(f43)

passing McVitie's
the warm odour of baking
makes me feel hungry

© Gerald England

Composed: Stockport, 9th September 1997

Unpublished

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

Photograph © Gerald England.
PICCADILLY GARDENS, MANCHESTER

fiercely competing
for old ice-cream cones
pigeons fly down
from their perch
on the roof of the ladies loo
to vie with a solitary sparrow
that hides in the flowerbeds

over the heads
of single mums
couples cuddling on the grass
quietly kissing
and jaded travellers
who rest on benches
a cabbage-white flutters by

the noise of nearby traffic
and the hoot of trams
barely penetrates above
the gentle cooing
of the pigeons
in this City Centre haven
where the ratrace stops
for a minute or two

© Gerald England

Composed: Manchester, 17th August 1997

Publications

1997 Afterthoughts (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Lateral Moves (UK)

[Note: The gardens have long since gone]

tanka 25

i.m. Geoff Tomlinson

at your funeral
we sit all quiet in pews
waiting to begin
then suddenly — the brass band
blasting out "Hail Smiling Morn"

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 13th August 1997

Publication

2005 Anglo-Japanese Tanka Society (Internet)

(f40)

[text not to hand]

Composed: York, 25th July 1997

Publication

2007 Curlew (UK)

Morning Call

MORNING CALL

A sudden knock
on the wooden door
sends the dog leaping
from one to another room
against background of barking
two men at the doorway
talk about God and Satan
witnessing to Jehovah
The dog yaps
the owner listens
answers quietly
neither agreeing
nor arguing
In a room upstairs
his naked wife
curls under satin sheets
suppressing laughter
Beaten but undefeated
the men leave
the door shuts
the dog quietens
the woman rises
the man maintains his silence.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 11th July 1997

Publications

1997 Cyberscribers (Internet)
1999 Skald (UK)

(f38)

the double-decker
abandoned in the layby
— driver gone AWOL

© Gerald England

Composed: Bury, 4th July 1997

Publication

2006 Curlew (UK)

(f37)

all the way to Bury
alone on the upper deck
of the 139

© Gerald England

Composed: Bury, 4th July 1997

Publication

1997 Zimmerzine (Internet)

(f36)

his bare bronzed skin,
eyes fixed firmly on the ground
— the hunch-back jogger

© Gerald England

Composed: Prestwich, 4th July 1997

Publication

2011 Time Haiku

Haiku for Minden 1200

[text not to hand]

Composed: Gee Cross, 3rd July 1997

Publication

1998 Minden 1200 (Video)

Note: this was a contribution to a mail art project celebrating the 1200th anniversary of the city of Minden, Germany. A video presentation of the exhibition was released after the event.

(f35)

supermarket caf' --
waiting for the food to come
my coffee goes cold

© Gerald England

Composed: Dukinfield, 12th April 1997

Publication

2011 The Journal

(f34)

this cold Good Friday
I walk with my son down town
to buy hot-cross-buns

© Gerald England

Composed: Hyde, 28th March 1997

Publications

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)
2007 Curlew (UK)

*****
ovog hladnog Velikog Petka
šetam sa sinom donjim gradom
da kupim vruèe-križ-pevivo


Gerald England

translated into Croatian by Marijan Èekolj


Publication

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)

Viewing the Comet

Photograph © 1997 Valentin Grigore.

VIEWING THE COMET

(for Mother)

The day before your funeral, as I bath my son,
I tell him. "Tomorrow we are saying goodbye
to Grandma; — she is going away
to meet and be with Jesus."

The knock on the door is our neighbour’s child
hoping to borrow binoculars which we lost years ago.
She points out the Hale-Bopp comet, bright in the Northern
sky, visible even above the city lights.

Because of the biting wind, I return indoors
to dry my son and my eyes.

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 26th March 1997

Publications

1997 The Pink Cadillac Review (Internet)
1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1998 Aireings (UK)
2008 Ackworth born, gone West (Internet)

Changing Trains

CHANGING TRAINS

It's shoo-dee-dee-shoo-shoo
on the Intercity up to Crewe
where we're happy to be able
to visit a loo that is standing still —
then it's clickety-clack-clack
on the local train back home.

© Gerald England

Composed: Sandbach, 29th December 1996

Publication

2000 Breathe (UK)

(f33)

intercity train --
in the "No Smoking" toilet
an empty ashtray

© Gerald England

Composed: London, 29th December 1996

Publication

2011 The Journal (UK)

(f32)

first hesitant words
coming out of the coma
— No! Yes! Coke!

© Gerald England

Composed: Woodley, 14th December 1996

Pubications

1998 LIMBO TIME (Hyde, New Hope International)
1999 NASA (USA)
1999 Sparrow (Croatia)
2000 MIR (USA)

*****
prve neodluène rijeèi
dolaze iz kome
— Ne! Da! Cocal-cola!

Gerald England

translated into Croatian by Marijan Èekolj

Publication

1999 Sparrow (Croatia)

(f31)

at the platform edge
a mouse scurrying along
— Embankment Station

© Gerald England

Composed: London, 30th November 1996

Publication

2011 Time Haiku (UK)

(f30)

the magpies gather
on a mobile-phone-relay
— dawn on the M6

© Gerald England

Composed: Whitgreave, 30th November 1996

Publication

2011 Time Haiku (UK)

adam 8

Human beings
have freedom of thought
yet demand
freedom of speech —
how absurd are men —
do they not know
that the doors of fortune
open outwards
and therefore
cannot be stormed?

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 7

his charming surface judgements
did not look beyond
the tissue of truth —
he'd been floundering for some time
— overwhelmed like fish
washed out to sea with the tide —
the gulf stream of life

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)

adam 6

this guileless bubble
came to exist
within the womb
as fruit implanted
in a rich pasture,
suckling on its mother,
absorbed in a world
of tissue, cartilage and blood

© Gerald England

Composed: Gee Cross, 9th October 1996

Publication

2000 EOTU (Internet)