Two Paths Diverged
Assorted Poems, Selected poems
Selected poems
Too Much to Bare
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsDr Augustus Meek
had a puritanical streak
through the streets of Preston.
Kept his pants and vest on.
Hear, They’re and Everywear
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsI here that their everywear,
those people who don’t know
there their from they’re.
It where’s me down,
they’re choice of word;
there grammar should not be scene
but herd.
For we shall stare at mobile phones
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsStreets shrug as we roam back to our homes,
obstacle courses of lampposts and cones.
For we shall stare at mobile phones.
Landmarks languish and attractions close;
statues, cathedrals, Byzantine domes.
For we shall stare at mobile phones.
Reading gets shelved, poetry and prose,
with the dusty rebuke of neglected tomes.
For we shall stare at mobile phones.
Conversation falters, dries up, unflows,
feelings once said, lie buried, unknown.
For we shall stare at mobile phones.
Yes, we shall stare at mobile phones,
when we’re together and when we’re alone.
For we shall stare at mobile phones.
And when we die, let’s hope they’re thrown
into the pit with our crumbling bones.
So that we might stare at mobile phones.
A Little Light Verse
Assorted Poems, Selected poems 
Orpheus and the Umbroworld
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsOrpheus descends
into the umbroworld
of trackie bottoms
and replica tops,
ragged running shoes
and knee-length socks,
skeleton racks
of shell-suited overstocks,
and sidesteps
the slow shuffle of dead souls
with their tatty dreams
of sunday morning goals,
deadly crossfield passes
and hacky sack skills.
He slays three-headed
Cerberus behind the tills,
who blows bubble gum balloons
from three sullen mouths,
and finds sweet Eurydice
wrapped up in sports towels.
Unlooking, he unravels,
unfetters, unfurls,
ushers her back through
the aisles of Sportsworld,
past gumshields and goggles
and tennis ball canisters,
under the Gods’ watchful eye,
Nike and Adidas.
But, in the security screen
on the threshold,
the face of Eurydice,
he accidentally beholds
and she is suddenly gone
from him forever,
lost in the folds
of a thousand
golf umbrellas.
Divided by a Common Language
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsAmericans,
I have news to report;
i have done the math
and you are one letter short.
Perhaps
you should borrow the one
from the end of sports.
Either or
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsHe did not know
whether to pronounce it
“either” or “either”;
so, in the end,
he said neither.
Plane Verse
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsDedicated to the passenger in front of me
when
you
recline
your
seat,
it is difficult
for me to eat
Do not go, lentil, into that good pie
Assorted Poems, Selected poemsDo not go, lentil, into that good pie
Lest it should burn not bake upon the tray,
Rage, rage against the oven turned too high.
Soybeans and chickpeas may also die
For the pulses quicken upon their way,
Do not go, lentil, into that good pie.
The pastry turns crisp and black as the night
And the scarred legumes turn to darkened grey,
Rage, rage against the oven turned too high.
And so we, like pies, when the end draws nigh,
Have charcoaled remains grieved, too, in a way,
Do not go, lentil, into that good pie.
No, do not go, lentil, into that good pie.
Rage, rage against the oven turned too high.
