Five Days After The Bomb

FIVE DAYS AFTER THE BOMB

We drove up from Oxford Street
and turned into Deansgate.
It took us thirty minutes
- but didn't it always? -
In between boarded-up buildings
bright cafés and bars
were open for business
and were bustling
as office-girls in summer dresses
crossed the street
for their lunchtime sandwiches.
Workers whistled on scaffolding
and even the Police smiled.

Near the Cathedral,
a group of camera-laden tourists
were gathered for a guided tour,
but I was unprepared for the sight
as we turned into Withy Grove
and looked up Corporation Street.
It was like gazing through a window
at some scene from Bosnia or Beirut;
the now so silent debris hanging.

The traffic lights change;
we climb Shude Hill
past the dark deserted Bus Station
on the day the IRA say "sorry"
and the newspaper hoardings reply
"HOW DARE THEY SAY SORRY"
to the city that survives and smiles.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 20th June 1996

Publications

1996 The Affiliate (Canada)
1997 MYSTERY OF THE CITY (Tring, Photon Press)
1997 Cyberscribers (Internet)
1997 The Plastic Tower (USA)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)

Putting the Horror Movie in Context

PUTTING THE HORROR MOVIE IN CONTEXT

tensions of the night
preventing sleep
we go downstairs
disturb the dog
share tea and cake
with the "Vampire of Venice"
gape as his victim
throws herself from a pinnacle
then wakes up
not with broken back
but naked in his chamber
blood dribbling from mouth

as the television breaks
to a commercial
for washing-up liquid
we laugh - return to bed
equipped to deal
with our own demons

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 17th November 1993

Publications

1994 Weyfarers (UK)
1994 Mobius (USA)
1996 The Affiliate (Canada)
1997 Gallery Zandstraat (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)

I Have Never Acted my Age

I HAVE NEVER ACTED MY AGE

I have never acted my age;

I was always the young one,

paid half-fare on the buses

nearly three years over the limit.

One summer I served

behind a Highland hotel bar

but back in Glasgow my age

was challenged in an off-licence.

For twenty years

I haven't appeared to age,

still seemed to be

in my late twenties.

A few stray greys

I've noted for some time

but today I saw my face

in a huge, enlarging mirror

that showed the grey hairs

even in my beard

almost out-numbering the dark.

Someone once said

I'd be bald before thirty.

I rightfully scorned them

yet I will be grey

before fifty.

I have never acted my age

but will wear my grey hairs

with dignity

scorning all caps

and hair-tints

Maybe I will no longer shout

at the children or mutter

at the dog,

nor tear my hair out

when clients cancel

else I'll be bald at eighty.

I cannot count the grey hairs

so will put away

the calculator,

live each day

four and twenty hours,

leave the acting to others.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 27th July 1990

Publications

1991 The Affiliate (Canada)

1991 PENNINE 25 (Heckmondwike, Fighting Cock Press)

[5n]

Composed: Gee Cross, 20th January 1990

 Publications

1990 The Affiliate (Canada)
1991 Purple Patch (UK)

Making Love In The Early Morning

MAKING LOVE IN THE EARLY MORNING

Orgasm approaching
Rumbles of distant traffic
Screech of brakes
where the two roads meet
at the "Cock & Crown"
Patter of elephants on the landing
Sheets quickly hoisted
Movement locked in a still embrace
"Daddy, it's time to get up! Mummy!"
"Thank you, son!"
As innocence departs downstairs
daddy is already up - mummy.

© Gerald England

Composed: Ashton under Lyne, 1st October 1987

Publications

1988 Agog (London, UK)
1990 The Affiliate (Canada)
1998 The Bohemian Forest (Internet)

Needs

NEEDS

The choked coughing
of winter's first flu
preventing sleep,
I watch the television appeal
for  "Children in Need"

Rain tap-dances on the roof
and the wind wails through trees

From next-door
rock music is punctured
by shouts I scarcely comprehend

A wife being raped perhaps ?
Or a child beaten ?

I watch the millions being pledged
I hear a husband walking out in anger

Outside the storm still rages

My dozing is disturbed
by sounds of sobbing


© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ashton under Lyne, 13th November 1984

Publications

1990 The Affiliate (Canada)
1992 Outreach (UK)
1994 Tree Trunk (USA)

The Poetic Thing

THE POETIC THING

I would like to do the poetic thing
I would like to run naked into the sea
A symbolic cleansing of my filthy body
An act of simple ritual and pious purity
But I am afraid
Not of the devils of the deep
I cannot do it
for if I do
the law will nick me, lock me up
charge me with indecent exposure
And if I escape the law
the cold will get me,
lay me down in hospital
with double pneumonia
So I merely wash my hands
buy a peace offering
of fish and chips
and go home

© Gerald England

Composed: Flamborough North Landing, 9th June 1978

Publications

1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1999 The Affiliate (Canada)
1990 YOUNG MINDS (Hull, Psychopoetica)
1990 2nd Rapture (UK)
1990 Lucidity (USA)
1993 Pomes (UK)

The Unresting

THE UNRESTING

And it was his grief that kept him travelling
There were resting places -
some that he could still direct himself to
He enumerated them on the fingers of his hands
but they all lay now beyond his reach
He had run out of fuel
He had lost the will to restart the journey
Besides it wasn't the time of the year for travelling
It also wasn't the time of the year for sorrow
He could move
only within himself
and dying in isolation
he lived

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 2nd December 1973

Publications

1988 Waterways (USA)
1989 The Affiliate (Canada)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)

*****
A PERTUBACAO

E foi sua tristeza que o manteve viajando
E hava lugares para descansar
para alguns dos quais ele ainda podia ir.
Ele os contava nos dedos de suas maos
mas eles estavam todos fora de seu alcance agora.
Ele perdei suas energias
e seu desejo de sair.
Alen de tudo ainda nao era tempo de viajar este ano.
Ele podia mover-se apenas dentro de si mesmo
e morrendo isoladamente
ele viveu.

Translated by TERESINKA PEREIRA.

Publication

1986 International Poetry (USA)

[6e]

© Gerald England

Composed: Bath, 6th September 1973

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

[15a]

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 7th May 1973

Publication

1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

You, Being Absent, The Cat

YOU, BEING ABSENT, THE CAT

Come to our rave-up in York, they said
You being absent, I said OK Why not?
I drank several drinks
enough, no more, not to fall foul of the law
I danced a few jives and a couple of waltzes
I read some poems while the jazz band played,
and said a kind word to the fat girl with glasses
I could have made the available lay
instead of driving off,
mumbling about thirty miles
and a poem to be written

I ran over a cat at Sherburn-in-Elmet
It came out of the dark and under a wheel
The blood was sticky all over the tyre
An old cat, they said, and always careless
It wasn't my fault, they assured me
It was expected to happen sooner or later
Just my hard luck to get involved, they said,
giving me sugary tea to calm my nerves
I drank it quickly, thanked them, said good-bye

If asked tomorrow, I shall say
that it wasn't a bad party,
reaching, you being absent, for another black coffee

© Gerald England

Composed: Sheffield, 10th March 1972

Publications

1976 MEETINGS AT THE MOOR'S EDGE (West Kirkby, Headland)
1992 Green's Magazine (Canada)
1993 The Affiliate (Canada)
1999 Unlikely Stories (Internet)
2002 Blue Beat Jacket (Japan)

The Findings

THE FINDINGS

The icy road told of a familiar foreboding
The driven snow was a warning
like another season's newmown hay
The wind's bite drew a dog's bark
Chains couldn't trap a canine cognisance
The abandoned cars had dealt up their occupants
to the Squinting Cat or the Hunter's Arms,
where fire, food and liquor locked out the freeze
But there were others
whom only the dogs could sense,
who had set off from the moor's far side
to seek their solace in the snow
Not even the sheep had stayed
to welcome them
The forecast broadcast,
they'd been penned
All night the dogs howled
All night the farmer cursed

The farmer found four corpses
huddled in two loving-pairs

The moor's far side found
its unwelcome hippie guests had gone

The coroner found death
by misadventure

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 10th January 1972

Publications

1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

Have It

HAVE IT

            Have  it
            Show  it
            Hide  it
            Give  it
            Keep  it
            Bed   it
            Save  it
            Make  it
            Sell  it
            Buy   it
            Speak it
            Act   it
            Love  it
            Free  it
            Do    it
            Want  it
            Get   it
            Try   it
            Use   it
            Steal it
            Beg   it
            Lend  it
            Loan  it
            But   above   all

            Have  it

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 2nd January 1972

Publication

1990 The Affiliate (Canada)

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)

(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)

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)

Politician's Proverb

POLITICIAN'S PROVERB

A slogan a day
keeps the electorate at bay

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 2nd February 1967

Publications

1972 Wormwood Review (USA)
1988 Pennine Ink (UK)
1989 The Affiliate (Canada)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)