1878

I poured Evian into the dog's bowl.
It seemed only fair.
That's what I'd been drinking
and we'd shared all the moments
up till then.
She seemed to like it.
All the way from Cachat Spring
since 1878.
We were living the good life.
For that day anyway.

Untitled

They sat there.
They'd been drinking all day
at the bar.
Every day they walked in.
Every day they forgot
what all day drinking did to them.
And now they sat there.
Conversation dead.
The man with a cap on and no teeth
had a spinning head.

HARDWOOD

Hardwood. The farmer had said.
You don't want softwood.
Burns too fast.
He was right.
The hardwood smelled better too
and split like a dream.
It was undoubtedly
the best firewood they'd ever seen.

PAYSLIP

I worked up a sweat
cutting dead wood from
a tree. Then had a
bath in the water I'd
heated with the fire
I'd made from the
dead wood that I'd
cut from the tree.
It felt good. I felt
like I'd paid myself
in hot water for
a mornings work.
In the afternoon I
went outside and
looked for more
wood to cut. It
was my kind of rut.

TIMING/COORDINATION

Definitely hard
and definitely cold.
The steamer didn't seem
to be doing its job on the beans.
The cauliflower however
was ready to go.
So was the salmon.
Oh no.

STIMULANT/CONFUSION

Oh come on.
I said.
Now I was slurring.
She'd shown me the dark garden
the swing (she'd sat on it)
I hadn't pushed her.
She'd gone all swooney
but I couldn't make my mind up.
Then I couldn't.
Now I didn't. Care
I did - I wanted
I cared
It was too late.
Suddenly she was the woman of my dreams.
I was sweating.
She turned back to her friends.

TRAINING

Try as I might
I couldn't get the dog
to pick up the pink ball
with the smiling face.
We just ended up
having an around the garden race.
The sky was pink.
The clouds were grey.
We lay down.
Our hearts beat in unison.

EGGS

One after the other
I ate eggs
fried in butter
on bread
spread with butter
a little sea salt
made them tang
I only stopped
when the telephone rang.

SUGAR

I was having lucid dreams in the passenger seat. I jumped then reached for something. I had a dog on my knee a bag between my legs and toffee stuck in my teeth. What I was actually dreaming was hidden deep down underneath.

ROT

I smelt stagnant water
on the dental floss.
Now I was gutted.
Before I didn't give a toss.

WAR

"Of course you can wear brown
shoes with a black handbag.
Just add green and you've got
all the colours of the camouflage rainbow."
"We're not talking about war
we're talking about taste."
"Times have changed."
"Yes. Yes I suppose they have."