The grey heron
who eats all the fish
in her pond
brings back to her

a risen cornfield
or her home
each delicately, slowly
undress the other.
As lovers unmask her scars,
elaborate tattoos
hear her:

“Kiss, or bite every word here.
I like pain. I’ve no regrets”

Lip lover’s tongue recites a Maurice Sendak “Where the Wild Things Are”
italic roman sentence that begins at her bitten bottom rose scented lip
curves under her jaw, snakes
down her neck, between her breasts,
over her stomach until it reaches
three dots before her vulva,
and inhales her summer fruit.

Sole lover whispers a gothic lettered Lewis Carroll “Alice In Wonderland”
sentence that begins under right foot’s third toe flourishes over her instep,
around her ankle, under her knee
and up the lily aroma of her thigh,
trips lightly
over small apple of her back,
and, against strict instruction
paraphrases, cuts and pastes frenziedly down her other
leg a kiss on each of her painted toes.
She has never felt so wet.

bolt the doors, lock the windows,
doomsday is coming to town,
‘cos London’s got a muslim mayor.

O, woe is us, our children are not safe,
we can’t walk the streets at night,
listen for the knock on your door
‘cos London has a muslim mayor.

O, the monsters are being elected,
our nightmares have come true,
there’ll be murder on the streets,
‘cos London’s elected a muslim mayor.

nurses nestled speckled grey

in crevices and tumble
pluck winged black spots
out of air, keep darkness at bay.

Whilst new rooted claws
hold world’s turn

barkskin limbs
plumaged again after autumn’s moult

yearn high for thermal spiral
ascent and cloud.

thought of this afternoon
when spiderlings in sandwich boards
“6.99 Any Pizza”
at crossroads
waved at transport as it passed.

Sunlight is too bright for you
like that redhead in black gladiator sandals
and little grey dress pushing an empty pram uphill.

bats flicker as light dims
bluebell deluge

moss green wood warblers
effuse beneath leafy

hands that unfurl
pied flycatchers flit

redstarts flick fiery tails
breathlessness and restraint

in nightingale pauses

earlier creamy cow parsley
licked hedgerow edges

as whitethroat songs incised blue sky
unseen contrails

hurried fret against fall
of effortful feathers

eyelids swoop then lift
accept light again.

whether to scratch my watch or wind my arse.
Haven’t seen the ball since kickoff.
I have the relative IQ of a deck chair.

A poster child for birth control.
Couldn’t hit the floor if I fell on it.
If you stand close enough to me
you can hear the sea.

Forgot to pay my brain bill.
Antenna doesn’t pick up all the channels.
My belt doesn’t go through all the loops.
Another brain would be lonely.
I would argue with a signpost.
If you gave me a penny for my thoughts, you’d get change.

People have had more meaningful conversations with a brick wall.
I ran out of gas before my car.
Nice cage, but no bird.
Left the scene before my body.
Wind is blowing but nothing is moving.
Umbrella is up but there’s no rain.

Most people drink from the fountain of knowledge, I only gargled.
I have been shipped but not delivered.
If my nose was on upside down
I’d drown in the rain.

My elevator goes to top but the doors don’t open.
One IQ point above brain death.
Any slower and I’d need to be watered once a week.
All booster, no payload.
I have some lug nuts rattling in my hubcaps.
Nice house, not much furniture.
IQ lower than my shoe size.
brains from Adam.

If I could do the right thing.
Make the right choice.
I would be able to care for you.

when they handed out brains.

If brains were dynamite,
I couldn’t blow my hat off,
wouldn’t have enough to blow my nose.

Brains were webbing, I couldn’t
put a set of gaiters on a sparrow.
I’d be on the floor playing with it.

Brains were electricity, I wouldn’t
have enough to light a firefly.

Brains would know what you were
thinking and able to act on it.

Sharp
as a marble
as a bag of rocks
as a bowling ball

Few
peas shy of a casserole
keys of a keyboard
cards of a deck
screws of a toolbox

sandwiches of a picnic
threads of a sweater
two bricks of a load
one twist of a slinky

roots of an apple tree
couple shakes of a sauce bottle
people of a party
pinky of a hand

leaves of a bush
springs of a watch.
bales short of a wagon load.
needles short of a sewing kit
bits of a byte

slice of a loaf
megabytes of a gig
electrons of an isotope
grapes of a fruit salad

feathers of a duck
whisker of a kitten
olive of a martini
carrots of a carrot cake
tuppence of a bob
atoms of critical mass

big bang of a universe
ooze of life on earth
sperm of a baby

almost there.

pulled out of a hole,
spanked to make you breathe

sharp in the knife drawer,
paired in the sock drawer

folded neatly along the creases
in the airing cupboard

arranged with the ornaments
on the mantelpiece

snored at in the bedroom
diced, minced, fried in the kitchen

crumpled in the washing basket
tumbled on the spin cycle

dibbered in plastic pots
weeded in the borders

force fed in a hospice,
cremated and boxed in.