked the pinta
off the doorstep
as I greeted the postman,
brought the laundry down,
set the washing-machine;
so now I settle down
to listen to the video-recording
of last week's
"Just a minute"
on freeview digital radio --
the phone rings
and it isn't a distant call centre
selling a new mortgage
or telling of a holiday
I've won in a competition
I never entered
or of how my postcode
has come up on their computer --
I can be a show-house --
but this time
it is the secretary of a society
of which I'm a life member;
he wants to know
if I am still me
have I still
got a life;
seems the last issue
of the society's transactions
was returned
marked "gone away"
but I haven't,
I'm still here
and ready
for a fresh pot of tea

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 17th March 2004

Publications

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)
2005 Outlaw (UK)

Delia's New Dish

DELIA'S NEW DISH

Take a pair of ewes
a squeeze of bat's blood
marinate for 17 hours
in a vat of boiling ogre
filter through a gauze
made of webbing
wrought by the black widow
feed to the princess
if she be sick
sell her to the paparazzi
give the dregs
to an artist in leicester
for use in his next
exhibition

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 17th March 2004

Publication

2004 Soundeye (Internet)

TALLY-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

TALLY-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That year we were caravanning near Stranraer.
A poster near the harbour tempted us.
An Ulster Bus tour to the Giant's Causeway.
The cost, less then the normal return ferry fare.
But it left at noon and returned at midnight.
We couldn't leave our chinese whippet
alone in the van all that time.
Meandering down some country lane,
we found ourselves on tracks in a wood.
The sign said "The Kennels".
It wasn't a commercial kennels
but the home of the Wigtownshire Hunt.
The keeper heard our story.
agreed to take in our dog the following day.
We went to Ireland,
surveyed the Antrim coast,
climbed the causeway.
The return ferry was late.
A points failure at Crewe
had delayed the mail-train.
The outgoing ferry had waited for it.
We rolled back to the caravan
at three in the morning.
Later we went to the kennels.
Our lazy dog hadn't slept with the hounds.
The keeper of the pack
had warmed to her soft eyes.
She had spent the night in his cottage.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 13th March 2004

Publication

2004 Soundeye (Internet)

Wednesday

WEDNESDAY

overnight sprinkle of snow on shed roof
gone by seven-thirty
a flurry of flakes by eight
gives way to rain to sun to snow to rain to sun to snow to rain
the afternoon market is busy
cold shoppers shuffle into the warm mall
for tea and a toasted teacake
outside the stall-holders pack up early

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 10th March 2004

Publications

2004 The Drunken Boat (Internet)
2005 Outlaw (UK)

(t46)

this early morning
the cry of a pair of ducks
flying over

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 8th March 2004

Publication

2004 Blithe Spirit (UK)

Midnight:: a cat howls

MIDNIGHT: A CAT HOWLS

midnight: a cat howls
3 am: fox raiding an overturned wheelie-bin
6 am: milk-bottles rattle
9 am: horns blaring at several junctions
noon: schoolkids gather outside the chip-shop
3 pm: range-rovers on double-yellows
6 pm: the early evening news
9 pm: a watershed for walking dogs
midnight: a cat howls

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 20th February 2004

Publications

2004 Soundeye (Internet)
2006 Curlew (UK)

(t44)

over her bed
a line of seven
Welsh love-spoons

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 20th February 2004

Publication

2004 Blithe Spirit (UK)

OVER THE LAZY DOG

OVER THE LAZY DOG

over the lazy dog
jumps
a quick brown fox

animals bounding cautiously
data edited fiercely
gyros held immobile
jets killing livestock
memorials never overturned
proposals queried rigidly
semantics tersely usurped
vehicles waterlogged
xenias yearly zapped

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 20th February 2004

Publications

2004 Soundeye (Internet)
2010 The Seventh Quarry (UK)

They want the supermarkets to open until midnight

They want the supermarkets to open until midnight
but guess even the ushers are watching.
Bones whisper of throttled blue;
the starred fury of country images
when light betrays her nakedness
denying nothing but the obscure harmony of intricate muscles
like when he's going to the bottom of pretty flesh
amid hailstones which they swallow.
Red speaks of any nice thing
to force open human inconvenience
in the chaffinch-haunted wood
where cold hands knock against the war,
dizzy with Catherine-wheels.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 17th February 2004

Publication

2004 Soundeye (Internet)

On the Wall

on the wall
behind the toaster
remnants
of a freshly-thrown
pizza

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 14th February 2004

Publication

2004 Soundeye (Internet)

tanka 35

Mars in Pisces
sickle moon and Venus
in Aquarius
fish pie for supper
this winter night

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 25th January 2004

Unpublished

*****
Marte in Pisces
secera Lunii si Venus
in Aquarius
placinta de peshte pentru cina
in aceasta n oapte de iarna

Gerald England

in romaneste de Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Publication

2004 SARM sporadicastroumanism (Internet)

(t42)

after the snowstorm
briefly
a rainbow

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 24th January 2004

Publications

2004 Poetry Monthly (UK)
2004 Blithe Spirit (UK)
2004 SEASON'S GREETING NEWSLETTER (Mohammed H Siddique, USA)

(t41)

afternoon screech
four and twenty blackbirds
atop two trees

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 10th January 2004

Publication

2004 Blackbird (USA)

(t37)

for Francine Porad

steam on the windows
a panful of brussel sprouts
slowly simmers

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 15th November 2003

Publication

2003 Mothertongued (Internet)

(t36)

for Francine Porad

the haijin's words
encircle the whole earth
in a moment

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 15th November 2003

Publication

2003 Mothertongued (Internet)

tanka 34

bonfire night
stretches to a week
fireworks light up the clouds
that block the view
of the moon's eclipse

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th November 2003

Publication

2004 Astropoetica (Internet)

*****
noapte de foc in aer
extinsa in saptamana
artificii lumineaza sus norii
ce impiedica privelistea
eclipsei de luna

Gerald England
in romaneste de Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Publication

2003 SARM (Internet)