Poor little Pluto
he is no celebrity –
a wandering star
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Poor Little Pluto
Category: poems
Tanka: Old Father Thames
Poor Old Father Thames
The mudlarks uncovered him
on the cold foreshore
He has turned into old pipes
and porcelain bric-a-brac
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Poem: Cow
A cow bestrides the sea wall
blocking our path, dark
eyes staring us out whileÂ
slovenly chewing
the winter grass. I don’t think
she gives a damn aboutÂ
me and even less
about you – I think she’s
sussed us out, that you find herÂ
disturbing. She has
no opinion on these views either
side, the expanses of fenÂ
drably bedecked
by sparse copse and spire,
the salt marshÂ
dividing old kingdoms and ways
of speech. Her only view is
of us, that her might is right andÂ
that we shall not pass easily
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Haiku: Saint Edmund’s Day
You aren’t forgotten
Some of us will remember
until bitter ends
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Poem: The Order of Genius
The genius of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven –
what makes such complexity relaxing,
such simplicity beautiful?
It defies my attempts to judge,
like tearing off a butterfly’s wings
I just sit, contemplate
and follow where it will go
copyright Francis Barker 2019
Ciscography 