The cat in the picture has just been dabbing gently at my fingers, snagging slightly with her claws. This has reminded me of the traditional Spanish joke:
Continue reading “cats, commas and spiders”
cats, commas and spiders
Category: poetry
omnibus edition
More thoughts and words on buses. Starting with my own:
Estación de autobuses
The bus belches, wheezes, shifts
on its haunches and sighs: tired
of waiting for the passengers. They
kick their heels, scuff gravel, grind
cigarette stubs into the ground: tired
of waiting for the bus. The driver
toma su café; se toma
su tiempo.
But, as Flanders and Swann sang, “We like to drive in conveys, we’re most gregarious,” so to make this a proper omnibus edition it seems appropriate to add a few more links.
Continue reading “omnibus edition”
nothing new
I haven’t written anything new for a while, but am pleased to have polished some old poems and I actually sent off a competition entry today, which is the first I’ve managed in many months. I’ve also recently applied for a place on a course, and offered a workshop for another course, so it’s not that I’m not thinking about poetry, just that I don’t seem to have any new ideas.
So, I was wondering what I could post, and glancing back over the recent blog entries I saw the one about el conductor que más habla del mundo. Continue reading “nothing new”
bluebirds
I’ve always said I don’t really like birds, but for some reason there are lots of them in my poetry.
We’re fortunate to have pine forest, olive groves, the river and other habitats here that provide homes for a variety of species. The most impressive ones that actually come into the garden include hoopoes and jays, the occasional woodpecker, and one of my favourites, the rabilargo – literally ‘long-tail’ – the azure-winged magpie. Sadly, although these flock in huge numbers – I swear I counted 50 last Tuesday – I’ve never managed to get any kind of adequate picture.
Continue reading “bluebirds”
untitled vignette
In the greystone shadow
of the old jail, three men share
smokes and anecdotes. Two
wear drab and polished black,
the third raises his cigarette
between cupped hands.
Metal glints at his wrists.
don't confuse the narrator 