Field

The pencil shakes

Like a wobbly tooth

What should we say

She whispers

I’m not quite sure

There are any words left

The day spills 

Seconds

Minutes

Hours

Years

All too big 

To winnow down

To a mark on a page

We sit in our tent

Breathing in glue 

And electrolytes 

The stars makes us blind

Turning around

Again and again

I think we are stuck

In a k-hole 

How peculiar she says

Watching our thoughts

Drifting 

In

Out 

Up

And

Away

We only have three songs 

You know

I come down with 

An unabashed bump

We store ourselves

In a cool place

Away from light

It feels so empty

We burn ourselves alive

You know what you need

She says 

Flapping open the cotton door

Dreams

Dreams fill any void

Look at me

She tumbles out

All legs and blonde curls

Busy and giddy and ready 

To play

She straightens the paper 

Presses pencil

Into creamy white skin

A day is nothing more than the conquest of thoughts

How will you conquer today

I will buy the ruins 

In the lavender fields

We will tidy the windows

And shutter the doors

It will smell like soap 

And feel safe

Inside it will be cool and soft

And in our blue bed

We will dream

The very sweetest of things. 

Current

Hells bells

And all who dwells

I’ve lost count 

Of our blessings 

Again

We sit

Crossed legged 

On the kitchen floor

Currently experiencing

A power surge

The plate of sugar

Froths and foams

I want it so bad it scratches my nose 

She cries

Exactly why I packed a tissue

Little bean

I wipe her face

Turn her round

Brush her hair

There is serenity

In movement

A sense of freedom

And being

Rock the infant

To and fro

We are all that’s left

In some ways yes

In other ways no

She sings her songs

I’ve watched you dance 

A thousand times

But I only saw you

Framed today

Silly old me

Look spider 

Ran over our head

We are tangled in her web

A dream gladly entered

A part happily played

She draws us in crayon

Less harsh than pencil 

Hands busy playing

Taking us apart

Not in scorn or spite

In absolution 

She says

Like a sign post

Or photo

Look we are here

Sugar

Smitten

Bitten

Currently experiencing

A power delay.

Spire

She counts them

One by one

A spire

A thumb

She looks up

Our blessings

It doesn't take long

She giggles

A little bit stuck

A little bit silly

In bed

In a head 

That will never stop thinking

Unless

Well you know

Keep counting

She smiles 

Please welcome to the stage

Electricity 

She courtesies 

Raises her petticoat

Dances a little

We don’t deserve the tag

Vile

Vain

Vindictive

Of course not silly

We do the best we can with what we have

We rest a while

Under cream sheets

Like ice cream

Or soft seas

The fish jump

The sun is sinking

We will be here forever 

I think

You know that bird

She whispers

It could have fit through the bars

All along

She crunches and munches

Strawberry tarts 

With extra jam

The spoon shines 

As she swallows

One by one

Everything tastes nice today 

Don’t you think

I swallow pinecones 

Hand 

Under 

Hand

Look at what we have done

A spire

A thumb

It doesn’t take long.

Horizon

 

With luck and a following wind

We should reach shore tomorrow

She declares

We are hovering over busy waters

Not quite sailing

Not quite capsized 

I sit back

Lean into the boat

And her

My little anchor

It really was a minor chip

She spreads out

Bread and jam 

On the wooden floor

Tender little fingers

A flick and a blur

A dandelion drifts 

As if time is unwinding

How pretty 

She laughs

Wiping jam from her lips

It’s sticking to you

Like a flower to a stem

Like us

I look at the blue cup

The meniscus 

A clear horizon

The ghost a certain shore

I hear her singing 

Forehead cringing

Notes spun in mist and moons

Rushing past boot prints

Trimming off the small print

It’s funny how time can last 

Forever or an instant 

A blur or ticking clock

She lifts her eyes 

At once imaginary

And alive

For she comes

My story book child

With a fair wind

Hand in hand.

Believe

A leaf falls at our feet

We are playing in the garden

Hide and seek

We don't have a garden

Shh

It's make believe

Then Dinah and me

Will come to tea

She smiles

Clattering the cups and kettle

It hurts my head 

Sharp and smart

As a kitty cat swipe

Tea shouldn’t be sadistic 

I moan

Neither should breathing 

She mumbles back

Busy on her mission

Checkered cloth

Victoria Sponge

Warm milky tea

She sits by the tree

Scowls and scours

Trying to find

Her story 

This is curiously familiar 

Don’t you think

We chew on feathers

Shoot up stars

Blue looks pretty 

Wrapped around a can

Like the very best ribbons

Or big bright birthday balloons

She giggles

I breathe in

High is a bag full of cymbals 

Shh

Only a grown up would know 

We lie down 

The grass is thick

The high is low 

Tired

Dreary 

Old

We should let Dinah

Chase it 

She’s a very good hunter you know

She sits up

Swallows down the cake and tea

Noisily

Like mummy 

Not me

I wipe my brow 

Sweating out the flat line

She wipes her dress

Brushes off tentative 

If there’s nothing at the end of a chase

There is very little point in starting it at all

Maybe

I say

A light shines from her fingers to her toes

In my world

You wouldn’t say ‘meow’

You’d say 

‘Yes, miss Alice’

I catch the leaf

Which falls at my feet

Yes, miss Alice

I say 

Smiling

Yes.