- 1. Seven Decades
At ten I read Mayakovsky had died,
learned my first word of Russian, lyublyu;
watched my English teacher poke his earwax
with a well-chewed HB and get the class
...
- 2. Strawberries
There were never strawberries
like the ones we had
that sultry afternoon
sitting on the step
...
- 3. The First Men On Mercury
â?? We come in peace from the third planet.
Would you take us to your leader?
â?? Bawr stretter! Bawr. Bawr. Stretterhawl?
...
- 4. James Macfarlan
'A man's a man for a' that' â?? how does he know?
Traipsing with his plough, the rural hero,
Swaggering down the lea-rigs, talking to mice,
Sweating his sickly verses to entice
...
- 5. One Cigarette
No smoke without you, my fire.
After you left,
your cigarette glowed on in my ashtray
and sent up a long thread of such quiet grey
...
- 6. Absence
My shadow --
I woke to a wind swirling the curtains light and dark
and the birds twittering on the roofs, I lay cold
in the early light in my room high over London.
...
- 7. A Little Catechism From The Demon
What is a demon? Study my life.
What is a mountain? Set out now.
What is fire? It is for ever.
What is my life? A fall, a call.
...
- 8. At Eighty
Push the boat out, compañeros,
push the boat out, whatever the sea.
Who says we cannot guide ourselves
through the boiling reefs, black as they are,
...
