curious

Hot sun, and windy
yet, from next door,
the rumble of the tumble dryer.
All bloody day.

On my way to buy a paper #59

Fancy-petalled hollyhocks:
extra-coy dancers
at the Folies Bergere

Between Seattle and Newport

Fallen pines on dried river bed:
rutting knitted lions.

On my way to buy a morning paper #58

Half term and lack of traffic
from the road to Ingleby Barwick
meant I heard a squirrel's claws
on tarmac
from fifty yards away.

On my way to buy a morning paper #57

Sun behind my head
patching black tarmac paths
with puddled blue-sky promise.

On my way to buy a morning paper #56

Warburton's bright orange wagon
from which jumped driver, six foot four;
face of Colin Firth as Darcy
just before the river scene.
Pre-breakfast bliss.

On my way to buy a morning paper #55

Cold west wind
two improbably orange cars, unpleasantly assertive
no Telegraphs ("problem with the printing")

On my way to buy a morning paper #54

Three woollen-hatted men,
Two awaiting lifts,
Third out to walk his well-wrapped brindled hound.
Their football conversation around the red brick pillar
steaming upwards into the frosty air.

On my way to buy a morning paper #53

Rain-washed red jelly-babies
Imitating tiny turds

On a weekend with writers

Had our feet left on the floor the silvery trails our words wove in the air the pattern would've been filigree.