Namesakes

On the second date, he asked,
"What does your name mean?"
"It means the whole universe, all
of it, the whole damned thing," I
said, quite tipsy, and elated, but
found myself very soon deflated,
"Akhil," he said - being creepy -
"isn't that the first word of ABVP?"

"Those subsidies," he said,

"make no economic sense,
they're just populist, that's
my grouse," as he parked
his SUV on the foot-path
right in front of his house.
 

In Carbondale by Cliff Fell

Consider the glue
that holds all this together,
be it the cold light
of the diamond in the mine,
the gold in its seam
below the forest
or the shale oil reserves
of the Arctic Circle�
each in its way a party hat
that pays homage
to DJ culture
or signals the slow
corruption of thought.
But right from the start
let it be said
that to our knowledge
the art of the oil slick

Table-lamps, window-panes,

picture hanging on the wall,
ceiling-fans, a nervous pet,
are all the clues that you'll
get to tell you that the ground
beneath your feet, the stone,
the iron, the mortar, is, when
it counts, little more than water.

Some you will love,

some will love you,
& thank your stars if
this were to happen
together, if it won't,
don't mind, somehow
with time you'll find
(though it'll never be
fair) a heart to bear.

The quiet life at Glenfinnan (1877, Runs 458/468) by Robynanne Milford