Monday 9 August 2010

Ode to Naomi Campbell

Our paths will never cross
I will never talk to you, Naomi
I will never break the code
Behind which you hide

You held the court in your hand
Your face, inscrutable
Dark glasses. Black on black
You were glamour personified

You ride your celebrity like a raft
Fame itself is your muse
Magnificence in obsidian
Down the cat walk, you stride

That dictator business was merely
A trivial inconvenience
You are a goddess, after all
What does it matter who died?

Remember the days that we spent
On Streatham High Road
Scouring Woolworths for a ring?
It did not happen. We did not coincide

At least you did not batter me
Here, Naomi, take this pebble
A diamond for my troth. May it
Unfreeze your hurt, inside

Life: a manual

I woke up. Pretended to be a bloke
Conducted an argument with myself
Walked to the bus: a swaying goldfish bowl

One must navigate between earth and sky
Find one's way through a forest of symbols
Like a knight in a dark, silent wood

Though life is finite, a one-way ticket
The eternal endures, light and dark
The candles of horse chestnuts standing proud

The shaded graves are as cool as water
On a hot, prickly day. I walk past them
Imagining I am not going to die