Two Poems

The Blue Car

Rain began to speckle the pavement
That is known as an establishing shot.

*

We claim things happen
in the past
to prove we have survived them.

The idea is that the past is sealed
and cannot be tampered with –

like an idea
or a locket.

*

We count to one
on a locket

while a blue car passes
headed west.

*

The constant rain stopped
and the clouds lifted
for a moment.

Time, intention, a needle
struggled gamely
between crests and troughs.

Creosote had spaced itself
across the desert floor.

Materials

A tree is writing
stick music
in equivalent phrases
of various lengths,
each ending
in a nib,

a sense
of satisfaction
skilfully produced
almost without
thinking.

*

What you call
souls, we call habits
                                         of mind.

Souls are said
to be immaterial

as are habits, which
though involving objects,

are not
to be confused with them.

The orchid leans in
making faces.