There will be a time for the silence,

To be heard again after the call,

To be heard with the final trumpet,

To be sanctified after the fall.

When the gates of the chantry are opened,

As the souls of the faithful gain grace,

What then will be left but the silence,

Or what should be left in its place.

When the tolling of bells ends the...

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Let's undo the
Hinges
Let's see what lies
Deep inside
Unscrew the brackets
Open the cupboard
Punch holes 
In the side
Of our heads
Suffer the pain
That lies
On the other side
Of what we know
Tread in the place
Where the doors have
Been closed
For so long
Tread the dust
Tempt the mania
Scare ourselves 
A little
I do know
What's inside
I know 
The slugs 
And the cobwebs
I k...

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Mr Martlew

would you mind

if I sit awhile here

in the shade on my own,

you hushed in your hole,

in the valley of the shadow?

Shall I re-draw life

in the black lines etched above your bones?

Did it hurt?

Were you scared?

Do the stones weigh heavy?

Do they creak beneath the roses

and the green glass gravel?

Did it hurt?

Were you scared?

Were you read...

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Whatever he knew he had learned

from nature, how even things

that seem at first fragile derive

strength from structure –

an insect’s wing, or a leaf,

its membrane stretched across

a framework of ribs and veins.

The simplest grasses, barely

noticed, assume their burdens

like trees. A small shell’s

convolution implies a flight of stairs.

You can roll out a roof ...

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Reinventing,

      The a-moral gone white rogue inner complaisant eye of apathy's storm centre cognitive piece storm, Where the eternal lounge silent grey twilight lullaby remains an unspeaking impeached partially bought pacifist bribe off blind, A memory shrapnel ache haemorrhaging witness playing a internal pretext mentally chess unstable match game set compassion lost love to a non black t...

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I've heard the world needs ditch diggers too,

Which is good for me and good for you,

Because now we can be important to,

The doctors and the lawyers.

Oh, won't my mother be so proud,

To have raised such an important child,

Who reached the summit in the clouds,

When it comes to holding a shovel.

So, remember not to try too hard,

If you were born substandard,

...

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By the click of a boot and a tip of a hat I am seen. With the tick tock of a pocket watch and a rattle from a hip flask rhythm becomes my beauty. Take heed no words dear passer-by but grooming beyond measure. The point of my moustache will guide you to my cane and streets filled with cheer. Eccentric you will deem my pleasure but do not paint your despair on my white starched shirt.     

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I'm not a hero

Want a simple quiet life

No hero lives here

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I close my eyes to see you again

I can feel you with every beat of my heart

Can smell you, can taste you

With each breath

My mind takes me back to the start

You had me hook, line and sinker

From the moment we met

As my feet touched your shores for the first

With each passing day, you did blow me away

With your passion, your joy and your thirst

As your culture consumed...

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The cheesecloth dress, Doc Marten boots

Tie-dye shirt and beads

Slightly dippy, Habitat Hippy

Bags of sunflower seeds

Roedean Ladies, cultured accent

No stranger to the Hilton

Full-time work, likes to smirk

In the summer goes to Pilton

Not for her the great unwashed

She finds them “Oh so creepy!”

Vegetable matter, and a warm ciabatta

Plus a duvet in her T...

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The morning, crisp and broken by the curfew
Of rising larks and pigeons in the choir,
Its breaching sun is bursting through the grass dew
And thinning out the misty dawn's perspire.
Many rest upon their linen sheets around
And you, the only currently arise,
Solo is your ally when breaking the ground;
Undistracted, undisturbed - your alibis.

Your muscles twitch uncertain of their purpose,
...

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Fools you are,
Following the words of the Deceitful One,
How can you kneel to a God that demands servitude?
An angry, jealous God that will make you kneel by force?
Are those the words and actions of a God of Love?
Of Kindness?
No.
Those are the words of a Liar.
A marauder!
A scoundrel!


Fools you are,
Kneeling before an Unjust God!
A God of Deceit!
A God of Unjustly anger!
A God ...

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Too soon the infant year grows old
and winter’s grip is long and cold
so, eagerly I treat the sun
as if it were a prize I’d won
and would not put aside until
the winning of it lost its thrill.
Reptilian, I take my fill;
consuming what, come winter, will
seem simply one more fable spun
to light the dark and paint the dun
decrepit world in hues of gold
my pallid skin will fail to hold.

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in the deepest of my deep dreams

I shall take my little dream boat

away and away from the earth

I shall gently slowly surely float

outwards in between the planets

I shall haul and jib tack and run

setting my sheets to catch in full

the wind streaming off  the sun

past the outer giant’s shining rings

to the very edge of solar space

my little boat will gather speed

a...

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Morning at 7 Easter in heaven

Walk up like a Slaughter went to buy hen

Go fast said the grandma

By giving me penny and tin.

On my way towards the butcher house

Who might be there, morning at 7

In the day of Easter with the rising sun

People were there, with butcher & his hen

Peeping from the window

From the door step

And from ...

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Note to self

One thing I know is…. It can take real courage to make mistakes.  Not just to make mistakes but to be willing to live with the consequences.  To whole heartedly accept full responsibility for those errors with a stoic smile.

Even if the result of those mistakes is that the whole universe comes crashing into a cascading oblivion.  At the end of days at least, if they ex...

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War Boys

“YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU”

We’re going to war boys,
we’re going to war,
Lord Kitchener asked us
so we formed a corps.
Joe and Jack from the factory,
Ted and Jim from the farm,
the recruiting sergeant assures us
that there’s little chance of harm.
We’re part of the great pals army
and we’ve fallen for his charm
as we march away to war.

We’re in the war boys,
we’re in the ...

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                    summer rains' quiet incantation, the animals come and go,

                    in the far-distant hills, the snow melts as the river flows;

                    time is a demon

                    the animals know.

                    It’s looking for you, y'know:

                  ...in the abdomen – demon go

   ...

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We have a good arrangement between Our Gert and me

In carving up decision-making fair and equally.

I take all the Macro-stuff and sort all that lot out

While she sweats all the Little Stuff that I can do without.

By way of some examples I hope that you might glean

The basis of our partnership and sorts of things I mean.

I decide, for instance, the rise in interest rate

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Wistful wanderings of my mind,

take me from stubble scratching

to thoughts of just how to unwind

the complex issues we face today…

Mankind is gifted with intelligence,

we know that is a truth for sure,

yet still pursues ancient grievance

that only serve to bring pain for more

Better that we stop and think of more ways

to shape a society where all give as they c...

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Bem-vindo ao Brasil...........Bienvenido a Brasil......Willkommen in Brasilien.......... Kaabo si Brazil.......... Benvenuti in Brasile.........Welkom bij Brazilië.........Bienvenue au Brésil.........''Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal !!! ''..Good-bye England.      words and foto T Carroll    .....It is now!''

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And I thought it was the opposite

Of dropping bombs

Elegant cascades of nothing

Overused magic tricks slighting

My eyes in your direction

Standing against you

Back to the rain

Neck dripping white petals 

Of Lucifer's tears 

I ask

Do you know why 

My socks are wet?

You knew it was all 

Fine and dandy 

That I would do anything 

If you had looked thr...

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Charging through the sky in his chariot,

Protector of Asgard and Midgard,

Mighty Thor is the protector of us all.

With the strength  of Mjolnir,

The giants fear he is near.

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It was Sunday morning, 1941, the 22nd of June,

The day of the growing Moon.

The country peacefully slept

While Hitler a horrible idea had kept.

Without announcing the war

He had given an order

To bomb the Soviet Republics border.

By unexpected military actions

The fascist wanted to capture all nations,

To turn the peoples into the slaves,

To fill the country with grav...

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'I love you,' he said.
'No, you don't.'
'In my poems. You can find my love for you.’
'Love of words.
You live in a box
Rearranging alphabet
Into order

That only you control.'

Like a jazz musician
Finding different improvised
Melodies
Running in parallel lines
With a wayward bounce
The listener pretends
To understand

So the artist draws lines
Creating as if a God.
Man and Wom...

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There's a hole in my heart that I cannot fill

And the pain that it causes I cannot still

The love and compassion that should have been there

Got lost on the way, along with the care

And I can't get it back as hard as I try

So it strangles your love until you say goodbye

My insecurity grows day by day

And my desperation pushes away

The people who only want to feel free

'C...

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Rain drops,

drip, drip,

pitter-patter,

pitter-patter,

splish-splash,

splish-splash,

Kerplop!

Lightning crackles,

Thunder crashes, Boom,

Sun peeps

Birds twitter.

© Hazel

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Uruguay 2 England 1

...............................

Out-thought

Out-fought

Out-passed

Out-classed!

........................

England shafted twice over: by Uruguay and Liverpool - ouch!

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You make me invoke the liberating pleasure

that radiates on my skin, in unconsummated desires,

as autumn showing lust, with delirium and graciousness...

Will you be able to love me?

Intoxicate me with sex, with nights that uphold me;

there is no greater delight than to sin with the flood of your kisses

and the madness of this moment

I adore to be loved!

I cry for ...

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June's Pop Up at the Bar des Arts was a great success despite a few glitches - what with glorious weather, Mexico playing Brazil in the World Cup (a lousy draw), our back-cloth screen collapsing and almost braining Dónall, our mic-stand proving short of a rod or two and our stage lighting staying obstinately unlighted. Luckily, all these material disasters happened before the start of the evening....

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June's Pop Up at the Bar des Arts in Guildford was a great success despite a few glitches - what with glorious weather, Mexico playing Brazil in the World Cup (a lousy draw), our back-cloth screen collapsing and almost braining Dónall, our mic-stand proving short of a rod or two and our stage lighting staying obstinately unlighted. Luckily, all these material disasters happened before the start of...

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ThePoetry Spoke has now closed its doors for the final time.  We finished as we started with a wonderful event.  If anyone wishes to look back at some of the poetry that we were fortunate enough to share at la gondola and Gallaghers; please search Merseypoetryscene on youtube.  You will also find some excellent poetry from the Wirral Ode Show at the Egremont Ferry and some fine musical performance...

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Balance of Emotions

     Someone take the cot away,

For the child was never wanted,

Someone take the bottles and bibs,

For this child wasn’t born through courtship,

Take the rubber pants,

The terry towelling nappies,

Take the vests and bodysuits,

The pram and all his dummies

Take the gloves and booties,

The teddy bear that stares,

Take away his curly...

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Until the sun is bruised and the birds are gone,

I will be here.

So, if you want rid of surrounding eyes

then it's best you break my heart.

A word of warning before you do,

this smile you see now will never be for you,

not one minute more.

It'll be for the faint azure;

for the innocent laugh of my baby nephew

who doesn't know pain like mine -

I pray he never does.

...

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Spring brings forth its first flush

Bright and green

In something of a haste and rush

Or so it seems

Desperate to cover up the bold baroness of winter

Over marsh , over rock

Over branch and over root

Broken thorns cascade and rub

Inside my boot

As we tramp our way along the coastal path

Walking in a troop

The water below lapping, slapping

Gently c...

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We are all attached to what was once

No matter how old however stretched

Elasticity cannot deny youth as

Long as something of sincerity

Within remains, no matter the other

Now simply can’t exist beyond the

Here and the now without the past

Future serves no purpose beyond an end

Life a turtle with a diamond shell

Aged replete with the Forgotten

Book like ever page...

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My dog started bringing me presents, a mouse and a live bird,

but then appeared an accident, I found he’d left me a turd.

I went to fetch some kitchen towel, declaring it less than a joke

but just as I went to clear it up the turd let out a croak.

I stumbled back with a cry of shock; was it a frog or a toad?

I opened the door and out it hopped and disappeared up the road.

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EXCITEMENT

That snow white Vauxhall Cresta

With its red leather seats

And stunning chromium bumpers

Flashing through the town streets

In the front passenger seat

I waved to friends going by

As dad raced the engine

Keeping the rev counter high

That pure white Vauxhall Cresta

With its iconic look

A classic sixties motor

The best one in the book

The pu...

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I hesitate before dipping

the rough edge, ripped shard;

ink screwed on, blue clasp,

scratches from the mind's eye;

call you up, embrace, descry

a vision from beyond my grasp, as

time and journeys flung us wide.

I listen for the creepers' hum,

the stirring, pollen still beside

the sparrows in the tangled verge.

From beyond rock walls, broken, cracked,

earth and...

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The Rose opened its heart petal by petal

unfolding its virtues to the naked eye

You opened your heart page by page

unfolding your virtues to my soul

   even sealing it with a loving kiss

   on that fateful day

It was only to last seven weeks

until your gun was pointed at my head

the double barrel between my eyes

you hated the concept of equality

slavery was your ...

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In all directions the way ahead is curtained

By fronds of doubt and uncertain mist.

Barefoot solo dancing this slow moist limbo,

the air humid with little movement in the warm waters,

a fetid mud of unknowing squeezing between my toes

as flies swarm knowing their prey in this lagoon

green with algae and forgotten dreams.

I need strength, don’t squander energy to shout, scream ...

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I no longer feel to voyage on, since I no longer feel

I no longer feel to voyage on this silver pathway

That is no pathway but a rutted track that steers the wheel

On a golden course where only dark shadows play.

And I know that once upon this path, largely for others' needs,

This chariot will charge forward with this form

(Only the body travels now)

And I will not stop nor ev...

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Immense amount of pain

A loss of everything, that was to be a gain

Guilt stricken, that resides in the depths of the soul

Able to crave with a heightened sense of emotion

This devastation was not suppose to be in life’s potion

Inside feeling the sudden pitter patter

Now all preparations do not matter

Building a home with the foundation of joy

Every object a reminder of the ...

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Rock n’ Roll Love Poem!

Just like Chuck Berry
We can Rock n’ Roll
Like Tamla Mowtown
We can dance with soul
Like UB40
I’d love you on the dole
And while I draw the line
At Spandau Ballet’s Gold
I want you

We could sing and dance
From pole to pole
Like Neil Young
You’ve got a heart of gold
I’m a fan of your coconuts
Like Kid Creole
Yeah I’ve got to have you

Like a rock ballad
...

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As I stood there ’twixt tree and stream

I saw afar a distant dream

and in its hazy shadow's wake

appeared a cleft, such fractured break

that shook from root to very core

as through the tear, the port, the door

stabbed fearsome vision no return

with eyes to freeze and breath to burn

it lunged and launched a shattered thought

and from the dust a hand it wrought

so took ...

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Herded in trains, peripheral memories,

feelings frozen under violent suns

frizzled out across the weekend:

tuna and chips, beer in the square.

The will of one person

gets power from many;

The loudest of actions

hide behind a silent will.

Sometimes I forget to get some

try not to be stupid and don't laugh

truth too painful to hear

Better the cracks of

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Alarm

The radio on your alarm switches on at 3am, 
unbeckoned.  The voice of a nighttime preacher 
speaking forgiveness onto dead waves.  It begins 
in your dreams, and only later do you realize 
his voice is not water spilling from a crack in a brick wall.  

You bring your fingers to your face, listening 
to the voice, which is not fire, telling you 
you are loved by an empty sky.  He...

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You.

You, the non-aligned. Celebrate for its own sake, complement the creative, rough the smooth out of the level question of hate, vitalizing the style of hard-line writing leverage, spurning the potential agendas of a system whose vital interests supress a stronger passion ~ go join, if you must, be the instrument of forced craft, it has a definitive strength that soon runs out of legs, yet b...

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First Date

As I wait I

I pass through the others

Trying desperately

To wipe the slate clean

Scour  the  memories

Till I’m shiny and clean

But their memory

Is resin

A wine stain on a

Polished floor

She will know I’VE been dragged through

This before

© David R mellor 2014

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Look into the mirror
and all I see
those eyes will be 
the death of me

It hurts much more
than you can tell
through inner termoil,
my secret hell

I'm scared, I cry 
and hide in shame 
inside my shell,
each day the same

There are two sides
to all these lies
dream days away
and plan goodbyes

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I stand as one.

One soul amongst thousands.

Diamond mist shines on the khaki sea of men.

Wind stings my skin,

Blending sea salt with the tears you shed as I left.

The waves hit our boat hard,

As hard as the lead thump of my call up papers landing on the mat.

Gun and shell fire roll around the clouds.

The full moon veiled by the smoke filled air.

Parched lips in fear of w...

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Wine Bar in Worktown

I am sitting in the Worktown wine bar

Wondering if my wine is corked

Wondering whether to complain

Wondering if I can be bothered

Wondering why I can’t be bothered.

In other words just filling the afternoon

Wondering not doing.

The girl behind the counter busies herself.

She’s doing. She’s wiping tables, filling sugar bowls.

She’s re-arr...

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When you stand at the sand at the end of the land
before you tread the brine
where the driftwood spells with the seaweed's shells,
your barefoot prayers at the shrine
of the unseen queen of the space between
as you pass from old to new
call the gods whose friends are the odds and ends
of the threshold folk like you.

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 (As someone puzzled at the relatively sparse reaction on here to the recent UKIP victories, I was fascinated by the opinion of Labour`s Stella Creasey in wednesday`s Daily Mail that if migrant workers were prevented from filling jobs in our economy then middle-class women would have to breed (and quickly) to fill a need created by Britains low birth-rate and ageing population. As someone who has ...

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I have had enough of cloudy skies

Just can’t take another rainy day

I am being blown down the street

By a wild wild wild wind in May

The seasons come and they go

Give me the sun on my back I pray

The weather girl is all aglow

There is nothing more to say

Here comes the summer

June is all aflame in a blazing sky

My garden is full of blooming roses

Everyone I me...

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Flags as permanent curtains

Or painted on the walls

The bunting biodegrades
The only black in the Union Jack
Is the tag saying "Made in Taiwan"

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Scrambling from a turbulent stream

breathless

                  I dream...

of sailing in a sea of daisies

drifting to buttercup bay

enticed by the scent of jasmine

and the aroma of new mown hay

swimming with a school of angelfish

engulfed in a swell of warmth

floating on a tide of reflection

                   I wish...

for

    the

          greener gras...

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Breathless is the tamed lover

Who gazes out to sea

No more a chain  - no more a clicked finger

For now he is free

The doved island is his goal

As he tries to savour all

But freedom is a strange gift

It pines for company

It yearns for chains once more

The Rock of Ages towers high

The graved stone - the gnarled crevices

Poured with briar

Upon its top a b...

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