A ceasefire is urgently needed to curb this rising death toll,

Joe Biden publically refuses to back a ceasefire role.

Biden appears to have given Israel the green light to end Palestinian lives , 

Possibly seeing a pro-Israeli stance as politically useful as their bond survives.

A ceasefire is the immediate optfion  to bring the conflict back from the brink,

Biden should lend a...

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As the clock ticked to midnight

"You're of age!", her heart squealed in delight,

Her visage as bright as the morning sun

And her chocolate eyes gleamed with mischief and fun

Promised nothing but chaos to be woven and spun

All of her friends wished the same,

Twas her being joyous and untame

For she was a dandelion at heart

And her Odyssey and tales were just about to st...

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A New Year

The old year ebbs away,

taking with it many memories.

It is placed in the archive of life,

of our own personal journey.

The past is where it belongs,

inaccessible and unalterable.

It cannot be changed or revised,

only revisited and learned from.

A new year dawns which we await,

we wait patiently in the present.

The future is on the horizon,

shrou...

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Happy new year to write out loud!

A poetry site standing tall & proud

So much versatility & lovely folk

I can assure you all, this site is no joke!

So, all the best for the year ahead 

And we toast to those in their heavenly bed 🥂

Let's hope next year your wishes come true

And peace, love & hope is the light that comes through.

All the best 

Stephen x

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everyone’s crazy 

some hide it some parade it 

all suffering with it 

a few monetize it 

everyone’s crazy

 just give it three months

 for the masks to drop 

and the moves to run out

 that’s when things get interesting 

that’s when things get real 

we acknowledge the three-sixty view 

and then we start to deal 

that’s when we start l...

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laughlines 

worn smooth by the babble

the chuckling familiar notes

then folded out once more 

like shared and scented laundry:

)avender sprigs; coffee tins

in high cupboards

used RVs

these textures live so close to me

a scrawl of shag carpets

finely raked

and gently oiled 

dutch paneling 

grasping lazily 

halfway up

half way

to the walls of chil...

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Isabella sat across from James as he poured out his heart to her, venting about the difference in opinion with his friends and family. Isabella listened patiently with an unbiased mindset, not interrupting or passing judgment as he spoke. She wanted to understand his perspective, to truly see things from his point of view.

As James continued talking, Isabella couldn't help but reflect on his wo...

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In my deepest slumber, I find solace,
Where darkness fades and light prevails,
The weight of your presence no longer lingers,
My spirit released from your toxic trails.

Gone are the whispers of despair,
Replaced by whispers of hope and grace,
No longer shackled to your cruel snare,
I soar in dreams, finding my own embrace.

No more nightmares to haunt my mind,
No more shadows to sow se...

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Oh flower of life
Plucked from the universal
Rose garden of imagination
Where every petal
Is mental gestation
Fertility perpetually seeding
New ideas
New worlds and
Realities
Fragrant realms
And profound possibilities
Fleeting experiences abound
Introspection reflection
and projection
Pay attention
School of life giving lessons
Education of the soul
9 degrees
Then graduation

O...

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Moments of the past, do not last
memories kicked into the long grass:
a warm early-summer’s day
golden petals, white clover.
Stormy-autumn comes
with flurries of snow
the dead of winter
catches body heat
in frozen snow
tumbling into slushy heaps of red, gold, brown
no crisp-crackle underfoot
old ghosts lose their threads
pot-heads weave into fragile, thin
paper-like skin
echoes t...

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Unpacking all that it can carry,

grief finds a destination in my thoughts.

It chooses the spaces where it wants to be.

It’s not being brash, or intentionally unkind.

Memories, the ensemble within,

seek to be worn, over and over.

Buttoned close to me as love perseveres.

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Start with a firm base of acceptance,

roll this out firmly but gently until the dough is flat and smooth across the table of this day,

shape the dough into a round pan, formed into a circle with finger-pressed edges of patience,

add a generous layer of cinnamon-spiced apples of joy,

top frivolously and messily with crumbs of graham-crackered laughter,

put this concoction of life's a...

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In the realm of fearlessness, let us delve deep,
As leaders, laymen, or even as a child's keep,
To banish the shadows that haunt from within,
And unlock the courage that lies beneath our skin.

First, let us analyze the roots of our fright,
Are they born of people, events, or the future's plight?
Yet, upon closer inspection, we often find,
Many fears are baseless, figments of the mind.

...

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https://youtu.be/03G4xNEpuPY

I interrupt this broadcast

I command your immediate attention

A few heart stopping seconds to put you in the moment

Brace yourselves

Wait to hear what follows those four chilling words

Chills on the back of your neck

I am a metaphorical figurehead of impoliteness

Gate-crashing the spotlight

Have you ever heard of a polite...

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aaj fir ehsas hua ki kitna akela hu ..
zindagi ki is bhhi bad me kahi koo sa gaya hu
ghar ki Tu tu mai me kho sa gaya hu
ajj fir pata chal ki kya nahi hu mai ..
 andheri galiyo me khoya kya kosa gaya hu mai ...
tadp jo kuch pane ki hai...
zindagi ke is mood pe kho gai hai
ajj fir eehas huva ki kya hu mai ...

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To a Fellow Artist

It’s often asked: wherein does beauty lie,

In mystery bound, proportions magical,

Deciphered only by the observer’s eye,

Or in some poet’s words deemed lyrical?

I know that beauty’s not in sparkling dross,

Perfection is for fools; an empty frame,

In masterpieces, lines are found and lost,

And here, in life’s chiaroscuro lives a flame,

A caring smi...

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Hello Michael, Michelle here, are you free?

I understand you need a hand with Covid PPE

We’ve got factories in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Laos

And if you help us get the contract

We can build a nice new house

It isn’t complicated, just a straightforward import shipment

For the rapid expedition of personal protective equipment 

The kind of gear you need - masks and gowns an...

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I can see you there,
Your head tilted slightly upwards,
Your hands are carelessly tucked into your pockets.
Your trainers and socks
Are tied neatly into your jeans.

Your shoulders are
Slightly hunched forward,
Which hints more than slightly
At the anger simmering within.
I can hear you screaming,
"I'm only 15!"

But in this moment, under the bus stop's sheltering grace,
I see more t...

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I try, try, try as I might,
But every time I use a semi-colon;
There's a 10% chance of it being right. 

(How did I do?)

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A snowflake hits the moonlit pond

freezing grounds before the dawn.

The pond will ice from shore to center.

Frozen puddle, solidified by winter.

Daylight comes, the children rejoice

over hockey games on the pond of ice.

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It snapped my flagpole like a twig
Our John told the news
And a tree fell on the conservatory
Spoiling all our views

A whirlwind, literally, Kerry said
We couldn’t open our front door
The lampposts were all swaying
I’d never seen that before

A tree came right through Maisie’s roof
Pulled down the bathroom ceiling
The Liberal Democrats demand
The PM calls a COBRA meeting

Chief Sup...

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The held breath of midnight.

The old year solemnly folds.

Heralding blank canvases

Future stories as yet untold.

Fireworks, their colours burst,

In a star-studded velveteen sky,

A celebratory good riddance 

Last year finally passes by.

Welcoming, most heartedly 

Expectations of this newer year

Counting down the final seconds 

In unison, we raise a cheer

Profferi...

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Alas! Poor, poor clothesline

No longer do you look sublime

Worn and withered past your prime

No longer used respectfully

Your job now done automatically

Withdrawn slightly from the cold

Forgotten pins are all you hold

Alas! Poor, poor clothesline

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This was our time:

A time of fat,

A time of plenty,

Of gluttony, sucked straight from the vat,

And pots of gold in packs of twenty.

A time of excess,

Of haunting, taunting, flaunting,

Of stretching the zeroes to impress;

A time of unrepentant, rabid lust,

A time of cities reduced to dust.

A time of the swine, the plundered mine,

Of hate and anger drunk on wine;

...

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I sit quiet, smoked out with sage and gratitude, love overwhelmed.  Of course, for God and Christ, white crystals and frankincense, and high frequency vibration ever rising, but most of my thoughts are of you.

I’m grateful…

For our teach-learn/learn-teaching.  It pushes through and sheds light and mostly – it paints.

With wide colorful strokes, our shadow projects into the ethers and I se...

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(My Christmas cracker)

My time here’s been quite a charmed one

As smooth a ride as it gets

Although I’ve not been an angel

Mostly I have few regrets.

But now as Christmas approaches

The season of warmth and good cheer

I find myself in reflection

On loved ones no longer here.

Perhaps you loved someone dearly

Or fought like cats in a sack

Perhaps there’s wo...

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Today as I scrolled through my feed.
I saw a child's mutilated body,
Laid bare for all to see.
A bomb it had been,
If I trust the caption at least,
That had destroyed this child,
Their dreams, their hopes, their love, their life.
The agony was too much for poor 
little me to bear.
I am only seventeen, you see,
ignoring that the child on the screen
Looked no day over three.
I wanted to ...

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We live in an age that can be called "risk averse"

When "couldn't be better" is now "couldn't be worse".

So, as we head on towards 2024

It would be nice to try to even up the score,

And reply with "Oh fine" when asked how we feel

Instead of a moan and some self-pitying spiel;

And maybe even get the response of a smile

For seeking to make other folks' feelings worthwhile.

An...

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When we are troubled and are greatly distressed -
When our mind is distorted and is not at it's best.
We may banish the world and just concentrate
On our unhappy lives and the world we may hate.

We just think of ourselves - then inwards we turn.
But this is not the solution as we should all learn.
Know help is there and then always accept it.
It's available now and so do not neglect it.

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Bottled time

Vintage quality

Love fermenting

Maturing taste

Christmas goodwill

So easy

To forget

Celebrated anniversary

Restores memories

Inside every

Glass poured.

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O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie

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I will never leave you

I will never deceive you. 

All I need is to be by your side. 

Now that I am old...

I may need a ride

from room to room

so I may follow. 

My heart is yours

do not dispare

I will always care

of that you can be sure. 

You will never be alone

you do not need a phone

to call me

Because

I wil...

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Be comfortable existing in all your dualities, there is no light without darkness

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Dancing on a motor bike

‘I don’t dance ‘you declare on our first date. There is a non-negotiable firmness in your tone mitigated by the admission ‘If I did it would be dad dancing ‘. I accept this stipulation. Hardly a deal breaker since most women prefer to dance solo with free style abandon on the dance floor.

 Aunty internet played match maker for us on a dating site. Despite emails,...

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Does it take a long time, over a year or so?

To get over a broken heart...anybody know?

This is an age old question, of that I'm aware.

I'm asking it again, because answers are rare.

Does it take an eternity, is that common too?

Or can it happen suddenly...out of the blue?

Or am I clutching at straws, thinking that way?

Is love worth the risk, if this is the price to...

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Between the Moonbeams. 

Could it be that you are the summer rain caressing my skin

While drenching my soul

To ease the pain

My heart rises up to meet the dawn

Knowing your love runs through it

Like a river greeting the ocean

With a weary yawn -

In the knowledge that finally

It has somewhere to lie

I catch your smile with the lightness

Of a feather in...

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Down On Candy Cane Lane
Several Elves Burst Into Flame
Rudolph Was Sad
But, Santa Was Mad
Knowing Spiked Eggnog Was To Blame.

Santa Put The Drink On A Shelf
Too High Up For Any Elf.
But, The Elves Formed A Plan
And Hired A Man
Who Took And Drank It Himself.

-------
Visit me at Medium.com

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All that can hound you to your grave
howling and slathering
takes form from your mind
where the consequences 
of your chosen path
pierce the mist step by step

You'd love to slam a door
like a human being would
but the hole you're in has no cover
unnaturally you'll scream for sleep
knowing your bad dream burns fiercest there

Could this tumbling world afford
respite for rabid creatur...

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🎄Christmas in motion 🎅

I. Gross Motor Skills

Running fast, catching friends before they go.

Building big snowman, arms reach high,

Sledding down the hill, laughter fills the sky.

🌟🌟🌟

II. Fine Motor Skills

Delicate fingers are nimble, love bestows.

Cutting paper snowflakes, tying colorful t...

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Blowing all over the exposed garden
On Christmas Day
Before yielding to the gusts 
The leaves blow words
Over the frozen ground
Buried in the spotlight,

Pushing our lifetimes
In front of our faces
Tearing us away from our presents 
Like coins in sunken vases
A miracle into a wonderful life
A family drama into a celebration.

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Half a moon concealed 

Inside a cityscape;

A clenched fist persists, 

Suffocating catharsis;

The noble unknown

But not unknowable,

Beckons still, its name

Burbled in a stream...

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I saved you, Ebenezer,
but I could have done much more.
We were not the only ones
blinded by venality.
This city is the proof of it,
these spires of Mammon,
built on all the sin I sought
to turn you away from,
though it was too late for me.

We lived in times of change,
you and I, Ebenezer.
Those who saw what we could not
made sure of that, yet still,
there are people going hungry
i...

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Black hole

 I have stuck in the magic of black holes

Where death is every moment

Still I am trying hard to keep himself alive.

I heard it in the mouth of the saint

 You Try to be as sugar as,

If you can't

 You be salt at least.

 I Try to be as sugar as

I was deceived again and again,

Despair wanted to consume me.

Now let's try to be salt

Tho...

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I keep going back to the image that you cracked me in two

That you reached into my chest and tore out my heart

It’s pumping red grotesque thing 

and simply squeezed it into your fingernails

and pulled until it was torn in two. 

In this image I fall to my knees one final time

In this image I wear the face of betrayal 

In this image I knew it was coming but -

In this image I ...

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Fertile

Glistening with raindrops the sprays of leaves

Hook you with long thorns.

Dark clusters of hidden fruit lifted and released

Gathering sweetness.

Bedstraw woven between the nettles that rise to the arching branches.

Brambles diving through the thick grasses

Blackcurrants nodding above.

You lift full buckets of water from the river,

Up stone steps, tip into th...

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I miss your Christmas Smile 
I miss you all the while 
Your eyes they sparkled with festive love
Now your star shines down on me from heaven above
You always celebrated in true seasonal style
I miss your Christmas Smile
Tactile and loving you covered me in kisses
I miss your Christmas Smile 

Along the snowy streets and avenues I roam
Welcoming windows shine brightly and excite
There is...

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Why does one feel with the moon,

Hidden at day and awake at night?

Why does one sing a tune,

Of all that is sad and full of spite?

Why hold on to goodbyes

And keep a sour mood,

When by all the time that flies

You could have been renewed?

O, know that in my mind you fill

And you will always occupy my heart.

So that when the world for me grows still,

Of my soul you w...

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Taking my first girlfriend
to the pub at seventeen
Crossing the cobbles
of a gunmetal grey 
northern market town
Mitten in glove
warm in our teenage
prototype version of love
A chatterbox pint for me
a tipsy glass of white for her
and we’d find a quiet corner

Invariably, some red-faced
shaven-headed native
furtively eyes my companion
“Where do you come from?”
they’d splutter in th...

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A.I. is a saviour and the new soccer sleuth,

here to solve online searches for footballing truth.

So, is the Golden Boot made of real gold?

Can a 47-year-old be trusted to play well in goal?

Did Hungary once feature Bela Lugosi?

Does just turning up get you a World Cup trophy?

How did Scotland qualify for the Euros?

Will there be more dancing in the streets of M...

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Adrian's wall is nothing special,

no visitors flock to its breezy heights,

it flanks the corner of Evelyn Street

one of Rawtenstall's lesser known sights. 

Adrian lives in obscurity

has never been feted by the National Trust

no would be conquest

has ever been thwarted

no glorious victories credited there,

although repairs were carried out

when a car ran wide...

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