
Peat Soil
peat soil lay on the earth
and soaked up the rain
he may not ever have moved
unless we said his name
then he’d lead us to a view
out in the pouring rain
like an elk in the morning dew
or the curl of a lions mane
used to speed drive like crazy
up and down the motorways
hold on tight to the handles
he’ll get you there ok
peat soil did not know fear
did not get sick and yet
well the ending isn’t something to remember or forget
ride the thermals big eagle
in dingle or istanbul or
on the roads between
he was gone for many moons
and many many dreams
once thrown through a windscreen
face cut up and yet
he lay down took some acid
healed himself with his head
he knew something
i know he did though
i never dared to ask him what
he could mend it and always did
you know theres nothing that aint worth a shot
there laughing grass in hand
at something I forget
ain’t it strange how I took no pictures and i don't remember what he said
though it comes to me
ride the thermals big eagle
was it the horse that you fell off
or the old man who crashed into you
what of the trips that i heard of
or the things you were into
Tent City
im going down to tent city
lie in the rain pocked night
i don’t want your crooked pity
i see the stars make their light
I hear some people speaking here
dull moans in the moonlight
when i hear nature calling
i watch the cars go by
tent city nestled in the valley
where the road snakes around me
Just off the motorway
closed down road side cafe
washing my t shirts in the river
stealing eggs from beneath the chicken
i walk into the town sometimes
sometimes i walk straight through
potatoes from the fields
boiling coffee outside
tent city nestled in the valley
where the road snakes around me
tent city nestled in the valley
where the rain ropes around me
Monkeys in the Mangrove
What that in your vitamin tub
what have you in there for us
sit around for an hour or two
happily burning plants with you
baboons on the plateau
monkeys in the mangrove,
walking down a long road
following your own code
you have to buy a proper a shoe
santorini fell for you
harnessing the cold and clue
never opens doors to doom
have you found an answer
calling in the opera
shouting to the never
lasting like a desert
the trees make a mournful tune
stirred up by the wind in june
though its raining summer soon
migration ends under moon
twinkle in the night sky
dark and light reign on high
nothing to do come noon
though it will be night soon
got a call for peter
has anyone seen this man?
hes where the mountains rise
and the sun melts into the land
got a call for peter
i don't think you'd understand
hes where the mountains rise
and the sun melts into the land
take a burning ride out by the fields down the road to what you never know
like a thorn in my side and a kink in my rift some kind of syndrome
fruitless kicks of wits and i never know which sun through my window
blow the smoke from lips what am i doing with this i guess i’ll never know
curling up in the wind like an orange with trim why cant i let go
even when i am gone its going on a pull to and fro
tearing up my mind though cosmic signs everywhere i go
wont it let me be give me lobotomy what have i sown
it grows and creeps and curls and rocks me in my soul
the old spirit of which it is a guess i’ll never know
Tale of Two Grids
oh I want to go
low down the road
past glassy eyes
screwed on poles
while small bombs fly
through tiny holes
twelve hour drive
as jupiter calls
no I’m away and I go
too heavy to overthrow
never been one to stay
so i’m away and i go
o its so hard just to go
never been one to stay
but i feel so afraid to stray
now i see a crack
in this web of stone
blue spider taps
fingers soft on home
while unwrapping your food
your oil your regret
and so slow
a painting cast in sunset
no I’m away and I go
it’s cold and I don't want to know
never been one to stay
so I’m away and I go
but oh it so hard just to go
never been one to stay
but i feel so afraid to stray now
look! look look look!
the hillside it runs
slips down the spurs
and kisses the sea
and all these tufts
beehive patterns
and behind the clouds
there spans a grid
what is this now on show
i’m a child man what do I know
never been one to say
no positivity and no
i dont know where to go
all the bridges made
all my minds been changed forever now
Istanbul
i can turn the cogs around
i’ll go as far I’m able
these two tyres on the ground
let the horse out of the stable
we grip up mountains and back down
and we rattle to and through fate
nothing sees us coming round
and by the time they do its too late
the canopy it whispers fair
holy truths i cannot express
and its sad that no one’s here
i am lonely now i confess
In Between
i am in between realities
injections
cold days nurse says
I’m sorry I wish I could
pains in chest they’re ok i guess
but now its harder to get around
every day I feel more pain and relief cannot be found
let me live the dream to which I’m bound
o needle prick just a bit
to kiss away these scary days
you give to me endlessly
but never enough to take me away
o i know that just beyond adventure waits in gravities song and
what i see will be for me is it fields of green or roaring seas?
do i suffer for your culpability?
Its your right to die if you can’t survive it’s your right to go to sleep until next time
theres a million every week
don’t keep me here because you’re have fear of holding the stick it'll be fine
now get it over quick
kill the pain green is the vein where the muddy waters seep growing wild
giving strength to the weak
kill the pain green is the vein light disperses cloud o wow
lying down tall and proud
Woke Up from a Dream
i woke up from a dream
the tap drip brings my mind to attention
condensation gleam
on a window pane to endless visions
did you get away clean?
making tea in a tiny kitchen
i wonder what you’ve seen?
a bulb in your mind that finally blossomed.
morning again
mourning
morning again
mourning
severed from touch untethered from wheel not feeling much nothing feels real.
caught on a song I heard it today I sing a long I like what they say
Morning again
mourning
falling through a screen
a pixel fix to trick a station
he left a white machine
like a moving house with a recon engine
ball Lightening
move in the hills like the grateful living
o its such a thing
a sight that brought my mind to submission
when the wind comes takes you laughing on the shore
when the tide creeps out then you can feel draw
wearing down the footways walking on the dyke
tearing down the motorways in the middle of the night
flashing your headlights
its a black hole child it lives within your heart
spinning in the centre swirling at the start
crawling through the wind an rain laughing at the storm
100 foot tall waves are crashing on the shore
laughing ever more
I woke up from a dream
Sphagnum Moss
the black is shining bright
and cuts through the green
then winds out of sight
till it leads
finally
to the sea
old wooden fence, blurs to a stripe
out to the west
hangs a kite, then it dives
Starship Rhyddings
i’m walking
lycergic
cliff tops and starry skies
mind flying like a midnight kite
unknown to
the great gods of
dimethyltriptamine
rhyddings like a distant dream
i’m running
miles and miles
chest pound diethylamide
young brain cleft open wide
engineering
i’m smoking
studying in a hazy dream
pinball pinball machine
Hello Dad
hello dad i'm fine
though
i have no
sense of time
it seems that none has passed at all
had a trip in cornwall
put up a fight
when ‘me’ was shot
maybe you were there but i was not
sitting down by the sea
staring down at my knees
wondering how old i was
next time i go out
please come in and give a wave
i wont look at faces
i hope to see you when i’m brave
living in ear shot
taking my head off
caring is pretty
hell is the city
i want to believe what i say
i think i believe what i say
grew up with country
living with money
scared of the future
got a computer
don’t want to believe what i say
cannot believe what i say
sitting indoors and
walking the floors and
living in city
i think that it farms me
I think i should move away
we all should just move away
killing is easy
but we do it slowly
i feel like i owe me
i wish you could know me
i’m thinking too much today
just thinking the days away
sphagnum moss
does comes to me
when i lay down
and i dream
i think i’ll head there in good time
do you think we
make it?
create it
to ease pain
or is it right there before my eyes?
well i won’t know
know until i go
and see you there
you so and so
well dad i’m fine and
nature is looking kind
more in common with dogs now
and good smoke is hard to find
The Road
like a vein or a lifeline to the slain
on starry nights i ride the lines with you
through the night butterfly antennae lights
that we move through painted yellow and blue
all alone with a thing that all lives know
you could be told but really what good would it do
time will tell o the road looks well
sit back and look at ever moving view
copyright Nick John Henry 2016