A smashed up table and chairs lie piled

up against the wall in the gallery . . .

a sign reads 'Disappointment Number Seven'

In the same room, a wooden coffee table

has been neatly sawn in half, each half

is sitting on top of a washing machine . . .

a sign reads'Unresolved Conflict'

Right at the back of the room, a long

plank of wood is resting at an angle of 43 degrees

to the…

Five pebbles lie on my bookshelf

to remind me of this trip, they

come from a beach,

a beach of small pebbles

all the way to the water's edge,

not a grain of sand in sight.

The early morning tide comes

rolling in, and I bend down,

sinking my right hand into the

Irish Sea, it is cold. Withdrawing

my hand I taste the saltwater

on my tongue, and I am

back again some fifty years

or more on that…

The overloud talker sets the mood,

Her life and times cringe forth,

The carriage fills with tales of torture.

Across the way the music man is sitting,

Head throbbing with moronic mutterings,

He's plugged into portable suffering.

In front, a suburban family of seven

Go through their daily dose of pantomine,

Complete with five kids running amok !

Next to them the lovers lie low

Uttering paeans of…

The smallest thing

that twitches,

tweets or trembles

on branch or leaf

can trigger my

imagination.

For those small

things have more

mystery and magic,

not to mention the

wisdom of the ages

in them than all of

the 'Big' things we

hold near and dear,

the electronic, supersonic

inter-galactic bits of

plastic that encapsulate

our known world,

hand held gateways

to…