All My Ex-Girlfriends

London. Un jeu d'esprit. Written in one sitting on the afternoon of 20 May 2014.

If you laid

All my ex-girlfriends

End to end

They might stretch as far

As that door

Over there.

If you put

All my ex-girlfriends

Together

In one room

What a dull party

It would be.

If you asked

All my ex-girlfriends

What they thought

Of me

Out of ten

I might get three.

If you looked at

All my ex-girlfriends

And wondered what

They saw in me

Then to be frank

I agree.

If you are one of

All my ex-girlfriends

Reading this

Feeling free

Then meekly I honour you

Who helped make me.

Halford's Car Park (Shooting Stars)

Lines written in the garden at the end of a hot day involving a trip to a retail park. East Kent, 18 May 2014.

Was it my Arts degree

And laboured First

My unquenched thirst

For paintings and poetry

That so disqualifies me

And sets me apart

From those who hanker to be

In Halford’s auto spares car park.

Yet oh, to swagger, and chew the fat

With a couple of swells

And mini-skirted girls

How I’d like that.

To talk about a turbo

And tinker with cars

To know as much as they know

And keep on counting shooting stars.

Be My Love

A Song. London, 8 May 2014.

Come lie with me and be my love

Your languid form uncover

As starlight fills the sky above,

My troth I vow forever.

Come marry me and fill my cup

Shake off that pretty blouse

This draught of you I’ll not give up

While woman to man’s espoused.

Come lie with me and, naked, be
My Baigneuse Valpincon true
Ingres walked in realms of beauty
Or is this just a dream of you?

Come lie with me and speaking, seem,
Each phrase, each word, to express
Each syllable and phoneme
A physical caress.

Come lie with me till we grow old

Let's make our children flush

With happiness and tales well told

In groves and gardens lush.

Come lie with me and be my love

Else hide each tender part

Of you round whom my world revolve

To inspire my apprentice art.