Blossom

Today

I watched

the cars bleed

on

the pavement

And

the trees

were weeping

softly on

the cars

Red and

pink drops

filled

the gutter

Bright

and deep

as

recent scars.



__________

Father's Day

The posters in shop windows

order me to buy a card.

They tell me how to feel.              

They describe you like this:

You’re special

Number one dad

The best dad in the world.

They remark;

Thanks for being there.

There are cards for dads who like

Golf, gardening, DIY

There are cards with cartoons,

motorbikes

and racing cars.

Cards filled with sentimental slop

and silly jokes.

These cards speak a shared language,

Between sender and sendee.

Dad, I love you.

Dad, take it easy

Dad deserves a day off.

But where are the cards for un-special dads

For the worst dad in the world?

The ones who took a lifetime off

Where are the cards for the dads who failed?

Where are the cards for the dead dads,

the rubbish dads, the missing dads

the violent dads?

The dads we don’t love, or can’t like.

I want a card that says

‘You fucked it up.’

Maybe then you’ll stop calling.

________

TV times

Imagine

if you saw

all the bad times in your life

played out

in sequence,

like the highlights on

Big Brother.

Every time you’d let someone down

Every time you’d picked a fight

Every time you’d acted like a little brat

despite being a grown woman

to get your own way.

Would you vow to change

or just worry that

your hair looks a bit funny.

______________________

Tonight

 

Tonight

we’ll put cucumber hats

on our cucumber heads

and cucumber pads

over cucumber eyes

we’ll drink cucumber wine

and eat cucumber pie

under slices of light

we’ll get cucumber high

then all that we own

will turn green

and then white

and we’ll run through our dreams

into cucumber night.

_________________