...and on the heath

It’s bound to fail 
this impossible landscape
It’s over there
always the past
out of place
and out of time
we can’t observe
the boundless heath
all we do is
point to things 
for all we see
the camera phone
might as well be
in selfie mode

the heater’s on
the windows are thin
I’m trying hard to
to keep this warmth in
smile with us 
in the morning
the best music
we play it all for you
again the same car 
driving more slowly
and other traffic
moves toward camera 
before indicating
taking left turn
stationary cars 
pedestrians 

all grey up on 
the black heath
low edge of cloud
shallow depth of field
forms rectangles
metallic sky
green underneath
and seen between
oblique squinting
ochre sunlight
dull glow diffuse 
overcast

and on the heath
sirens, police 
crows, ducks, and geese
a Tuesday in
the afternoon 
up on the heath 
early winter 
crisp and chill 
mounds in circles
bus rattles past
sirens and geese
crows and police 
mind how you go
raven or crow
light on a branch
skeletal tree
on Whitefield Mound
birch, fir and gorse

camera pan
speeding van
rain falls in grey
far away

back on the heath 
I try to write 
the sense of site
invoke the place
the here and now and
back in time
in '88 or '73 or '99

It’s bound to fail 
this impossible landscape
It’s over there
always the past
out of place
and out of time
we can’t observe
the boundless heath
all we do is
point to things 
for all we see
the camera phone
might as well be
in selfie mode