Sixth Form

12.30

The sixth form staffroom
is filled with silence
Tutors are booking
timetables and ticking
maths tables - correct
Thumbing through supply catalogue
supply teachers
find another lesson to cover
p.58, questions 1-5

12.40

The colour photocopier sits
humming and whirring
waiting for it's orders
online it blinks
I'm online and ready
then after clearing it's throat
it breathes a click of relief
and rests in standby mode

12.50

Keyboards are taped
Deliberate and angry
fingers punch out
disgruntled observations
to placid parents
who lead their child off
to be educated
forgetting that you can't
lead a horse to water

1pm

Easy chairs which are easy
for 10 minutes
and hard after that
sit glaring out towards the door
If only their four legs
could carry them to safety
Sadly they've been told
to keep "four on the floor"
more times than they can remember

1.10

...with that the copier hums into activity
called to do his duty
printing orders
as the mobile phone
is too called out of standby
little keys are text typed
and numbers
partially erased by greasy
lunchtime fingers
"send" and standby again

1.15

Next lesson

Meating

You skewer through me
bleeding electric
on the brightly lit
supermarket counter
Who would ask such a thing?
and who would answer?
Price tag that question
discount the reply
accept our frustrations
demand and supply

Definition

There is a difference
between guilt and guilty
sin and sinner
between treat and treaty
beg and beginner
but when defining words
it's hard to forget
the difference between
love and regret

Pastime

Below is an evolving list of things I do to pass time,

1. Brush and polish scuffed shoes
2. Wash the mountain of soiled dishes in my kitchen
3. Struggle with my cumbersome vacuum cleaner up the stairs
4. Stream American television shows across the internet
5. Doodle on the back of ripped envelopes
6. Create surreal artwork from cloud formations
7. People watch from cosy coffee house windows
8. Admire the single flame burning on my gas fire
9. Delete junk mail from my email account
10. Push the draft excluder to the bottom of the door
11. Make polite conversation with the checkout assistant at the supermarket
12. Separate coppers from silver in my change from shopping trips
13. Be consumed by rain fall bouncing off the street in a shower
14. Analyse the content of other peoples shopping baskets
15. Tear the perforated edges off the side of my wage slip
16. Sort and recycle waste material
17. Inflate the tyres on my car to the correct pressure
18. Mark off used days on my calendar with a felt tip
19. Check receipts from shopping trips and compare with given change
20. Sleep during the day
21. File paid utility bills in an old shoe box
22. Adjust all the clocks for Daylight Saving Time
23. Alphabetise my compact disc collection
24. Sort by colour my books
25. Listen to Jehovah's Witnesses subordinately on the door step
26. Open and close window blinds in rooms I don't use
27. Collect and catalogue fast food flyers and junk mail in blog format.

I never pass time with you.

A Fisherman's Hug

In the train station
anticipation arrived at platform 5
giving a fisherman's hug and
carrying a small overnight bag
filled with longing and
crumpled curiosity

On the hospital ward
we watch staff restock the halls
their blue uniforms replenishing
the adjustable beds
I wait to be scanned like bruised fruit
You comfort me in soft scents
not undelivered or returned

In the terrace house
between the exposed floor boards
Footfalls ingrain Liverpudlian dirt
trapped in trainer tread
as longings are unloaded
onto soft cushioned sofas

In the parked car
aside the soft Larkin verge
knees clasp together
miraculously divining water
Falling for fast shutter speeds
of digital lenses
you turn your face to look at mine
and I see you hiding there
for the first time

Two For One

Close your eyes
Close your eyes
and count to ten

Hold your breath
Hold your breath
then breathe again

Turn your back
Turn your back
I won't be gone

Hold my hand
Hold my hand
I maybe wrong

The Journey

I almost locked the car
without turning to
the empty passenger seat
to not see you there
tightening your belt
Facing the autumn heat
And how you worried
about how you looked
and how I looked
at how you worried
taking you further
down that street
making the journey
indiscrete