Poem for July

here doing what I do best
weeding reading drinking

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tax bills deadlines work undone
I plan a seat round the sycamore

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time spent with black parrot queen of the night tulip
bulbs why not working sitting

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early bus to town for teachings better
follow the drumming woodpecker into the woods

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woodpecker drumming lapwings
wings lapping all the way

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the marble hall all suits & security
guards missing the rain in my garden

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old lady scattering bread for birds
blossom stuck to her shoes all there is

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daughter gone into the world
sometimes I leave her room light on

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autumn leaves gather in corners
doing nothing most gets done

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old cooking pot under sky where I wash my hands gardening stir up
little frogs carry them to the pond where the geese now argue no nothing

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fell over drunk precepts
gone vow gone shin hurts palm hurts instep hurts

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such a small beetle passes so
easily across the written lines I labour over

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stepping out for a piss I can’t let the door
latch click listening to the owl’s call

from Printed on Water (Exeter: Shearsman, 2007)

If you like these, take a look at Gerry’s website:

IM