(g3)

              the yellow peril
              ravishing the countryside
              - fields of oil seed rape

              © GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Featherstone, 15th May 1989

Publication

1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)

Waiting for the Kettle to Boil

WAITING FOR THE KETTLE TO BOIL

Torches flash

From children

Banned to play

Quietly in cars.

On the back seat

A dog shivers

Sniffs for sheep

Two fields away.

Over the hill

Snow clouds gather.

Mother makes lace.

Father does

The washing up.

The radio broadcasts

The forecast.

No-one listens

As the steam rises.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Tong, 14th March 1988

Publications

1990 Bold Print (USA)

1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)

*****

              ESPERANDO A CACAROLA FERVER

              O fogo faisca.

              As criancas foram proibidas

              de brincar. Estao quietas

              no carro. No banco de tras

              o cachorro treme

              cheirando os carneiros

              no campo distante.

              No alto do monte

              o ceu se carrega de nuvens de neve.

              A mae faz renda.

              O pai se lava.

              O radio irradia

              a previsao do tempo.

              Ninguem presta atencao

              quando o vapor sobe.

              GERALD ENGLAND

              Traducao por Teresinka Pereira

Publication

1990 POESIA INGLESA (Bluffton, International Writers and Artists Association)

Spring

SPRING

Spring is a young girl who having helped
her mother with chores goes, still
with her pinny on, barefoot to where
the sheep graze on a hillside by a pond
There, throwing her straw bonnet aside,
she throws her body down beside her young sister
and picking a buttercup, examines it,
marvelling at the detail of nature,
seeing the sun's colour in its petals
Her sister stares into the water
and wonders what it is her elder knows

© Gerald England

Composed: Edinburgh, 1st July 1979

1980 THE RAINBOW AND OTHER POEMS (Heckmondwyke, Fighting Cock Press)
1981 Britannic Magazine (UK)
1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)
1992 Poesie India (India)
2002 EOTU (Internet)
2004 Iodine (USA)

(3)

lunch almost ready;
distracted by bridegroom's kiss -
first burnt offering

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th December 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1981 DADDYCATION (Ashton under Lyne, New Hope International)
1990 Maple Valley Vine (USA)
1991 Envoi (UK)

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)