9      Corpus Callosum,

A quartet of days live beyond the firmament,

For each one a wolf howls in a certain harmony,

Whilst an expert in festivities provides sleep for the occasion,

In autumn I learned that leaping has a certain power,

In winter I shrank from that dreadful baying,

In spring I met a maiden called Beth,

Yet by summer her shade grew so long it left me,

All wolves know to fear the marksman,

All marksmen know to fear the bullroarer,

That ally of all beasts who makes the earth convulse,

A proud God with four hands caught in eternal gesture,

His agent, the polestar guides the way of all things,

Four score times I listened for these days,

Four more times I slept in all ways.

(Graham  31 May 2022

10    Stones

1 – The Cannibal God

Quartered for years the earth inside dies

Discordant again all humanity sighs

But broken by doubt this subject’s attention

Is given ascent by artistic intention

As shrinking light arrives contentments rise

Though your sport lacks the rights Thebes denies

The idiot whistles, the atmosphere collapses

Staggering, stumbling his raving voice lapses

The dramatic ingress of pink noise covers

A lucky shot the bravest mark discovers

Eager for release by a gentle friends’ hand

Condemned and confused he cannot stand

So the deafening oak event is one to make

The controller of ubiquitous stardust wake

2 – The Bulimic Demon

The problematic image dies every year,

but it is necessary and in this case

is the game you have no right to stay in.

No matter how old you are

they cross the street and

they spit angry words.

On the day of your autopsy,

no one is allowed to lie, criticize

or insult his fellow journalists

Now oak sawdust and dust control

are definitely widely available,

rocks decide the future of the city.