based on a West African folklore
Alone along a jungle track
I heard a groan of agony,
so terror-struck, with bow drawn b
I peered behind the mango tree.

There is a thread of gold
that binds the ancient tomes ~
a filament rare, ne’er to be found
~ lest this first be known;
Though some men may read all,

To yearn for love is not a rarity
but every man’s inevitability;
craving satisfaction
for our unbroken hearts -
affirmation of existence

Hush foolish pre-emptor who steals
Still that feeble flitting one wit
Dark distractor - lover of meaning
With deep solemnity let go of I,
In that space you thought was you

words, however inadequate, are
the best hope we have of
connecting with others...
so let’s choose carefully which to
use - and I ain’t talking poetry!!

1978 - Boarding school - The day
Grey flannel blazer, grey stone wa
Under a cold grey sky.
Grey skinned strangers speaking gr
Long bleak and lonely,

Sativa, queen of spiral code
her genome holds a key,
that turns the cogs within my mind
once stuck, now running free.
She sparkles in the Autumn sun

Damn, the moon was bright last nig
her energy charging, wiring me ~
Though still this day is in full l
tonight I’ll feel her overwhelming
It’s been two years since it began

Hours enthralled by cryptic signs,
with ancient tomes and riddled
rhymes.
Gleaning facts from mystic lores -
and still she never sought divorce

Leafy London, garden roses,
Late one summer’s afternoon.
No recourse from tragic duty.
Hope his kids are still at school.
Stranger sorrow, swiftly rising

Vivid light, Smiles so bright,
Mangrove, Sea and Cotton Tree,
A time I learnt to think in ways,
My parents never taught me.
I felt dis-ease with christian,

Contradiction mocks
the pseudo-sage.
No charlatan,
this clown-chameleon;
subject to his nature,

As age draws on I see cause and e
in the realms of life that some mi
For years I sought my answers wit
with no solutions, I started to do
I turned first to god, the father

Dignity Stripped
Flesh Ripped
Morphine Tripped
Profound Pain
Inhumane

Spider Spider in my head
the days grow short before I’m dea
so while we live and breathe and s
Spider, won’t you set me free.
Spider Spider in my mind,

A flight of fancy to mystical land
in Arjun’ chariot I crossed Ram’s
to that cinnamon isle of gold-grai
—tear of Mahabharata
On a palm-trellised beach I held

Late inside The Orange Tree,
a burly builder on his knees.
Well earned pint now cast asunder,
he sought respect - his only blund
-

I followed an English rose to the
gates of the Sahel -
I thought I knew I loved her; I
young and couldn’t tell.
......all so long ago now, I don’t

I’m sorry if my attitude seems som
I love this life much more since
but by the same degree to hell I o
and now I know it’s not the 'get’
I’ve come to understand, life’s fu

I’m want to take the common straw
lay strewn across the bar-room flo
~ discarded, used to curse and sho
I’ll card it ~ scrape the thistles
Feed my loom run at a canter

‘Life is Love and Love is all Cr
Words of more than lyric consolati
The heart lies in the place of min
Building worlds of singular invent

When I at last shall die, what th
the meaning in this world of men -
the flux that formed before my wak
when from that tranquil harbour fo
to pass again thru’ terra’s fiery

The ancient seers knew the score
in granite etched on Dolmen door
with Spiral glyph and centred dot,
such subtle pictographic plot.
Tho’ cyclic emanations flow

Marks on my thoughts,
accents of introspection;
Acute I find my observation.
Grave deep the world;
circumflexion breeds my circumspec

I spoke two thousand years ago, wh
but much I said was misconstrued,
As Son of Man I said before, I a
I the ransom for the many ~ Throu
My Father’s house has many mansio

In that term, as I remember,
I first built my delusion.
From September to December,
Was childhood’s conclusion.
Back at home for Christmas,

Sativa, queen of spiral code
her genome holds a key,
that turns the cogs within my mind
once stuck, now running free.
She sparkles in the Autumn sun

Death, if it is you I fear
then Fear, you have no spell ~
What stood for my old man and his,
is good in time for me as well.

If I was an Afghan,
whatever would I do?
Bullets flying everywhere
I wouldn’t have a clue!
-

A bigot blind will never see,
we are all as John Donne’s flea
since Adam claimed mortality,
who knows what hues in history
flowed in darker veins than thee,

“The engine never made a sound!”
—His terminal thought, as he looke
That crossing place he knew so wel
resounded to his final knell.
On the scene, there was no sign;

You’ll cheer for the thief on stag
Root for the urchin and crook.
Believing yourself of judgement mo
Why throw that aside with the book
What of the chav; 'have not’ to yo

I, once tested to my mind’s extrem
confounded by this life’s contrary
when I could no longer take the st
between my tortured spirit, flesh
Lost, self-subject to demolition

Gnostic indications of a deeper tr
in every fractal facet of existenc
Paradoxic’ spill of light, beyond
—a spark within the fire of One om
Effulgent sunrise deep within the

Conjugal Congress,
Conception Conjoined ~
Constriction Contraction Contusio
Constructs Conferred,
Conclusions Contrived ~

Causal power, well of might
eternal origin of life
issued more than physic’ light -
mass generated polarised.
From energetic genesis,