In No Particular Style or Order

8/7/2019 In No Particular Style or Order

1/29

In No Particular Style or Order

An Anthology of Poems

by

Clive Reedman

Compiledby

Deborah Smith


2/29

2

Grounded

I would have been there

I had the ticket

But mum found it

I was grounded

Shit! Shit!

Did you wait by the barrier?

New clothes your giveaway?

Feet shuffling?

Did your eyes cut through the mad crowds?

Looking to match real flesh with my profile image?

Did you wait until all were through?

Text me

IM me

Please!!

I was grounded BillBoy17

Were you hurt?

Bet you hate me now BillBoy17

Fucking mother!!

Searched my room again

She found the tickets and condoms

The ones you said I should buy

Did you go home BillBoy17?

To your 40 year old wife BillBoy17?


3/29

3

Accordion Girl

I feel the cold ivory keys

Of the Accordion Girl

Stretch her bellows across my chest

Hear her sing

She will never know

The harm a song can do

A ballad begun

But never sung

So hard to please, to play, to tune

Spiteful in fear of the fingers that press her keys


4/29

4

About Tess

Oh what desires take you?

Miss Tess

A fiction hidden in the facts

A dream unsung

A song never dreamed

Music without chords

Words and a voice read and heard

Translations of the person

The fiction

The truth

Where and when will I read your story?

Hear your song?

The storyteller

A Historian and a free mind

Close, but far

A dream unsung

A song never dreamed?


5/29

5

Double Buff

Eh, you seemed happy with that.

Comfortable.

I hope I pushed the right buttons anyway.

So hard to know with somebody new.

What? Oh, OK

I ll try and last longer next time.

Oh, I see, I ll not do that then

For pity sake get up you b*****d!


6/29

6

An Evening in November

It was an evening in November

as I very well remember

I was strolling down the street in drunken pride,

but my knees were all a-flutter,

and I landed in the gutter

and a pig came up and lay down by my side

Yes, I lay there in the gutter

thinking thoughts I could not utter

when a colleen passing by did softly say

'You can tell a man who boozes

by the company he chooses'

and the pig got up and slowly walked away.

Us

Who is us?

What is us?

Is it us that sees us?

Is us also seen by others?

Here there and everywhere

There is us

Back there, there is an us

And forward together go us


7/29

7

Familiar Strangers

Transvestite minds locked in calcite skulls

Bodies protected from the world inside Marks and Spencer armour

Tabloid lies safely stowed in posing bags of leather and nylon

They trump their course, three seconds late .. drat this wind!

White Van Man cuts up another victim

Roofs to fix and plumbing to rip out

Hurry, hurry, time is money

Footy on the telly later so let s get done.

She walks in the crowd of familiar strangers, but is alone

The sky of sea ripple crests laid down in wool calls her vision look

Above she wonders as the birds call and rise to the day

They pass her by, the dead, unseeing, in their ambivalence lost to the world.


8/29

8

Ignoring

Ignoring is an ugly word that no one likes to use

Ignoring leaves a little trail with little tiny clues

So I walk right up that trail thatled me straight to you

Ignoring is a funny word that cleared just what you do

Ignoring is a helpful word that finally let me know

Ignoring is a hurtful word and it s something that you show

So here I write this ignoring poem and think only of you


9/29

9

Deflated

I found a balloon when I was a kid.

It was waiting for me, all red, in the gutter.

It looked like my Gran.

Wrinkled and unsure of itself.

I touched it and it attacked me.

It made me shiver, feel sick.

It hit me soft on the hands.

I wanted to run, cry.

But I hit it back.

It swallowed my fingers.

I stamped on it and it turned into a rotting cat.

It bounced up to my face.

I bit it.

It sucked out my teeth.

Its venom scent was of rubber.

It was angry.

I ran.

Ran fast.

Away.

Deflated


10/29

10

Below

Turreted on high

Stygian torso, lofted amongst sky s cold dews

Teeming oceans, dark mystery s held at bay

As decks and sailor ghosts mock his loftiness

Displaced, giddy, unsure, phantoms held in an aeonian dance

Below

No rigs can hold his fall

From heavens cradle to Satan s bloated wood

Sail on, unguided to hells harbour walls


11/29

11

Air

You sustain me

Freeze the leaves to white pearls

Carry the drenching rain

The warmth of summer

My thoughts

My Dreams fly on you and with you

Carry them far, to where I lost them

I need you like water

As succour and comfort

As lovers and friends need each other

Oh air, hold me and whisper


12/29

12

Air 2

You trouble and love me

Freeze the leaves to white pearls

Carry the drenching rain

The warmth of summer

My thoughts

My Dreams fly on you and with you

Carry them far, to where I lost them

I need you like water

As succour and comfort

As lovers and friends need each other

Oh air, hold me and whisper

Whisper truths that, like you, I cannot see


13/29

13

Into the Spirit

Were I to peer into the spirit,

The heart, seat of all that stirs despair,

What rapturous hues would dwell within.

What arcane passions hidden there.

I have seen a world of radiance,

I have wept into the fabric of time.

And though I hold a great many truths,

Love shall ever be a mystery.

Were I to peer into thespirit

Ditty on Snoring

I had a friend whose snoring

Became particularly boring.

But then one night

I gave up the fight

And caved his stupid head in!


14/29

14

Friendship and Love

Your friend is the one wholistens

She is your season s harvest

The one whoreaps the corn of yoursolitude

Grinds the grist with her pestle

Adds the yeast of her love

Warms the oven with her experience

Seasons the flour with her love

She sifts the once hard grains

Lets them fall through her fingers

Purifies them

And with them bakes a loaf

She says not 'nay'

Keeps you there to smell the warm bread

Holds you still as you sway

Feeds you warm comforts

Bread made from your confusion

But now whole and supporting

Life giving, a comfort

A platform

Never say 'nay'

Use the bad to make the good

Smell the bread

Know that a friend is a Baker.


15/29

15

Brainstorming

I brainstorm

I think?Well

MaybePerhaps

Is this brainstorming?What is it then?

This brainstorming?A storm?

In the brain?Weird

Slightly disturbing.

Aeschylus coined itAristotle defined it

Stll fuckingg worries me thoughA storm?

In the brain?Free flow of thought?

No confines?Oh fuck

NoI cannot brain dumpIt ends up as a poem

Or just words on a page (or e-mail)I know nothing

But then that is a brainstormOh s**t

What do I know?I don t know

Butthat is a brain dumpSo I do

Urban poetryAgainst the trend

I know nothing but brainstorming

ConnectionsFree flow

Dumb arsed words for advertisersYah, cool

ConnectionsBubbles

LinesConnections

No I know nothing


16/29

16

Two Moon Poems

Oh orb.

Why do only I see thee?

Feel our cold warmth?

What dullards neglect you?

Do they do puzzles to forget.

To pass you off as a nature that is gone to them?

Poor fools

Travellers to a plastic coffin.

The next station is death

The moon laughs

An uninvited guest at the funeral of a fool.

2

It fuels the winds, water and dreams.

Drives animals to cry out in bestial screams

Guides the way to travellers

Betrays prey to the hunted and favours the strong

Inspires the poet and calls lovers to song.

Go see

Go feel her silvery glow

Fair lady I feel that you know


17/29

17

NHS Musings

There was a bod from the SHA

Who arrived in a bloody big car

There were no spaces

Which turned many faces

As he handed his keys to a Czar


18/29

18

A squall

The torrent woke herBut a squall they say

It willpass

A wake up callA slap that draws her down

Pin sharp, blister spikesShouting out departed memory

Never gone they saySoul of a premature ghostTo the deep taken downReleased in but squall

Encompassing, torrid, thoughtsDenied a lovers face, eyes shut tight

Throw him off they said

But a squall after allA love lost forever now they say

Hitchhiked on windsStars dragged into one lightBut a transient joy they saySweat given up for nought

As nurture of new life s promise, perhapsBodies heaped,lost, placeless

Moulded in the furnaceLusts selfish joys

Encircling , penetrating, skin brokenAn urgency of purpose and passions

Relentless, sense destroyingDrenching, clinging

Thought, all thought, lost in lustsBlouse, wet, clinging, embracing

A body s final stirsRelease of joy, gasps of pain

A letting goThe burden remains

In arms past

Already goneDrenching, clingingBut a squall they say

It will pass


19/29

19

Mother Earth

Come tangle roots and soft dew fall

Forest carpet of leaf decay

Let us together go

Again to where you beckoned me

In that grove, light piecing mists

Musk, earth and waters scent abound

Hold me there

Hold me there oh mother Earth

Till tangle roots unbind and

soft dew falls as rain

Mother Earth 2

Where tangle roots and soft rains fall

Forest carpet of leaf decay

Let us again together go

To where you first guided me

In that grove, light piecing mists

Musk, earth and waters scents abound

Hold me there

Hold me there oh mother Earth

Till tangle roots unbind and

soft rains fall as dew


20/29

20

Fraught

Fraught

Sounds like?Like what you said

Short?Well I was thinking

OMG!What?

Fucking eyes off his cock sister I m like talking here!No, LikeI thoughtSought

Does that like make me clever?

Like intelligent?OMG

RandomLike I will have to get drunk

Like a skunkOn a bunkLike wow ..It rhymes

Like when I was a kidRandom eh?

Like phewThis place eh?

Makes ya all like .. depressed and like clever thinkingWhat ya saying sister?

Did he?On the floor?

Like twice and fucked up on that shit?Fuck!

Like no wonder he s in this dumpOMG!!

Fucking want that shit faced geezer!!

That oneLike with the white stuff onAnd the heart listener thing

I saw him firstPiss off fucker

I like black OK?You like have Josh yeah?

May not have a fucking arm now, butHe is like black yeah?

............OK fuck off and like let me be clever OK?


21/29

21

Mist

As the mist appeared into the valley of unknown thoughtsMy mind races into a turbulent past

Which seems very much like the present.

The mist has vanished into the realm of it's own flowery existenceleaving me behind a trail of it's frightening fragrance.I am worried by it's thoughts running wild and deep.

But what lingers, what flowers feel it?What solitude did its passing adorn?It held me, inspired lusts and dreams.

Alone, emblazoned in solitude.White dreams of past memories and future loves.

It fled me. Left me.Alone.

In a field of colour.

Bring back that white shield.My armour against the storm of temptation.

Picking of fruits that fill nothing but pride.Give me again the cold, white mists.

There I hide, alone in shadows of me.Judgement a wall, a distance of nought.

Words rebounding to tired ears.Brooks murmuring sweet cravings that say nothing.

Open not the vista of mountains.Of Valleys in spring bloom.

Streams that draw me in and take me away.Narrow again the distances.Bind and secure me in white.

Take from me the fallow field of brown.Enshroud me again.

Please, hide me.Hide me.

Please, please.


22/29

22

The White World

Distinction of night and day lostNo form, no outlines

A night to the senses betrayed only by lightEyes, at first searching for reference

Encountering only phantomsGhosts perhaps?

The living memories content in their white landsPassing by unseen, but as shadows

Cousins soulsParents passed

Aviators, Actresses and world bound ClergySome in transient memory still

Most souls forgotten

Drifting, alone in peaceIn the white world.

StoneCold, carved 'In memory of'

Who?A person perhaps?

A deed?A war?

NoThose in the fog

Those that come and look for referenceMeandering in dreams

Content souls alone and freeSit there traveler

Lose all of colour and landscapes vistaCommune and see in that nothing, what?

Your soul? Your past? Your transient dreams?In that fog you too will dwell

No stone a monument to you aloneOnly there can the living find you

Only there.


23/29

23

Barcelona

Fire to the eyes

Unfinished

Terracotta towers

Dark red at dusk

Never beheld by he

The mad man

The builder

The fool

The Master of his City

Antoni

Your models now live

Their life is Barcelona

Cathedral of skyward cranes

Visions only of them gone

After you, after us

Organic

Alive Oh fair city that you breathed into life

Gaudi, Modernist, dead but so alive.


24/29

24

Tooth

Well she said

It s just like it hurts

Oh my God it fuckinghurts

Like it is in the head yeah?

One side all like agony all up like my face

It really fucking hurts

I can t like speak ya know?

What?

Yeah, like I said

It hurts and I cannot like SPEAK!!

Oh my God you re like so fuckingdumb!


25/29

25

Pain like

Pain? Yeah, it s like

Well like banging your ed like on a wall yeah?

Oh My God! Yeah

Just like banging your ed

Like f**k I am smart like yeah?

Banging you ed on a wall

Whitney?

Oh My God!

Like stop that yerl like ert yerself!

I m like a verse person yeah?

Rhymes and stuff

Like I use that timber thing

It s like wood yeah?

Like makes matches like, bike yeah?


26/29

26

ThreeBee Poems

The pedigree of honey

Does not concern the bee

A clover, at any time, to him

Is aristocracy.

2

Why is it that the Bee

Who wakes so much earlier than me

Can work so hard all day?

And never stop for play?

Is it that he loves his life

Which seems so devoid of strife?

To fly amongst the flowers

And lofty tree top towers

On warm soft summer draughts

He rises and maybe even laughs

Oh lucky, lucky Bee

I so wish I were thee


27/29

27

3

Said the Bee to the Flea

This is what fascinates me

How come you re so small

When dogs are so tall

That must be hard for thee?

Oh no said the flea

It s easy for me

It s just a matter of wit

I wait till they sit

Or crouch for a s**t

And run up their leg don t you see?


28/29

28

Small Dreams

I found a small box with a small dream in it

It was a dream ofsolitude and peace

Who had hidden the dream?

Why was it hidden in a dark place, secured by a black ribbon?

The dream danced about the room and made me smile

It settled in my head

Back again where it had been born.

Moon, Moon(apologies to Ezio)

Moon, Moon, you re just a ballHeaven knows God is only playing Pool

Thighs that s what you areMade for walking

Faces, you re just a mirrorLove how do I know it?

How do I love when you say I don t make common sense?A prayer, you re just a long distance call

Fools, your lies arerewarded?Or is it truth that is rewarded as well?

You don t have to be braver than you areIt s OK to forget sometimes

But if you should be standing next to meAnd I suffer violence and painIt s OK to forget who you are

And if I give you something and it s lost, or stolenIt s OK, it s just a memory

Moon, Moon you re just a ballOnly there to light a fool.


29/29

Siren Moon

Oh Red Orb Moon

Rouged face of the Harlot

Drawing in with a Sirens cunning

The dreamer and seeker of lusts pleasure

Odysseus s Circe holding loves promise

Jealous guile oh temptress!

Slip low and stalk behind tree fingers

Release your unwilling prey to Earth s sun

Draw him not further to celestial bindingHide again and hold to the warm day s end

When man again will answer your call to madness

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In No Particular Style or Order