Rene

For telling Brian that they eat
The pudding first in Australia,
For your grace and smiles,
Today my heart's been full of you.

At 95, your stubborn spirit that
Kept you going now seems failing,
A minor triumph that Brian
Managed to feed you a little water.

Snapshots, getting locked in that bathroom
In Bellagio. Our wedding and silver anniversary,
In Lyon, laughing with my Mum,
The Wales-Australia World Cup game

So many stories, a lifetime before 
and since you became my mother-in-law
So hard to see for (the always rather 
grandly named) Irene Evelyn Mary Williams

LMC 8 Nov 2017

New day

You've done this before
On much more serious levels
Play Feeling good till you believe it
Pick yourself up, focus forward
Feel that backbone hold you up
There's nothing stronger, nothing.


If Dr Collis were so damn attractive
you'd have kept it up
through all the fractured times.
Hold onto to those badges
around your neck.
They do mean something


Think of all your creative play
Your ever patient husband
Of even a tidy house for heavens sake.
You have a brilliant job
With lots of good research
Don't sell your life short for this





LMC 06.09017

Doctoral dreams

My dreams have been exceeding my reach again.
Temptations of academic glory
of fixing the world
Outshining the glint of falling blade

Wise calculations gently suggest
I should not strain so hard towards the finish,
Should risk assess my stamina and damp
my endless faith that I can just work more.

If Felix weren't retiring,
If another good supervisor would consider
This superannuated prima gravida
If I could continue at a steady pace, would I? Could I?

Why did you wake me up again?
I was happy thinking my thesis had died a natural death
But now it resists this new abandonment, out on the hill
And cries, what if? What if?



LMC 06.09.2017

Sahara wheezing 2

My lines are creaking again

Like salt wind in my sails

Or a caravanserai of camels, 

grumbling at the dawn. 

This moon's face stare

Pounds at my blood, denies me rest,

The force of coughing shakes 

Me to my toes.  

But fires synapses, images and light. 

Shut your eyes, remember the Sahara,

when I took my camel away from the other tourists 

And there was just me, 

the endless dunes and

my ship into the desert wind. 

LMC 04 Apr 2017. (02:05)

Desert wheezing

My lines are creaking again
Like salt wind in my sails
Or a caravanserai of camels, grumbling,
Waiting for the dawn.

Steroids are supposed to reduce
The wheezing but I wouldn't like
To do a bp test right now.
My blood is thundering round
In a stampede and though
The coughs are shaking me to
My toes, sleep evades me yet.

Shut my eyes, remember the Sahara,
when I took my camel away from the other tourists
And there was just me,
the endless dunes and
my ship into the desert wind.

LMC 04 Apr 2017. (02:05)

Bathwoman is back!

A mermaid on a rock 

Slips down off her bath stool 

Kindly provided by the NHS

Into the warm, liquid heaven

Of a full bath, only a fortnight

After surgery. Such bliss - 

Bathwoman is back!

LMC 14 Dec 16

Japan - What remains

What remains:
Random conversations with delightful people
The overwhelming impact of Miyajima and Hiroshima
The surprising glow of the Autumn leaves they said I was too early to see
And of blazing red torii, Miyajima, Fushimi,
Serene shrines and temples, Meiji, Tō-ji,
Beautiful ones like Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji
And ones for fun days out like Arashiyama, Senso-Ji and Kiyomizu that I can never spell.
The joyousness of the 'Ohaiyo Gosaimasu' 'Arigato Gosaimasu', 'Konnichiwa' and their surprise if I slip in local dialect like Kyoto's 'Okini' for 'thanks'.
Superfast trains and slow ones with wide windows over mountain views, and dinky trams
Kind women looking after me as guides and in hotels
The craziness of Shibuya's Halloween,
Cat cafes and lottery-menu restaurants
The fiendish Ninja temple in Kanazawa
Random English: In a remote town, all in Japanese except the 'Safety tower'
Gorgeous gardens like that of the Shogun's house and Tokyo palace
The stunning luxury of Iwaso, Hanaougi ryokans and their onsen baths
Silk painting at the Yuzen centre
Soba noodles, duck kebabs from Camo Shotto Negi, the care and presentation of the food,
Stunning Kabuki theatre, more of the 47 loyal ronin
Real herons and Origami cranes.

The not-so-goods: the two men who waved me off dismissively
When.I asked them for directions
The confused layout of Shimbashi station
The awful hotel room in Hakone,
The frustration of my poor Japanese and
The confusion caused on 2 occasions
The nastily unidentifiable fishy dishes in Kaiseki menus
And the end of a wonderful trip

LMC 12 Nov 2016 Tokyo