Alchemisland

Rumbling like Zaire when Ali’s coming, summoning feeling

Because blank pages are angling for seasoning

Even though I don’t feel something I start teasing

It out, two lines out and my ferrous blood’s already pumping

Could fill buckets with ducats, tears, blood or crabs

Corpse to cawing crows a grab bag

Gore-hot beak, throat and nose red, they thought I was bleeding

I know I read this somewhere before

But I couldn’t recall the sequence

Delirious like stormbound Lear

Tearful on the chequerboard floor

What’s blood for, if not spilling?

Living beef-perfumed among bears

Joy thief comparing yours to theirs

Ex-Mountjoy meet

I provided the details, rented them out seats, good compère

Fielding offers like Go Compare, used stand all day in a field dealing

When the sun buttered the ceiling, and when it was freezing and leafless.