2 poems by Andrew Taylor

Summer Lease

Swim around in beauty delayed harp

spaces of dreams & courtyard dust

basket pen cold front trail of ribbon

eight parsley cuts on the table a small

square which emits light at dusk most

of the time we do nothing

enjoy life’s blossoms parsley diminishing

little unsaid papers timbres papiers yellow

field foreground quiet pink sky

back page awaiting experience

congratulations on your ceremony from

the registrars half shuttered window

is closed cloud rolling in when the sun hits

it burns dedicate the volume answer questions across the ether digitise

to immortalise what about the final

ray at sunset or the tower bathed in

the glow? Two pens two strands

Fries in La Serrurerie after hours the

square reminiscent of a digital game diners winding down after midnight

peppered sky calm jets variable

speeds across the broken blackness

varying degrees of brightness from

clusters interior light diminishes before

there was rhyme there was talk cold tea

as late night refreshment hand tie

the marjoram to dry above the stove there’s a productivity matched by

buying the utility key

cornfields shorn French impressionist

sun stalks

Sunset

Boulevard shine no better

leaves are beginning to

yellow bring something to

drink

grim castle ghost of a tennis court

framed nightingale

faces north

rug swept cast out the wicked dream

that has seized my heart

down come the crows

wax the floor

tiled reflection

fill the pool

dress extras

the windows are smeared with

vinegar

paper boat regatta

stalk survives the cereal bar

spin the pen

in the garden

two women sit in deckchairs

chatting

Mulholland 1963

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Andrew Taylor is a Nottingham based poet and co-editor of erbacce, erbacce-press and M58. Latest collections: ‘Not There-Here’ (Shearsman Books) and ‘Northangerland’ (Leafe Press). @dradny