replicant1955
replicant1955
Poems and Jottings
660 posts
Original poems and pictures by Doug (and some by my friend Alex). Copyright remains with the author
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replicant1955 · 6 days ago
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Sylvia
Sometimes, in the morning
I sit and watch the rain
Recall a love that seemed so perfect
And ended in such pain
With a head inside a gas oven
Breathing in the fumes
The children fed and quiet
Left in a neighbouring room
Winter is the worst time
When the hawk flies overhead
High in the sky with its beady eye
Searching for the dead
Doug
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replicant1955 · 6 days ago
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And Prufrock Replied
We stumble through this world like sheep
Softly bleating, half asleep
Poets lost within the rhyme
We live in shadows, measure time
And end up seeing things while others sleep
We know in darkness lies the truths
The thoughts that claw like vultures on the roof
(Within the spider webs of life
The fates in torment wield the knife
And lovers in the silence softly weep)
The scales that weigh know well this tune
Stand waiting in the empty room
Caught in the corner of your eye
As you spin out another lie
Another friend nods slow goodbye
Like Prufrock, we wait upon the beach
As mermaids sing to us out of reach
(The half-heard rhyme that promises the best
That vaporises all the rest
Is hinted in the colours of the ether sky)
In the room the women come and go
Eyeing up Michelangelo
And everything ends with cushions on a chair
An empty phrase to empty air
Promises you cannot keep
And lies that only wise men preach.
Doug
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replicant1955 · 11 days ago
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My England
It is raining and the world is green
And lush like a scene from a film
Shot in the Amazon. I half expect a
Monkey to be sitting in the oak tree,
Piranha in the fish pond, snakes in
The long grass. But there is only an
Errant cat passing who fixes me in his
Green eyed stare, like a panther
On the loose. This is my England.
A land recently bathed with endless
Sunshine and empty rivers, water
Shortages and sunburn. 
Tomorrow it might be snowing.
Doug
written in the last heatwave - seemed appropriate.
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replicant1955 · 11 days ago
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After Troy (Homer laments)
I sit in sun beneath the city wall
As the shadows lengthen slowly over all
Watch eager childish battles, loud and shrill
Flow quick with wooden weapons, noisy kills
I knew my Bacchus, such a slippery youth
Smiling, beguiling , never truth
And now my friends are mounds on Troad’s plain
Where fire fell on Troy like rain
(I had my plan and made a hash of it
Whilst all around were striking gold
Or perhaps a counterfeit of it
The wine was flowing, but in truth
I had the worst of it and it of me)
So wisely I became the poet, secure in my exclusivity
My words were weapons but the rhyme seduces
And the fairer side pay heed to him who knows the piper
Well enough to sing his tune.
So time takes all the shit and fear and makes it gold
Rhyming in my measured lines like tunes
And gives a meaning to a story told
Of senseless moments on a narrow plain
And distant Gods who played a crueller game
There is no meaning, only words
That come and go in half forgotten songs
So in the end, it’s all the same
My friend we try to make a sense of things
That wise men never try to name
And children play my words in bloodless games
Doug
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replicant1955 · 11 days ago
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Dark Red wine
If I awoke, one sandaled, soused upon the rocky strand, Could I, like Jason, become the king of all this land? If in a doorway, curled in cardboard boxes I laid me down to sleep, Would you give me keys to Joyous Gard, my very own to keep? I’ve supped through ages, ever since the dark red summer wine Splashed across the bull’s blood floor And drunken laughter filled the night, Tumbled out the open door. So like the ancients, through a multitude of lives I watched you grow with hooded eyes. The dark red grape that cuts like steel, That breaks us sinners on its wheel
Doug
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replicant1955 · 11 days ago
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Olympus
If from Olympus I was cast
Twisting and turning in the blue
Tormented by my wasted past
And all my memories of you
If in the Troad I was to drown
The eager bubbles dancing round
My broken form and empty eyes
Staring soulless to the skies
To kiss you would have been enough
To justify my empty days
And the memory of your quiet love
 Would light my path through Hades ’ways
Doug
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replicant1955 · 11 days ago
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The Evening Wind
The evening wind is blowing off the sea
The sun is gentle warmth and golden light
The billows race across the sand to me
And flee away in gentle rustling flight
I walk in summer’s balm, drown within its blessing
As seabirds twist and turn in dance above my head
And wind tuned grass bows in waves a whispered greeting
Its driftwood bones bleached white like ancient dead
I walk alone, I leave a single track across the sand
That waves and time will quickly wipe from memory
And like the sand I blow unkempt in life’s warm hand
Till the sea will rise and come for me
Doug
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replicant1955 · 15 days ago
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Tongues in Spring
coax out creative fusions of the day
as when fresh waters fuse within the sea
the bubbled spring that mused its hurried way
is solaced more than simple words to be
more than the reeds and pan-pipes of desire
more than the soulful gentle wind caress
more than the crucible and melting fire
that seams the song to smelt pure love, no less
for when you stand majestic as a tree
for when your heart is gemstone in a clasp
for when we blend our urges - we will be
urgent, fulfilled, complete,  all in one gasp
coax ! strive ! endeavour truths ! made ours that day
creative fusions and the final say !
Alex.
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replicant1955 · 15 days ago
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Memories
Perhaps all my memories
are nothing more than fantasies
to rearrange the past
In ways that sooth my muddled mind,
In truth I find that old certainties
become fluid possibilities
As I ponder all that has gone before
and try to make the story of my life
Was it really like I think it was?
Were those my words and feelings?
I remember the day was summer warm
We sat together on the bench, talking
The day seemed full of possibilities
In the making, in the lying past
In memories
or stories
Time makes us all liars in our minds
Doug
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replicant1955 · 2 months ago
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Summer Memories
Sunny days and memories
Moments past that stick like
gum on your shoe
Held tight inside to strike you
when you least expect it.
The reflected warmth of pavements
The taste of ice cream from the van
Laughter, the paddling pool
Water spraying from the hose
Self made tents in the garden
Biscuits and squash
Shadows that cut the world in two
Uncles, aunts grandma and grandad
Days that melt slowly into soft warm evenings
Days that never end but slip unnoticed into memories
Days that will never come again
Shadows in the streetlights
Doug
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replicant1955 · 4 months ago
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Moonlight
I saw a picture of a wood at night
With trees outlined in bright moonlight
The stars like baubles in a black silk sky
The shadows whispering to the night fox eye
I remembered walking with you, hand in hand
And it seemed like a story from a foreign land
You loved the night, I loved the day
We loved each other in our strange twisted way
The words that morph into twists and lies
Were just the colours of different skies
Love could make each difference taste the same
Could make a pleasure from falling rain
My love, like day I walk in night
Your memory clear, like the sweet moonlight
Doug
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replicant1955 · 4 months ago
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Italy (after Shelley)
Star crossed, in summer winds
we stumbled south, with friends
to plight our troth. In villas shadowed
from the sun, We held our love together
just, Like ancient vines upon a white washed
wall we clung to every rocky stone.
Each afraid to face the dark
alone. On Shelley’s beach I thought to die
so sure was I of resurrection
and another chance. But life remained.
I remember freckles beneath a wide brimmed hat
and the taste of cheap red wine, but not your face.
I held your love too tightly to my own.
Blew too often on the sparks
to fan the flame. Like a driftwood fire
on a summer beach, we had only the wind
and the sky to comfort us.
And the sea to cover all. 
Doug
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replicant1955 · 4 months ago
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Winter  Morning
This winter sun is low and hard
Casting trees and hedges in a mould of frost
The ponies stamp in the cobbled yard
Eyes bright and empty like souls long lost
Dying ash in a blackened grate
Gives a ghost of summer to the winter’s bite
And I cherish every breath you take
Your face like marble in the morning light
Leaving you is a pain that cuts so deep
Lying warm and huddled in a curtained bed
Your face and lips sweet soft in sleep
Your wayward hair a halo round your head
The basin’s water, icy cold
Scouring like a knife my sleep scarred eyes
Births me to a world that’s white cast old
That cries in crows to the pale blue sky
But wool packed ponies will not wait
And ice hard paths soon melt to mud
The streams that deep in summer bake
Will quickly spurt in winter flood
We’ve tight-baled wool to Flanders bound
To carry to fenland’s windy shores
And deep bottomed cogs from northern sounds
Are bending storm tossed ways to merchant doors
Cold fingered I buckle belt with purse and knife
Pull on long legged boots and fur edged cloak
Smile at a quietly sleeping wife
At the gentle pulse in a sun touched throat
From the empty hall with its skein of smoke
To restless ponies in the cobbled yard
To tangled reins and muttered oaths
And the gate house with its yawning guard
The dogs that wind their wandering way
Past men and ponies trudging slow
Like children in their hasty play
Midst ice that gleams in the sun’s cold glow
The ploughboy’s voice is rough and shrill
As the oxen tear the frost ridged loam
And as slow stepped ponies climb the hill
The sun gilds gold my dwindling home
 I turn my face to the winter sun
Feel the brush of winter’s bleak caress
But in memory I feel the touch
Of your soft and sleepy morning kiss
Doug
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replicant1955 · 4 months ago
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The Crow road
The crow flown road was straight and long
Traced like a knife twixt land and sky
And gapped toothed hedges strung along
To show that time was passing by
The grey above ran through my soul
Like unkempt fields, threatened rain
And knotted trees grown twisted old
In gardens sown with ancient names
The brambles clutching at my feet
Made every hedge a hidden place
Where silent birds in secret hid
And watched with care my clumsy pace
My hopes were nothing, like my fears
Just the Autumn day surrounding me
With silences and whispered tales
Then from the distance came the storm
That kissed the road with sudden hail
Doug
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replicant1955 · 5 months ago
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Three Seasons
SUMMER (SUN)
In the summer heat you hid your face
As golden fields slipped slowly by
Gliding like swans in the river’s embrace
Bird song crying in the summer sky
Your smile was secret, and your eyes
Gleamed like welcome torches in a winter night
Midst the shining jewels of dragonflies
That danced on the river’s silver light
Beneath the sheltering trees we crept
In secret shadows bending close
To where the quiet otter slept
Midst dreams of fish and winter coasts
That day I loved you more than life
As we trod the river’s winding path
I wanted then to call you wife
But lacked the grace to stand and ask
As water drifting to the sea
We swept from eddy into rain
Passed at last into autumn’s sanctuary
Far from the summer’s love and pain
AUTUMN (MISTS)
Across the mourning lake the mist lies low A ghost of Summer, chained by ripples Of ice edged water, as the wind soft blows From deep within the grey bowl sky. It is the time to say goodbye And this place is perfect for a parting tryst A touch of ice within the heart For when the endless silence starts So smile a little, hold my hand We've nothing left to say - it's all been said Let's wander through the autumn land Where summer's dreams all huddle, dead
WINTER (RAIN)
When winter rain on polished windows falls And deep banked clouds blow sudden squalls I turn my face towards the grey cold sky To feel the winter rain and wonder why I watch swift rivers run on twisted roads With Autumn's dying leaves their sullen load I watch the wind play games with passers by Cherish the touch of winter wind and rain blown skies
And if love is passing, touching soft
On lonely hearts that question why
You need to understand the tumbling clouds
And step within the grey streaked sky
Doug - I apologise. the spacing is off on this and I can't seem to correct it. Tumblr (1): Doug (0)
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replicant1955 · 5 months ago
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After Troy (Homer Laments)
I sit in sun beneath the city wall
As the shadows lengthen slowly over all
Watch eager childish battles, loud and shrill
Flow quick with wooden weapons, noisy kills
I knew my Bacchus, such a slippery youth
Smiling, beguiling , never truth
And now my friends are mounds on Troad’s plain
Where fire fell on Troy like rain
(I had my plan and made a hash of it
Whilst all around were striking gold
Or perhaps a counterfeit of it
The wine was flowing, but in truth
I had the worst of it and it of me)
So wisely I became the poet, secure in my exclusivity
My words were weapons but the rhyme seduces
And the fairer side pay heed to him who knows the piper
Well enough to sing his tune.
So time takes all the shit and fear and makes it gold
Rhyming in my measured lines like tunes
And gives a meaning to a story told
Of senseless moments on a narrow plain
And distant Gods who played a crueller game
There is no meaning, only words
That come and go in half forgotten songs
So in the end, it’s all the same
My friend we try to make a sense of things
That wise men never try to name
And children play my words in bloodless games
Doug
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replicant1955 · 5 months ago
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A Dream of Persepolis
I found you kneeling naked in the ash
As the city burned around you
You brown eyes like an owl startled by the light
Your tears like rivers running down your face
The cedar roofed palaces roared
 Like torches as we sacked the city
And the cries of pain and suffering
Twisted like demons in the ash warm wind
It was there that you became mine
Bought for silver from the army’s grasp
eyes empty like the dust on the wind
You walked behind me in the march to India
Carrying my things, your belly round and hard
You birthed a daughter in the dusty camp
And washed her clean by the river’s mud
waited anxious in the camp while we fought
Hearing the elephants trumpet
Watching the distant arrows swarm like angry bees
searching for stolen honey and when I returned
 With a green stone bracelet for your wrist
And a two finger gash in my leg
For the first time, you hugged me
smiling with our daughter on your hip
We buried our laughing daughter in the land of sand
I dug her grave deep to hide her from the wolves, crying all the time.
I covered her eyes with coins for the boatman
You placed your bracelet round her wrist.
 We piled the stones high
A cairn to measure our loss and
I held you tight while you mourned
and cursed me in your own tongue
I thought then at you would leave me
The barbarian who had stolen you
from your life and family
But you stayed, crouching by the fire
Silent in your loss and pain
When the army settled like the locust
In Babylon you vanished
Left me without a word
And I grieved at your going
Making sacrifice to your memory
 Alexander died there amongst the towers and lies
Loved only by the men who had followed him through the years
of wars and blood, lost from our own in his dreams
And I thought then of Persepolis burning in the night
Remembered your dark brown eyes
The distant hills of Macedon, green with trees and rich with my youth
Our laughing daughter buried in the sand
And I cried my soul into the Euphrates’ green water.
Perhaps you found me there, sitting lonely on the river’s bank
Perhaps a spirit took me to another space
My footsteps had covered half the world
But nowhere had I found a place
Doug - I apologise for its length but it's one of my favourites
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