FOUR DOZEN SHORT POEMS
Leo de Freyne
Fifteen of these poems first appeared in The Rialto (
The majority of the others first appeared in Atlantis (Dublin),
Extra Special (Halifax), The Frogmore Papers (London),
The Haiku Quarterly (Swindon), iota (Chesterfield),
New Hope International (Hyde), The North (Huddersfield),
Poetry Nottingham (Nottingham), Prop (Bolton),
Quest (Halifax), Staple (Matlock), Weyfarers (Woking),
The Wide Skirt (Huddersfield) and Working Titles (Bristol).
Four Dozen Short Poems is available in book form
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1. VISION
21. SAMUEL BECKETT'S KNOCK KNOCK JOKE
30. RELIGIOUS POEM
43. UNTITLED
2. SUNDAY AFTERNOON
3. GLIMPSE
Last night,
Or rather, this morning,
I dreamt of a wood-louse
The size of a rat:
There it was walking down a wall
In my damp mind.
Someone standing beside me
Remarked " 'The size of a rat',
Yes, that's a common phrase."
Although I had not spoken.
6. THE LETTER
I've checked, checked, rechecked the contents:
Now the envelope's sealed.
I want to check again.
Will no one dig up the coffin, make sure it's me?
Though our ageing centipede
Has only ninety-nine feet,
Better keep him on the lead
Till we get to Hampstead Heath.
lips nipple clitoris
smell
say I love your cock
I love my cock
now you've balls
see put your hand down
they rest against you
like they'd rest against me
To keep the dandelions
From showing their cheerful faces,
Let's go spraying poisons
On the spaces between our graves.
The trees have been cut down
And I am getting drunk
They cannot be put up
Not drinking fast enough
The trees have been cut down
You know the way the buds
And I am getting drunk
Although I crossed that out
You know the way the buds
Although I crossed that out
The buds are opening
The last line ends in 'stumps'
They cannot be put up
The buds are opening
Not drinking fast enough
The last line ends in 'stumps'
The Complete Poems
Of D. H. Lawrence
"To think I thought twice
When I saw the price!"
You could die,
Be buried next to someone you don't like:
Look at any bookshelf,
O myself.
13. BOOK
Scribblescribbl
This book belongs to LEO LE
Read to me
I want to sit up on your knee
Have missing pages read to me
Read to me
The cat sat on the lap
Of her owner who was old,
But when the lap grew strangely cold
The cat sat on the mat.
The bird you call your bird
Will die
And be discovered
Down at the bottom of the cage,
Long-shaped
With the two talons stiff
And the eyes slits.
You will rest it on your palm,
Worth none in the bush.
You will bury the bird
Close to the dog you called your dog,
You will look into the cage
And nothing
Will look at you.
16. MARRIAGE
How small
can an aircraft
in a blue sky
be?
If I blink,
I'll let you go.
17. MAD SONG
The moon sits on my mantelpiece,
I found it lying on the beach,
It lay beside a worn-out shoe,
I'd also like to mention you.
But now it seems she changed her mind
And then it seemed that I'll change mine,
We'd wonder if we ever met
And wondered will we ever yet.
The graveyard-keeper marks the place,
The diggers hope it will not rain,
The sea jumps up and licks my face,
The sea jumps up and licks my face.
18. PIANO
Like a kid
I drew with my finger
A feathered arrow through a heart
That now I have to dust away,
And each or every note,
Endure the music,
Close the lid.
19. CITIES OF
Cities of
Considerable millions
Of people, of poems that end
'Where she was turned into a desk.'
D.H.
Is dead
And I am alive,
No, that is not true.
D.H. Lawrence is alive,
I merely survive,
And you?
21. SAMUEL BECKETT'S KNOCK KNOCK JOKE
Silence.
Who's there?
Silence.
Silence who?
Silence.
Spider on the wall
Waiting until its shadow
Has left it alone.
There on the white wall,
Spider and spider's shadow
Where they were before.
23. I'D LOVE TO DRAW
I'd love to draw
The bird I saw
And show to me
The bird I see
And show to you
The bird I drew
Soon as I saw
The bird I see.
24. PURSUIT
Drawing the shadow
Of my hand drawing
The shadow of my hand
25. ANOTHER SPRING
All eyes on a butterfly
Bumping against the stained-glass
Light behind the preacher's back.
I don't believe in anything
Except miracles.
26. THE HOUSE
She's planting the trees
I can't look
His name-plate
Has left an impression on the gate
The trees have become adults
When I look
The windows have been boarded-up
She's down on her knees
27. LINES
A bird slips away
I shake hands with a leafless tree
The only other thing the moon
My father's feet on the peddles
Light-brown sugar between his toes
As we drove up the hill from the beach
28. VALENTINE LINES
A membrane, a skin
Over The Queen of England's mouth I have to slit.
"But she's The Queen of England," everybody cries,
"And must be taken to the hospital!"
"There's no time," is my reply
As I take hold of the knife,
And thus I save The Queen of England's life.
In your next dream you are running
From a man waving a big snake.
29. GALLOPING
Find I'm galloping about the graveyard