Frank

Tailoring O’Hara slacks
I’ll be frank, scarlet never was
My colour or my kind of girl
I’ll run instead of talking and
I’ll sing instead of working and
You’ll find me sipping coke
Somewhere with one of many lovers
In those lemon yellow shoes, the
Ones that look American, which is
Why I think you like them, which is
Why you think I wear them, which is
Enough for the moment, which is
All there is.

Like the starlings in the hedgerows
With no notion of tomorrow
Delighted by sunrise;
This is the last straw
Chewed to spite you
By somebody else;
In the morning I will love you -
Remember myself.

Rhombus

Please don't keep your hands
To yourself, I was
Expecting heartbreak-
Last year I was here with you,
Or someone of that name-
Square window and the spots
Of daylight through it are the same,
But you're not him
And breathing's easy
And everything's changed;
Freckles on you
Tracing out triangles
Make me unafraid,
Parallel lines of morning
Meet in corners of my town
Shaping up to miss you
If you stay around.

March

North wind beats the edges off
The summer, kicks the heads
Off daffodils on
Wordsworth Avenue,
Pebbledash houses fight it
Out with their blunt glint and
Eyeless windows tensed
Against the cold;
Smug at recalcitrant sun
Teased out of cloud.
That tattered St George's cross
That flaps and flags up the
Truck stop, shown up by
Aged miners' homes
Neat gardens with handrails
On all the doors.
I feel sick with shame
Always coming back here
In one piece.