1. INDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
Sit still as
statue
In the
doorway.
Only eyes
move
To observe
The sky
above the street.
Cars, vans
and
Hyper
exploited moped riding
Food
bringers
All pass
remarked
But
unexamined.
Ignore
tarmac
And all that
rolls there,
Only care
About
feathers slicing air.
Notice the
different ways
That they
beat and glide
Notice,
examine and classify
Herring
gull, feral pigeon, wood pigeon,
Magpie, ring
necked parakeet, crow
Sparrow,
goldfinch, blue tit, starling
Maybe even a
kestrel, a buzzard
Or a red
kite.
Look again
to check
Wing shape
and flight pattern.
Sit and
watch and wait
Until one
day spring ends
With a mad high-pitched
scream
And a bird
that flies like nothing else
Because it
always
Flies and
nothing else
Swifts.
22. CITY VIEW WITH RURAL RADIO
Get up, and
it’s either
Raining or
not raining’
And the
radio broadcasts
The
incessant sound of
Farmers
complaining.
Sheep bleat
in the background,
Cows low,
chickens cluck and
The farmers still
cry:
Money is
scarce
And rivers
run dry.
So, agreeing
with Marx about
Rural
idiocy,
I look out
of my kitchen window
Over the
Thames valley.
I see the
towers and spires
Of the Great
Wen
And listen
to the dawn chorus
Of the
sirens of emergency vehicles
Crying again
And again,
and again.
3 INTERNAL
VIEW
I stare and
glare
And think
and compare,
But I can’t
find it anywhere here.
I try to
trap it,
But it
eludes the snare.
It’s a
hopeless situation,
Like waiting
for a whale
In a railway
station,
Or crossing
the Antarctic
On a
toothbrush pulled by giraffes
Or cooking
an equation
With
brussels sprouts for lunch
Or bisecting
a philosopher
With a
garden hose appliance
Or writing
more rubbish
From a
mouldy old brain
That’s too
seemingly random
To ever do
science.
4 VIEW OF
THE RUINS OF GAZA THROUGH A SUBURBAN KITCHEN WINDOW IN LONDON
Why this
continual wittering
About back
garden birds twittering?
About the
view from the kitchen window
Sitting up
on a hill wondering
When the
shopping will be
Delivered to
the front door.
When the
worst immediate fear is
Defective
plumbing
And all the
while knowing
Of thousands
being driven mad
And killed
with fear, fire, bullets,
Starvation
and bombing
All the
while knowing
And doing
nothing.
5 VIEW
THROUGH A TELESCOPIC SIGHT
One swift
circled under drifting rain clouds
Over the
rooves of rows of houses.
Over the old
man sitting in his doorway
Looking out
for omens above his home
And finding
none;
Except for
the increasing absence of birds
And presence
of ugly square buildings
And small
private jet planes
Flying in
straight lines
To carry the
bourgeoisie rapidly,
But not far
enough, away.
Usually the
old man is a gentle fool
Who takes
delight from seeing
Wood pigeons
climb and glide,
How finches
bob and weave,
How seagulls
wheel and scream,
And crows
who know
Where
they’re going.
He doesn’t
object to airliners
Carrying
people away
For their holidays,
But when the
small private jets
Overfly his
road,
He starts to
fantasise
About rocket
launchers.
6 VIEW FROM
A HOSPITAL CUBICLE
There is no real
view
From this CUBICLE
at all
But some clever
designer
Has covered
one wall
With a
photograph of
The Grand Union
Canal
And placed
another
Of blue sky
and clouds
In a ceiling
panel
But I doubt
if that fooled
Any impatient
in patient
In an accidental
emergency.
7 A VIEW OF
HOSPITAL AS A DATA MINE
The raw data
arrives,
Sometimes it
walks,
Sometimes it
hops,
Or limps on
crutches,
Or is
wheeled in on wheelchairs,
Or is
carried in ambulances,
Or on
stretchers.
Different data
is refined
And extracted
By different
grades of worker.
Some use
thermometers
Needles pressure
cuffs
And X-rays.
Some ask
questions.
Some make
observations,
Then raw
data is sorted,
Sat in
chairs,
Laid on beds,
Sent to
wards,
Or operating
theatres.
Then the
workers
Must sit
down at screens
And keyboards
and terminals
To extract
and input
The
important stuff
Sweeter than
any honey
Made by bees
in a hive,
More nutritious
Than any
food carried
Into a nest
by ants.
Data can be
sent to centres,
Processed at
vast expense,
Regardless of
environmental cost,
And translated
into money,
For somebody,
Other than
workers or patients.
