{"id":6214,"date":"2021-01-25T14:57:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T14:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/?p=6214"},"modified":"2021-10-23T13:28:11","modified_gmt":"2021-10-23T13:28:11","slug":"ralph-hawkins-14-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/6214\/ralph-hawkins-14-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Ralph Hawkins: 14 Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh What A Glorious Feeling<\/strong><\/p>\n

there was milk in the rain
\ncreated twilight
\nfalling over happiness
\nshe learned to dance her way through it<\/p>\n

is that what we do en<\/em> stages
\nstopping here and there
\nto study a line of idiocy
\nperpetuated by plight<\/p>\n

a part two<\/em>:<\/p>\n

he was as a small boy
\nwalking oft times
\nalone in landscapes
\npainted by Kurt Schwitters<\/p>\n

a grotto full of relics
\nand a toy tossed boat<\/p>\n

see you what there?<\/p>\n

imagination apparelled<\/p>\n

blood seeping from small frogs
\nand plastic ducks<\/p>\n

the forest turned to charcoal<\/p>\n

watching a dance sequence come to wet fruition<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

imagine being and not knowing <\/em>of slime mold<\/p>\n

it was difficult to distinguish in monochrome<\/p>\n

at times you hope it will never happen again<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

dramatic music raises the threat level<\/p>\n

there is mass bobbing on the sea<\/p>\n

let flee torpedoes like a Toulouse sausage<\/p>\n

a beehive in Blow Up<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

how to get through this<\/p>\n

(fog) (time) (idiocy)<\/p>\n

Gericault\u2019s raft of tasty limbs?<\/p>\n

austere judgement<\/p>\n

keeping us entertained<\/p>\n

if there is time to be so<\/p>\n

and wholly forgotten<\/p>\n

which is no time at all<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thus Sing A Song<\/strong><\/p>\n

looking at the grass in high summer<\/p>\n

alone in the middle of a field<\/p>\n

there\u2019s a certain celestial mechanics at work<\/p>\n

a fine star-mesh over all<\/p>\n

a deterministic chaos<\/p>\n

sweeps through business parks<\/p>\n

a coloured tattoo of signage<\/p>\n

high rollers buying up vacant properties<\/p>\n

islands by the boat load<\/p>\n

the rooms are without decoration<\/p>\n

dogs one after another<\/p>\n

swimming in the sea<\/p>\n

made of red mud and rubble<\/p>\n

plant life coming into its own out of the ruin<\/p>\n

bean, wheatgerm and flower<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Coding<\/strong><\/p>\n

linked to pioneers
\nhe told the story
\nthe singing of a bird
\nin the meadow<\/p>\n

at five he\u2019d go to the well
\nrealising that the
\nconsciousness
\nof animals
\nis perhaps more
\ndreamlike than ours<\/p>\n

water and air
\nholding a silver fox
\nto breathe slowly
\nand patiently,
\nthe protein switch
\ncoding our genes<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Italy after Mussolini<\/strong><\/p>\n

ice cream
\nand then coffee<\/p>\n

ships off the coast<\/p>\n

we are looking<\/p>\n

and I wrap you<\/p>\n

the band playing
\nin the piazza<\/p>\n

an alien fallen to earth<\/p>\n

swimming in the pool<\/p>\n

clinging and wanting<\/p>\n

handing me your hand<\/p>\n

to buy a paper and
\nsome hubba bubba<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Growth of Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n

tender displays
\nin a worn book<\/p>\n

seals mate<\/p>\n

or off the coast<\/p>\n

yellow and bright orange
\ntowards the waves<\/p>\n

we are wrapped
\nagainst the weather<\/p>\n

crawling
\ndown a screed slope<\/p>\n

your first steps
\nlike a toy duck<\/p>\n

to the ring road
\nand back again
\ndescending<\/p>\n

you respond with
\nhappiness<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tiree<\/strong><\/p>\n

the hares stop and look, undisturbed<\/p>\n

there are no fences<\/p>\n

so the cattle can read the sea<\/p>\n

the first eagle dips, dips again<\/p>\n

the only store is filled with junk<\/p>\n

you can buy knickers there<\/p>\n

his eyes following you<\/p>\n

waiting for the plane to land<\/p>\n

they have gone now<\/p>\n

left you sweating seeing<\/p>\n

the clouds above hang below the buildings<\/p>\n

and wander the coast<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the duck wears shoes of tar<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

a little robin from the charnel house<\/p>\n

and those wearing cone hats circle the moon<\/p>\n

what a trek<\/p>\n

I thought him honest but not open<\/p>\n

exploring himself in his work,<\/p>\n

in conversation he was guarded<\/p>\n

he\u2019d disappear for days<\/p>\n

trying to punish those who loved him, gave him hot milk<\/p>\n

who took away his dog<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think, I said to his wife,<\/p>\n

I\u2019d ever met a kinder person<\/p>\n

he worked at it, held out two sparrow eggs<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

it lasts about as long
\nall the effort
\nas lilies in a vase
\nset in a window<\/p>\n

I fetched him a coffee
\nand something to ease the pain
\nthe child distracted
\nkicking his shoe<\/p>\n

but without him
\nI would never be with you,<\/p>\n

my friend asked me
\nif I ever wanted to return<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the park<\/p>\n

on the look out
\nfor expensive clothes
\nand well-bred dogs<\/p>\n

learning Latin in the evening<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rescue<\/strong><\/p>\n

the whistle of the wind
\nas sharp sand
\nthrough the trees<\/p>\n

the fallen blossom
\nsplitting the river<\/p>\n

counting the days\u2019 numbers
\nin percentages and footfall<\/p>\n

the winter wood stacked
\nmeeting the melting sky<\/p>\n

Ah<\/em>, coming in for
\nthe news, he says
\nI\u2019ve seen this one before<\/p>\n

extras from Exodus
\nor Lifeboat<\/p>\n

the sea\u2019s inflatable hope<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bunter Goes Way Back<\/strong><\/p>\n

a cr\u00e8me anglaise sky hung in the boardroom<\/p>\n

William of Orangeade one in a line of twats<\/p>\n

the trees go far back towards the conker rule, escorted by slaves<\/p>\n

his horse Noddy wearing a bright shabracque<\/p>\n

I felt a ripe lemon in Orange County*<\/p>\n

I have visited Lemon City**<\/p>\n

he poured it over a sweet pudding of oranges<\/p>\n

his porcupines lined up in the bedroom<\/p>\n

I waver between understanding and anger<\/p>\n

shaking the dust into the crowded ether<\/p>\n

the poet\u2019s husband waiting in the wings<\/p>\n

from a high window they throw scraps as they have ever done<\/p>\n

they feel the pressure mount but they know it will pass<\/p>\n

Bunty sucking a lolly ready for a perm<\/p>\n

humming my sticking-pin curse into their parliamentary hobbies<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Calif.
\n**Calif.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Banking on You<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw her
\nthe other day<\/p>\n

I wondered
\nat what she felt<\/p>\n

and the girls<\/p>\n

a life he gave up<\/p>\n

a necessity as to
\nwho he thought
\nhe was, could be<\/p>\n

the extremes of
\nwhich seemed never
\nto leave him<\/p>\n

the girls running
\nthrough a wheat field
\nthe dog, happy<\/p>\n

the snipe placed in a box
\nand buried<\/p>\n

turning his back
\non the estuary<\/p>\n

outside an ATM<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Tree fosters a line of Mushrooms<\/strong><\/p>\n

when we are gone said a little bird who will fly<\/p>\n

marry with the dropped ash, spores<\/p>\n

we are careful as though stopped and afeared<\/p>\n

peeping from an eyehole from a closing membrane<\/p>\n

the sun O the sun\u2019s piping of golden sand<\/p>\n

and the girl, my ni\u00f1a, with her hoop running<\/p>\n

I am shrunk into what I think, the little bird<\/p>\n

a meadow pipit one to another again and again<\/p>\n

breaks a little free from one curtain to another, anxious<\/p>\n

there is no answer turning the soil over and over<\/p>\n

take these moments in, a blackbird and then a robin<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Waves<\/strong><\/p>\n

frost gathers
\nat the base of the mountain
\nthe toes tingle<\/p>\n

the wool is coated
\ndragged off the sheep
\nand mixed with polyester<\/p>\n

the kettle hisses
\n\u2018cuppa\u2019 standing by the door
\nshe listens for the howl<\/p>\n

waste upon waste
\nof ululation, damaged birds<\/p>\n

move south in large numbers
\npendent over cavity
\nthey begin home building<\/p>\n

far off Fuji glitters
\non framed wall hangings
\nthe window reflects
\na concluding sky
\ndiscernible you are
\na small dot on a large wave<\/p>\n

studying a tide table<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ralph Hawkins latest work is\u00a0leaf o little leaf<\/em>\u00a0from Oystercatcher Press 2019. Recent work can be found in Snow, The Fortnightly Review and Litter.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh What A Glorious Feeling there was milk in the rain created twilight falling over happiness she learned to dance her way through it is that what we do en stages stopping here and there to study a line of idiocy perpetuated by plight a part two: he was as a small boy walking oft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[58,12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/images-2.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42xiC-1Ce","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6214"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6355,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6214\/revisions\/6355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glasfrynproject.org.uk\/w\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}