Sleep

riotous fortitude              the feet at       his command
forcing into rectitude        colours flood    night time
semblances those              flattered tears   encapsulating
weary figures of disgrace     the flitting  fortunes dipped
in honeycombs of perfection’s    strangled     hand the
beauty fades into           day’s long calling        subtlety
wrenched & wrecked       from epiphany    wild dreams
engulfed          in             sudden falling       shards
distilling          your virtues      controlled  antipathy
golden memories  recycled  & harmony     reboiled
in among the               snakes         of            wrath their
seething                      nightmares             claiming in sleep.


Vowels

damn bursts        into    shards    unruly laughter
the destitute rehearse        comeuppance for
the gentry whose falling      failing          capital
lays siege     to wailing    wallflowers  and embrocation
a dalliance  with     creatures     from    darkened pools
emitting  blood       lusts    of    linguistic  deadpan images
throttling gestures rekindling          tears of russian literature
& innocence devolving           once again      the inhumanity
of man        his drenched        thru           bones declared
whittled down               in   passages        a trespass on this
night-time curfew          its razor blades     screeched against
the vowels                      laid before           his lolling tongue.

These two poems are from Clive Gresswell’s new and as yet unpublished collection SPACES. Clive, 64, suffers from bi-polar but still worked for 30-plus years as a journalist. Eventually though ill-health caught up with him. He is now a well published innovative writer and poet the author of five books of poetry and published in many magazines from BlazeVOX to Tears in the Fence. He has an MA and a BA (First Class) in Creative Writing obtained as a mature student.clivegresswell@gmail.com