the wet earth is tinctured black

by chimney-sweep soot

charging the soil with 

dark roast coffee grits,

~

stark against the fragile 

green bean leaves where

wafts of sleeper tar, smoke

and aged red wine draw up

~

the watercan clatters

against slim buttressed canes,

a tinny raucous percussion

the clank of ghostly chains

~

there’s serenity here

a oneness, man and soil

a shared elemental eucharist

unheard prayers are offered.

*

© Graham Sherwood 06/2020 

We amble around the garden each morning, 

thankful the weather remains fine, 

like convicts in an exercise yard, 

pausing to stare at the old wall

as if it were the reason

for our liberty being restricted,

we show no inclination to escape.

As with most prisons 

there is much work to do,

two huge bags of gravel to shift

so, I set to it, a slower version

of Cool Hand Luke,

cursing as I scrape my knuckles

on the narrow gatepost

with each barrowload.

The bags when empty make

a cheap weed-control membrane

although their deconstruction is arduous,

I surmise the opposite of sewing mailbags

and am minded to think, whether the lags 

still do this to earn their snout.

An afternoon weeding the raised beds 

I am calmly monastic, another self-incarceration

at peace in that full-belly manner

following a satisfying lunch.

an innocent self-isolating lifer

resigned to measure my sentence

in the warm quarantine sunshine.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

Chipper almost blasé,

only 297 today

announced like a fisherman’s catch,

almost disappointedly,

the daily briefing

I strain to hear from the patio,

the insides of my eyelids blaze

pink from the early evening sunset,

the day is finally weakening, soon

the smell of supper

and the pithy grip of dry white wine,

that’s good to hear I say,

it might be all over by Christmas.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

a ‘dreamwake’,

asleep but aware at

3am, consciously

watching lights whilst

basking in the bedwarmth,

a piddlewalk broke the spell

and curiously, perched

above my neighbour’s roof

Mars glowed alone

as I stared

into the milkscape night.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

a thin robin caught my eye 

through the front door glazing

comically balancing a long twig in its beak

between two flowerpots on the low wall

thwarted by the insufficient aperture

the twig jammed repeatedly

be he tightrope-walker or man with plank

his exertions were hilarious

later I watched him dancing

with errant dried leaves

and I knew building was underway

the ivy had been his home before

for three days he worried tirelessly

unused garden chaff littering the path

two weeks later, in the back garden

with early morning zazen and tea

quietly on the shaky old bench

I cannot bring myself to throw away

I spied his new abode

a seed tray in the potting shed

his entry via the perished felt

a perfect summer lease

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

pocket-sized 

silver chestnut

stainless steel shiny

reassuringly tactile 

in the palm of my hand 

comforting almost

slides open 

oyster pearls

regulating my life 

four times a day

a clock striking

eight two six and ten

 drugs to keep me ticking

this tiny Alessi pill pot

always with me a reminder

of fragility and a failing heart

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

Autumn’s striptease has de-frocked

the ancient cracked willow,

winter’s bleak afternoon darkness, now

bears witness to early indoor lights,

The canopy now thinned

we may watch from our bedroom

we chuckle to see you puppet-show two dollies

jigging them across your window sill,

unheard, we can only imagine your stories

your adventures and pantomimes,

then you notice us and wave coyly

ourselves capering to make you smile

our very own puppet-show for you.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

Televisual tributes seep from every pore,

there’s dancing in the street, traffic stopped

stolen regimental caps and kisses for all. 

Then earnest grey lined faces stare

at nothing in particular, recounting

horror, loss, what might have been

that last embrace, that telegram home,

wrinkled lips tremble, a tear escapes.

A clever fade to old photographs

of those same faces, now nubile 

fearless, in black and white they fly,

beautiful lovers in uniform

shouting and facing down the storm.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020 

An old weathered spitfire pilot veteran

stares straight into the lens,

grim mouthed, watering eyes

almost absent-mindedly recounting

those bloody awful days.

‘We prayed for bad weather, for clouds,

we knew that if the sun shone

they would surely come again’.

Command estimates one-fifty

bombers and support

just off Dungeness.

‘When we got there

there they were, so fucking many of them

like flies, swarming

and my first thought was

where do I start?

Cue survival statistics voiceover

‘I had a little prayer

that I repeated over and over

as I raced into their middle

300mph

short, three second bursts

of the cannon

just hoping to hit something.

It didn’t matter who made the kills

we never kept scores

we just had to stop them’.

Staring into the lens, pensive,

watery eyes now running

grim mouth tightening.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020

Mostly, I remember the crazed dust motes

dancing chaotically in rapier light streams

thrown by the tall sashed windows,

each set high up, to dissuade 

our wandering attentions, offering

no view of the nearby verdant cricket pitch.

I remember absent-mindedly fingering

the inked-in desktop graffiti during story time,

as if reading Braille, my oblivious stroking

adding to the patina of generations past,

as fag card sporting heroes and long-lost loves

faded beneath my wandering fingers.

I recall the brown flecked worsted overcoat

you wore for early morning hymns and prayers,

at least the smell of it, a warming stench 

on chilly rainy days, cast iron radiators, fired up

to inflict first-degree burns.

But most dearly, I remember the crackle and hum

of the overpainted Tannoy, croaking out

a recording of ‘I vow to thee my country’,

and you standing to attention like a guardsman,

sixty years on, it still brings a tear to my eye.

*

© Graham Sherwood 05/2020