Carbon Neutral

a carbon neutral poem
is written on the wind
whispered in the air

the sound of it
Is occasionally heard
by those listening with intent
enveloped
in their surroundings

spoken by trees
sung by birds
of every colour and hue
an occasional word
is noted
repeated
before
being carried away
on rustling leaves

laments are made
to lost wisdom
to authors unknown
who eschewed celebrity

but its rhythm
its metre
is observed
by those blessed
to stand in places
where murmur
sigh
and echoes
combine
where
starlings swirl
in dusk light dance
where
nocturnal flights unseen
disturb the air
and where no pen
no religion
no philiosphy
can claim its truth

Copyright a Shyvicar November 2021

Eulogy

some who wear
cassock and collar
dislike that point in time
when
things get taken
off the leash
and the poetry of a life
is let loose

wonderful humour
naughty but nice
cheeky but never malicious
loved a game of bingo
liked to shop
she will be missed

is it a hatred of
sentimentality?

is it an assertion
in rhyming verse
that nan tends
rose gardens up above
or the irritation
that many a popular song
speaks to the human condition
better than countless hymns?

is it this
that evokes such
condescension?

yet in those
inadequate moments
when raw emotion
is worn on the sleeve
and language struggles to achieve
all that is wanted of it
lives often ignored
are given a moment
a twinkling under stars
and with it
recognition
that in bingo halls
and retail parks
any god
should be pleased to dwell

copyright a shyvicar July 2021

Snowflakes

under the microscope
are you a miracle of beauty?

will distinctive patterns
make impressions on my soul?

captured by camera
would I be able to draw you?

or would that picture
just simply melt away?

is your design for life
one to be repeated?

does it change for better
any worlds lived in today?

just like snowflakes
all human life is transitory

one by one
lives simply fade away

uniqueness lost
never replicated

the moment gone
forever trying to grasp it

seeking divinity
in the fragility
of humanity

Copyright ashyvicar February 2021

Sunderland Bridge

the detritus of human waste
litters the bins

– the river of life goes on –
remark the stones
but closer inspection
reveals birthday card cliché

all of life has crossed this bridge
long before this biro’s invention
merry
trudging
stagnant
accidentally drowned
complex in its resistance
to neat summary

a new structure now sits
down stream
all beam steeled
with modern slants
offering life at faster pace
no time to stop and contemplate

this changing template of autumn leaves
deviation towers
mapping power’s obdurate course
fast flowing
no giving way
and emphatically on track
for environmental catastrophe

copyright a shyvicar November 2020

Bollihope

re-claimed by nature
slag heaps carpeted in green
standing at the rock face
did they see magnificence?

with hammers, picks and crowbars
a future of lung disease
could they imagine
children splashing in the water
picnics near the burn
dare-devil races to the top?

it looks beautiful
she said

this lime kiln landscape of testimony
to hard lived lives past
navigated by a stream of liquor
like some resurrected Christ
wounds for all to see
brutal in their reminder
of a price paid
for this tranquillity

copyright ashyvicar September 2020

Nick Cave

to be
minimalist
is best

no words
I write
could capture

a desolation
that brings consolation
in a truly Ignatian sense

but if I had to
refer to
just one lyric

on pain of death

it would be
forevermore
“I don’t believe in an interventionist God”

my heart feels

strangely warmed
within
each and every time

 

copyright a shyvicar 2020

Robert Runcie

I played guitar
in a band that bore his name
but did not recognise him
when he spoke to me
through a car window

like a blues brothers’ rawhide
we replayed our repertoire
joined each time by Giles
for his song of entertainment
that a man named Paul inspired

I felt embarrassed
a make-shift car park attendant
the special college day
who blank-faced the arriving
VIP

that was my experience
of Robert Runcie
tank commander and archbishop
so much taller
in real life

did I channel that into the band?
did my rhythm guitar
signal loss of face?
awkwardness came
naturally.

I allude to it sporadically
the band that is
for effect
“The Rob Runcie Experience?!!?” Really!??!
my momentary encounter I try to forget

copyright a shyvicar April 2020

The Screaming Melons

you could say
I was a die-hard fan

at both of their gigs
they banged out the blues
in a feelgood style

I loved them for their name
dreamed of being a part
jealous of their fashion
I bought a blues harp

I could not make it wail
I could not make it moan
like Pete
like Sonny Boy

in my mouth
all tuneless and useless
all teeth and gums

so I salute
those Screaming Melons
the joy their blues bought
in all too few moments

and yes
in flights of fancy
still dream
of making harmonicas
talk

copyright a shyvicar April 2020