The Uncalm

THE UNCALM

as sky and moor merge
the distinction
between
hillside and cloud
blurs

we are waiting
wondering
just when the wind will
drop
and the snow
fall

shivering
anticipating
we hurry
to complete chores
hoping soon
to get back
to the safety
of home fires

there we wall ourselves
in
from winter’s
desolate whiteness

© Gerald England

Composed: Stockport, 17th December 1997

Publication

1998 The Endless Mountains Review (USA)

Getting Close

GETTING CLOSE

The geese do not know which way to turn
they have been circling the equator for days now
not one of them is qualified to drive the jumbo jet
and I have hijacked her dream.

The elephants have gone on strike
demanding double pay and a shorter week
while the iguanas are busy searching the dictionary
for words they can use in their defence.

She looks for others to pilot her past
the dining-room table on which a vase of daffodils
waits for the clocks to forward
the nose cone misses but the noise still shatters the glass.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Gee Cross, 27th March 1993

Publications

1994 The Endless Mountains Review (USA)
1998 The Free Cuisenart (Internet)

Genesis Ver. 8.37

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Composed: Gee Cross, 23rd August 1992

Publications

1993 International Poetry (USA)
1993 Endless Mountains Review (USA)

Bennachie

BENNACHIE

There is a car-park
at the back of Bennachie
and a log-cabin loo in preservative green.
Forestry Commission firs populate the slopes -
these trees the new colonisers
of ground where men eked a bare living
before the lairds divided the land.

The cone of the Mither Tap
oversees all Buchan and Strathbogie,
this Iron Age fort now tumble-down scree
- granite lintels weather slowly.

Twenty-nine bullocks are daily led
to pasture under the mountain's side -
the thirtieth loner, sufferer of sunburn,
is left companion to the tractor.

A road leads by "My Lord's Throat"
where the larynxed Don is littered
by stone teeth that seem to be
as old as Bennachie itself.

© Gerald England

Composed: Monymusk, 8th August 1989

Publications

1990 Kangaroos & Beans (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1995 Northwords (UK)
1998 Perihelion (Internet)
1998 The Endless Mountains Review (USA)

Vacation Time

VACATION TIME

Through the windy pass
frozen waterfalls cling to fell sides
In the valley park
the river is rapid with melt
To a young boy
swans are just big ducks
The bypass-building bulldozers
menace bank-holiday traffic

At nightfall
the weather howls between trees
Over the radio
comes news of strife and hardship
Inside
minds are still with sleep
Puzzle solutions
are put back to bed again

© Gerald England

Composed: Manton Farm, 20th March 1986

Publications

1993 Endless Mountain Review (USA)
1988 Conspire (Internet)