Ten Apples Up on Top
cankered mother
first to fall
THUD
yellow bike
pillioned hug
SLIP
airport
apple
TANGERINED
hope full
Mini
BLUE
apple of your eye
apple for the Teech
CRASH
bundle of letters
every eleven days
NONE
One year old Apple Up on Top
Look! See!
It will not fall
It cannot stop
Bøfole Akuba
Wednesday’s woe
It will not fall at all
O no!
Rice and beans
He: I don’t cook much
concrete balcony over green Oval
overnight at the theatre
looking for ghosts
She: Soho film star
on a mud guard
pub The Cricketers
I’m pregnant
potted the black
Rice and no beans
A True Story
My handsome prince
looked up at me
from the twigs and gloopy mud
blipped his boggly eyes
and croaked
Revert Revert Revert
I should have scooped him up
in the cup of my hands
and kissed him
Love Song
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
scuttling across the floors of silent seas
sideways
where I couldn’t put my foot in it
It was not what I meant
at all
It was not it
at all
I have heard the mermen singing
how they long to eat a peach
I know the tricks
a yoga position, a red balloon, lipstick
I wanted to say yes
I said no
Let me anoint your feet
Let me paint your toenails the colour of autumn leaves
Let me cover your naked body in blackberries
I said no
when I wanted to say yes
I digress
……………You say goodbye
……………and I say hello
……………hello hello
I said No
you are my friend oh oh oh
O let us go then you and I
and I shall dye my grey hair gold
I shall wear my trousers rolled
and throw my ‘phone
……………to the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea
Let us go and make our visit
but do not ask what is it?
I have heard the sirens sing
I shall not let
the sirens sing for me
……………woke up this morning
……………and my mama was gone
……………oo ee chirpy chirpy cheep cheep
I will take them by the scruff of the neck
and they will drown
each to each
……………walking on the beaches
……………looking at the peaches
……………da da da
……………da da da dada
……………in tangerine skies with marmelade eyes
I am a lump of cheddar
on fire
I shall not let the sirens
sing to me
……………chirpy chirpy cheep cheep choo
I grow old
I shall wear my trousers rolled
I shall spray my hair gold
I shall not let the sirens sing to me
Let us go
and make our visit
and do not ask What is it?
Upside-Down Cake
I keep growing down
thirty-six was good
old enough to be a mum
young enough to giggle
last year I was eighteen
I wore patchwork trousers
stayed in my pyjamas until 11am
and drank junk
sometimes I grow up
but it’s too painful
wearing shoes that are too small
and out of fashion
so I slip shod down again
three is where it’s at
