14 Nights in Carnac

14 Nights in Carnac 

mixed media - book and oak leaves

Paul Conneally 2006

14 Nights in Carnac - a piece performed and made in July 2006. The artist spends 14 nights in Carnac famous for its megaliths its standing stones. He lives and sleeps below two oak trees. Each night reading sections of Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle plucking an oak leaf from the trees and placing it inside the book as a bookmark.

The experience exists as the book with the 14 leaves pressed inside it.

In 2007 images of the pressed leaves inside the book are transferred on to white ceramic bathroom tiles and form part of Conneally's exhibition in Mile End Arts Pavilion 'The Renewability' curated by  Tomomi Iguchi.

Rocket Stove Made From Two Vegetable Oil Cans - Windmill CommunityGardens

Rocket Stove Made From Cooking Oil Cans, Windmill Community Gardens, Nottingham

If you would like to make one of these rocket stoves yourself here is a link to a step by step guide from Andy Hunt on the Permaculture Website: How to make a rocket stove

Paul Conneally

March 2014

Photo: Paul Conneally

DOES THIS LOVE STILL STAND?

The Wooing Fit (after Beaumont) - Paul Conneally 2011

If I were to close my eyes today

Could you tell me if they're blue or grey?

Could you read my handwriting and say

Something special about my life?

If you loved me you could tell me things

I didn't even know about myself

So tell me now tell me now do

Does this love still stand?

If I washed your toothpaste grin away

Would your ring of confidence still stay?

Would you take my hand and softly say

Paranoia's not attractive?

If you loved me you could tell me things

I didn't even know about myself

So tell me now tell me now do

Does this love still stand?

Paul Conneally

COMPOSED BY THE SIDE OF GRASSMERE LAKE

a repetition of stars

the oar's slow groans

beneath Aquarius

two children found her

floating face up in the lake

one breast visible

below cold murky water

the silver back of a pike

beyond the reeds

clouds linger

on another night

her father throws soil

onto the wooden casket

November drizzle

slowly soaking through his suit

the memory of a smile

Venus' and Mars' abysmal fires

calm and cool in Grasmere Lake

paul conneally & debra woolard bender

from THE WORDSWORTH PAPERS

William Wordsworth after Pickersgill by Susumu Takiguchi

IN CALLING FORTH AND STRENGTHENING THE IMAGINATION IN BOYHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH

from first dawn

by day or starlight

everlasting motion

little jimmy norcliffe

he looked after me

sorted me out

with a good shovel

and a pair of wellingtons

high objects

the mean and vulgar

works of man

showed me how to dig

without hurting my back

to lay concrete slabs

write out betting slips

on a bag of cement

enduring things

life and nature

purifying

paul conneally

INVIGILATOR : DERBY 2007

Invigilator forms part of the Walk to Work series of pieces.

Invigilator : Derby Paul Conneally transposes Nikki Pugh's journey to work as invigilator in Birmingham gallery VIVID to a starting point at Loughborough railway station. Paul catches the first commuter train to arrive. This takes him to Derby from where he then follows the left rights and straight ons of Nikki's walk in Birmingham but this time in Derby until he reaches his work destination which he finds is on a building site. Here he sets up his Invigilator's chair and beside it his visitors book. Paul tidies up the space and then invigilates it asking people passing through the space to fill in the visitors book just as the invigilator at an art gallery does.

The photographic doccumentation of INVIGILATOR : DERBY was undertaken by Kevin Ryan.

INVIGILATOR is a Collaborative piece by Paul Conneally, Nikki Pugh and kevin Ryan

skinafterskin.blogspot.com/2007/06/invigilator-derby.html

HER EYES ARE WILD

warmer than summer
underneath the haystack
the English tongue

she drinks beer
from the supermarket
in the town square
feeding potato-chips
to pigeons and sparrows

how far I've travelled to find 
one need replaces another

her dog growls
at midnight revellers
coming too close
as she sleeps soundly
in the shoe-shop doorway

the night in my hair
turns black
burning stars

paul conneally & debra woolard bender
from The Wordsworth Papers




Wordsworth after Pickersgill by Susumu Takiguchi

Weavers Fields

On Weavers Fields

That's where we meet

You in your blue dress

Me in my jeans

On Weavers Fields

We fall in love

Seal it with a kiss now

On Weavers Fields

On Weavers Fields

We pass the time

Watching the children

On Weavers Fields

On Weavers Fields

We cool the air

The air between us

On Weavers Fields

Paul Conneally

Leicester: The Edible City - Paul Conneally 2013/14

New Walk Centre - Paul Conneally 2014

I'm now putting together the letter requesting outline planning permission to demolish Leicester City Council's New Walk Centre and change the space it currently occupies into a community orchard.

This takes forward my initial thoughts from 2013 some of which are reported below. 

Here's a link to the original: Leicester the World's First Edible City

"After working closely with my long time collaborator, artist activist, Anne-Marie Culhane, on her ongoing Fruit Routes work across Loughborough University campus, which has now, as EAT YOUR CAMPUS, won the Guardian Sustainability Award 2014, my thoughts on space and how it might be used creatively in a city centre have evolved.

I propose that the Leicester City Council New Walk Centre be demolished and replaced with a large community orchard. The roads and paths from the orchard into and out from the city centre, including the historic New Walk itself, will be planted with fruit trees too. 

Just as Anne-Marie Culhane proposes that Loughborough University becomes the world's first edible campus, I propose that Leicester should become the world's first edible city and that Anne-Marie be invited to work with myself and the City to help make this happen.

LEICESTER THE WORLD'S FIRST EDIBLE CITY"

EAT YOUR CAMPUS - Fruit Routes - The Second Planting

Two years on after the first trees were planted on the Fruit Route, an artist led project by Anne-Marie Culhane, across Loughborough University Campus, we planted more trees. 

The planting followed a workshop on pruning, cutting back to keep the previously planted trees  healthy and promote growth.

I wrote between digging and will publish what comes in due course, in the meantime here's the poem I wrote during the first wave of planting:

The Cut in Her Stomach

bare trees
the sound of spades 
across tarmac

we huddle
by a green tractor 
how to plant a tree

cold rain
it’s at least a two man job
a tree like this

the English undergrad
asks everyone
‘what's nepotism?’

a twinge
from the cut in her stomach 
she digs deep

no not cold
just wet
and getting heavier

the lost referee
asks for directions 
to the all weather pitch

hazel whips 
we find a seam 
of hard core

‘with the hedge’ 
he says 'plant three for one
just in case’

she’ll need
a stepladder now
to see the runners' legs

Paul Conneally
written on 18 Febr, 2012 the first day of planting the new Fruit Route at Loughborough University

Execute by sicchio - a dance score

Execute by sicchio

This is a dance score for the upcoming Quick Shifts on March 16th.

-Find a place to perform this score
-Perform the movement instructions after the word 'execute' is said.
-As the score continues you may start to ignore some movement instructions.
-Have someone take a picture at 2.5min in; 5 min in; 7.5 min in; and at the end
-Tweet the pics with the hashtags: - #improvqu25; #improvqu5; #improvqu75; #improvquend by March 10th
- The images will be collated in their timeframe groupings and projected onto a large
screen to create a new score performed at Embrace Arts, Leicester, March 16th 2014
Instructions:
-By the end of the score you should not be following any of the instructions until you hear 'end'.

For those unfamiliar with twitter the hashtags are important in order for us to find each image once tweeted, so tweet your image with the appropriate hashtag accurately together.

Thankyou

We can be...

'We can be...' Paul Conneally, Leicester, 2014

Four Generations

four generations 

deciphering a urinal

Gavin Wade

'Twenga 2' Conneally and Wade 2012

Photo: Calais Ferry Terminal - Paul Conneally 2012

The milk of human kindness

the milk 

of human kindness

a snake in a bottle

Paul Conneally

Afternoon Lull

afternoon lull
stall holders discuss
the price of rain

Paul Conneally
Loughborough 2014

Photo: Loughborough Market February 20th 2014

Tube Train Street Art Mural - Loughborough

This mural is on the gable end of the building overlooking the front of Loughborough student accommodation agency Loc8me in Ashby Square.

The creator of the mural, artist Dan Smith, speaking in the Loughborough Echo, says: "I would like to see a street art scene in Loughborough. There are a lot of artists here that complain that the council do not do enough and there is nowhere to do it.”

It's difficult to see a connection between the mural and Loughborough but it certainly brightens the place up.

Photo: Paul Conneally 2014

'Solidarity' - Fruit Routes Loughborough University - The Second Planting

Student volunteers prepare to dig holes and plant more fruit trees on the Fruit Route at Loughborough University, UK.

Fruit Routes is an ongoing project conceived by artist and environmental activist Anne-Marie Culhane.

Photograph: 'Spades' Paul Conneally, Loughborough, 2014

Indifferent - Paul Conneally

Indifferent - three prints - Paul Conneally 2011

INDIFFERENT sees Conneally juxtaposing the poetry of the playwright and poet Francis Beaumont, who was born in Thringston, North West Leicestershire, with not frottages but presages of plant and other materials, made on a cultural forage through the Snibston Colliery spoil heap, now a country park. The artist invites the viewer to seek for pictures within the presaged image in the same way that a psychologist might ask a patient to look for images in the famous Rorschach or Ink Blot Test.

More on this work: Freedom for a Song

Freedom For A Song

Freedom For A Song - Paul Conneally 2011

Freedom For A Song comes from INDIFFERENT, a series of prints, images and texts, by artist, poet and cultural forager Paul Conneally. INDIFFERENT emerges from cultural forages in and around Snibston Discovery Park and the villages that surround it. The forages form part of the process underpinning Spoil Heap Harvest a piece commissioned by Snibston as part of TRANSFORM.

INDIFFERENT sees Conneally juxtaposing the poetry of the playwright and poet Francis Beaumont, who was born in Thringston, North West Leicestershire, with not frottages but presages of plant and other materials, made on a cultural forage through the Snibston Colliery spoil heap, now a country park. The artist invites the viewer to seek for pictures within the presaged image in the same way that a psychologist might ask a patient to look for images in the famous Rorschach or Ink Blot Test. What can you see? You can report back to the artist what you feel the image to be by email: little.onion@ntlworld.com or by commenting on this page using the comment form.

Throughout Spoil Heap Harvest Conneally makes psychogeographic cultural forages through the wider footprint of the former Snibston colliery which is in Coalville, North West Leicestershire. The forages and interventions  mediated by the poetry of William Wordsworth, Francis Beaumont and the paintings of John Constable. All three of these cultural giants deeply connected with the area in ways for the most part unknown by local and wider communities.

Wordsworth lived in the area, with his whole family, for a whole year and it was at Coleorton that he first read his completed masterpiece, The Prelude, to Coleridge. Constable, Sir Walter Scott and many other famous artists and writers clamoured to North West Leicestershire to stay with George Beaumont at his home Coleorton Hall, just down the road from Snibston. George Beaumont himself was the lead benefactor for the setting up the National Gallery in London.

Paul Conneally is cultural forager at Snibston Discovery Museum for TRANSFORM SNIBSTON.

The Indifferent

Never more will I protest,

To love a woman but in jest:

For as they cannot be true,

So, to give each man his due,

When the wooing fit is past

Their affection cannot last.

Therefore, if I chance to meet

With a mistress fair and sweet,

She my service shall obtain,

Loving her for love again:

Thus much liberty I crave,

Not to be a constant slave.

But when we have tried each other,

If she better like another,

Let her quickly change for me,

Then to change am I as free.

He or she that loves too long

Sell their freedom for a song. 

Francis Beaumont

The Western Pub and Theatre, Leicester, a Steamin Billy Pub

The Western opened in 1895 at the same time or thereabouts that the Great Central Railway was starting up. The pub was originally called The Western Hotel and became popular with railway users and workers alike.

It's still going strong today and is currently being run by the Steamin Billy Brewery and formerly, for many years, by Everards.

The pub also has a theatre, Leicester's only pub theatre, called Upstairs at The Western.

On match days, wether that be rugby (Leicester Tigers) or football (Leicester City), the pub is a buzz of sports talk.

A really warm and welcoming traditional British pub it currently offers a range of real ales including guest beers and ciders as well as good food.

The Western Pub

70 Western Road

Leicester

LE3 0GA

Paul Conneally

January 2014

Three Jars of Coal Dust Jelly

Three Jars of Coal Dust Jelly - Paul Conneally 2012

Three Jars of Coal Dust Jelly is now part of the permanent collection at Snibston Discovery Museum, Coalville, Leicestershire, UK.

Edinburgh Waverley

travelling first class

missing the second class

conversation

Paul Conneally

Photograph: Edinburgh Waverley Train Staion - Paul Conneally 2013

Air Quality Monitoring Station

Air Quality Monitoring Station Leicester UK Paul Conneally 2014

Walking to the Match

walking to the match

the Statue of Liberty 

signs 'Uthe Foxes!'

Paul Conneally

Yes, Leicester has it's own Statue of Liberty. Football fans pass her every match day as they make their way to watch Leicester City play at the King Power Stadium. She used to be on top of a clothing manufacturing factory until it was demolished. The people of Leicester demanded that she be saved and erected as a piece of public art. And here she is and most certainly a Foxes supporter.

Smile with Jean-Paul Sartre

“I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.” 

Jean-Paul Sartre

No Exit

Image adapted from a 1950s advert for skin cream and placed with this text as part of the 'Quota' series by Paul Conneally

Nos baisers d'adieu

our parting kiss

a mixture of salt

and sweet peppers

nos baisers d'adieu

un mélange de sel

et de piments doux

Paul Conneally

United Kingdom

French version:

Serge Tomé

Belgium

http://www.tempslibres.org/tl/en/cconv.html 

In The Black Horse

Artist Poet, Paul Conneally, in The Black Horse, Leicester.

The God Connection

'the god connection' 

Ten Commandments

august 26 - november 17 2003

10 mountain sonnets

marlene mountain francine porad paul conneally stephen addiss nancy smith

gary gach cindy tebo carmen sterba ray rasmussen michael rehling gary blankenship

1

'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'

[8/27-9/14/03]

another autograph collected the crowd unusually unruly

13-year-old reality tv star of her own fantasy

god sides with the feds the monument of 10 has left the rotunda*

no gods at all but lots of worship going on

many prostrate themselves as the alabama idol is hauled away

almighty microsoft what if bill gates is behind the pearly gate

built for the fox god a shrine on a hill

sleeping in the pew he dreams of madonna

such a jealous pussycat she says

japanese haiku who can get over it

studying all religions just in case

the running back on probation until after the season

all round the world cave paintings of fat mamas

the sound of bat wings above the feaces flecked altar

1gb 2gg 3mm 4sa 5ns 6ct 7cs 8mr 9rr 10mm 11fp 12gb 13ns 14pc

2

'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.'

[8/26-10/18/03]

toward shevinity 'on every high hill and under every green tree'

the toadsmouth a rock in the peak district that says you're almost home

so let's blast some more statues in afghanistan

obeying god's 2nd commandment the feds move the graven words

church green a lot of gw's in the collection basket

less likely to destroy the images of others if one creates

we'll be right back with more so don't touch that dial ok now this

sistine chapel the image of god on the ceiling

hungry as hell the 'big boy' statue beckons

the wall full of pinups at the local repair shop

the face in the mirror a joy to behold

ah censorship a jillion fewer images to clutter the museum the mind

the memory of a collection of ancient cock-shaped coat pegs

deck of holy cards with a few squirrels around st. francis

1mm 2pc 3sa 4ns 5ct 6fp 7gg 8cs 9mr 10rr 11gb 12mm 13pc 14ct

3

'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.'

[8/27-10/17/03]

stalled car in Israel the driver cursed in several languages

a hammer meets a thumb

mother nature and i politely discussed the heat and man-made air

jeez you're looking good!

god for a moment i thought you were someone else

from where god's name was placed in vain it's taken by law

grandpa's story the day his mouth was washed with soap

swear words on the bathroom wall

all those leaders with god in their mouths

teen 'cool man the deity says no more mall muzak!'

'god damn' not considered cussing in our crowd

'for pete's sake' and i remember my grandmother's displeasure

say 'jumping kangaroo' instead of repeating your dad and brother

oh shit

1ct 2gb 3mm 4sa 5gg 6ns 7cs 8mr 9pc 10rr 11fp 12gb 13ns 14mm

4

'Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

[8/27-10/19/03]

late start on sunday not one beer before noon

sunday buffet at the casino all you can eat $5

the smell of incense and bells a priest's frock

a swell day for authority figures to eye the figures of kids

the magic screen on the altar shows pro football

the commandments moved from the courthouse locked on sundays

no television no telephone no car a far different outlook

stop give it a rest take a breath the sun moves on his own

the sunday school teacher on saturday night dirty dancing

sunday morning the adult theater every seat sold

a relief to know that decadent is okay 6 days a week

up at 11 too late for mass

a spider crawls under the kneeler

sunday social visit with a sick and needy friend

1ct 2gb 3pc 4mm 5sa 6ns 7fp 8gg 9cs 10mr 11rr 12gb 13ct 14fp

5

'Honour thy father and thy mother.'

[8/26-10/22/03]

words almost all in haste i eat you i taste you i hate you

together or one at a time?

summer warning the disappearing act of the y chromosome

with the best nursing home which won't interfere with your own lifestyle

single parent household double the duty and only one paycheck

a poke in the ribs from mom at this commandment

at least visit the home before they move in

the teenager politely pleads with her addicted mom

sidewalk neckbroken dead pigeon somebody's mother

pushing the wheelchair slowly he remembers

at least on the days set out by the merchants

gluestick card an 'i love you' with the heart peeling off

finally grieving for the dead dad of his teenage years

the faded flowers replaced each memorial day

1pc 2sa 3mm 4ns 5ct 6fp 7gb 8cs 9gg 10mr 11rr 12ct 13fp 14gb

6

'Thou shalt not kill.'

[8/27-10/18/03]

squashes a bug saying 'better luck next time'

today the peace tally greater than the war's

first obligation to protect oneself

after the natives are crushed law and order

the cat plays with the lizard and eventually it dies

unless in uniform or something you hold dear is threatened

in an upbeat voice the tv announcer repeats the body count

lumumba's fate the belgium soldiers watched him tortured and killed

the cat with a tail hanging from her mouth

a dead duck if it's that time of year and you've got a license

reversal - clean air regulations repealed

british american tobacco sponsor a school of business ethics

then the state murders the murderer of the murderer of fetuses

end of the fairy tale now that the witch is dead

1gg 2gb 3fp 4mm 5sa 6ns 7cs 8mr 9rr 10ct 11gb 12pc 13mm 14ct

7

'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'

[8/28-11/17/03]

she took his $4 million ring but who'll wring his neck

one count of sexual assault a felony at the lodge and spa

it used to be the charge and now it's the defense

unless you get married first

just don't embarrass me she said

unless you are one of the happy majority

delightful bliss i don't want to know!

every third weekend and thanksgiving day at daddy's

his seven-year itch annually

patriarch with wives galore his lust for another married woman

spiritual retreat this time at the motel 6 with the lights out

hot for herself the clerk turns on to her guy customers

not considered adultery lesbians in the news

mounting excitement the whole village collects stones

1mm 2pc 3sa 4ns 5mr 6rr 7fp 8gb 9ct 10mm 11ct 12gg 13mm 14pc

8

'Thou shalt not steal.'

[8/29-10/25/03]

supermarket surely one purple grape will not be theft

his home is not a hotel despite the towels

except converts from other faiths and goods under 'fair exchange'

a town for a toe debit or credit

a convicted ceo on parole limited to the usa for vacation

prayer in school and denigrated neolithic females in church

the poor box empty under the gold altar 

just before the long weekend the price increased after?

high to low low to high stocks and bonds reversing positions

pyramid scheme one scam leads to another

a t-shirt with a mummy's face on it from the british museum

hope iraqi kids enjoy their new schools the teachers well-paid

you can download 'smells like teen spirit' for free**

musical chairs a trillion dollars poof up in smoke

1rr 2sa 3ns 4gg 5cs 6mm 7mr 8gb 9fp 10ct 11pc 12mm 13ct 14gg

9

'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.'

[8/29-11/03]

restaurant three gossips sup on their friends' imagined faults

but i heard it on good authority from my daughter's friend

you can lie all you like particularly about those not next door

careful what you say there are laws against slander

at court she says what he says he didn't do

now tell us what was the real reason dubya you went to war

we all just assumed it was true

the latest poll 45% say the truth is not, 50% undecided

wmd's i say they're hidden in his boxer shorts

blair claims saddam could shoot his load in forty-five minutes

arnie's recall he can't remember all the women he's groped

rammed through the adult court system for life the 13-year-old

listen somebody knows but isn't talking the others blowing smoke

talking heads spread another rumor left unsaid

1rr 2sa 3ns 4fp 5cs 6mm 7mr 8gb 9ct 12mm 13gg 14gb

10

'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house'

[8/26-10/18/03]

down the road a new double-wide & a warm-looking heat pump

the conservatory filled with the right sort of plants and conversation

a leaf outweighs your monuments by the weight of the universe

can't be impressed i don't recognize any 'a b c' car

ah then okay to contemplate his rock garden!

there goes the neighborhood

either it's too small or who'd want the upkeep?

& what's my apple doing in your kitchen?

at midnight the neighbor's hedge moves a yard closer

once it was my house until i lost my job

on the sun deck a great view of the pool next door

tho he's got a cute ass and 2 x 2 oxen i dig the wife & kids

three lawn mowers and two washers in the side yard

just a fence away from blue ribbon tomatoes

1mm 2pc 3gb 4fp 5rr 6sa 7ns 8gg 9cs 10mr 11ct 12mm 13gb 14ct

notes

*alabama state capitol

**smells like teen spirit from nirvana's 'nevermind' cd

History Rewritten

history rewritten

fuel demo tragedy claims one last dance

bush seeks another life say muslim motorists

gems uncovered danger of adult aged five

celebrity brides enjoy days of misery

history rewritten by strike on blair

holocaust tide turns superbug risk

breakdown watchdog fears costs surge

warning freeze your pink cat litter

threatened mobile phone attacks police

lets slow everything

paul conneally

13^th sept 05

 shreadlines piece created by Paul Conneally from cut up headlines in the Daily Telegraph

OLYMPIC - Back to Basics

OLYMPIC - wordsearch landscape, London Olympic Development Site - Paul Conneally 2006

I will be moving away from photography, though not completely, in terms of documenting and representing in 2014.

I will return to new ways, some very old, of conveying place, space, time, people and the feelings set up through encounters with them.

A new set of Wordsearch Portraits and Landscapes will emerge along with frottage, print, found object and ephemera pieces.

New interventions are planned and further iterations of Shopputting, INVIGILATOR and LIAR (Look I Am Reading).

This said I'm sure that photographs will be appearing, if not in my planned commissioned pieces, certainly here!

Paul Conneally

Grow Sheffield - Wordsearch Portrait of Jerry Simon - Postcard - Paul Conneally 2010

Our Parting Kiss

our parting kiss 

a mixture of salt 

and sweet peppers

Paul Conneally

Scaffold High: The Deconstruction of the Spire of St. Mary de Castro

St. Mary de Castro Church, Leicester, December 2013 - Paul Conneally

St. Mary de Castro Church is having its spire dismantled, taken down. It is the second oldest church in Leicester. King Henry VI, the 'boy King' was knighted in the church in 1426. The poet Geoffrey Chaucer married his first wife here. 

The church was founded in 1107. The church tower was built before 1330 for sure as there is a written record telling us that a man fell to his death from it in that year. The original spire was a broach spire. The broach spire was replaced in 1400 by a thinnish crocketted spire. The spire has been a source of problems almost since it was first built. One of Sir Christopher Wren's best masons, Henry Cotton, was given the task, in 1685, of taking off "5yds. In length downwards" and to build a new top.

Storm damage, lightning and other problems caused the tower to undergo rebuilding in 1699, 1757, 1763, 1783, 1871, 1901 and 1916.

More work since then has been undertaken periodically from then to the present day when it is now having its most radical treatment in that it is being completely taken down after being deemed unsafe. Work to put up scaffolding started on the 18th of November and it is currently at a height just below the start of the spire itself.

English Heritage has secured funds to take down the spire and the intention is that it will eventually be rebuilt although much fund raising needs to be done before this can happen. 

scaffold high

a workman leans out

in to the wind

Paul Conneally 

Leicester 2013

http://burnthewater.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/scaffold-high-the-deconstruction-of-st-mary-de-castro-church-spire/

A Stalk of Sprouts

followed home

by a stalk of sprouts

the Christmas turkey

Paul Conneally

Loughborough 2013

Running The Rails

Late at night 

to early morning 

the train station 

Rodents run rails 

men in lines of fours, fives  

and against the rules

alone

Wrapped tight 

against the November cold 

an oil faced worker 

Marching up the down line 

he counts out loud 

bending periodically 

to spray paint a sleeper

Oh can you hear

the blowing of the whistle?

Paul Conneally

Loughborough 2013