Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash

Black sun on the run
born a mute
not too cute
on my back, sans coat,
sans hat,
on my back
no fringes of lace
around my face
I’m intact at last
I fling curses
at the stars
bury my wishes
in old jam-jars.
turn mere shadows into shades
hold my breath
for an age
i kiss a lion
In a cage
condemned
at the root
& in a rage
I evade
an early grav...

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Sounds of a demonstration 

The distant cacophony 

of loudhailers 

carried by the gentle wind 

into the green park 

it’s starlings scattered,

searching diligently 

for bread bits fallen

from the visitors’

tables and laps,

with their coffee stains,

onto the ground 

below as the 

sound of rhyming 

chants float through 

the air like 

soft drums on a...

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Soft and fluffy 

Ball of fur 

Curled up tight

Contented purr 

His favourite place 

Right on her lap

But Hey what's this?

A DATING APP!

Am I not the one

Who gives her Love?

Now all of a sudden 

It isn't enough 

Her eyes are glowing 

As she scrolls

The screen 

All these faces 

I've never seen 

I don't see men

Just a bunch of mice 

If they come...

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We stood on the bridge watching 

the train approach 

The steam dampening our faces

as it passed under

It was warm, then cold

I grabbed my brothers hand

and we ran to the other side

But, the train had gone,

along with my brother.

The imprint of his hand 

still lay in mine

But time had taken them both.

I stood there for days, weeks, 

Perhaps, months

Perhaps,...

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I’ll tell you of a writer, Bill the Bard as he was known,

a bloke that wrote a load of plays and verse.

He started out when good old Liz the First was on the throne,

and gave his actors plenty to rehearse.

He wasn’t all that famous but he got some well-earnt praise,

and coined some phrases never used before,

like green-eyed monster, elbow room, and also salad days,

so wel...

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A contest of true believers no matter who against or league status, after watching a thrilling F.A Cup semi-final there is an old football saying that came to mind sometimes your name is on the Cup.

Facing current holders

Dominant City team

Champions fourth time

All Manchester final

Revisited previous season

Bitter derby rivals

United stars underperforming

Manager condemned...

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I walk amongst the heather, thinking of you.

Lonely flowers in hand, feet dripped in dew.

To the hills where we walked, I’m on my way.

Every hill I will climb in your memory today.

The wind is merely gentle, cool upon my face.

A thousand memories await me in this place.

I see the pale sun, now rising from its sleep.

It’s that time of year for my promise to keep.

T...

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My dreams have been strange 

Leaping rivers give way to slick clay- red and thick

I wash and wash until I melt away

In that house, I wander, opening new doors and exploring rooms

Rooms stacked high with towers of books

My bed rest high above my head

Balanced on the book towers, so I climb

Reaching the top my bed is gone

It doesn't matter, I'm not tired 

I leap cloud to c...

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Dream 

In silence, I tread my soul's dusky paths.

If only I could meet her there, tonight,

In her eyes find a guiding light.

In silence, I hear the fleeting hours of my day.

If only I could bear her pain, make it mine,

Heal our wounds with love's twine.

In silence, I see her beauty sing and shine.

If only I could make her heart dream,

To sail together down...

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At midnight, I'm still awake, 

waiting on sleep’s blurred 

hypnagogic state,

a fleeting mirage like journey

crossing at nightfall.

I stretch to cut the bed diagonally, 

her legs retract unconscious

beneath her folded sleeping body.

A knot of blue sky fills my gut,

a worryglow from earlier, flittering 

like a young fish 

I sit up, anchored at the bed’s edge, 

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Head down, underconfident eyes,

Mouth sealed due to the fear

Of uttering more fake replies,

Mind that was once honest

Had made room for pests,

His falsehood made him

Gain none and lose a few,

The only few whom he knew.

Some devastating ones,

While some were white,

Some gave him peace,

While some kept him up

During the long nights.

He walks past my home

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am i normal

i seek references

comparison to what

what standard of measure

i am just a man

what category do I belong

no distinction

i am simply human

am i this or that

do i pass the test

based on what

for what purpose

a decent person

what’s the standard

according to whom

according to when

i have withdrawn

leave me out of it

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An Arid Land

I bought a plot of land to grow vegetables,

it was flat and without any weeds .

I drew a plan of what I would grow,

dividing it into seperate rows.

I bought four types of seeds to sow,

Justice, Compassion, Equality and Love,

all I knew to be popular and much sought after,

and a profitable return for my efforts.

I spent hours sowing the seeds,

and res...

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Being insecure

After so long an interlude

Not daring to

What feelings impulse me to

Afraid of being aggressive

Angry for being so shy

Thus, moments go by

Not willing to games

Still, I desire and admire you

So, don’t censure

My interest in adventure

Afraid of being culpable

Angry for being so vain

So here I remain.

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I am the air floating from room to room, 

I open my mouth, too often, too soon, 

Eager to feast and chained to a wall 

Watching myself from the skies, waiting to fall 

I am within from outside 

Begging to be seen, screaming to hide 

How high the moon is, how high was I 

I am the branches on the trees,

Swaying with hope and too eager to please 

Crying with the rain in the...

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You say you're "no Angel"

And we're left in a tangle

Words expressed with feeling

Still searching for their meaning

Does this give you a license so freeing

You can do whatever without stressing?
Responsibilities old and frayed

Distressed, dismayed and betraying

Keeping everything so tightly wound

Is bound to cause a rupture

Spewing the pain you strive the concele

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She soaks her body

Scrubbing and peeling layers of invisible dirt

Flushing away the undue haste

Of the last two days

Letting the shower taste her face her body

The weeks of anticipation

The grieved upon tears

The streaks of hair

The makeup gone wild

She carefully dries and scores every

Fibre and cell that clings to her flesh

Creasing and smoothing fresh sheet...

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Having been in love a number of times,

my past hearts live in me like wounds

that no longer need dressing.

But a very small part of me

will always be in love with the scars

of the time spent there. 

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Six Month Evaluation 

Do you you think you have scared them off

It certainly scared those ones in charge

Of hiring for proprietors a privilege 

In just being asked

What chance the grubby homeward constantly 

Interview selected

How can it prove the visible room

Circles in repetition cycle

Already thinking Movie channel 

Did you get the part of knocked on...

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Mouthful Of Words

Poem after Brian Moses

These are the words my teacher teaches,

omnipresent, evaporating, invigilator, dichotomy,

diminuendo.

Then there are the words at home they choose

in our chatters animated to recounting the news.

There are the words that Grandma always seems

to say that I regurgitate, no matter the situation or their

denoting: bam...

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His love delighted her

Shirley Valentine would have been proud,

Intertwined, on sun-bleached sand.

Quietly tender, both breathing loud.                              

Unlike her suburban life

Every moment, utterly forgettable,

Together yet separate, final vows unfurled,

The sadness of marriage, entirely regrettable.

His love delighted her                           ...

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They splashed ashore on their target beach

And death came flying from out of their reach,

Returned in kind from grey battleships behind

Aiming but not always accurately to find

The concrete and cemented bastions that lay

Ahead - to keep expected forces at bay..

A break in the weather had foxed the foe

And saw the dawn-mist Allies go

Boldly where Angels would fear to tread

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If words are important

surely, they are as important as the corpses

of the forgotten.

Words, like men are buried,

dismembered,

misremembered.

Corpses sometimes disinter

as if to scream

here is where we were.

Corpses are who we are,

they are the words we will become

Spoken with a dying tongue

Preserve our words as treasure

lest they ar...

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The happy go lucky faced old man,

war tunes whistling, his way down our street

tapping his stick to their various rhythms

on top of the little wall, that ran alongside of him

where { I know }  he hopes to see

left-over breadcrumbs have been placed.

As the clock is about to hurry me away to work,

I suddenly recall some of those whistled tunes,

and, I'm back on Granddad'...

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I want to wake up in the morning before the dawn
And watch the spring dressed in a beautiful gown.
When the spring passes its crown to summer,

Demonstrating its beautiful gamma.

I want to open my doors wide

And watch when summer as a bride

Accepts her sister's presents

And cherish all the dear moments.

And then I wish to walk with summer in the wood
And as a lyrist to...

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40, should it be a big deal?

40 more will be 80

Is that enough to feel fulfilled on this planet?

Maybe I will still have a few incarnations ahead of me 

I think maybe it is time to live to my fullest and leave fear in the garbage bin.

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Sheaves of stamps with perforated edges

Crumpled postal orders and giro books

Biros, jotters, paperclips and ledgers

Welcoming smiles and knowing, sideways looks

Parcels, diligence and calibration

Columns filled with calculator clicks

Ink stamps thud in rhythm with the nation

Lips seal envelopes with efficient licks

One day they came with boxes, drills and cable

“It’s ti...

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We know everything vibrates,

molecules dancing around even in the firmest of objects.

How then can our eyes see only the solid?

That rock,  that table, the earth beneath our feet--

wild, intelligent movement going on within,

but absolutely beyond our plain-eyed perception.

But then, every once in a while, as if an interior microscope lights up,

there it is--

the dance of th...

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Slippers are used variously,

A humble gift from Mother Nature's stall.

They cushion our steps and guard our toes,

As we journey through life's winding rows.

Bathroom slippers, we don in haste,

After a long day's slumber or a warm bath.

The soft terry cloth or fuzzy fur,

Protects our soles from tile's cold, hard sting.

Room slippers, too, we find their place,

In...

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When Snow White met Narcissus

and kissed away the loneliness

all the adults were jealous

all the adults were envious

all the adults were contemptuous

as they kissed away the loneliness

like Snow White and Narcissus

ended up in a circus

where they found their happiness

cannot be jealous

cannot be envious

cannot be contemptuous

and it's only virtuous

to be obse...

Read more …

You hammered nails into our bed’s headboard

The wardrobe’s frail, but you said you could fix that too

And I answered: “do we even have glue?”

You always complain when I try to think forward

But monday’s gonna rain, what if we have to buy more?

Who’s driving to the store?

Isn’t it dangerous to drive in the storm?

Isn’t it best for us to just conform that... some things cannot b...

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I am left empty

In a field of Bluebonnets

Whose roots reach for the salt of my eyes.

In a field of Bluebonnets 

I lay,

Lay,

Lay.

Flowering hues of me turn Blue,

Smearing the sunshine yellow-oranges of my memories of you.

Flowering hues of me turn Blue

As I drift away on my bed of bonnets.

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Meeting different people

On the train or near the steeple

Learning about different cultures

Without any nasty vultures

Exploring different religions

Flying away like free pigeons

Tasting and trying different food

Without being awkward and rude

The beauty of different skin colours

Enjoying the ride like happy scullers

Whatever the age, gender or sexuality

There is n...

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got your outsides covered 
by former lovers 
just when you thought 
there was nowhere to hide 

I pick up my brush 
I paint your insides 

I’ve got more than 
eight million colors 
most can’t be seen 
they’re felt all over 

I make you cry 
tears of delight 
just you now wait 
for the rollers 

painting your insides 
in a rainbow 
painting your insides 
with a hint of a shadow...

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A magnet hung in the big, bright store,

Between the household and the sport,

When down came a pair of guided bombs

And more innocent lives were cut short.

Far away across the border,

Pampered strategists play chess;

They do not know the victims,

And are bothered even less.

This is the new reality

Of war devoid of shame,

Where women, men and children

Becom...

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And so it begins

Slowly pushing myself down

Into the darkness of a self dug hole

Allowing all of the bad

The negative

The shitty things to give me the strength to dig

I’m no stranger to the pain

My childhood trauma and everything after can attest

The stories I could tell

The looks I would inevitably get

The judgements, perhaps

I’m no stranger to solitude

Self ma...

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After the storm, there's a stillness all around

All that was destroyed now lies on the ground

Plants uprooted, leaves scattered with branches entwined

Vehicles overturned, corrugated roofs left behind

The sight of complete upheaval, an ugly scene to behold

Yet the air is calm, the weather pleasant and bold

An extra sense of gratitude fills the air

For the destruction that...

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Once upon a time
in a land far, far away 
A boy and girl met
at a gathering one day 

When he left for home
they promised to keep in touch 
Living so far apart
didn’t faze them too much

Over time and tide
friendship turned into romance 
They travelled to and fro
whenever they got chance

One blue sky day
resting on a bench by the sea 
He asked for her hand
whilst bended down on ...

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These Four Walls

     The pot is bubbling contentedly,

my rice softening as this shoebox dwelling -

   persists a hardening,

     I can hear and I do note the steam

now covering all surface known shiny,

     I sit listening and note the modulation

be quickening, the bubbles faster and faster

   as liquid disappears.

     Here I am, noting with stubbor...

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Our passage through time's feasting halls
is swift and short,
slow and long,
a sprinting, crawling,
leisurely race
towards and away from
eternities we know nothing of
yet speculate endlessly over,
like debaters and disputants
far more knowledgable
than we really are;
and all the while
forgetting, ignoring, uncaring of
why we're in the race to begin with,
remembering even less -
as t...

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Reading back

To see all the love my mother recieved

As she was pregnant with me

June 4th 2010 I was attended

When her pregnancy finally ended

I feel a surge of relief 

That my mother had so many people with belief

Belief that I came out well

Although it was quite like hell

Sadness came to me as I realise

That I almost didnt make it out alive

Goodness! I must'v...

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Working as a Samaritan was something I always wanted to do,

Six months into the job I unfortunately got the flu.

As a consequence I tried to call in sick,

But they talked me out of it really quick.

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‘Mick Jagger has a six-year-old. He’s 80.’

Conversation between two older women overheard on a train

Embarrassing, enduring logo. Those lips.

Jumping Jack Flash, no ordinary wrinklie,  

sired another offspring in his seventies,

still manages to shake those hips.

Faux-rebel with a knowing grin.

Only a nineteen-sixties serum

explains so many honky-tonk women.

Rul...

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Who do you think you are kidding Mr Starmer

If you think old Rishi’s done?

We are the boys who smashed down your North Red Wall

We are the boys who will bring about your fall;

So who do you think you are kidding Mr Starmer

If you think the voting’s won?

We don’t care about Lib Dems cos they will not perform

The Nationalists are shafted; we don’t care about Reform.

Who ...

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Image: Arriving at my motel early afternoon, it wasn't that bad, clean enough but prone to loud music at times from a nearby complex. Journey back went well small hold up for another vehicle, but good detour so no great worries.

25.04.24 – 131:99) Departure day both gladness and sadness

Gladness at what I’ve done, seen an’ where I’ve been

Memories abound of new friend...

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the road’s rolling out

in front of me again

showing me the exit

say something quick

and make it stick

I’ll soon be gone

I’ll set a candle at my back

to light the path I’ve traveled

I’ll burn my skin with the heat of it

with still no movement ahead

I set my sight upon the distance

look now into my eyes

like you’d once done

smile and bring the te...

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Chameleon in a Candy Store (Reflection)

My past, a faded wrapper, clung to me, bittersweet,

at the end of the book as other possibilities shimmered,

Each sweet, a choice, a moment a life path I could explore

From the journey back home or to something else.

Would I melt into the darkness, and become one with the swirl?

Or break free from the jar, a defiant, unflav...

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He's a walking talking country song

Pie in the sky kinda guy

Head in the clouds

Talks too loud

He's a walking talking country song

and I won't be with him for long

Bye bye Country Boy...LOL

by Lynn Hahn

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After a long,long time

A decision emerges

To play tennis 

Again.

A knock about tennis

Session  revealed practice 

Was needed .

Ropey backhand and

Forehand.Rushing to

Hit the ball .

Another decision emerges,

Lessons are needed .

After the second lesson

Confidence grows .

It all comes flooding 

Back .

Hitting a ball is

So satisfying.

Angry,

Hi...

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