For a little while. I have appointments at 2.
Can we play parallax, the event horizon, asymptote?
The ones where you never arrive? I like them.
Won’t get you anywhere though.
What else?
You know the tide comes in faster as it licks at the heels?
The tape spins round faster at the end of the reel?
What can be done to slow them,
preferably up not down?
No idea. I’m not up to speed on such things.
And you know in a tea timer the salt only falls?
How do we stop the lobster trap?
If we give it a somersault can the tea be refreshed,
and my blood spring baby-pink?
Can that old sympathetic magic
really show it cares?
I couldn’t possibly say.
And now if you will excuse me.
It was lovely to meet you.
À bientôt.
Phil Madden lives in Wales, a parent of three and a grandparent of four. He is a social worker, but his main work is with the engravers Paul Kershaw (Grapho Editions) and Peter Lazarov (Pepel Press), creating limited edition fine art books. He is currently working on a book of cartoons.
