Hubert Moore first collection of poems, Down by a Bicycle, was published in 1978 by Hippopotamus Press, His second, Namesakes, is due in the autumn from Taxus.
Off-duty – unashamedly off-capped, unbelted – she confides over coffee
as to a friend or brother: today Manpower contacted her and they had lunch together.
What’s worse, the pair of them plan to discuss optimum staff levels at the same time
next week. What does he take me for? Some geriatric fumbling to undo the lock
of my own front door, if and when my clocked-off NHS...
‘A firm light quick step’ – after lunch, amongst casualties – ‘and a steady quick hand: these are the desiderata.’
Night-light under the alders. In the dark grass by the river we lie low licking our wounds, watching the English nurse
move briskly about the ward – the dormobiles, the caravans, and the soft clockwork of (mostly French) conversation.
...
A fraction of sky falling in, miles over my head. Unless it’s coal in the stove downstairs inching closer over the fire of itself, settling down to be burnt.
It’s guns waking me up: deep in the woods, minutely thundering off at pigeons or rabbits. Eight hours, ten hours, it must be, perhaps twenty conscious thoughts,
since last night on TV some expert said they could now make...
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