The Geranium Hotel Poems

We swallowed the stars So we could spit tiny asteroids We burnt the geraniums So we could smell of history's fire We walked against the wind So we could hear the door of Olympus close We climbed the Kenyan hill So we could see what was abandoned with care We kicked at the pumice and ash So we could remember Pliny We swam naked in the ocean So to link the old and new countries We lit the candle of religion So we could see the hand to hold We packed bags and built a castle of clay So we could hide from the angels screaming We caught the birds and tied them to the mask So they pulled us to the shore We read the books on how to love So we could recognise the temperate changes We left Greece, for Spain and Spain for a dollar So we could walk to France We made love together, alone, in the dark So we could see if we would change We stole a small boat and could see new colours at night So the dark was all velvet, the water was green We hugged chest to chest for

Things are changing, not just the light The static is growing louder and Russia is growing closer Here, down south, I sit and admire the sun that stains skin I wonder about the size of spears and I wonder when I will travel Where are the ships that will take me? Should I follow the path to the harbour to wait Or will someone come knocking when the time comes? My door it is covered by fast growing ivy My shoes are still brand new I know the birds that come to my garden And I spy on the neighbours as they do the same Things are changing, yes The horse paddocks are close, yet I no longer go there I wonder what sort of men go there now What sort of men would take me if I was eighteen once more What would we do... you can see so many stars at the horse paddocks Before these days arrived I would have analysed my thoughts I would have taken my favourite dreams and bred them with my fantasies I would rubbed in some oil paint, some spit and some family history And written