Exercises in running

Exercises in running

(after Raymond Queneau)

i. style exhibit A

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YOU ARE HERE!

please share follow the code
keep left slow down and use short leads 

ii. style exhibit B

or so much passing time
and nothing
I can do

beyond these four isolated catkins
that hang like imperfect sculptures
the relief of spring

the sky is bluer than humanly possible –
the sun glares in some sitting water from
the last few days of rain

I lack only for fast-flowing water
through my veins 

iii. Style exhibit C

no wind shares with me an unrequested breath
of perfume from a passerby –

chatting red coat chats to chatting white coat
it’s been two years now and two whole days while
further on a single woman in a beanie hat and furry
hooded parka picks up her darling puppy’s
doings in a see-through plastic bag

but as for him?

the man who claims I found this five pound note
beneath the picnic bench and will not let it rest
until I tell him what I’ll spend it on

and I say nothing

iv. Style exhibit D

When I emerge from the darkness of this tunnel
will a road bridge span the limits of the sky?

Discovered that my blood
was warmer than wood.

Decided that I’d focus on
some wildlife spotting
and a pigeon sauntered by.

Through the trees, I see Catbells,
Maiden Moor, High Spy.

The wooden railings at the bridge are already
smoother on their outer river-facing side.

v. Style exhibit E

I’m walking in a straight line in the opposite
direction from the sun. I hear birds singing
but I do not know their names.

Pulses of white-noise riverbed.
The furthest thing
that I can see is hiding from me.