under the pictures

[[ "they" is someone undefined, indefinite, unlikely, impossible, discovering the remains of the last of humanity huddled in our tunnels/caves ]] 

if they come for us

they will come for us

down in the tunnels

maybe they'll find us

what is left of us

under the pictures

we drew on the walls

pictures of animals

running for their lives

from us 

if they come on us

bones and dust of us

down in the tunnels

let them laugh at us

all that's left of us

under the pictures

we drew on the walls

pictures of animals

running for their lives

from us 

Bluebird Matchbox

[[ A transformation of an actual childhood visit to relatives in Dundee and Perth. The long wait for adults to finish visiting grows to an evolutionary scale. The Bluebird Matchbox (actually a Corgi, says the internet) was produced to keep me or my brother or both of us busy while adults talked for the last time. ]]

In childhood I am guided in

to meet the ancient Britons known

to other ancient Britons then

as Helen, Bunty, Joe. All gone.

They are all shades of vein and chalk

and pebbledash and cardigan

and close-cut grass and gravel walk

and kindly smiles all wired in.

I play while they discover fire 

and pour a drink to warm their skins,

and ages pass while they admire  

how fingers grow where once were fins.

a history of me

[[ It's somebody who paints graffiti in the subway. But it's also those cave artists from the previous entry. ]]

The smell
of electricity
and aerosol.

I have known
this other sense
since I was small.

I touch the
tip of every
digit to the wall

I press a
fingerprint to
seal it all

and leave
(and leave)

a history of me,
complete and illustrated
mystery to me.

With a full and
finished wall,
each cell in me
(the imprint and
insignia of me)
tells in me.

I feel a fall into
the only well.

A lighted torch

[[ Have you seen the hand stencils in the caves? ]]

A lighted torch,

then hands reach
through the dark

(reach through the dark)

The artist's hands

a conjurer's hands

reach out to you

(reach out to you)

from when they were

(from when they were)

to when we are

(to when we are)

from what we were

(from what we were)

to what they have

(to what they have)

what we have become