Divertimento

Jun08 073, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Angélica, a tu contienda
voy con la espada en la mano:
Voy para hacer mucho daño
Sin propósito de enmienda

The Delegation

micas calling card 2, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

A delegation of besuited men
Walks through the shopfloor with clipboards in their hands
Their hair is grey; their skin is lightly tanned

They leave the stage the very way they came
Chatting amiably and drawing up grand plans -
Comparing notes, cufflinks and fountain pens

Canapes await them in the Boardroom
Sparkling water will have been poured in their glasses
Out of green bottles like an army of enslaved genies

We expect so very little

Arte Poetica

Photo0028, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

I wrote a poem: its 'boom'
as hollow as an old drum's
but I couldn't give a damn
as it filled up the whole room

Spring Love

IMG-20120513-00170, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Love in Spring: whatever was I thinking?
I must remember no more to go out drinking
and read my book instead
until my face goes red
and blithely ignore the mobile phone that's ringing

Dos gatos

2012Feb12 029a, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

Ya dos gatos se pasean por mi casa
Los estantes de libros se convierten
En gimnasio en el que se divierten
y mis muchos adornos amenazan

Ya dos gatos se persiguen por mi alfombra
Las cortinas escalan cual piratas
A la caza de imaginarias ratas
Que se asoman en las numerosas sombras

De mi sofá de cuero toman posesión
Con mis zapatos ensayan sus batallas
De una mochila escolar hacen guarida

Impredecibles y adorables canallas
Sólo me buscan si falta comida
Soy su sirviente - que no haya confusión

Campo minado

Ojalá se prenda el foco
y que en el momento clave
mi mente encuentre la llave
para deslumbrar un poco

Ojalá en mi hora de prueba
cuando esté frente a mis jueces
el ardúo esfuerzo de meses
me otorgue victoria nueva

Que no me tiemblen las manos
Que no se trabe mi lengua
Que no deserten mis ojos

Que busquen grietas en vano
Los que hoy buscan mi mengüa
Y sólo saben de abrojos

Midwinter visit to Blenheim Palace Butterfly House

How well you flutter your wings
     Magnificent butterfly!
  I see you and I want to cry
    Because I long for Spring

============================

   ¡Bate tus alas cual fiera,
      Magnífica mariposa!
   Al verte mi alma solloza
 porque aún no es primavera

Sebo de Culebra

Ya no me vendas sebo de culebra
No me cuentes historias de piratas
No pongas más veneno para ratas
Erradica mejor la mala hierba

Ya no me embrolles en pobres esquemas
No me llenes la tutuma con canciones
Déjame manejar mis emociones
No trates de venderme tu sistema

Tu sebo de culebra ya se quema
En la hoguera de las desilusiones -
Su luz me guía, triste, a mi destino

Tus historias también en la fogata
Alimentan las llamas que me guían
Por este valle gris en que camino

Preparing for Spring

Xmas 2011 096, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

A tree solemnly left behind another year
Amidst the lines the plough has drawn on the hill side
A tree that seems to sail up the time tide
Never too far from me, never too near

I look upon the lonely tree and fill with fear
That I should find one day I must preside
Over a barren field on a hill side
Bereft and left by those I now hold dear

Shaking my head, I take a firm step
and let the ground beneath me set me free
and take me back to now, and to my loved ones

Seasons will come, farmers will sow and harvest
I will again walk by this solemn tree
But never more will I find it so poignant.

Your first Kindle

Reading your holiday spend
Without having to be sorry
That your books will fill a lorry
Just for a single weekend

Journey 3

The sight of home cheers me up
After the heartache of this week:
Another field I must now seek
To till, and plough, and harvest up

Journey 2

Closing a chapter / is opening another
Raising a question for our earlier answer
How I got here? Why I did or didn't bother?
What's the way back? Is it all over?

The soothing sight of Manchester does calm
my troubled heart's a-rythmic beat:
Who would have thought I'd find my balm
in its well-known, rain-sodden streets?

Journey 1

I've got a scar to heal
Skin to harden
Seeds of Spring to put into my garden
and a need to conceal
The ravages of winter on the landscape

First they torched a police van
and I didn't speak out because, well, they had it coming, didn't they

Then they burnt the posh fashion store
and I didn't speak out because I never liked their prices anyway

Then they looted the local cornershop
and I didn't speak out - I do my shopping out of town, late evenings and weekends

Now they are burning my car - I'm sure you know the rest

Divertimento

l 020, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

I found a bit of belief
and then a noble pursuit
for which I needed no suit
- and that was quite a relief

Cenotaph

001, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

The power cables overhead
Under the blue sky and broken clouds of mid July
And people on the platform
Going to work - like me
Old men in suits, young things with fold-up bikes
From a place called "Long Buckby" - you couldn't make it up
The tiny-print timetable displayed on the far wall
Too far now, too small for my struggling eyes
'Stumbling in' - Suzie Quattro whispers in my ear
Too right - stumbling in, rolling along
going with the flow, hitting the ground running
For somebody's tomorrow
We gave our today.

Longing & belonging

005 (2), a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

A dull ache, a niggling, lingering pain
The memory of you causes me to pause
To you my heart now goes
From a commuter train

Cosmetic

115, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

In beauty bathed, and in Dove white silk bubbles
Her thoughts meander to a distant paradise
Of golden sands and blue sea water
For her and for her little daughter
As described in Ok! magazine
But all these dreams remain on hold
While the train takes her to her next appointment
To sell cosmetics to well known retailers
And pay for the latest Mastercard bill

Excuses

035, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

They live in me like a cup of coffee
These particles of reason
Reading me the Articles of War
The King's Terms
The Riot Act
They don't know where I'm going
But know well where I've been
In my ear
The Whys, the Why-nots
And the what-would-have-beens

Haiku

southport airshow 053, a photo by cocosolis on Flickr.

La nave se estremece
La linea de la costa
Turbulencia