Tag Archives: footprints

OWN GOAL

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Universal Octopus

Cast up on a desert island,hut to be erected,food to be found. Making something I can call ‘my land’to protect and be protectedon my own ground. Another somewhereto be hot and cold in.A here (or there)to be young (grow old) … Continue reading →

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THE BEGINNING

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Trace it all back as far as you canfrom where it ends up to where it began:From knife to the hand,from hand to the eye;from footprints on sandto the sun in the sky. Trace it back further to where it … Continue reading →

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UNFINISHED

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Universal Octopus

A face half in shadowin the gallery;sudden silenceamong the guests,candlelit at the long table below. Girlsserving sherbetin the caravanserai.Before the whirlwindin the sandstorm’s eyetears up the desert. A severed headand the black mask of the executioneron Tower Hill. Broken masts … Continue reading →

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POST IMPERIAL BLUES

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Universal Octopus

A terrorist gets his way by violence. Like Alexander,he would prefer a city to surrender peacefully.Like Alexander,he will destroy it if it doesn’tand enslave its population. A successful terrorist,like a successful leopard,does not change his spots. A pugilist can break … Continue reading →

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WEEKEND PEOPLE

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Universal Octopus

Though the weekend peopleleave it all behind,when they sit down quietlyit’s all there in their mind. And though they leave their footprintsto commemorate their stay,when the cosmic tide comes in,it washes them away. The sand, the rocks, the buildingsthough private … Continue reading →

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ETERNITY

Posted on October 20, 2018 by Universal Octopus

There is no time in Paradise! Do not worry. Do not hurry. If the kettle is too small it will not spoil it to fill it twice and boil it. There is no time in Paradise. Until they count the … Continue reading →

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RIGHT VIEW

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Universal Octopus

To the rose the garden disappears. To the garden the rose withers away. (If you were the gardener, what would you say?) Trace it all back as far as you can from where it is now to where it began. From … Continue reading →

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WALK ON

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Universal Octopus

Walk On Walking On is not just a matter of feet measuring out the streets of this world; or the clatter of railway tracks dwindling to a point in the far-off, backward-looking, which has now become the past. Nor is … Continue reading →

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