Sun Ray by Fester Bryan

I didn’t know you
Your head was made of wood,
The eyeglass that you carried
Reflected all it could.

The sun ray pierced my shoulder,
The cherry was not ripe,
I left myself wide open,
I new you were my type.

The carriage clock was chiming,
Ornamental dog was cracked
The sewage farm was empty,
Half way down the track.

A leaf and plastic lying,
Like us in our bed,
Pure or everlasting,
Rule of heart or rule of head ?

Taken from my armchair,
After lime meringue,
I can forget the gaffer,
And the auberginal prang.

Sun ray rising,
Radiant sheen with heat,
Pour the drink securely,
The red will suit the meat.

Things Equal Being by Godfrey Bletch

Toe wrap
Super mangle
Lie grip
Garter untangle
Meat stain
Rise and the riser
Lip mould
Mango nuts.
Liebfraumilch and mature cheddar
Soap in the iron
Golf on Tuesdays
Registered blind drunk
Lapsang souchong
Rice and chips
Leg of mutton with a half bled corpse
Rag and bone men in the alley
Lice in the hair of demented children
Killjoys laughing
Sandpaper in the groin
Chess played at full speed
Facial painting in Borneo
Idiots on the other side of the road
Samaritans passing
Makeshift loyalty card schemes
Dreaming about foundlings
Belt shops
Manikins smoking
Liver and raw bacon
Soldiers fighting amongst themselves
Rabbits in the dry part of the forest
Twigs underfoot
Celandine
The lady in the boat, asleep and drifting
Cardigans in the wind
A flag waving above a compost heap
Muriel in the larder
Gold offshore, amassing a huge profit for Mr Grimes.
Old Turkish battlefronts
Figs in a hopper of wheat
Salad bowls in a line with a swan
My pet duck
Loose women on the loose
Grabbing handbags from Oscar

Cherry Blossom Blues by Lauren Beziers

I sat on the flint wall
Under cherry blossom
Blue sky and gentle breeze
Ginger cat strolling

My glasses hit the ground
And Frank trod on them
The bin bag was torn open
Revealing yesterday's curry

Blackbird intrepid
Gull keenly screeching
Pigeons saving the West
And chicken tikka madras

Crystal Meth and Black Eyed Peas
Paul McCartney wading through mud
Cherry blossom quivers
In the mild caress of a benign wind

The blue door is painted well
But is rotting fast
Only it rots fast for years
And for two weeks under a beautiful pink parasol

Old fire guard and broken pots
Uncle Ben's burnt rice
And fried lice
Stirred with a pink petal suprise

Big pebbles from the beach
With monsters in permanent ink
And A4 lists of garage bands
With potential from a few years back

Humming a nonsensical tune
Under the blush canopy
With a mug of putrid green vile liquid
In my electric petal wonderland

Sunday morning with strong muscles
And a crazy coloured goat
I travel the flinty highway
To the seat under the cherry blossom

There I feel in touch with the three planes
The floor, the middle and the sky
Blistered feet and pudgy waist
With my head in the clouds of smog.

But through the haze
In the middle distance stands
A small creature, a human
My seven year-old son, Saint-Jeanne, in a toga

"Mama" he says soflty
"Look at the blossom of the cherry,
"It is beautiful"
And I hug him.

LB 2006

On the Edge of Time by Lauren Beziers

Alarm bells are ringing
The sweet smells of summer rain
Drip dripping on the crushed snail.

Ludzico points to the sky
An alien world is descending
Like a cloud of mustard gas on a poppy field.

Arthurian Legend looks down
From his bubble craft
Surveying his dirty new territory.

But one human finger, pointing with a wart
Can spin the other universe on its tip
And send it back to Point Black.

Ludzico sweats a cheesey sweat
Looking up for a return,
But all is quiet and all is calm.

Mangoroot and Bells whiskey
A tea for kings
In the shed, on the edge of time.