COMPENSATIONS


Sad-eyed Pierrot
l'ambition dans
Le Pere Goriot
Jean de Florette
seen in Glasgow
The photographs
of Madame Yevonde
Claude Monet's
poppy fields
in Normandy.




THE CASE OF MR. OSCAR WILDE


Your Honour, the defendant can speak
French, Latin and Greek.
He went to Oxford, to Madgalen.
Did well in his exams,
did well in cups and loving arms.
To all intents and purposes,
he is a good European.
He has written well on Jesus
and drank with sinners -
Perrier Jouet, 1880.
His language is first water,
his command of the English
language first-rate.

Mr. Wilde goes out of an evening
and gazes at the stars.
He knows what he is doing,
he was not born in a handbag.




RUBENS


Paintings that are painterly,
Women that are womanly.


THE MINIMALIST

To some joy is foreign,
excitement manic.
I try to raise a smile;
easier to raise the Titanic.


UP IN THE AIR


This poet is up in the air
but his poems are pedestrian.
This poet likes horses
but he's no equestrian.



DRINKING RELIGIOUSLY


You walk into the bar
as if you've entered
the gates of Heaven.
You have a beer
and feel the centre
of attention.
At quarter to eleven
your prayers are answered
when an angel smiles your way.
You go across
and introduce yourself
as Mr. Happy!