4/3/4 (#3)

following on
from the first
and the second

here are some
4/3/4s
they will not stop

***

#53: sunset, full moon

towards the sun
then turn, turn,
towards the moon

***

#54: dead animals by the side of the road (in order)

squirrel, fox, fox
(couldn’t tell)
crow, pheasant, fox

***

#55: half glimpsed scene from car window #1

cows in long grass
motionless
below the bridge

***

#56: half glimpsed scene from car window #2

smell of burnt leaves
canal boat
scene out of time

***

#57: autumn poem #1

the foliage
yellowing
browning, falling

***

#58: autumn poem #2

the trees have gone
all yellow
conkers fallen

***

#59: autumn poem #3

the noise of rain
without end
on plastic roofs

***

#60: autumn poem #4

i like the word
autumnal
it’s nice to say

***

#61: autumn poem #5

park in autumn
much nicer
than in summer

***

#62: winter poem #1

park in winter
best of all
ice underfoot

***

#63: note from niece (pushed under toilet door)

“david which film
snowhite or
littel mermade”

***

#64: trip planning, with smart phone

everyone checks
the weather
and then stays home

***

#65: slight phobia admission #1

i get so scared
(who knows why)
by centipedes

***

#66: slight phobia admission #2

scaffolding makes
me feel a
bit uneasy

***

#67: slight phobia admission #3

just thinking of
space in its
infinity

***

#68: on waking #1

an aching back
short of breath
unfocused eyes

***

#69: on waking #2

happiness gone
yet bad dreams
lingering on

***

#70: day out in suffolk #1

a museum
of radar
in concrete hut

***

#71: day out in suffolk #2

birdsong and waves
where the woods
reach the sea wall

***

#72: looking up (perspective trick)

helicopter
and a drone
both the same size

***

#73: dogs #1

a pug snuffling
and sneezing
wheezing, whining

***

#74: dogs #2

this dog looks like
a huge toy
fluffed up, alive

***

#75: dogs #3

“she won’t hurt you,”
he says while
his dog bites me

***

#76: daily routine (breakfast)

don’t eat breakfast
feel quite ill
when i wake up

***

#77: daily routine (lunch)

eat a sandwich
follow that
with cake and coke

***

#78: daily routine (dinner)

cook too much food
feel quite ill
for rest of day

__________

Notes:

1. Written in August and September 2019

__________

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Thank you!

An Absence Of Story

I was supposed to be telling the class a story
all their faces looking up at mine
waiting for me to fill the silence

But I froze
and the silence
stretched out
so long
that this
absence of story
became the story
to be remembered long beyond any
I could ever have told them

This tale of the silent man
looming
and strange
lonely
and slowly
moving
towards
silent
tears

__________

Notes:

1. Written on September 23rd, 2019
2. And not based on a true story
3. Thankfully
4. But on an anxiety dream
5. instead

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

separations of lines

when i was a teenager
reading poetry at school
i remember getting
just
completely
infuriated
by the random line breaks
everywhere
thinking
screaming
(whining)
couldn’t you have written this as a sentence
a single paragraph
correctly punctuated
its meaning made clearer
and more concise
unobfuscated
by these arbitrary separations
Now of course this is all I have
all I do
everything I am
drawn out
and spread thin
in the hope
that the spaces
between
will hold more meaning
than the words themselves

__________

Notes:

1. Written on 23rd September, 2019
2. Originally posted on twitter
3. Where it makes more sense really

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

4/3/4 (#2)

some more poems
all written
in 4/3/4

***

#27: night sky #1

beneath the stars
on my back
I lay weeping

***

#28: night sky #2

A near full moon
surrounded
by wisps of cloud

***

#29: memory loss

I have learned much
forgotten
many times more

***

#30: discomfort

pigeon orgy
on the roof
I look away

***

#31: ruin

they closed the pub
years ago
left it to rot

***

#32: approaching dusk #1

the contrails sweep
in curved arcs
across the sky

***

#33: approaching dusk #2

storm clouds approach
thunder heard
no lightning seen

***

#34: a sunday afternoon

suddenly now
I feel sick
faint, my eyes weep

***

#35: afterwards

I sleep soundly
through the night
and through the day

***

#36: british summer time

went to the shops
it rained and
rained and rained and

***

#37: living room

there’s a spider
hanging there
waiting, waiting

***

#38: bank holiday weekend #1

sat beneath a
parasol
and did not move

***

#39: bank holiday weekend #2

hair wet with sweat
head throbbing
i cannot sleep

***

#40: an autobiography of my life until now

I was lonely
then I was
lonelier still

***

#41: september

the sun went in
the wind blew
early autumn

***

#42: in the park #1

a sausage dog
prancing by
grinning, grinning

***

#43: in the park #2

a pound a bag
by the pond
to buy duck food

***

#44: in the park #3

i put away
the rubbish
others had left

***

#45:

a small forest
of dead trees
all turned to bone

***

#46: beyond intransigence

if I can change
my own mind
you can change yours

***

#47: the catcher in the rye

I’d never read
this before
but now I have

***

#48: i

I feel so tired
all the time
old bones aching

***

#49: corrections

rewriting this
poem took
several hours

***

#50: in my pocket

a tiny scrap
of paper
containing this

***

#51: autumnal river scene #1

on the river
an egret
amongst the gulls

***

#52: autumnal river scene #2

fisherman’s boat
fisherman
fisherman’s dog

__________

Notes:

1. Written between August 10th and September 6th

__________

Support An Accumulation Of Things

4/3/4

i keep writing
these poems
in 4/3/4

i don’t know why
but my brain
just will not stop

configuring
all my thoughts
into this form

tiny little
faux haiku
drifting away

a cloud of thought
barely formed
a ghost of words

miniaturised
groups of sounds
shorn of meaning

so anyway
here they are
you have been warned

***

#1:

no one loves me
even though
i think they should

***

#2:

i cannot breathe
with your hand
upon my heart

***

#3: (a dream)

the octopus
grips my arm
like a lost child

***

#4: echo

a delicate
dust shadow
revelation

***

#5: autobiography #1

i spent a pound
on some sweets
and ate them all

***

#6: unanswered question

what difference
would it make
if i smiled

***

#7: remembrance of shaves gone by

i keep looking
at the blood
trickling away

***

#8: self realisation

what is the point
of all this
with no-one here

***

#9: autobiography #2

watched the football
it was shit
yet i’ll watch more

***

#10: lunch

this glass of milk
has a fly
dying in it

***

#11:

i don’t feel well
anymore
and nor do you

***

12: yes

i am having
a breakdown
in poetry

***

#13: autobiography #3

it was busy
in the park
i ate some chips

***

#14: it is happening again

its so windy
all the bins
blew down the road

***

#15:

his twitter posts
came and went
and went and went

***

#16: email

it’s possible
i missed it
not ignored it

***

#17: book #1

the book was good
i liked it
i read some more

***

#18: book #2

Thus Were Their Faces
was the book
i was reading

***

#19: book #3

its title
did not quite fit
breaking all the rules

***

#20: autobiography #4

covered in ink
from leaking
cheap broken pens

***

#21:

I was offered
kind advice
Frightened, I ran

***

#22:

sometimes i try
to escape
the bounds of space

***

#23: autobiography #5

my headphones fell
on the floor
they were alright

***

#24:

wasting my time
as if it
means anything

***

#25: autobiography #6

the plastic bags
jellyfished
across the park

***

#26: FIN

if i could die
it would be
quite the relief

___________

Notes:

1. Written between 6th and 8th August, 2019
2. It’s okay I’ve stopped now

__________