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I\u2019ve Just Invented the Tai Chi Sprout Stalk Form<\/strong><\/p>\n Boxing Day and I\u2019m in the garden <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cliff Yates<\/strong>‘ various collections include Henry’s Clock, which received the Fenton-Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and was overall winner of the Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Christmas<\/strong><\/p>\n All Easyjet flights <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\npractising the Tai Chi Spear Form
\nwith the curtain pole that Andy found
\nfor me in the tip. The kids are watching
\nthrough the window over breakfast.
\nI\u2019m just doing the final moves:
\nBright Rainbow Soaring to the Sun,
\nLying Tiger Diving Dragon,
\nPlum Blossom Opens Five Petals,
\nCelestial Horse Walks the Skies\u2026
\nwhen Luke opens the back door
\nand lobs the sprout stalk at my head.
\n\u2018Watch out, Dad,\u2019 he says. I rescue
\nthe sprout stalk from the fig tree
\nand spontaneously invent and perform,
\nthere and then, the Tai Chi Sprout Stalk Form.
\nI even have names for the moves:
\nTai Chi Sprout Stalk Beginning Style
\nWet Dishcloth Wings Through Damp Air
\nHelicopter Hovers Over Sycamore
\nDustbin Lid Exits Coal Bunker at Speed
\nRocking Chair Becomes Disagreeable
\nDual Carriageway Gets Up and Walks
\nBag of Flour Explodes at Bus Stop, there are Casualties
\nRubber Ball Bounces in Dark Subway
\nSash Window Slams Shut on Ring Finger
\nCoat Hanger Exacts Revenge on Privet Hedge
\nWindmill Plays Saxophone in High Wind
\nBanana Smashes Pineapple on Lino
\nTelephone Wires Entangle in Radio Waves
\nIroning Board Makes Sandwich with Secret Ingredient
\nPublic Library Saves City from Avalanche
\nWarehouse Fills Sky, Sky Exacts Revenge
\nSherbert Dab Takes Umbrage and Spins
\nTai Chi Sprout Stalk Completion Style
\nI lean it against the fig tree. Now \u2013 breakfast.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nare cancelled \u2013 only
\ndifficult journeys now.
\nThree in party hats
\ncome dragging their presents
\nover a snowy car park.
\nA few attendants shepherd
\nthem into a building:
\nthe call to desert places.
\nLooking up for a moving
\nlight or at Sky
\nNews. Stasis over
\nthe business empires.
\nA child has made an angel
\nby the automatic barrier
\nand a mother feeds her baby.
\nThis breathtaking, breath-
\nmaking fall.<\/p>\n