Wednesday, 23rd February, 2005. Walk up a long ago road covered with moss Into the woods There's snow forecast I want to lose myself in a blizzard No snow here though Just distant traffic and birds speaking to one another Sit on a dead tree Grey sky Grey feathers spread across the moss A beak: bloody flesh still attached Red against pale green A siren, far off All around the crows shout about me Snagged by brambles Whipped by thorns I dread other humans Tiny flakes fall Cold dead skin Push through spiny undergrowth A muddy plateau. Frozen ruts The sound of traffic and aeroplanes Hard to think Leaning against barbed wire Two flocks of birds, above the bypass An unattended fire dying A circle of hot grey ash A bird dips then plummets A cold east wind Into the woods. A snowy path Walk into an abandoned quarry Caves everywhere Warm air that smells of blood drifts out And I'm too scared to go very far in I lose my way Emerge blinking from the woods A golf course I'm hungry I wish it would snow A dark pubic thicket in the crotch of a beech A ruined house A sign; private woods no access Branches glow in the sunlight Look out at the sky from the top of this hill I think I'm surrounded by blizzards One swoops over Walk into it, the sun still out My shadow clear as summer Snow down my neck Watching valleys full of snow blow towards me No shelter; eyes watering from the cold wind Snow faster and faster, tapping on my coat Falling fast Hypnotic I'm becoming a snow man Hands too cold almost Sun in the distance This will be over soon The cloud departs: a trailing ghost.