Michelangelo's inspiration

Deep in the classical galleries of the Vatican there lies a statue of a male torso which we were told was of great inspiration to Michelangelo.


The torso moves in muscles:

hints of male love with

fulfilment in stone.

Ostia, port of Rome

Step on me lightly:

mosaics tell my history now -

codes in black and white.

Pain

Spasms of pain jerk
his already poor, bent form:
Love looks on, helpless.

Hardwick Hall

Tudor shadows laugh,

dance, flirt, down the galleries,

just beyond our sight.

The ever changing tide

Relentlessly the sea takes
the cliffs as its own.....
Age too, devours us.

Doubt

Hamlet dithered...but
his moral maze was complex:
Could a ghost speak truth?

Fuschia

seedheads

Family Papers

Father and daughter
sorted old memoires of those
whose genes helped shape them.

Haiku

The Church and Mosque are neighbours
They share God but not congregations;
Sad that.

Tavistock Church

She's knelt in prayer for

centuries now, steadfast through

time, war and muddle.

The Credit.....(Pit?)

....'Crunch' doesn't do it.
Doesn't speak of lost jobs, hurt,
worry and dumped futures.

Skye

Fishing

Wheeling in slow arcs

the gannet's searchlight eyes scan

through the waves.

Prey sighted,

wings tuck back,

shape refined to dart -

vertical nose dive -

Strike.

The Road from Scotch corner to Brough

Ancient, timeless fields
Glacier carved, dry stone wall shaped
- a canvas for light.

Power?

Hill tops are clad now
with turbines,wind cairns, to feed
our rapacious need.

A London face?

Lambeth

Aim to ..

Carve out time from rush
To ponder what matters -
Stop a moment .... stop.

Hitchin Lavender fields

Inglesham Church

Ancient stones bear his

memory; did he too fight

for Jerusalem?

Travelling companion

Grey was her colour
Dress, shoes, even her book blended;
The tube matched also!

Fairford bridge 2

The view through is framed

by fused illusion and truth;

Like MP's tax claims.

Acre: Israel

The abandonned angels

Gaze at their metal flock:

No souls to save now.

On Fairford bridge

Mallard, swans, water,

Watched by timeless eyes,

Endlessly fascinated.

Pompeii August 24th AD 79

AM

The city bustled

with gossip and news;

Vesuvius throbbed

PM

Escape? Where to? How?

Fear pulsed now as darkened skies

breathed gassy poisen.

EVENING

The city, news, life

are quiet now; buried. Time

entombed; wonder born.

Good Friday

This is from: The Forest Stations by William Fairbank seen at Lincoln Cathedral

Peace

Mum has passed from our hands
to God's;
her spirit soars, dancing in freedom.


My mother has been constrained by illness for the last four years and she has been bedbound for the last year. May she be in peace now. I wrote this haiku exactly a month ago -the haiku seemed to have been given to me as I woke at 2.30am with the words ready formed in my head. She died this morning.

Now

Tightly bound in the
corsetry of stress, focus narrows
and smiles dim.

Mum 2

The wind roars its song
as a chorus
while a life ebbs slowly away.

The Viola player

Mum

No food now, or words,
Her eyes sometimes see but
courage stays - and her smile.

Ebbing seas

Current weather

Beauty and chaos
Share the stage, as more snow falls;
We watch suspended.

Candlemas

Candles give the world light,
God gives our spirit light
What light do we give?

Window

Driving home

White in the darkness
Draws eyes:chiselled face, huge wings
- glimpses of owl time.

Performance layers

Wind power

A mill beside me

A farm out to sea; both wonders

of working wind.

Scorhill stone circle

Grandy's House

The house is empty
with mere shadows of 'what was';
it awaits new life.