THINK OF A TITLE.

The dandelion is rooted between two kerbstones,
close to the swerve of tyres, the scrape of shoes.

Rising achenes traverse cols of purple shadow, before
accidentally colonising the first chimney to snag them.

Forty feet below, the progenitor has suddenly
been reduced to a smear of latex and chlorophyll.

At exactly the same moment flashes of sunshine reflected
off passing motor vehicles trigger a young man's seizure.

Unconscious he wanders into the path of a Jeep Compass,
where he dies. Fewer than 5% of epileptics are photosensitive.

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TOWARDS

NORMALITY

I remedied the problems of being an eccentric

child by practising until perfect the knack

of acquiring a high-status layer of filth.

The best place to do this was at the brook

near the Methodist cricket pitch. From the boundary

there sloped the Rocky Mountains, the Alps,

and the Himalayas down to our sometime dam,

which we busted every time it was rebuilt.

This slope had no grass on it. There, after rain

an expert could slide upon backside until clay became

his second skin. The water below easily impregnated

any shoe and when dammed would wash over the top

of wellies, leaving small worms and a smell

which not only mothers could detect. Perfect.

READ ABOUT A DIFFERENT

COMPLEX-PARTIAL SEIZURE

FOR EACH DAY OF THE WEEK:

Go to Friday, 18 Jan 2013.

there you’ll find Monday’s surprise.

That will do for a start...........

SCULPTOR’S STATEMENT

doodles

whittlings by a campfire

bits and shavings and splinters

scratching sounds, tappings

enquiries by children

tactilicities and aromas

voyages in vision

meanderings of light

teasings, selfish satisfactions

insides manifested

caresses with intent

playfulness

no more

no less

CHILL WIND FACTORS

It overtakes me at speed, and goes trilby-ing

through a coach party of L.S.Lowry look-alikes.

I’d left home early, feeling warm. Now the chasing

air drills through the back of the woollen sweater

bought in preference to a windproof synthetic fleece.

Tears and snot fly when I return into the easterly.

Next time I’ll rise at midday to shower and brunch,

wear a coat and get a taxi to take me home. 

THE DRUM, THE DANCER,

THE AUDIENCE

Black bin liner, inside out,

filled with wind, anchored

at the rim of a cast iron bin.

Close your eyes.

It is a snare drum playing

polyrhythms to the morning.

Accents, flams, ruffs,

and silences that hold the sounds

together, keep them free.

Open your eyes.

The dancer takes the place

of your imagination. Clicking

fingers, intakes of breath

as each highlight flashing

momentarily denotes a change

in time signature, testing

the concentration, captivating.

Better go soon. The commuters

are almost here, with their spoilsport

tactic of getting in the way,

not realising these dances-in-the-wind

will never, cannot ever be repeated.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Names variously engender style, charm,

wit, warmth, control, subtlety, flair,

passion, love, adventure, courage.

They come from every direction

you care to look. Some are still with us.

Many more are yet to appear below, to

join these writers who enrich the world.

Dante Alghieri (1265-1321)

Moliere (1622-1673)

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Edward Lear (1812-1888)

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

George Innes (1825-1894)

R.D.Blackmore (1825-1900)

Emily Dickenson (1830-1886)

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

Charles Altamont Doyle (1832-1893)

Bjornstjerne Bjornson  (1832-1910)

Ion Creanga (1837-1889)

Joachim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908)

Dmitri Sinodi-Popov (1855-1910)

Minakata Kumagusu (1867-1941)

Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931)

Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Grahame Greene (1904-1991)

Laurie Lee (1914-1997)

Kiffin Williams (1918-2006)

Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

Max Clifford (1943-    )

Karen Armstrong (1944-    )

Thom Jones (1945-    )

Stephen Knight (1951-1985)

DeBarra Mayo (1953-    )

Kathy Sierra (1957-    )
Caroline Page (1958-    )

Jago Eliot (1966-2006)

Can you name all the works they have written,

count the numbers of folks they have inspired?

Can you name the shared experience

that links the brains of these great writers?

Yes. The name of the brain condition is Epilepsy.

Note: a more interesting list can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_epilepsy#Art_and_writing