GOT NOWHERE WITH IT

in the cafe
i had coffee
at the counter
then decanted it
into a takeout cup

& took it with me
up to the field
where i stood
& looked downhill
at what i could see of the river
flowing silver behind the cranes

& thought about it all

& got nowhere with it

it has nowhere to go

TO THE THAMES IN FOUR CORNERS

take the first left

then the first right
first left again
then second left 

& stop

you can see the thames from here

that storied history river

conrad dracula pepys
the ss richard montgomery

a thumbnail smudge
between the horizon cranes

COVID WALK SKETCHES

WALK 1

saw the white moon coin
pre-ordered in the blue pm

saw boozers pop art litter

& 

the steel giraffe cranes

saw an old black dog

limping his exercise 

back home

journalists
baton-shot
on
the
youtube screen

WALK 2

saw

a

child

plump face fruit cheeked

eat sweets after school

by a brown brick wall

he was alone with fructose

his
bag
a

terrible

weight

i carbo-load & crash
wallowing 
in the 
oils spills
stream drift

from haikusandbooze.blogspot.com

AUTUMN BOOTS

curled gold and copper
lies
under
trees new bones

autumn is a happy death
  when 
  the 
  sun 
  shines

  i walk my boots 
thru its orange clots
past
the
  graveyard stones
  allotments wild squares
  fire station
  school yard
and
  the secrets of silent daytime houses

  under
  a
  sky
of huge boat cranes 

 from www.goldsinjewels.co.uk

BEFORE THE ALARM

up 
before 
dawn
i hear the haunted noises the night left out

the slow honk of marsh geese
    black dragon shapes 
    against 
pale clouds
like
    photo
        negatives 
or 
peeling paint patches
    on
    back
    alley plaster

i feel Pause and Potential . . . world in a museum

fog horns sad with travel call bored with warning
    and
    theres a low mandrax moan
    of
    working steel
    from
    the
    new cranes
giant
    like sci fi
        on 
        the
new dredged banks

 

from troyjohnstone.com