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)

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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)