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*

the human body

is not soap wearing thin to a hole

in the scented water bowl

nor is it ever wholly

of the past, always of the here and now

glows through the deadwood

not easy to dispatch

it creeps up like a snowdrop

through the carbon patch

and what was pining, barely alive

shut away within its bony cage

now floods into the dark recesses

to happen again

new life emerges when hope is no more

and you stand there, empty-handed and unsure

*

they travelled a long time

longlongtime

dumbstruck stillstanding trees

not-earth and earth pressed close

builder’s yards    morgues    fly-tips

skyfail   palewhite

bluehills   skywarmed

up and down the road and the road

swallet

grim

droop

spinybroom

steep

stonecrop

cumb

the unbending river vodopr’

can’t swallow enough water –

its shame next to the

perfectly round hills

they call the hills ‘mounts’

and we walked on the mount

we strolled in ornamental gardens

reflected in the long shanks of birch