Deliberate Moonshine

by Paul Tristram / March 19th, 2017

Nobody knows the back lanes
like this man.
The ‘Roads To Nowhere’
are misleading by name.
To walk hand in hand
with your wide-awake solitude
is the only way to traverse
the night-time labyrinth
of this sleepy Market Town.
Tawny owl meadows
up Valley’s slope, off that way.
Two Tramps at rest;
one under a bridge
t’other within a park hedgerow,
accepting the Autumn
deep into heavily pickled bones.
The graveyard’s a castle
when clouds obscure the moonlight.
As I tap, tap my skull-crowned cane
whilst whistling
‘The Old Rugged Cross’.
There is much left to ponder
as I minute-step through
‘The Witching Hour’.
Bodily, a prisoner of clock faces
with a Rover’s mind
as free as unpaid ‘Tick’.
I mark this incarnation
with a wink and a shudder
back down through the centuries.
Then step-up my amble
as the dark skies above me
start speaking of the returning grey.

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since.  His novel ‘Crazy Like Emotion’ is available to purchase right here . Also his collection of shorter fiction Kicking Back Drunk ‘Round The Candletree Graves' is available to purchase at https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0DFMTSR4F Both books are published by Close To The Bone Publishing. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, March 19th, 2017 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.