#poem #poetry #amwriting #sketchbook

I took my hurrying son today to write poetry
he wasn't warned or he wouldn't have come

all the while he wanted to know where we going
why were we buying no notebooks and pens
can we go to wh smiths - just to look -

I said to him just look
listen
smell
taste if you have to
boring

we went to the war memorial to look for the name young
there was none
so we looked for his name
and he crept away

so we went to the boxes
where they rattle jewellry
and have bay windows to display their paintings
windows with eyes
scooby doo rooftops
faux church towers

we went to the garden
with the romanesque bridge
listened for birds
talked of tree branches flexing biceps
or big bottmed tree with water retention

found straggled birdnests
yellow bicycles
and memories

the church was empty
and out of the rain
so we pulled up a pew
and wrote stuff

for a 'bored' child hurrying to be teenager
it was a joy to listen to him write
and double joy to hear him sing wheat he'd seen

and then churchy folk turned up
bristling in the way they do
at people using their space for no regulation stuff
so we left
and wandered around talking about the ilkley murder

his outrage pleased me
that no one was caught

but I guess that is the advantage of not having a television

by his age
I'd watched body parts being shovelled up in belfast
the vietnam war
munich and the olympics
bombings shootings muggings and murder
the only let up was when the lights went out in the rolling black out

I did omit the exact place the half comb was found
when you've to explain that meeting a woman in the bushes
is more than meeting a woman bushes
you don't need to go into half a comb up her vag

still

it was fun pointing out the route of the bloodhounds
and the fish shop on leeds road
or the house of who I think was the murderer

and I liked his theory about the steam powered robot accomplice

and by tangential route
we arrived at tesco
bought a lump of plastic
and went home

to thankfully no tele
and nothing about kenya

it would only have set me ranting about obama
and his brother - if brother he is -
and their business dealings.....