Disconnected

Reaching through the narrow
Opening of a ten hour flight
I tumbled into infinity.

It was like putting my hand
Into a box of air and knowing
Something (anything) should be there.

Try as I might
I could not even hit the sides
Let alone pick anything up.

And yet it was all there.
Everything was there.
It's not like there was nothing there.

The intercity hurtles down
the hill at 20 kilometers an hour
enforced by the Speed Detector
in his Speed Detector's hut
mangoes hang from trees
like yoyos at the ends of their tethers
and a little boy in a spider man outfit
chases chickens in the yard
bananas grow up side down and the
worn metal plates that link the cars
screech and the doors that do not shut
rattle and you can stand there
with the wind in your hair
and realise you had
a fleeting moment of peace.

But then I realised
Everything and no one
Was there.

Silence

You wove a web of words
(stories, letters, books and music)
that drew me in
(welcome to my world...stay awhile)

Like some crazy-arsed fly I flew
smack
into the middle of it,
got stuck and struggled,
struggled to find my voice

To free myself I resorted
to a relentless buzzing
(buzz, buzz, buzzzzzzz)
that grew in intensity
as it shrank in meaning.

I wanted to swat myself at times.

When the rhymes fell away
in the shock of silence
I could suddenly hear.

You

I could drown in your mouth.

Feet against your chest
Chin on my knees
You smile down at me.

I would do dishes for this man.

Contact list and log of progress (virtue project)

Jonathan Aitken (Completed)
- journalist, politician, author
Summary of Interview with Jonathan Aitken

Dr Dan Winder (Completed)
-actor, director, producer
Summary of interview with Dan Winder

Peter Manning (Completed)
- musician, conductor, artistic director, concert master, Royal Opera House
Summary of interview with Peter Manning

Father Nadim Nassar (Completed)
- anglican priest, journalist, director of the Awareness Foundation
Summary of the interview with Father Nadim Nassar

Martin Van der Weyer (Completed)
- Business Editor of Spectator
Summary of interview with Martin Vander Weyer

Nigel Seed (scheduled)
- QC, expertise in ecclesiastical law
Summary of the interview with Nigel Seed, QC

Stephen Venner (Completed 9 June 2009)
- Bishop in Canterbury
Summary of the interview with Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover

Reverend Canon Jeremy Davies (Completed)
- Precentor, Salisbury Cathedral
Summary of Interview with Canon Precentor Jeremy Davies

Reverend William Taylor (Completed 7 June 2009)
- Anglican Priest
Interview with Reverend William Taylor

Dr Yazeed Said (Completed)
- Anglican priest with specific interest in Muslim jurisprudence
Summary of interview with Dr Yazeed Said

Dr Janet Reibstein (completed)
- Clinical psychologist and professor at University of Exeter, specialises in relationships
Summary of interview with Professor Janet Reibstein

Imam Asim Hafiz (completed)
- Muslim chaplain to the armed forces
Summary of Interview with Imam Asim Hafiz

Robert Taylor (completed)
- CEO Kleinwort Benson Private Banking
Summary of interview with Rob Taylor

Lucy Beresford (Completed)
- Writer, psychotherapist, media commentator
Summary of Interview with Lucy Beresford

Philippa Foster Back (completed - awaiting summary)
- Director, Institute of Business Ethics

Matthew Taylor (Completed)
- Chief Executive of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce), formerly chief advisor on political strategy to the Prime Minister
Summary of interview with Matthew Taylor

Mark Goodrich (Completed)
- Chief Executive, ER Consultants
Summary of interview with Mark Goodrich

Mandeep Kaur (Completed)
- Seikh chaplain, HM Armed Forces
Summary of Interview with Mandeep Kaur

Dr Ed Kessler (Completed)
- Director of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths
Summary of Interview with Ed Kessler

Sandy Nairn (Completed)
Director, National Portrait Gallery
Summary of the interview with Sandy Nairne

St George's Day Feast

Snap me off at the stem end
where I emerge firm and ruddy
soft tip running to
muscular hinge as I leave the earth.

Envelop me in warmth and moisture.

Roll me in your mouth:
nibble, chew, and bite
from your fingers -
finish by wiping my remains
from your chin.

Gulf

Can I love you enough
to make you love yourself?

Can I release you
from the neverending need
to publicise, exhibit and explain?

By repeating your message a million times
will you overcome your
secret, pressing and fragile needs
and make yourself whole?

Will you let me love you at all?

Town and Country

That fucking pheasant of yours
(peacock, pheasant, whatever)
is every bit as noisy
as an ambulance crossing Hammersmith bridge.

I thought it was in the room
with us as we lay in bed
this morning at dawn.

Not There

There
and then not there
was my experience of you.

It was like throwing myself
off a high place
and falling
falling into the air.

I wove no net
like a fool
although I knew
the danger of the rhymes
you wove in conflicting colours
the warp and the woof askew
for me and everyone else who knew
your great exposed depths.

For eight perfect days
I knew an artist, a magician, a man and a child.
You were there
and not there.

It took the air
out of my body
like a shock.

Like a blow
the heavy impact
of having fallen.