miles gibson poems

[milesgibsonpoems]

Come with me.

come with me and I will build for you a cottage carved from the cliff of our promises

(Excerpt)

The Guilty Bystander, poems by Miles Gibson.

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Five Rules of Conduct: 5.

Draw a picture of your own death Hang it on the wall Spend your life ignoring it

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson - from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Five Rules of Conduct: 4.

Comb your hair Smile at the person next to you Keep smiling Smile until the smile is returned Never leave this person Use the smile as evidence

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson - from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Five Rules of Conduct: 3.

Think of a word Write the word on a scrap of paper Fold the paper Once twice Bury the scrap in a secret place Never mention that word again

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Five Rules of Conduct: 2.

Wrap your face in a clean cloth Taking a black pen Draw a face on the cloth Of someone you love Wear this face In place of your own

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Five Rules of Conduct: 1.

Close your eyes Concentrate on a single thought Strike a match Set fire to the thought Repeat Repeat until there are no more thoughts to burn

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

The Secret Life of Furniture

I ask you once again Where do I hang my disbelief Where is the room for doubt

Excerpt from a Poem by Miles Gibson from Welcome to Earth

[milesgibsonpoems]

Pig

Although the porker may look grim He’s really rather neat and prim By nature but requires assistance Keeping mud at some safe distance From his soft and snuffling snout And splashing all his friends about Him when by chance he grows demented By the smell of sweet fermented Apples rotting under trees For though the mud may reach his knees He’ll plunge about and think it fine To act like any common swine If only pigs wore wooden clogs They’d smell a little less like hogs

Poem by Miles Gibson from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Pike

A pike will snatch at anything That wriggles past his snout He’s a pirate of the bulrush bed A bruiser and a lout

A pike will snap up tiddlers And just to chance his luck He’ll sink his teeth into the feet Of moorhen, coot and duck

He’ll try to bite your sandals But he much prefers to wait For tiny unprotected toes Such appetising bait

We shouldn’t persecute the pike For those in crime prevention Insist that with each beastly act He cries out for attention

Poem by Miles Gibson from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Birds

Penguins favour names like Clancy Theodore, Hubert and Nancy Common gulls are often plain Gary, Tracy, Scott or Wayne Puffins on the other hand Try to sound immensely grand Lavender and Tristram Shandy Are two names that come in handy.

NB: The Albatross - if you’re a tripper        Must always be addressed as Skipper

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Elephant

Always be kind to your elephant Resist the sarcastic remark About the size of his stomach And his morbid dread of the dark

The elephant is a sensitive beast So any improper suggestion Can swiftly shatter his confidence And ruin his fragile digestion

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Crabs

Crabs are very curious And have their eyes on stalks For when the tide is low enough They go for bracing walks

To gather in the sand dunes Where sometimes late at night You can hear them singing shanties And clacking with delight

Because the ocean is so cold And life down there is drab Such interludes upon the beach Are loved by every crab

It's the perfect social evening Where famous crabs parade In a festival of music And a crusty masquerade

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Spider

Geraldine loved a spider That she found beneath a rug She called him Mr Harris And she kept him in a jug

A hairy sort of spider With several staring eyes And a rather nasty habit Of eating captured flies

Geraldine loved a spider But the end was very grim Someone filled the jug with milk Poor Harris could not swim

Geraldine blames her mother And her mother blames her dad They’re sorry for the accident But the flies are very glad

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Lions

Lions eat vegetarians They swipe ‘em with a paw They like to know each one is fresh Because they eat ‘em raw

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello to the Buffalo and other animals

[milesgibsonpoems]

Thinks

you think it can’t last it should all be over by midnight or tomorrow lunchtime at the outside

but it goes on and nobody stoops to handle the brake

it goes on and very soon you get to understand that perhaps it will last after all pretty soon you get to saying to yourself

I must do something about this

so you settle down with a good book under the arc lamps of reality you dissect the words and keep them in vinegar you take a little love and you bruise it in your palm you take a little hope and boil it in your fear you laugh a little cry a little start to blow your nose and you think

perhaps a storm would turn off the sun perhaps we’ll all learn to work out the facts

so you put out the flags as you turn out the lights and much later

about a lifetime later

one dark night in the cold of your bed you sit up with a start with a voice in your head

and you say to yourself

I must do something about this

Poem by Miles Gibson - from The Guilty Bystander

[milesgibsonpoems]

Permanent Damage - Step One

a red jug on a black table beside the jug a white plate on the plate a wedge of cheese

positively that is all

from a small window beside the table sunlight settles in the room

the cheese sweats in concentration at the base of its neck the jug stops a yawn

nothing moves

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Permanent Damage

[milesgibsonpoems]

Gannet

Of all the birds upon the planet No one loves the thieving gannet

He bullies other birds and begs A chance to steal and eat their eggs

He plots his air supremacy With undisguised contumacy

He’s also guilty of some crimes For which there are no ready rimes

Be satisfied with this advice Avoid the bird at any price

Poem by Miles Gibson - from Say Hello the the Buffalo and other animals