blessings
 
may your harvest fit in a sack
may none of your apples be
sweet may barbed wire tear off
the snouts of your pigs may the
mirror show the scarecrow’s
face the moon shine on your
wedding-day may the milliner
embroider your bonnet with
nettles the blackberry fell your
dog may your every joy grow  
a carbuncle may your eyes go
to milk may the moth make
its nest in your bedclothes the
wind blow sickness in your
ears may your husband leave
you for a crone may his mother
season your cooking from the
grave may corncrakes gnaw
your sour bones a shadow fall
across your shadow the mice
lay their eggs in the mouths    
of your children your children
have the blacksmith’s eyes may
tracks lead hunters to your door
your fingers melt like candles
may you succumb to god’s
terrible kittens may the wolf
carry off the heart of your heart
and the swans swim thrice
by your grief

Anthem

​We were all in love
but didn’t know it.
We were all in love
continually. Bless
our little hearts,
smoking and drinking
and wrecking things.
Bless our shameless shame.
We were loud, invincible.
We were tough as rails.
We stole street signs
and knocked over bins.
Ripped the boards
off boarded-up stuff.
Slept in towers
filled with pigeon shit
and fluff. We kicked
beer bottles down
cobbled lanes.
Tires and chains.
Chains and wheels
and skin. The world
was always ending
and we the inventors
of everything.