in the / Citadel / Park / a leaf / new / ly fell

Tags

'scape, 2013, 8*, attention, Belgium, block, breeze, circular poem, clouds, Ghent, leaf, living, looking, lost, notice, park, path, preoccupied, reaching, searching, seeing, settling, shops, sitting, trees, undergrowth, writing

 

 

 

                                              stuck
                         lost and                         for  something
            preoccupied                                  to write
             and shops                                         I am
            past trees                                             usually plagued
             as I drift                                               by clustered
  I am looking at                                 in the belly-heavy
to see everything                                         Citadel
            stopping me                                  rainclouds Park
        my subconscious                         idling                     a leaf
                                            through                                           new
                                                                              ly fell to                         for the
                                                                        the path                                    constant search
                                                                 the breeze                                           reach for the
                                                     worries the top                                                 more to
                                                          of the trees                                                     deal with
                                                          constantly                                                       more to
                                                          but lets the                                                     they have
                                                        undergrowth                                                  it seems
                                                              settle itself                                             when they reach                                
                                                               comfortably                                      it’s only
                                                                         into its seat                         unnoticed
                                                                                                 alert and

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

attention & looking wormhole: Day Out
breeze & clouds & seeing wormhole: weight
circular poem & sitting wormhole: wakeoutofadream
living wormhole: nothing significant
park & path wormhole: the bench
searching wormhole: that comicbookshop … // … in dreams
settling wormhole: six paramitas
shops wormhole: time travel
trees wormhole: within
writing wormhole: Virginia

 

time travel

Tags

2013, 3*, chimney stacks, London, looking, shops, the Shard, time

time travel

looking
past the lone chimney stack with
preserved lightning strip
over the shop
under the
arches
before the
Shard

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

London wormhole: south horizon
looking wormhole: to allow / passage
shops wormhole: that comicbookshop … // … in dreams
time wormhole: where it has taken birth / may it not decrease …

 

that comicbookshop … // … in dreams

Tags

1960s, 2015, 8*, anxiety, bay window, black, childhood, collecting, comics, doing, doors, dream, Edward Hopper, eyes, floorboards, frustration, grey, heart, high, hill, labyrinth, lemon, life, lifetimes, lino, message, moon, morning, numbers, path, pipes, Plumstead, power, reaching, searching, shadow, shops, sky, smell, society, streets, sycamore, Thames, universe, walls, windows, Woolwich, wormhole, writing

that comicbookshop …

where the sidestreets meet together off the highstreets
under slanting shadows down the rear pipework of façades and blackened window
from so much higher up than could never concern us it’s frightening,
the morning after Hopper’s Nighthawks,
is closing down

the ones I try to get to when I find myself done in town
(right after the frustration of trying to get somewhere or the anxiety of trying to
get away from somewhere that always follows me) but never arrive at;
I make my various ways there, I know the routes
like the back of my hand

the ones with warped door stuck at the top or stuck at the bottom
(will the glass pane hold), with step onto lino once lemon and grey with hope
now one with the floorboards sagging under warren of backrooms (forgotten lifetimes
wormholes everywhere) to the pulp of paper and number for finding,                
are closing down; I

should have patronised them more, I suppose;
`still haven’t found that second issue, that elusive fourth, and the stacks
just kept on sliding: lettering and universes pressing their skies and moons into my eyeball
but I couldn’t keep up with them, blinked too soon, have to get on,
things to do, places to be

it’s having a sale, clearing all stock; the sentinels stand impassive
to all find, impassive to all loss, hooded eyes on somefaraway beach;
for old times’ sake I pick some up, figures reaching stanceofopera out of panel,
maybe a sixth issue, maybe an intertextual fanzine, avoid the modern
too defined in detail, too static in marque,

and come away with stash held to heart, out
into the bustle busily in all direction, weak indication and giant message
I’ll work my way uphill by quiet sidestreet past high walls holding sycamores and
bay windows over the river home to catalogue my finds like a labyrinth and
plot their weave like a stanza

… in dreams

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

anxiety & searching wormhole: pocket
black & shops wormhole: the silent night of the Batman
childhood & life wormhole: alighted
comics wormhole: ah … // oh … // meanwhile … // … // tha ya ta …
doing & dream & lifetimes wormhole: comfy
doors wormhole: hello, luvvey, do you want a cup of tea?
Edward Hopper wormhole: El Palacio, 1946
eyes wormhole: Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters] – snow
grey & morning & Plumstead & shadow & sky & streets wormhole: faintly apricot air?
lemon wormhole: 1967
moon wormhole: the too big moon
path wormhole: Clea
power wormhole: the skyline
smell wormhole: 1967
society wormhole: this sodden land
Thames wormhole: time
walls wormhole: familiasyncopation
windows wormhole: open window
Woolwich wormhole: up on the hill
writing wormhole: writing: // in turn

 

the silent night of the Batman

Tags

1970, 7*, attention, Batman, black, blue, Christmas, city, dawn, east, fear, glass, green, guilt, ink, light, Neal Adams, night, purple, quiet, river, rooftops, rose, shadow, shops, sky, skyline, smile, sound, south, stars, streetlamp, vista, windows, writing

                the silent night of the Batman

                even while they carried their
                gift-wrapped parcels and looked
                to each other with smiles of belief

                the shop signs hummed dark
                against the marbled frontage
                while above, the quiet floors

                of stone windows looked east
                looked south in the ink-black sky
                enough to write a novel in a

                single sitting, enough to hold
                a fleet of stars above the skyline
                stacking slowly; when the sky

                is ink-green the rooftop
                gathers ink-blue attention
                and leaps without step or

                swing through the glass and
                ledges of city vista, the lingering
                thought to shadow the guilt,

                the alley divide to streetlamp
                the fear, and over the river the rose
                cast high and wide to the stars until

                marzipan fingers reach across the
                ink-purple sky and marshmallow lights
                go out

 

 

I am so pleased to say that this is the sixth time I have posted this poem, mostly always on Christmas Eve: the poem in which my hero-ego – Batman – doesn’t appear and yet everthing is done by his having been there all along; Batman doesn’t swing across the rooftops, it’s just that we sometimes find the space to change our minds; who is the Santa Claus for the 21st century – Batman (termsandconditionsapply:discussionaboutexistenceis … irrelevant); sculpted out of “The Silent Night of the Batman” in Batman #219 by Gary Friedrich and Neal Adams

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

attention wormhole: interim
Batman wormhole: the too big moon
black & skyline wormhole: the skyline
blue & sky & streetlight & windows & writing wormhole: passing below
Christmas wormhole: 1967
city wormhole: 1966
dawn wormhole: The Boats of Vallisneria by Michael J. Redford – A Precious Moment
glass wormhole: time
green & sound wormhole: Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters] – intemperance
light wormhole: ah … // oh … // meanwhile … // … // tha ya ta …
night wormhole: “The Lady from Nowhere”
purple wormhole: 1967
river wormhole: pen and ruler
rooftops wormhole: passersby
shadow wormhole: Prajnaparamita // Maitreya
shops wormhole: ‘hope for things to come’
smile wormhole: comfy
stars wormhole: Clea

 

‘hope for things to come’

Tags

'scape, 2016, 20th century, 4*, bay window, buildings, Eastbourne, grey, history, hope, life, looking, promise, rooftops, shops, storey, time, white

                     stories above shop fronts look
                     outwards bay and grey, their white

                     capped finials preserved in spike
                     for the due middle between the

                     beginning of ground floor promise
                     and the rooftop end of ‘hope for things to come’

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

20th century wormhole: Doctor Strange II – … things are the same again
buildings & history wormhole: listen willya
Eastbourne wormhole: the missing chord // the now-silent seagull
grey wormhole: carpet worn / to the backing – poewieview #30
life wormhole: what life went on
looking & time wormhole: Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters] by Mark L. Redford – from arm to nature, doing nothing
rooftops wormhole: 1967
shops wormhole: constant hummm
white wormhole: trellis / and wisteria – poewieview #29

 

constant hummm

Tags

2016, 6*, air, arrival, being, Birmingham, buildings, city, compassion, curtains, echo, evening, hotel, laughing, loneliness, pavement, pink, realisation, salmon, searching, shops, sky, sound, speech, travelling, voices, walls

 

 

 

                           so we arrive
                           encased in the hotel
                           with constant hummm

                           or is it blown air
                           in the walls,
                           between buildings

                           eddying in a
                           pink-salmon sky
                           somewhere searching

                           for something from
                           which to bounce
                           to be; so, what to do in this

                           fair city: as the light falls
                           behind the curtains
                           voices claim and ex

                           and ‘ngaarrh’ and hack-saw-
                           laugh to company echo
                           from paviours and shops front

                           just slightly too late to
                           realise that we are all
                           just lonely, after all

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

air wormhole: first Spring storm
being wormhole: diligence
buildings wormhole: 1967
city wormhole: bavardage
compassion wormhole: finding my own true nature – Plumstead, Woolwich, 190915
curtains wormhole: 1968
echo wormhole: Hurst Green
evening wormhole: Michael Redford: triptych
hotel & sky wormhole: the missing chord // the now-silent seagull
pink wormhole: nothing to say
realisation & walls wormhole: Jericho
searching wormhole: and that’s where I are
shops wormhole: words tumble like / boulders – poewieview #25
sound & speech wormhole: currency of generations
travelling & voices wormhole: being in love – poewieview #26

 

words tumble like / boulders – poewieview #25

Tags

1970s, 1971, 2016, bed, Bowie, brick, buildings, cartoon, clouds, flats, form, guitar, hearing, height, litter, music, park, passing, pipes, shops, silence, sky, step, suburbia, trees, wind, words, world, writing

                           lying still enough in the quiet of bedclothes
                           you can hear the pops in the sky as the
                           clouds settle and the resolve of form as

                           the trees are passed, all big-flared steps
                           through the park like the coming cartoons,
                           into the suburbs, (across the globe), but

                           always back to the room above the shops
                           under height of building pipework and the
                           block of flats, where the brick and grime

                           ignore the swirling litter … but then later,
                           among strumming, the words tumble like
                           boulders, each to their own defining clunk

 

settled throughout: Holy Holy, 1971; Oh! You Pretty Things, 1971; Fill Your Heart, 1971; How Lucky You Are (Miss Peculiar), 1971; Hang On To Yourself, 1971, after the dust

Read the collected movements in David Bowie: Movements in Suite Major

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

1971 wormhole: 1971
Bowie & buildings & wind wormhole: no one – poewieview #24
clouds wormhole: b / r / e / a / t / h / i / n / g
guitar wormhole: 08:55
music wormhole: well,
park & trees wormhole: 1963
passing & silence wormhole: 1965
shops wormhole: crease and score of silver-morning sky
sky wormhole: 1968
words wormhole: my // shell – poewieview #19
world wormhole: tong len / the inauguration of another – timely – butter fly effect / taking and giving
writing wormhole: need

 

crease and score of silver-morning sky

Tags

'scape, 2015, architecture, buildings, chimney, class, dome, glass, hats, life, morning, pediment, photograph, pillars, pipes, privacy, reaching, shops, silver, sky, society, streets, temple, time, Wellington Street, windows, wood, Woolwich, words

 

 

 

                           buildings rise through time upon
                           all manner of wood-frame and
                           glass-case and curlèd-word frontage

                           with banner over blurring street-
                           function and hats of class
                           below stony windows of raised

                           privacy up by pillared frontages
                           and side-street down-pipe
                           up to lipped pediment and frilly

                           chimney all hunched in a row
                           to dome and timèd temple
                           filigree of reach oblivious to the

                           crease and score of silver-morning sky

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

buildings wormhole: organ / sunlight in all our eyes – poewieview #11
chimney wormhole: fine droplets / across the glass
glass & time wormhole: where the goblins leered – poewieview #14
life & sky wormhole: life [‘n’ death] / legerdemain – poewieview #15
morning wormhole: London Hearts – poewieview #4
shops wormhole: the silent night of the Batman
silver wormhole: earthed
sky wormhole: Nostalgia for Samsara – poewieview #16
streets & windows wormhole: early evening
wood wormhole: dream 260815
Woolwich wormhole: finding my own true nature – Plumstead, Woolwich, 190915
words wormhole: quite … / … yet – poewieview #12

 

the silent night of the Batman

Tags

'scape, 1970, 2011, alley, attention, Batman, belief, black, blue, buildings, city, cornice, dark, east, fear, glass, green, guilt, ink, leap, light, marble, marzipan, night, purple, river, rooftops, rose, shadow, shopping, shops, silence, sky, skyline, smile, sound, south, stars, stone, streetlight, thought, vista, windows, writing, years

 

 

 

                     the silent night of the Batman

                     even while they carried their
                     gift-wrapped parcels and looked
                     to each other with smiles of belief

                     the shop signs hummed dark
                     against the marbled frontage
                     while above the quiet floors

                     of stone-framed window looked east
                     looked south all the same in ink-black sky
                     enough to write a novel in a single sitting

                     enough to hold a fleet of stars
                     above the skyline stacking slowly;
                     when the sky turns ink-green the rooftop

                     gathers ink-blue attention and leaps
                     without step or swing through the
                     glass and cornice of city vista and

                     lingering thought to shadow the guilt
                     to alley the share to streetlamp the fear
                     and river the rose cast high and wide to the stars

                     until marzipan fingers reach across the
                     ink-purple sky and marshmallow lights
                     go out

 

cf. “The Silent Night of the Batman” by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, published in Batman #219, February 1970

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

attention wormhole: left alone
Batman wormhole: we play / the game
black & blue & green & sky wormhole: clouds
buildings & shops wormhole: Christmas lights / around the lamp post
city & light & windows & years wormhole: 1967
glass wormhole: dream 260815
night wormhole: Hotel Room, 1931
purple & rooftops wormhole: purple and mauve
river wormhole: row boat
shadow wormhole: com- / mute
silence wormhole: de Boeddha // of light
skyline & stone wormhole: sit
sound wormhole: plop!
streetlight wormhole: portrait: / two pigeons
thought wormhole: Automat, 1927 – held
writing wormhole: when writing // stay

 

Christmas lights / around the lamp post

Tags

'scape, 2004, being, buildings, bus, Christmas, corner, lamp post, light, morning, shops, streets, sun, traffic lights, Woolwich, yellow

 

 

 

                                Christmas lights
                                around the lamp post

                                for no apparent reason
                                the block of offices

                                overhangs
                                the street, at the corner

                                the traffic light at yellow,
                                the 291 turning right into the morning sun

                                low on the morning shops
                                between office blocks

 

 

 

^{————w}(O)rmholes_________________________________|—–

being wormhole: ‘stunted trees …’
buildings wormhole: the breath of London
bus wormhole: after the storm
Christmas wormhole: the silent night of the Batman
light wormhole: Hotel Room, 1931
morning wormhole: Chop Suey, 1929
shops & streets wormhole: 08:55
sun wormhole: clouds
traffic lights wormhole: 1959 –– MANHATTAN –– 2012
Woolwich wormhole: currency: / assent for statement – / ‘smakin’alivvin’
yellow wormhole: like butterflies on / buddleia