One of my poems

It's been a while since I posted one of my poems so here's a humorous one from several years ago. It was published on the Crowsfeet online poetry website a few years back.

Defying The Devil

Get thee behind me, Satan!

Ah, on second thoughts

perhaps we could come to some

sort of accommodation.

Let's not be rash or over-nice.

What exactly are you offering?

And what's the price?

Before we begin the negotiation

I should point out

that I'm not so naive

as to actually believe

you would answer my every wish.

Nor do I expect you to be satisfied with

something so vague as my eternal soul.

So, if you could see your way

to gratifying some of my more

outlandish little peccadilloes -

those quirks of taste -

and supplying the necessary dosh

for a life of profligacy and waste,

I would be willing to submit

to becoming a social pariah;

to be held up as a bad example,

pointed at, pilloried, reviled

and abused by citizens driven to wild

outrage by my excesses.

I can't manage all that on my own,

I need a backer.

So, how do you feel?

What do you say?

Is it a deal?

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On a Country Road in Finland

Here´s a new poem with a Finnish theme. It´s not deadly serious, as you will see.


On a Country Road in Finland

It was after turning at the Mihari junction
and heading for the main road from Hämeenkyrö
to Ylöjärvi that the most unlikely
police car in southern Finland pulled us up.

The beat-up Volvo I was driving
had all its lights working and its doors shut
thanks to Jukka´s firm hand on the off-side rear.
Still, we looked suspect, apparently.

One officer approached my open window.
His mate stood at a distance, arms akimbo.
I had a driving licence and showed it;
I knew the registration number and told it.

He relaxed a bit and directed his torch over
my shoulder. A bale of hay sat in the hollow
where the back seat used to be,
Jukka beside it on an upturned beer crate.

Jukka didn´t make eye contact. Good
body language. The beam flicked through
the scented air. We waited in silence. `Okay,´
said the one with the light, `on your way.´

A Poem From Midas Touch

I´ve been looking at cover images for my poetry collection, Midas Touch, which is due to be published by Ward Wood Publishing at the end of November. Mike Fortune-Wood has picked out a number of possible images and we´ve been discussing which is the best. I think we´re almost there now and I´m looking forward to seeing how the book´s actually going to look. As soon as Mike has it ready, I´ll post it on my blog. In the meantime, here´s another poem from the collection.

Crossing The Alps

Two hours out of the village

I´d climbed the mountain´s shaded side

two months deeper into winter.

Coarse grass was brown, ground water

had flowed over the path

and frozen. I stopped.

The smooth sheet sloped down,

curled round the overhang, drips

falling onto rocks in the gully.

I put one foot on the ice,

shifted my weight, hesitated,

then moved my other foot forward.

Five steps carried me over, my pulse racing.

I stood on the brink, dislodging pebbles

and knew I had no way back.

As I climbed higher, peaks

reared up behind the black

ridgeback. Cresting it,

I toppled into the new view. Bank

behind bank of ice anchored on stone

all the way to Italy.

The village I´d left,

tethered to the foothills

by a winding cord of tarmac.