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Tip toe time
Whatever you've done today
It doesn't matter now, the sign states
its time for a parade
for the tiny tippy tappers to escapade
You've seen the sights
Blinded by all the flashing lights
You've filled the senses with a pungent repulse
Tollerated the tube and the intolerance
Now you're back to the place of dreams
Where walls and ceilings go bump in the night
H...
Wednesday 24th July 2024 10:28 am
Dancing In the City
Commuters pirouette,
and trade positions, in
dance off thousands
on London stations.
Tourists saunter in
markets and shops,
while busy workers
improv, move,
and never stop.
Mamils hygge
in Lycra clothes,
aim their bikes
to rumba
right over your toes
and samba,
swing, and jive, to
skim potholes and
the slow shuffle
of the c...
Wednesday 8th November 2023 3:18 pm
Rolling down to London
Rolling down to london on a train,
the taught and shining buds
of Spring are bursting on the trees.
Wharfedale’s misted in a bluish haze,
but heaps of plastic refuse in the woods
on the drab periphery of Leeds
descend my mood from buoyancy to pain.
Rolling forwards now, the rape fields blaze
and blackthorns bloom with pearls,
resplendent in the boundary hedges
we...
Sunday 4th June 2023 8:59 pm
LONDON
South on the map
Google maps app
A city were royalty base
Big Ben the clock
10 downing Street mob
Fast living then this is your place
The rarest of sounds
They got underground
They busk to the beat of the trains
Night foxes roam
The streets are now home
Upon primrose hill daisy chains
Rappers and chanters
Camden stall banters
A plate full the hung...
Friday 19th May 2023 12:29 pm
And why?
And why are you still in my head?
In my chest,
In my soul?
Engulfed by disdain, disgust and love.
And I am so lone.
In the middle of Oxford Street crowds
I want your advice that never helped
I want your forehead kisses that I rejected.
Longing for you on dark silent nights.
To debate: am I ever truly alone?
Or does your phantomlike presence ignite and guide...
Tuesday 16th November 2021 10:41 pm
Kiss
A billion light years away from now
Seems to be our last mutual smile
A billion more miles away
Is were we could stay
In a kiss
So missed
For which I pray
Thursday 9th January 2020 12:50 am
Hyde Park Winter Rink
We circle as sharks
on the Hyde Park winter rink
our eyes like lasers
I audibly bleep when they meet
We both go forwards
not getting anywhere
we pass with differing intervals
I only breathe when we pass
Some laps are flawless
some laps are clumsy
some laps I nearly take some sucker down
some laps I kiss the ice
I feel your eyes lift me to my feet
I feel them brush the slush from...
Friday 13th December 2019 1:49 pm
Common Sense
Mr Reel-Fogg came home exhausted after a hard day of talking. Those green leather benches were so confoundedly uncomfortable and one could never recline in peace.
After a brief attempt to assist Mrs. Reel-Fogg to achieve her ambition of having twelve children he fell into a deep sleep.
Around one thirty in the morning there was a confounded noise outside. He sent Mrs. Reel-Fogg to investigat...
Sunday 10th November 2019 9:53 am
First person, singular, London n. 1
London
means Abandon
No inibition
No frustration
No coalition
You wake up one day and without any sense
you're not sure if you love it or you're tense
Could be addiction
to the city's emission
if you're lucky, tuition
but oveall a sort of contrition
You want to be in that rollercoaster because it is actually a damn ride
but after that you won't be able to hide.
...Friday 18th October 2019 4:54 pm
At Dream's End
At dream’s end
we let the water flow
accepting
resolved
At dream’s end
loosening our grip
hold the best bits
release the scenes that never came
I imagined endless parties
some intangible heart that I could puncture
I imagined so much more
turns out it’s just another place
moving at a heightened pace
Now I sit quietly
by the chequered flag
grateful to have run
chest heaving
...
Monday 6th May 2019 11:45 am
The Sailors' Homecoming
There is a time
channel mists behind, we sit at anchor for the tide
then in the early hours the Thames pilots board
and - slowly for the mist still lingers close to land -
we move up river reaches, take tugs and find our lock
to gently nudge our way between the barges
until we are tied up again in Albert's dock,
derricks swung and hatches open -
and I am free
Again,...
Thursday 18th October 2018 4:31 pm
Autumn Thoughts
Black steel
curling wrought iron
balustrade
Beneath me
coffee steam
and noise
rise
and a poet
sits talking
animatedly
his foot jiggling
as he gesticulates
outside
autumn sun
shines on wet roofs
and casts
tree shadows
on house walls
outside
the sea is rising
while
London sinks
Sunday 7th October 2018 9:41 am
no talk
no talk
i was with my mate going to work
when i saw the couple on the bus
they were young and in their 20s
he had mousey hair and she was blond
they were taking time out
and travelling in the philippines
she was finishing her teacher training
and he was a soldier between deployments
while i was commuting to work
in the city to my bpo job
we talked in my head
not in the real world
Thursday 15th February 2018 4:12 pm
Moonlight
I casually looked up
from flicking through some book
and saw the way you stood
hell, we'd better look alive
while we've got the time
You met me by The Globe
the whole world waiting with bated breath
"are you in?" you purred
o, I'm in...
For one night only, we blew along the Southbank
I kissed you by the wheel
kissed you deep within the shadows
a thousand lights tied in the trees
Wednesday 20th December 2017 7:19 pm
Air Worthiness
Air Worthiness
The Harris hawk is sleek and fast; fine-boned,
she swoops free from an armoured glove
towards some distant, perfect perch,
only then to see and hear the falconer's call; to search,
then sweep down to the hand that feeds and nurtures.
A hooded hostage; in restless freedom she presents a bleeding dove.
Trimmed hawks hunt in packs on Argentine pampas...
Saturday 25th November 2017 5:10 am
Racing Back to London
Veering through Northern valleys
Nocturnal nomad chasing lights
Squinting through misty glass at
Solitude
Rural black
Hills rising raucously
Perfidious silhouettes whispering
Shadows looming
GPS. Reroute. M1.
Settings were fucked - avoid motorways?
No wonder
Back to the linear path
Diving towards the sprawling metropolis
Hours to go.
Adjusting frequencies -
The Wind Cries Mary.
...
Friday 29th September 2017 7:42 pm
Stay Put
I have a fear of fire.
I have a fear of height.
I have a fear of being trapped alone
On my life's very last night.
I have a fear of towers.
I fear the way they sway.
The way the wind's wicked whispers
whistle past with far too much to say.
I fear some in high places.
I fear they do not care.
I fear they lack compassion
I can smell it in the air.
...Friday 16th June 2017 7:04 am
No Flowers on the Bridge
Life's a game of take & give
Just tell me how did it come to this?
They walked their way into the abyss
But I see no flowers, on the bridge?
The laughs, the screams
The night, far from your dreams
A city bows as it continues to live
But I see no flowers, on the bridge?
The sirens call and the thunders rolls
In a stranger, solace unfolds
How can your story ever be told?
But n...
Thursday 15th June 2017 6:24 pm
Our City Of Many Bridges
In 'our land',
which retains its leafiness,
despite how unseasonably
a fine few are fallen.
Just beneath fury's fierce flame;
our city's many bridges
a metaphor for so much more
defiantly stand still.
I pray today, it's not just me
who hears them screaming silently
'To join together is our fate
we will not hate, we will not hate.'
4.06.17
Sunday 4th June 2017 9:14 pm
Villiers Path: Scalloped Time
Villiers Path: Scalloped Time is the second chapbook published on my Seethingography imprint, part of Sampson Low Publishers Ltd. I will be reading from this, for the first time, next Saturday, 20th May, at The Flying Horse Cellar Bar, 6 Oxford Street, London. The event is FREE and runs from 7pm - 8.30pm.
This is as part of an event to launch David Russamano's first chapbook, (Reasons for) Movi...
Friday 12th May 2017 8:12 am
Westway's dark
When day falls down
be mine
for the night
passes by.
You choose which
way we run
I can't choose more than one.
You got no sleep but I found my belief,
I found my belief.
The Westway's dark.
Please stay, don't fade away
Save us,
lone stars.
Wednesday 28th December 2016 10:29 am
Four London Poets on Saturday December 3rd
Why you should come to Four London Poets on Saturday Dec 3rd.
Number 1). Deryl Walsh. Deryl has long been one of my favourite poets. She makes the occasional excursion into surrealism, but most of her work is observational, succinct and often very witty. I would be well pleased if she were to include the poem about dining alone in a hotel, and the one concerning a visit to the Festival Hall. Sh...
Friday 18th November 2016 2:06 pm
Farewell Serpentine
Circling the water
one final evening
I catch sight of my reflection
see those lines forming
writ across my brow
so I roll my head in ink
kiss the page…
Soon, we’ll be quietly leaving
no longer anchored in Zone Two
swaddled by the Thames
for an unknown pause we’re going now
The shapeless mess of time approaches
with me, desperately
clawing at relief lines
to understand what gradient
...
Monday 24th October 2016 6:57 pm
Goodnight Trellick
Riding the night train home
you fall asleep, head on my shoulder
I watch our reflection in the glass
watching our reflection
age
improve
converge
expand
as you sleep
on the night train home…
It’s a short walk on a summer evening
a short walk to our place
my arm around your shoulder
pulling you in close
I look up into the sky
deeply
drunken
grateful
expansive
but I see no stars...
Tuesday 6th September 2016 11:08 pm
A Little Place I Know...
We all hate the government
but what can you do
just drink in the evening sun
talking with old friends
A little place I know
when our graft is done
we go…
Cobbled streets, thin passageways
snaking pipes embrace the buildings
in the shadow cast by evening sun
standing with good friends
A little place I know
let’s grab a bus
and go…
Who voted 'leave', not one man here
I'll sta...
Saturday 20th August 2016 12:18 am
MY LONDON - Spring
In all the world there's nowhere quite
Like London on a soft spring night
When saffron sunset sends its grace
To linger on a much loved face.
And all around the very air
Thrills with time as if aware
That this great city is the stage
For this and every other age.
So much history...so much done:
So much to tell the setting sun.
.................................
Wednesday 13th April 2016 3:51 pm
By the Thames
It’s the final burial ground –
the place where they go to die;
lapping dirt-brown waves;
tourist couples bidding goodbye.
Ships slicing through soundlessly,
as smog adorns the sky.
A pigeon hobbles by on its stump,
while a gull lets out a mournful cry;
beside benches, an old man holds out his cup;
on the cobblestones stands a solitary bride.
A homeless girl leans agai...
Wednesday 30th March 2016 11:40 am
Excavating Aldgate Tube Station (1876)
Excavating Aldgate Tube Station (1876)
Underneath the rat infested streets
dead bodies were piled high, row on row.
Enshrouded in their grimy, night-soiled sheets.
- thrown to the devils down below.
Dead bodies were piled high, row on row.
Plague pits rampant all around Aldgate.
Thrown to the waiting devils down below -
unmarked graves meant no one knew their fate.
Plague pits rampa...
Friday 24th October 2014 7:47 pm
Quiet Compere Tour Dates 2015
~~The Quiet Compere Tour is 'Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England'
~~Quiet Compere National Tour 2015 – Confirmed Schedule
Date City Venue
Thursday 5th March Halifax Bar Up –
(co-host Spoken Weird)
Address: Princess Street, 5 Union Cross Yard, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 1TS
Friday 27th March Durham The Old Cinema Laundrette
...
Wednesday 22nd October 2014 10:36 am
Nero to Zero
I’m sat in Nero
My mac is absent
But I have tortoise shell specs
Coffee cups
A pen and pad
Filled with nothing but endless to do lists
Productivity promises
And I’ve just finished a tub of hummus
I think I qualify right?
A wispy voiced limp haired Lolita soundtracks this cliche
As overpriced
Over spiced
Panini, chai’s and muffin tops
Plonk and plop
On marble topped tables
Tuesday 5th August 2014 12:03 am
For Bob Crow
Poem for Bob Crow (cheers W.H. Auden)
Stop all the docks, cut off the trains,
Start the mariners striking, be still the cranes,
Silence the busses and with muffled bullhorn
Bring out the coffin, let the workers come.
Let politicians circle, moaning overhead
confessing on the airwaves, He Is RED,
Put nooses round the white necks of the bosses,
Let the riot policemen carry their o...
Saturday 22nd March 2014 7:35 pm
Four Floors
Her face was peppered with white powder,
The prouder part of her slender frame
Lay still, a weary head on a pillow
By an open window four floors away.
Eyes of glass catch hazed reflections
From the direction of London lamps
Lighting themselves one by one,
But she does not smile at their amber gleam
Whilst the seams of her soul come undone.
Vague melt solidifies natures crime scene.
Unh...
Thursday 23rd January 2014 12:02 pm
Electromagnetic Legacy - No More Choice On FM
It started at 100 with a Kiss
and then, at the dial’s heart, another,
with a hissier signal that was easier to miss.
Suddenly those in London who loved a black voice
started to get spoilt by the concept that was Choice!
Djs previously at the mercy of the DTI
were now legal broadcasters to you and I.
It was such a unique and exciting time for us as group,
...
Saturday 5th October 2013 1:48 pm
Empty century
Stay with me boy we gonna
run tonight
like flies do run
burning after touching the light bulb
stay with me, 'cause it's an empty and sad little century
i might have tears in my eyes
but i don't wanna see
just don't want to see
Right on time
pain arrived
why would we
stroll apart?
Walk with me now we never
had any time
it...
Tuesday 17th September 2013 10:36 pm
Fusion
Tuesday 5th March 2013 12:00 pm
Sofia's Masterpiece Story
Tuesday 5th March 2013 11:26 am
Amy
The breath had left her, not long ago.
Her face, pressed into the pillow
Drained black tears onto white linen.
Her fight had been lost; the long battle had ravaged her
And her iconic war paint scrawled ironic defeat in tracks
Down her pale skin onto paler sheets.
A motionless husk; as she lays there;
Her raven hair, unravelled from familiarity,
Fall's delicately on her back,
...
Friday 15th February 2013 2:27 pm
Oh Darkness, Sweet Darkness
With my acuminous arm
I saved her wretched soul, like the others,
I drew the blood through clotted veins
And lay her down upon the blackness.
I cleaved the meats from her ivory.
He knelt with me and watched her filth, her poison
Pour through the cobbled streets
Into welcoming drains.
Plucked from the cadaver,
Her vessels of virility are no more;
The erroneous allocatio...
Sunday 20th January 2013 12:25 pm
ATOP NELSON’S COLUMN
ATOP NELSON’S COLUMN
Windy, cold and grey is the sky. The clouds amass on the horizon,
laden with rain, while a bitter wind drives them towards me.
I have never been so scared here above the earth; I don’t know how I got here,
I only want to get down.
Smoke blackened stone is cold and so alien to my touch, while the ground is far below.
I see people staring a...
Monday 25th June 2012 5:37 pm
Cheaper to Bang, a split ticket saga.
For those who don't know Bang Said The Gun is a hugely successful performance poetry event which has run in London for over 10 years. Just over a month ago an intrepid bunch of Mancunian poets attempted to transfer its uniquely rowdy weekly format to the North West. As one of the first poets to be invited to headline, what follows are the travails of an artist attempting to keep down travel...
Saturday 9th June 2012 8:42 am
Brit-Wres-Fest 2012 - NaPoWriMo Piece
First time he'd ever been,
First time he'd ever seen
imaginations running wild brother,
see it to believe it.
As British as fish and chips
on a sunny London afternoon.
3 way dance or triple threat,
call it what you like but never forget
the joy,
the elation
the anticipation.
As Ligero drives the crowd wild,
the show stealer got robbed
...Friday 6th April 2012 5:56 pm
Can You Hear The People Sing?
They dwell in strange rooms
the murky recesses of affordability
barely buildings, bedrooms with sinks
chair pushed up against the door
flakes of lives flung everywhere
A curtain, a quilt - who can really say?
A bare bulb hangs in an open window
no shade inside from day or night
Still lives go on; the rudimentary,
ramshackle, clutching at homeliness
the need for shelter unites us all
...
Wednesday 22nd February 2012 3:25 pm
MY LONDON
In all the world, there's nowhere quite
Like London in the evening light,
When saffron sunset lends its grace
To linger on a much-loved face.
And all around the very air
Thrills with time as if aware
That my great city is the stage
For this and every other age.
So much history, so much done,
So much to tell the setting sun.
Saturday 21st January 2012 3:06 pm
Intimates @ the Poetry Cafe, Betterton St on Friday the 4th
I am hosting and have some great features, Anthony Anaxagorou and HKB FiNN.
Get a chance to discuss the work with the poets, intimately!
Open mic available
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=245456218837616
Tuesday 1st November 2011 3:23 pm
Captain of the Rant's Basement Sedition residency - online trailer
This is the trailer for Captain of the Rant's Basement Sedition - a series of spoken word and poetry events eevery Friday in October. The line ups are absoloutely fantastic - sixteen brilliant performances over four events in the cosy venue of the Railroad Cafe. Check it out.
Thursday 15th September 2011 9:13 am
2011 One Love Reggae Festival A Truthful Dishonor Not about the Reggae
2011 One Love Reggae Festival
A Truthful Dishonor Not about the Reggae
Looking at the future with a smile! Indeed, life is filled with so many struggles so to smile is one of the only options we have as to not go totally insane. The UK 2011 One Love Reggae Festival was held in the location of Hainault Forest County Park, an area in the London Borough of Redbridge in Northeast London. Fo...
Friday 26th August 2011 2:39 pm
New X (30 years after the tragic fire)
On the 18th of January 1981, 13 young people died in a fire in New Cross, South East London (a fourteenth committed suicide after losing so many friends). Just shy of thirty years on, these are the contemporary reflections of a man who was a seven year old boy at the time. Widely thought to have been a racially motivated attack, more recent advances in forensic technology have suggested o...
Saturday 8th January 2011 5:45 pm
Free downloadable Spoken Word (poetry-reading) EP.
Hope you enjoy it!
http://raymondantrobus.bandcamp.com/album/raymond-antrobus-spoken-word
Ray. x
Tuesday 29th June 2010 12:24 am
Crazy week, 4 gigs in 3 days...
Gigging this week at
RAW GEMS (30 mins) Zenith Bar, London
BEAT, Peter Parkers Bar Soho, London
Rich Mix with Apples & Snakes & Featuring with TV Smith at the Poetry Cafe, London
Get in touch if you're in town.
I'll do the poem in the audio attachment here as well as my current 'hit' as here:
Boy Toy
I’m happy to be your plaything
A am your sex toy
It ...
Friday 12th February 2010 10:49 pm
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