You may remember a couple of poems you kindly improves following the Keld walk. I've added a few more and if you have time would welcome your feedback

Clouds

On the ocean far from here

The sun steams vapour

On land far from here

The sun lifts thermals high

Replenished from afar by air

Portering gaseous water

Sand from the Sahara,

butterflies from Spain.

The Sun’s ceaseless gaze

Tumbles the air, lifts, stirs, stratifies

Forming coagulations, conglomerations

Restless formations of ethereal mist

Shape shifting

My eyes hold Sun-sent photons

And I see light, shades , colours

Meaningless at birth, but I learn

I know the hard floor, the soft bed,

the wet and dry of life.

I learn the names of things, I invent my world

And all that is new must find it’s place.

We are poets and strive to reimagine worlds

Clouds are not water vapour and dust

They are silk or cotton wool or soft featherbeds

They are the hair on a mountain’s head

Opening our eyes to a new perception.

Down To The River

The smack of boot lace on leather

Jangling lock chatter, the creak

of a door, footsteps on concrete, then

swish of grass, whisper of wind,

croak of a crow, the warble of a bird.

Here’s the water chuckling over rocks

singing urgent songs, chitter, chatter.

Chitter chatter, love is gone so what

can matter? Then the bursting dam

the flood of tears, the pounding blood

downward hammer, thundering heart

The ceaseless water flows on roaring

with careless laughter, without feeling

in it’s downward dash, it’s rush and splash

Unstoppable in a world that has stopped

The river sobs it’s way to quieter water

Leaving the rattle of the shallow bed

There will be peace it says

The flutter of a fleeing bird, hushing

water rolls by, the sigh of wind

in trees. Footsteps on concrete. Then

the rattle of key in lock, the creak

of a door. In the quiet, life flows on

Cutlery

She enjoyed being a teaspoon

Smooth and bright

In her cupped hands:

Rusks for the infant

Sugar to sweeten

Salt to flavour

Medicine to cure.

She disliked the knives and forks

Menacing and sharp

Their edges and points:

Prodding the pudding

Stabbing the lamb

Slicing the bacon

Cutting the joint.

On such days she retreated

Preferred the water

Hugged the cloth

Found the drawer

Slid slowly away

The Rose and the Clematis

The rose was planted on my lover’s ashes.

Each Spring it’s perfume an intoxication

Peach blooms a delight.

The clematis was planted it’s shade

No summer sun reached its tendrils

Purple flowers sparse.

But the rose began to falter

The branches withered

The petals drifted down

Whilst the clematis thrived

Climbed and rambled

Purple cascading all around

My new love and I

We bloom together

Night is Coming

Dark slithers in from the East

Shadows reach out

Black seeking black

Light leaches out of the West

Fading the blue and green, as

Red throws a last flame,

to burn the sky

Now black, menacing darkness.

Twigs snap; wind moans;

In the ominous dark I know

Something is there

Watching, lurking

It is coming,

shapeless and black.

It is coming for me;

It is coming for all of us

Snowmen

Do you remember the snowmen, Tilly

Do you remember the snow?

Slides on the playground, ice inside the windows,

Wet snowball fingers,

Rolling. Growing the snowman.

Do you remember Tilly?

Slowly melting he shrank into the ground

Leaving only coal eyes, stick arms.

And the warm summer days, Tilly!

Red admirals, cabbage white, peacocks

Skylarks singing in the endless blue

Do you remember, Tilly?

All gone, those days.

But now we have more,

Electric dryers, central heating,

Tv’s for eyes, cars for legs

Living on past sunlight

We have more, Tilly, much more.

Or - do we have less, Tilly

Do we have less?

We are snowmen melting away,

Melting in the new warmth

Leaving rusting metal and concrete

The Fifth Dimension

There was no point. Nothing.

Until out of the emptiness

Came position -no size - just location.

Another joined to form a line.

The first dimension.

Extendable - length.

When there was time

a third point joined to make a plane

Stretching far away.

The second dimension.

Infinite width without height

A fourth point gave the third dimension.

With three dimensions came substance

Changing, evolving in Time,

(the 4th dimension),

With life came ethereal

Thoughts and feelings,

Ascending into the 5th dimension

Hopes and fears, longings, prejudices

Become religions

Tribes, communities, memes.

There from the fifth dimension

They cajole, tweak,, whisper, incite,

The helpless substances below.

End

John Upward

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