Wednesday, November 19, 2014

i cud swear

tich backhouse hiz thorts

i cud swear

jest caint 'member wot peoplez call 'm such
    on tip o' me
damn    beyond gettin at
    aint seen heerd
outta touch lately
    don' blame me cos ize senile
muss be summat don' matter much    'cept
    sunpun cute 'n cuddly-like
naw thin 'n scraggly like unto skinflintz beard
    neider wun close t'
un-comp-promisin big wurd serry-ee-bral
    'normous round zero wid halo
yus    like oh forever
    no buts more importink
most importink
    gosh    oughta luke this up
on everwunz tongue seems like
    seems like luminates wotz sed
'n dont    soz    i lose track

oh sorry nurse    beggin yr pardin
    jest thunkin out loud
talkin to missen    silly ord duffer   yus
   'bout wotz ober me haid
summat t' do wid rite 'n wrung
    i wert clebber wuncet
seems capital letters allus were wot i tuke me hat orf t'
    not outta respeck cos twere axpected
same az    don' go    i'd nearly got it    s'trooth
    thatz it     wurd   i fergit
supper up yit?


 dec mmx

Sunday, November 16, 2014

tipple-tale blues


whan u got a wumman
    whan u got a wumman
sturdy an strong
    hey keep dat sweetheart wumman
    hey keep dat sweetheart wumman
she dont do u no wrong
    hey keep dat sweetheart wumman
    hey be sure dat sweetheart wumman
she won nebber do u wrong

oh yeah allus keep her happy
    yus allus treat her good
oh allus keep her happy
    allus keep her wooed
aint no joy meant like it
    alike dis tipple-tale blues
cos nite n day u trust her
    oh allus keep her wooed
oh allus i sez oh allus keep her wooed

 nov mmxiv

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Old man, old man


old man old man
    where do you go
over t'hill my dear
    to be laid low

old man old man
    how long i wonder
six feet my dear
    and ditto under

old man old man
    i wonder why
reasons like seasons
    come and go by

old man old man
    shall i be told
too soon you'll be wiser
    oh you too shall grow old


 aug mmxiv while laid up with sore hip

Thursday, October 30, 2014

when there's no words


when there's no words left
    your mind's adrift
exhaustion threatens
    better rest easy
shut off the world
    questions left unaddressed
may sunlight flit through high leaves
    quirk any fancies
and grounded shadows
    cease to fall across
eyes blinking with tiny dust flecks afloat
    comes happy surrender
void of inquiry
        settles on breast
nothing enabled exists

Monday, October 27, 2014

I've got icycles


i've got icycles in my brain
let them fall like warm rain
from bosom's heat    held and
commiserated with gentle hugs
to fold up the pain    lesions unfreezing
and when i can regain
my original composure sure
i'll be off easing
tight-lipped aporia's door open
no doubts to explain


The aporetic method: raising of puzzles without offering solutions.
i.e. intellectual state of perplexity


mmxiv

Friday, October 24, 2014

Of its own mind


better than half lies
half to be heard
and half winked at
for you to figure
better than half truths
living out their half lives
like impotent sparks
of a damped fire
better than non sequitur
led by the nose
none knows where
what we should stand for
is what we are
resolute in choosing
or letting go
how schooling heart
half understanding
sui generis says
in fathomed approval
despite your honorific
shall and shoulds
might and mays


jan, mmviii

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Grinds y down


it grinds y down
    i tells yer
it grinds y down
    wearworn careworn
    beaten battered
b day by day
    endurin
it grinds y sum
it grinds agin
    wot kin i do
    wot i ask kin i do
sore an mizerabble
haid an joints perticklar
o haid suffers
    well    u know u know
wut goez on inside
    and t stretch
    breathe deep
    is luxury fair
u know
ifn yer course crosses
wid hex
b day by day
soonz yer hup
so soonz yer down
    not funny
taint alike clownz anticks
tiz shape of fortune
    grindz yer darn


sept, mmxiv

Saturday, August 23, 2014

if only


if only what impended
if only it descended
if only singly singing
if only you and i    yes
if only we did
if only what would
if only hoped for should
a plague on this only if

Monday, July 14, 2014

Bring along your babies oh


Bring along your babies oh
mother dear!     never fear
the worst    for when the petals burst
the bud will quicken the blood
red eye of the sun to shine fiercely
down     down     down     until . . . thistledown
puff     gone     flown
to seed again     mother dear
dear earth mother
so never fear the worst
bring along your babies oh!


mmlxxx

Friday, July 11, 2014

Fragments II


as the peony bud
bends on a slender
stalk
my heart's opening
awareness
bends in deference


because you're an open book
i've not read between the lines


stripped of my masks
faceless
down to the psyche's buff
ego-less
sloughed of fancies
i arise
and walk on water
and imitate the skies


with a right royal gesture
i'll disinter the cadaver of our affair
overturn the headstone
and declare
an amnesty for mortified lovers


mmlxxxvi

Monday, March 10, 2014

dying to qualify


Matter is evil
trump card for membership
in this vicarious game of opposites
cleaves body from soul
we mortals guilty of human nature
and sentenced before quickening
which means flesh blood bone nerves
and above all sensible mind
damned as devil's work
reasoning from elementary either-or
decides who takes charge of our will
our right to reason freely
conscience blown
caring and compassion for world corporeal
tis all swept away like litter in wind's ken
this earth we inhabit
source of being and doing
manifold of elements compounded
folded into many and many beyond compare
no arbitrary division
as if words could choose affinity
that owes no relation to its originall
what do we deny
complicit with idle proof
that matters a damn

feb mmxiv

Saturday, March 8, 2014

hey hey


Hey hey     ize a sick ol man
     ain no use to pout n frown
whan ize daid to frum ize cum
   then hey hey tiz ho nonny none

ho nonny none      whan ize feelin sore
     hurtin bad n wurse in store
taint az if ize young no more
     hey hey tiz whoz t' care

hey nonny no wotz up soonz down
     skinny az rope an wun end gone
cheeks sucked in an teeth undun
     then hey ize fettle as a skeleton

hey di ho meanz summatz up
     sky is fallin vexed wi snow
summerz went n autumn flew
     and hey tiz next t stars cum thru

whan hey hey me toes turn up
     t'aint mort o' matter whar ize dug
spent me gains on booze n fun
     herez t hey ho n hey nonny none

wid hey ho     then upend me mug

feb mmxiv

iz it here ... izit thar ... ho tiz hot air


Bah meister barmbrackt
tich sticks his end in
thoo pontificates frum on hi
calls yersen seeker o trooth
better don wings
u haz far to go
wid yer airy haspirayshuns
wharz dis elevated plan u sites
belike pole-sitter
beggin scraps o numinus mannah
let fall frum upper firmament
absolomon verity
yer wurds git longer less eligibull
fer unnerstanding more youse prates
till u flies off hintoxicated
dasnt u stan huprite on urthz gravitas
bag o intestinal niftytude
trooth darn here must enjoy qualifier
or it stanz alone
similar to maiden aunt last o tribe
gotta hab relations
watch tich see me barry
makes no sense stannin forlorn
here goes
i pick up handles o ditto
an push den off i trots
now tis has meanin
tip o me cap yer honner
thanx fer pleasant natter



big i am per pro tich* wid haid ache
mar mmxiv

*Tich Backhouse hiz sayso

Friday, February 14, 2014

i think incessantly of those

after Stephen Spender's poem:
“i think continually of those who were truly great who left the vivid air signed with their honour”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i think incessantly of those who were truly great
who left the vivid wind signed with their honour
because i am disconsolate about my life's mean history
i want to torture strength ascend invade the brave air
slay dragons fight wild beasts with my hands
unstain the world of its dishonour
instead i sink in the gutter of my need
and leave the unrecognizing stare empty of my gesture

i think continually of how i'd rather walk with those
astride like a colossus where little men peep between my knees
though i sense deceit the trickery of fate
the truly great become a mockery
when i measure stars which shine beyond their death
saying nothing bitterly
brilliantly signing the midnight air with their blue humour
and the bare rounds of earth's orbit
memorably assign the beating rhythm of the gravid seasons
citing no authorities or poets intent on glorification
or teachers of good rollicking reasons we incredulously perpetuate

i wear my honour like a mantle of cloud cover
rain and snow lower my brow and the frost steams from my breath
uphill work this desire to survive beyond life
descending to death without tragedy or comedy to humour my posterity
and i thank continually those who wrote across the atmosphere
with trails of glory in their honour
curving across the deep wide blue of who i am
with visions of what i might be
an awesome prospect if i could forget the might-be as a should
that draws a cloud over the bountiful sun

i wear my honour like a mantle of cloud cover
thinking continually of who i am this day
immeasurably greater for the beating bounty of my frosted breath
writing the bare round rhythm of this winter season with my white signature

mmxiv (edited: probably 1960's)

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

stands by quod libet hey

i warn you
    do not tease
thisaway and thataway
    as we may
straight to learn
wholly to play
    tis neither bent
not curiously bidden
whichever whatever
sense we make
    of the matter

leaving mine privily
whose business you argue
shall we not moot point
so quod libet not to belabour
take our affairs
    without waiver
we'll agree then
none certain
    eye to eye      you'n me
inexplicably can affirm or deny
    as canny raccoon will exhibit
wash hands      await events    up a tree

mmxiv

Monday, February 10, 2014

slang who's who


There's not a god-fearing bone in his body
    yes    ever-ready to embark on a lark
take up a dare come fire and brimstone
hurled    tackle his corner of the world
straight on    bold to go to    never shy    never shirk
    succeed or fall short    tis all one
come sun dance march stumble
wale like trough of sea    wash of storm
falling to lee      beached      blunder on
eyes blinded    bloody hurt    hop to it
here mate hold yer end up    cain't drop
oppo in slough    enough ain't never
till you're through this remember what's what
find how when where duty dandy does
when well-met again chum    did he though
snuff it    tis bye bye    one last call    cheers

so reads his epitaph    so reads his years

mmxiv

Monday, January 13, 2014

Mind your letters


Mind your letters - so
let meaning go
where it sweet william
as long as decency
covers what's tut-tut
manners maketh all proper
ladies curtsey to courtesy
and gentlemen suck a lemon

mmxiv

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Can i be what i am


Can i be what i am
an old man
and relinquish
the weight of the world

neither here nor there
station stars themselves?
so with this perplexed dodderer
insisting he is what he was

bent age has its niche
not in line of fire
'cept nodding off
snug by cosy chimney corner
and hearth's reward

yeah     haha     damn your clichéd
quote from minor poet
who with six good men and true
was lowered out of this question
which seeks with verse erratic
to square armchair with dump of
clogging white wet gleaming teeming
whad y know wintry snow
through benefit of window's charity

clarity belongs as i do
between neither nor of argy-bargy
feet up neglecting felt duty
household ministrations
recline holding comfort of pen
dabbing at blank paper
to no resolution
beside the point
to hell with agitating
vexed brow

sup your tea     lad
as snow goes
so do you

mmxiii