SELECTED
POETRY
by Nick Dockerty

'SHOW US HOW TO LOVE AGAIN AND THE ATLANTIC FLOOR'

So gone
and so far, reassured,
far beneath, the abysmal rhythm of it.
As we reckoned in the hum of the New Year -

And how sure, now
that this and only this
would bring us together and show us how to love again and the Atlantic floor.

I was far gone and so pleased,
I could hold it and get it the right way round.
And this pleased you, I know -
As we were sure, now
of this and only this.
Our bodies surface, far beneath.
Safe in the give of branches, alternate weekends and the restraining order.



� Nick Dockerty

Reproduced with permission

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'AWAKE ASLEEP SCARLET'

Awake
the night, ablaze with you
for Someone had doused the tower with your spirit, almost delirious
In the eastern chamber, the violet tapestry folded and
Thrust into the same hands that had touched your thighs,
Not 24 hours before, and not for 24 hours again

Asleep
the night, awake with you
my Beautiful avatar, taken early in a mist, white and clammy with death
By the same mind that had clothed you and took the fire from my spirit
While you slept there, never mine
Not 24 hours before, and not for 24 hours again

Scarlet
bedewed, the bed awoken by you
the Writhing body, violet and folded, brought to still for 24 hours,
Thrust by the same hands that had touched your thighs, fresh with life
While you sleep with me, never mine
Not before, and not for 24 hours again.

� Nick Dockerty

Reproduced with permission

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'THE NIGHT BUS'

He missed the night bus
It carried on
He didn't

� Nick Dockerty

Reproduced with permission

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'SUBTITLED: SEA PLANE'

Thus follows a representation of the last entry in the diary of a friend of mine who left us recently. The words are exactly as I found them; inscribed upon the page in his favourite green ink LAMY fountain pen. I must thank his next of kin, Aunt A for allowing me to publish them online and for her gracious honesty about his literary ambitions.

Diary entry: Day 1117

it is almost time, i can feel it. My mind is . I have learnt all that i suspected all along and perhaps some more.

see speck on horizon, or icing on cake
or memory
or eyelid
or icecap.
the din from your heart is with me like the rhine of your bosom, the sky is not there again.

see form of plane
buffeted but intact full of cargo propelled

i won't eat the dental moulds or his bible
although: is this leather?

approaching the smooth lake forceps and toes like sweetcorn
when nobody likes to be stared at in the street.
steel pins form between my lips as i struggle with the tape recorder

sea plane! i can see the markings but i cannot describe or decipher them for you.

and then in a blink of an eye it seems to hover in cool light cool shadow
in movement yet quite still

object and image so sweet your dance

father is struggling with the rake and an american indian among the conifers
who shiver their disapproval but don't avert their eyes.

i am hewn from lack
and it is this motif
like the sea plane
like father and the rake and the american indian
that

And so it ends, i will miss you, dear friend.
- Nick

� Nick Dockerty
Reproduced with permission

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'THE GIRL WITH THE PEPSI COLA CAN'

You were selling
And I was buying
And so I hand over the money
And take the pepsi cola can home

It�s still there in the fridge
(I often look at it and think of you)

You were selling
And I was buying
And so I hand over the money
And take the girl with the pepsi cola can home

She�s still there - under the stairs

You were selling
And I was buying
And so I hand over the money
And she takes the money and the boy with the pepsi cola can home

I�m still there - but we couldn�t make it work.

� Nick Dockerty
Reproduced with permission

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'UNTITLED'

And so we meet
on an urban regeneration site -
A love evident among the ancient tusks.

You mention Tuscany.

I want to take you to Blackpool
Blackpool pleasure beach

Where we�ll watch the chinook spin
out of control
And sink into the hillside -
just a dark damp thud.

The blades severing our sugary limbs.

� Nick Dockerty

Reproduced with permission

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