(19)

walking in footsteps
of another's path, dying
where the footsteps cease.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 1st May 1970

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)
1992 Quickenings (USA)

(16)

have freedom of thought
yet demand freedom of speech -
how absurd are men

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 25th March 1970

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

(12)

not just sitting there -
he was sat, as he always
sat - not just sitting

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 20th February 1970

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

(8) & (9)

instant tea and milk
in a paper cup with four
saccharin tablets

*****
kettle on coal fire;
a warmed staffordshire teapot;
five minutes to mash

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sheffield, 2nd February 1970

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1971 OVERGROUND (Pontefract, Whitwood and District Arts Association)

(6)

first the snow will fall;
the thawing wind will follow;
the weather remains

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth 26th December 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1972 Roots (UK)
1987 Red Pagoda (USA)

*****
yuki furite
soyokaze fukite
jo tenki

Japanese translation by Sakuzo Takada

Publications

1987 Red Pagoda (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)

Snow

SNOW

A thin layer of virgin-white snow,
freshly fallen at 1 a.m.,
covers the road of mud
and dirt left by lorries
toing and froing the building site.
The track of the tyres
of a late-night car
stand out upon the newlaid snow
like pioneer pathways
across the terrain of life.
Soon these marks will vanish
beneath yet newer snow,
and at daybreak
pedestrians will curse the snow
churning it up with the mud below
revealing again the builder's muck.
But, as here for a moment I stand,
I see, reflected by streetlamps,
the beauty which is winter's;
yet the cold shivers
send me running to the warmth
of my electric-blanketed bed.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st December 1969

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

Christmas Present

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Jesus Christ was God's Christmas present to the world!
Oh yes!
We opened the gift up very carefully
but we saved the wrappings
and threw away
the present!

© Gerald England

Composed: York, 7th July 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Pontefract & Castleford Express (UK)
1970 Tait's Quarterly (UK)
1972 Roots (UK)
1972 Ludds Mill (UK)
1973 ENVIRONMENT (Thames Ditton, Ember Press)
1973 Purston Parish Magazine (UK)
1985 New Hope International (UK)
1990 Omnific (USA)

*****
WEIHNACHTGESCHENK

jesus christus war gottes weihnachtsgeschenk fur die welt
o ja
wir haben das geschenk sorgfaltig geoffnet
abet wir haben das geschenkpapier aufgehoben
und das geschenk
weggeworfen

gerald england

aus dem englischen ubersetzt von elly grothof-nouwen

Publications

1983 Lyrik-Mappe (Austria)
1985 New Hope International (UK)

*****
PRESENTE DE NATAL

[Portuguese translation by Teresinka Pereira- text not to hand]

Publications

1985 New Hope International (UK)
1986 Literatura Internacional (USA)

Epitaph for Two Vultures

EPITAPH FOR TWO VULTURES

Two demented vultures
sitting on Lover's Leap

Says one to the other -
The Age of Love
I fear
is over

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 7th June 1969

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Pontefract & Castleford Express (UK)
1990 Verve (USA)

The Sands of Southend

THE SANDS OF SOUTHEND

When I think of sand
I remember the golden sands
of a beach little-visited.
The sands of Southend
on the Mull of Kintyre
is made of softest gold,
stretching along from where hens
play in the road,
down to the waves
rolling over towards Ireland.
The old dilapidated lifeboat house,
long-abandoned in favour of
the calmer waters of Campbeltown Loch,
lies waiting for some industrial archaeologist
to rediscover and investigate anew.
White flat stones, the silver amid the gold -
ideal for skimming, (my favorite occupation);
those stones could bounce
full thirteen times
before sinking beneath the rolling waves - .
The sky above is sometimes blue as amethyst,
sometimes as sapphire,
but always precious, even when
from dark clouds the rains
of heavy storms pour
and mists obscure the view across Sanda Sound.
These are times when no-one walks
on the sands of Dunaverty Bay and Brunerican Bay.
Always the mist and the rain clear,
giving way to the sun,
on the golden sands of Southend.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ackworth, 1st April 1969

Publication

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)

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)

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)

Death of Cleopatra, after Carlo Cignani

DEATH OF CLEOPATRA, AFTER CARLO CIGNANI

(Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow)

The Death is the dying,
that short fleeting moment
between the living
and the dead,
which is a seeming eternity.

As the asp curls round your arm
you clasp your left hand under your breast,
you raise your right arm
in a final, feeble, royal command;
but as the asp draws the skin of your breast
between its teeth,
your eyes cry out in agony.

Even Queens have to die!

© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 1st September 1967

Publications

1968 Platform (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1994 Potpourri (USA)
1997 The Writer's Home Page (Internet)

Mill Poem

MILL POEM

Jill
climbed hill
with Phil
saw mill
in rill
on hill
Sails still

Pinned
no wind

Which sought
they'd bought

Jill
gave Phil
the bill
for mill
in rill
on hill

Nought
he thought
did Phil
of bill

For two
would do

Jill
felt ill
in mill
in rill
on hill
Phil
gave Jill
a pill

Not pure
no cure

She cried
she died

Phil
buried Jill
in mill
in rill
on hill

Went home
to Rome
with Salom-
e

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 20th August 1967

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1970 Headland (UK)

Not My Home

NOT MY HOME

Glasgow never had been my home!
  My home
was elsewhere;
but I did admit to living
  there.

There were times when I would almost
have called the city
  mine,
but I was constantly reminded
that I was a foreigner
  in that city.

There was a lack of communication
  which lay
not in speech,
  nor even
   nationality!

It lay perhaps
 in the dust of the streets;
 in the halves and half-pints;
 in the pseudo-religious cult of football;
 in the crumbling tenements:
it lay ingrained
 in the superficial.

Deep in the hearts of the city people
  there was perhaps
  no difference
between they
 and I.

Glasgow was not my home,
but I did admit to living there.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 1st August 1967

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1990 The Plastic Tower (USA)

The Heart of a River

THE HEART OF A RIVER

  Upstream–-
      The bridge,
    The wharf
      The town
    The noise
      Of the throng
        Of factories
      Of fun!

  Downstream---
      out into the coldness of the sea
      a vast emptiness
      of roaring wave!

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 16th June 1967

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1986 The Old Police Station (UK)
1986 Bull (UK)
1994 Tree Trunk (USA)
2005 Haiku Scotland (UK)

**********
O CORACAO DE UM RIO

Rio acima----
a ponte,
o porto
a cidade
o barulho
do povo
das fabricas
do divertimento!

Rio abaixo
indo a frieza do mar
uma vasta extensao vazia
de ondas rugindo!

GERALD ENGLAND

(Traducao de Teresinka Pereira)

Publication

1990 International Poetry

**********
INIMA UNUI RAU

In susul apei
Podul
Debarcaderul
Orasul
Zgomotul
Multimii
Fabricilor
De Distractii

In josul apei
in raceala marii
o vasta goliciune
de val furtunos.

GERALD ENGLAND

Romanian translation by Octavian Blaga and Florentin Smarandache

Publication

believed to have been published in a Romanian journal but details not known.

A Laster Can By Runoster

A LASTER CAN BY RUNOSTER

A laster can by runoster
the moon of Ulf Dar-coster
staphled at Gleanmar,
west of danmore santar.

Li naptered underday nick San
at Inver sin li nulli dan;
san kiptered for some nectar lime
et visited by laminers in ophirkime.
So by and by San mak demise
tey gan the war wen summer please!

San twa equine in lofter had,
jet sich up in the bad:
best twa equine in Inver lay,
none tete-a-tete severed li may;
et Oriental Runoster by San staphle,
li cupped by Sanson li baffle.

© Gerald England

Composed: Ackworth, 6th June 1967

Publications

1968 Bo Heem E Um (UK)
1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
2004 Chanticleer (UK)

Musaphobia

MUSAPHOBIA

I heard a new word today.
It has two meanings
apparently;
- quite distinct - I am assured.
Musaphobia: dislike of mice
                   or poetry.

I've often been asked
whether I were man
         or mouse.

I can answer that now
for there is a likeness there -
the seeming insignificant
which none-the-less
can frighten the mighty ELEPHANT,
or make women
           stand
                 on chairs        
                           & lift
                                  their skirts.

Yes the poem does have affinity with
   the mouse.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Glasgow, 1st May 1967

Publications

1970 MOUSINGS (Sheffield, Headland)
1989 Eavesdropper (UK)
1990 Inkshed (UK)
1997 Tara's Poetry Page (Internet)
2010 Chanticleer (Internet)