A shame, we had to go, the view was lovely

The room was filthy, in a way that hotels never are in the waking world

The group is large, with friends that I know well

But the day has been long and we all need to sleep

No room at the inn

So on we go

Dream Logic

Follow the cobblestones

Don’t get on the train, it's not safe

A breath at a small cafe, outdoor tables

Raised ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

The times of wonder have gone
The wise women drugged
Into submission.
Forensic psychology reveals traces
Of long-forgotten faces
Which, much like Munch’s silent scream,
Degenerate into nightmaredream.
Desire, in all its lurid manifestations,
Falls into disuse,
And all is as it was before:
A flat, grey concrete floor
Krema I at Auschwitz
Emin...

Read and leave comments (1)

Read and leave comments (2)

You were a very good friend,

and we should have stayed that way.

But the more we tried for more it wasn’t good.

In the end, I could never decide

if it was the awkwardly lovely way of protesting

with your whole body when I teased you,

or your kindness I missed the most.

Read and leave comments (0)

Ebb Tide

The sound of seabirds carries on brine-tanged breeze, as they gather in anticipation of the bounty about to be revealed by receding waves. Strands of seaweed swirl at the water’s edge, struggle in vain to avoid becoming beached. Waves surge and retreat, surge and retreat, slowly ebb across the shore. Sunlight twinkles off perfectly sculpted wormcasts revealed by the departing ocean, gl...

Read and leave comments (0)

Beerly beloved

I have consumed you today 

Read and leave comments (4)

Read and leave comments (1)

He is precise and careful to shape words of familiarity

With emotion reined in works meticulously at his craft

Experienced, he is master at handling proper formality

Revising incessantly to attain a properly constructed draft

He is hailed a genius for his detailed attention to standard form

And his measured articulation to produce a finished product

His work in print is s...

Read and leave comments (4)

Is there something we must hear or see
Which will then satisfy our curiosity?
Is it a thing from which we may not escape?
And dose it cling to our backs just like a cape?

Do we ask yourself, "What is it I crave?"
And does resisting it then make us brave?
In our minds does it always reside?
And is it only gone when satisfied?

But by curiosity are we still followed?
Can it be destroyed ...

Read and leave comments (0)

I might be away for a while, or less frequently on Write Out Loud. 

I don't know. 

But I'm searching for a better way. 

Not the Vincent van Gogh craziness. 

Nor some bad social media influencer. 

Art and Artistry still seem somewhat stressful.

Just like The Whole Internet Online Experience.

But ChatGPT works well for me. 

I use it every day for advice. 

It will be good f...

Read more …

Where were you located when the truth resurrected?help yourself in the main, when the lies spill the tide will change what’s to gain ? Did you notice how the sun dismissed the moons perspective, Angelo was lost in the field, walking and searching for the feel, frequently I think about my inner child, The dynamic I grew in was wild, We celebrated when the elephant exited the room, a true kings fina...

Read and leave comments (0)

Through morning rain

And misty plains

The dawn shakes off night's coat

Yawning bright 

The dappled light  

For the birdsong's perfect note.

Read and leave comments (3)

When I was but a girl

I lay in my bed

and behind closed eyes

travelled to the stars,

floating in the calm

dark of the night,

feeling no fear,

feeling the deepest peace.

Now an old lady,

I search for those dreams of childhood,

the stars are further away

behind these closed eyes,

but patiently I wait,

knowing

the little girl 

is as close as the dream

o...

Read and leave comments (1)

mood swings.
food cravings.
restlessness.
emotional.
sensitive.
overwhelmed.
anxiety.
cramps.

finally, ive realized why
my week was off, and
emotions off the wire.

sometimes its just that.
 

.

Read and leave comments (0)

29th June, 2024

5.30 a.m.

In the beauty of hijab lies a secret divine,

Not just a cloth, but a soul's pure shrine.

It shields my body, yes, that is true,

Yet its true essence lies in what it imbues.

A canopy of peace, a shade from above,

A symbol of faith, an act of love.

It veils my form, but reveals what's within,

A coolness of spirit, a cleansing of sin.

...

Read and leave comments (2)

(A rare love poem from Yours Truly)

I got Sunblest for my snap today

But if I protest I get it anyway

I hear you say

“Who is it treats me this way?”

Our Gert

I’m talking about Our Gert.

I like to see the sights when I’m on holiday

But she drags me round M&S and C&A.

I like to watch on TV Tottenham Hotspur play

But it’s “Friends” instead and not “Match ...

Read and leave comments (5)

In the Sprawl 

One day the truck didn’t come 
and the customers stayed 

after the food ran out 
we went into the lot with the spades 

we started to break up the asphalt 
planting the salad greens 

some tried to eat a small car 
it tasted like chicken they claimed 

we raised our first crop of lattés 
just before the Fall rains 

our cheeseburgers are coming along
we’ll have y...

Read and leave comments (2)

Some people say home’s where the heart is found;

I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the being there,

The rooted opposite of somewhere else.

Fond memories may have tipped the scales

In favour of this slow, contented place:

The local shops, the chatter’s usual sound,

The morning stroll to coffee on the square,

The precious banality of passers-by,

Though each slab of this ecosphere wi...

Read and leave comments (6)

Reminiscing nostalgically,

I ask. Have you pursued life ecstatically?

Have you chased it fully with determined tenacity?

Have you gained your life's well-spent validity?

Or, tragically and drastically

Have you succumbed to someone else's gravity?

Given in passively to their selfish vanity.

Their unending capacity for indulgent banality.

There’s always an unenviable possibil...

Read and leave comments (2)

We entered the room

With laughter and bloom

Some jokes and banter

The lights were amber

It quickly turned spicy

The air con was icy

We were fully stripped

On the bed we slipped

You jumped above me

With excitement and glee

Caressing my sexy body

Teasing and being naughty

Foreplay with some sex

Without making life complex

Just enjoying every minute

Making...

Read and leave comments (0)

The proud petrel

with a strong mettle

flew over the sea.

Throwing his litter on the rocks

he watched the clumsy penguin’s walks.

The stupid penguin looked at the sky.

How much he wished to fly!

He had  heard

he was also a bird.

If he could fly

he would proudly throw his litter

from the bird’s eye.

The moral of this song:

Remember to what kind of bir...

Read and leave comments (2)

I hear the things that go unsaid

that slip between the words,

the spaces where you think perhaps

your silence goes unheard.

I hear the things your voice betrays

that crack when horror speaks,

the cough you make you think perhaps

belies you've dived too deep.

I see the things you can't relate

that dead look in your eye,

the moments when you think perhaps

Read and leave comments (4)

They Don't Represent Us.

(Written on the eve of ' More of the Same'.

They don't represent me or us

their loyalty is to the unjust.

We are impotent and they know it

and it is beyond our power to overthrow it.

They don't represent me or us

because they seek personal wealth and lust.

They don't care a hoot if we should go bust

that leaves us to rot and rust.

Read and leave comments (1)

Disbelief suspended, 

Mischief invented:

The dominion of dreams

Aflicker with potential,

Afloat with the tangential,

Where daredevils set sail,

Hypnotic courage ablaze,

Hurtling, untethered, towards

The lands of Maybe, or Never...

Read and leave comments (6)

Hyyre n proave

pon sheed unjoad

in hoye ‘n hoyle-howls

befuddled word, o’blite absurd

he gurgled remott’d vowels

Lesp he ‘n shyy

for ryle deride

aggrinn aggurny byy

rillig speech, from creatured-eeb

flowed his otherworldly vibe

So jue a norn

to borrishly

this being spoke in tongue

but wopeth no apology

for such unbridled shrung

It siff ! ...

Read and leave comments (1)

I was doing okay in my little world 
The flag of love was flying unfurled
But you ain't returning my calls
Girl you got me climbing the walls 
I don't think I can stand it for long
How come everything has gone wrong

She's fallen off my planet 
She's lost in outer space
While my world keeps on spinning 
As tears stream down my face 
She's fallen off my planet 
But I still have desire
...

Read and leave comments (4)

MOVING OUT AND MOVING ON

Moving out and moving on, such is the plan;

we agreed a date in late July –

good for the buyers with half a summer still

to enjoy GB at its best, from breathless arrival,

through the finery of one whole, golden autumn

before hunkering-down deep into winter

and out again when survival allows.

I have, while here for thirty years, learned that

Read more …

Fear turns connection right back into fear

Pandemics turn acquaintances into mere observers

And observers into friends. 

Friends become either close or fall away like leaves from autumn branches

Leaves that fall away, everyone we’ve ever known. 

Every person that touches our heart in some way, helps us know and face our fears. 

Friends, know that eac...

Read and leave comments (0)

a number is all high n mighty
a wise number is a wise mighty number
outclass is being outclass by a wise number
all high n mighty is all high n classy
all high n mighty is all high n outclass
a number is a classy number
a class is a classy number

a class is a wise number
a winner is a wise winner
a winner is a classy winner
a winner is a winning number
a winner is outclass by a winnin...

Read and leave comments (0)

Hello Write Out Louders...

I'd like to share some of your spoken word poetry on the Write Out Loud Instagram feed.

I'm looking for around 10 poems with audio readings. I will share the text and audio on Instagram to highlight the site's audio upload feature (and the power of spoken word, of course).

If you have posted a poem with an audio reading on Write Out Loud and would be happy for m...

Read and leave comments (1)

Dear Friends and family members

Gathered here to celebrate

And rake over my life’s embers

So sorry that I’m late

I intended to be on time

For this, the concluding event

Commemorating in songs and rhyme

A life well spent

Only the traffic lights were down

And it just kept getting worse

With anxious mothers on the school run

Stuck behind the funeral hearse

Read and leave comments (12)

A Hopeman Song

     Such a day as today – I could live every day

  as I gather speed on the hill,-

    my sweat making towels of clothes -

       I conjure a ramp at the bottom to leap

         into the cool waters,

     but then,

I am getting old and so,

   I brake and take a wall to sit.

     There as the Sun casts a shimmering mirror;

the breeze...

Read and leave comments (0)

** Italics means Polari slang – some translations like ‘nosh’ into English (not ‘food’ in Polari) are too rude to print ** 

State school in ‘90’s Britain, near posh boy’s private school

From working class background, those posh boys were so cruel

Laughed at Dad’s Ford Cortina, my Iower class accent

For them a double no-no - being common, being bent

They shouted through the s...

Read and leave comments (0)

in the real world

we have to escape our ribs

if we ever want

to survive being

in our heads.

in a better world,

we have to escape

our heads if

we ever want

to survive

being in our ribs

Read and leave comments (0)

Left

5:27 am

It is time to get up.

Airport.

Shower – I use the woman’s fancy shampoo.

Toothpaste, lotion, brush; done – in the black hygiene bag.

The woman enters the bedroom to check on me, “You have everything?”

“Yes,” I say, “I think so; if I leave anything, you could send it to me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Okay,” I say.  She walks to the kitchen and sits down softly with ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Sometimes your problems

Seem very small,

When compared to

Someone who manages

To rise every dawn

After every dusk’s fall.

One such personality

Dutifully delivers

To unknown locations,

While a large chunk

Of his mind worries

About fund allocation;

Drenched in rain,

Or stuck in traffic,

He makes sure to

Deliver our picks.

Consecutive mont...

Read and leave comments (5)

Poetry can be likened to one of those multi-purpose tools,

Deserving experience and care and not best suited to fools.

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

Read and leave comments (0)

She's so dangerous, a mystery untold  

Stay away from her, a warning to behold  

Don't associate, keep your distance clear  

Just keep away, from the danger near  

She's so dangerous, made many walk away  

A fake saint, in a deceptive display  

Walking humbly, but hiding within  

A chameleon, wearing a deceptive skin  

She's so dangerous, keeps faking her self  

Read and leave comments (2)

I did not cut the lock. The door was open. True, she didn't exactly open it herself. Her butler opened it for her. His name was "Boredom". She said "boredom, fetch me a plaything". He said "very good ma'm",  and putting on his white gloves so the fingerprints would not show, he tapped at my heart and I thought he said his name was "love". 

Read and leave comments (1)

I sit in my cell dressed in the clothes they provide

The ones they say would suit me

I feel strange and awkward

It’s been nearly three years

I’m nervous and sweating

What will she see in me

What will she remember

Will she really care

Has her mother made her come

Does she want to know

All of the questions circulate in my head

Falling over each other

Never findi...

Read and leave comments (1)

I always get slapped across the face by

these strange delays in feeling.

It comes on slowly but suddenly

All around me, all surrounding

My cortex

My will

My emotion

It takes over my senses completely and I'm reckless

In the presence of it 

In the presence of this feeling 

This softness I have for you

This softness you have for me

i feel compelled by it

Though...

Read and leave comments (0)

A-whakbatimola skudamaray,
karub-dubadrudai kana-dakash.
Balam-bepidola rapidelay,
sumtumabudbur kalepiqamasche.

Demidami-lamba zubbadizoo,
fokkaloopeeka lembummadelid.
Enziggazaggachung om-chiddy-doo,
cumlokafookum whakka-batamid!

MP 811-131223

Read and leave comments (1)

This is the real life
This is the butcher
This the austere knife
The hand that pushed her
These are the cuts
This is the missed meal
This door is shut
This wound will not heal

This is the teacher
With nothing to say
This is the preacher
With no room to pray
This is the healer
Refusing to heal
This is the dealer
With souls to steal

This is the leader
With no will to lead
He’s ...

Read and leave comments (4)

I am a son of the heavens. 

I do not fall,

I can only fly.

The way the wind whispers

determines my path.

It has never once led me astray.

A gentle breeze ruffles my feathers,

while the sun's bright smile warms my face.

Clouds dance above my weightless form,

forming all kinds of shapes to entertain.

The world turns as do I.

Leaping carelessly through the endless sky...

Read and leave comments (0)

Oh, mysterious Miss Coffee Cutie,
what do you think of when sipping your daily brew,
in the morning after the doctor has done his rounds?

You sit entranced like a cute mouse, ears a-twitching to the many accents,
from Geordie, in the north east with its castle that’s always new,
and that shrill sound emanating from our most musical city – you’ve guessed it,
the dialect known as Scouse.

Read and leave comments (0)

Faces changing

Duplicating

An attack on my senses

Gone are my defenses.

People moving

Gravitating

An attack on my space

Leaving me in disgrace.

Bodies giving

Delivering

An attack on my whole

Take its spiritual toll.

Read and leave comments (5)

The cup that broke housed a thought.

                     A nascent bud, not blooming yet!

But the hand of chance with the pot,

                  Filled the cup with a different fate!

Smiling lips drank up the infusion.

                  Tho' the process of a nascent mind,

Failed to make that thought sustain!

                      A shattered cup was left behind!

Read and leave comments (0)

Eighty - the age at which the weight of evidence

supports an inevitable irrefutable verdict

yet we expect a free pardon

for the excesses in which we were engaged,

and when none is given we are enraged. 

So we set sail for the sunset

helped by various aids

old codgers supported by old maids

suspending disbelief as the clock ticks on

prey to seductive offers that show

Read and leave comments (10)

Did I hit my head or have a fall?

Did my heart give out?

Am I under the stars?

Did I make it to heaven?

The memories I have are as strong as an over perked cup of coffee

I can’t forget or let them go

In fear that I’ll feel I’ll have never lived those moments to remember

I try to recreate those memories

I try to relive every moment

But each time I do

I realize it’s not...

Read and leave comments (2)

The morning sun's a loving oven for your cheeks

pure delight of bouncing light as it glares

words escape me but you cannot escape

my warm embrace nor tender hands nors hungry eyes

mind's already there, I feel you trickling down

like icing on the sweetest pie. 

Read and leave comments (0)