Other Lives

The Smell of Old Books Wind in the leaves – my daughter turns over in her sleep. * Rainy afternoon; inside a second-hand bookshop the smell of old books. * Siesta-time… my neighbour and his girlfriend at it again. * frost on windscreens walking home alone the night my mother died. * Dead. Starry night – no help there. * Swimming in the rain; a glimpse of a rat slipping off the riverbank. * my grandfather facing the setting sun eyes shut * time for a talk staring at the fireplace no fire * mountain forest morning mist drenches the tree-trunks * She holds back the duvet – the world is born again. * plums in a bowl – changing colour as the sun moves around the house * after arguing kept awake by her stillness * Snow on the window-sill; her toes sticking out from under the duvet. * A dog farts: they all suffer in the lift. * Broad river: boats travelling tied together. * At the optician’s: through each lens the world looks different. * throwing pebbles into the sea still unhappy * Snow by ...

Blue Doors Boring meeting… I doodle a spiral inwards and inwards. * The smell of toast reaches me upstairs: winter morning. * Whoa! What’s the hurry, speeding hearse? * Indian summer… listening to football scores in the back garden. * Midnight, 25 degrees – showering under the stars. * Friends round for dinner… the dog breaks wind silently under the table. * locking the door a quick look the stars out * Pissing in the dark – birds singing through an open window. * heron by the lake stillness looking at stillness * old pond blue plastic drum no frogs * Moth on a pink shirt: the whole department store to itself. * warm night my feet search for a cold spot * on the shore a pregnancy test – positive * The path to nirvana lost again – chocolate ice cream! * Two brown horses – red horses, my daughter observes. * Insomnia… long silence, then, a cough. * snowy morning two horses nose to nose in a white field * A beach ball floats across an empty swimming pool – end of summer. * grey afternoon ...