Turning into Rob Cowan

What is that quality we hear,
In a really old recording?
An intangible something
We can't get near,
That stirs us up
And sends us exploring
YouTube, for more of the same,
And I wonder,
When did it disappear?
And does it have a name?
There's one for the effect of it,
That sends us into raptures
Which I think really captures
That great propensity
To speak of the immensity,
Of any given singer or musician
In superlatives, as long as they are dead,
And we know when we've been hit
By: 'Nostalgia Cowanensis',
When, instead
Of enjoying the music of ...Delius, say,
Transcribed by his amanuensis,
We look to see which year
The soloist passed away,
And then seek out more of his work,
With extra crackling
Like roast pork,
And proclaim him the best;
Temporarily forgetting the rest,
And that this one's just the latest greatest!


BBC Radio 3 - CD Review

Dreaming of a Cat I've Never Owned.

Drifting back to early morning sleep,
lying on my stomach,with my face
squashed sideways, in the valley
where the pillow
forms two lumpy, feather halves;
I feel you take a leap,
from the footboard at the bottom of the bed.

You step with light and dainty grace,
over the soles of my feet,
and settle, purring on my calves;
kneading for a moment before sitting.

And I seem to know you so completely,
your visit to me does not surprise.
your female, feline ways, are most familiar
you are gentle, loving, rather wise.
And there seems to be a sympathy between us,
given expression in the undemanding nature
of your happy little settling down noise.

I move my legs and you flop in the middle,
compromising, accommodating, fitting.
And as I slowly start to surface towards morning
I can see you clearly in my head,
your white fur, patched with tabby
almost tweedy, an intelligence in your face,
and flecks of orange in your greenish eyes.

A Swinsty Dream

Last night I was at home once more,
bursting in at the back door,
letting in the cold air,
rushing to the kitchen sink,
to stand and gasp and quickly drink,
water which tasted like the stream,
of soil, sphagnum, peat,
a much recurring dream,
an umpteenth time repeat,
ducking beneath the clothes,
slung to dry between the beams,
in winter light at 5 O' clock,
before the Tilly lamp is lit,
and we are sent on despatches,
to bring down the upstairs matches,
and candles for the night,
and purple meths, whose scent
should be evanescent,
being highly volatile,
but which (to me) will always be,
both symbolic and redolent
of adolescent energy,
teenage irritability,
and frustrations,
(with hindsight infantile)
which suddenly flare.
I don't know why this dream ends there,
except that its theme,
not at all mysterious,
is the need to shed light.

Early Morning Sun On A Cobweb.

There's a hammock
Slung between two sheets of glass,
Trembling in a current of warm air,
Which rises up to touch it and pass through it,
Testing Gossamer's steel strength. I view it
As a sort of weather vane,
And glancing up at it on waking
If I see tiny shadows fleeting,
Passing over it as tremulously quaking,
It stirs between each window pane.
Then I know the beauty of the morning,
And, eager for the day ahead
I leap up to walk the dog
Forsaking all the comfort of my bed,
Knowing that there's beauty to be seen
And poetry perhaps to be making
In the observation of the river, calm, serene
And still in early sunlight, glinting on the surface
Like the shimmering of light on hand blown glass,
Creating cycles of ideas, like convection,
Moving currents in my head.

I wonder how long I'll let it stay there,
Rocking dessicated corpses in eternal sleep,
I would not wish to pointlessly disturb it,
And yet, how strange a thing to wish to keep?

The Room Turns Gold.

The room turns gold, as I sit still,
as sunlight through decanters pours.
I think I'll never drink my fill
of prism rainbows on the walls.

To Listen

To listen properly and pay attention to a stupid man,
Tires out the mind, as you  try, every way you can,
To understand and make connection
Between random statements. And interjection
Is useless, as he will only go off at a tangent,
And take a road meandering, his tone evermore plangent.
And so you smile and nod and do your best,
To take in the gist of what he says, hoping that the rest,
Was not somehow the point, and you feel
A kind of triumph, knowing where the story's going,
That it actually arrives there, and reveals
The very truth you guessed it would,
Half an hour ago, before your thoughts turned black,
When you could
Bring yourself to listen and keep track.

But then, to listen properly to a very clever man,
Tires out the mind, as you try every way you can,
To understand the complex references, quotations,
To make connection between ideas, hear subtle inflections
Those warnings of pet themes, to which the speaker
Is warming. Interjection is useless, the outlook grows bleaker,
He has his subject, will not let it go,
Though you know he could.
And so, you must do your best,
Take in the gist of what he says, hoping that the rest,
Wasn't somehow the point, and one feels,
A kind of triumph , knowing where the story's going,
That it actually arrives there, and reveals
The very truth you guessed it would,
Half an hour ago,
When, with much frustration,
(After all you're only human)
You came to know,
If you want good conversation,
You'd better to stick to woman.

Acknowledging the Lizard and the Chimp.

We are not merely animals and yet,
To be a human being is not to reason
And to calculate alone.
A vet will recognise within us that same thrust
Which is the life force in all creatures.
Our minds, as well, contain this strange thing, intuition,
Which we might seem to disregard,
And yet cannot. It plays its part,
Silently, and helps to season
What we like to think is rational decision.

The features of the human mask the beast,
Evolution reached fruition, we became a sane
And wondrous thing,
And so we feel we should forget that still within us
Lie qualities we cannot yet explain.
And some of us imagine a division
Between these aspects of our human nature
And those which yet remain
From some primordial, less developed time.

But no such separation can occur. Our brains,
Between the reptile and the human interlink,
And though we hold our cerebral cortex
In great high regard, the tide,
The whizzing, whirling vortex,
Which is the spinning of the mind, in thought,
Shows the monkey and the lizard lurk inside,
Flicking their tongues, and testing the air,
Picking the fleas from their hair or fur,
What they add to the process may well only distort,
But they temper the rational when we think.