As evening and darkness advances
new images capture and haunt,

the view with two surviving steeples
is their pitch-black perfect design set

in relief by the flames rising behind.
Newsreaders are lapping up too

trying to find more ways to describe,
using school and holiday French

as touchstones of real and competing
empathies, invoking this holy and

spiritual week when interviewing those
who can speak as if real by living there;

they also then ask why as a guest writer
explains fires in his novels’ make-believe.

It is no singular fault this is so empty
when the first spire’s fall has said it all,

bells and organ inside silent in demise
and superlatives still fighting for words.

Very pleased to be here this morning and in this second series – thank you Chrissy.

Your can read my found prose poem here as well as others in 2D. For the rest of the micro-issues so far in this series, go here.

I was informed recently that all copies of my poetry chapbook Professions, published at The Red Ceilings Press, have been sold.

I think this means those now purchased are, technically, collectors’ items.

My next ‘Professions’ poem will, by the way, be titled Fibber or Hyperbolist. Or something along those lines….

When I started this blog on the 23^rd February, 2015, my first post was a self-introduction and then a justification for the uninspiring name of the site, mikeandenglish.

It was a genuine explanation but I have tired of the title’s literalness and so have today changed to something quite different, gravyfromthegazebo.

I understand this would seem to indulge in the cleverclogness I nobly eschewed then, but I actually wanted words more reflective of the site’s increasing move to poetry and other creative writing/images. So I have.

The ‘gravy’ refers to Ray Carver and his poem by that title and the many references to this as an expression of personal joy: his simple pure gravy. I’ve always liked Carver as a writer and wouldn’t say I tried to emulate his style as a writer myself though I have been influenced by it. Those aware of my often lengthy and convoluted prose would say the influence has been scant.

The ‘gazebo’ refers to the one poem of mine directly influenced by a Ray Carver short story – yes, Gazebo – and of all my poems it is one I have always liked for what it says about writing and, I hope, saying so a little bit like Ray might have done.

If I haven’t already posted it on this site I will later.

I am reassured by WordPress that changing this domain name through them means all searches through the previous will be redirected here. We shall see. I also changed so that those of you accessing will no longer see advertising when doing so. It seemed about time to get this altered.

If it works, the image headers for this site will randomly change across the few I have so far uploaded.