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Shimmery
Poem after Isabel Galleymore.
The cute beaded sequin-embellished firefly
embroidered to the front of a recyclable blue
loves to be on the show so much.
Fashion arrays, boutique sales, forest floors,
and decades of its shimmery are uncounted everywhere.
When the invitation for us to meet outside is there,
the cute beaded sequin-embellished firefly is
a neon sign announcing a caf...
Friday 26th July 2024 11:08 am
Floating out on Windermere
Floating out on Windermere
Below the towering fells
Enveloped by the beauty here
And hosts of daffodils
Over the side of the little boat
Oars churn the placid lake
Where unexpected items float
To the Leven and the Crake
They meander through the baby trout
And clog their little gills
Of their origin there can be no doubt
Septic tanks and sewage spills
...
Sunday 3rd March 2024 5:56 pm
Into Piles
What in the world are we doing?
Who are we trying to beat?
It seems like we live our lives running,
as if we are losing our seats.
We never stop building up towers.
We never stop spinning around.
We never stop piling up into piles
everything that we’ve torn down.
Is it that we are pursuing
happiness, like the old phrase?
Or are we chasing the concept of such
...Saturday 17th February 2024 7:05 pm
Manifesto of Hope (with quote, not paraphrase)
Rise, like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you:
Ye are many—they are few!
(From the Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley)
Below is what I consider to be a Manifesto of Hope, to whose motives and principles I wholly subscribe.
Public ownership of all public services and infrastructure, including ...
Friday 6th October 2023 10:10 am
Our Green Earth poets read at Liverpool’s beautiful Palm House
Merseyside poets and musicians performed their environmental anthology last week at Liverpool’s beautiful Victorian Palm House in Sefton Park. Led by Michelle Wright, Barry Woods and Ali Harwood, the event covered ocean pollution, global warming and rainforest reduction, with contributions from many local poets and some first time writers from local schools.
Tuesday 4th July 2023 9:51 am
Sympathetic Stars
There’s no point in denying
Our cherished world is dying.
We’re choking it to death
With ill-considered breath
From factories and cars;
Soon sympathetic stars
Will weep at our demise
And curse our leaders’ lies.
Thursday 6th October 2022 6:54 am
Hoopoe
I
Sixty tonne of metal bellowing down the sky
assails the quietude
of reeds and muddy pools
where spoonbills sift through sludge and seagulls drift nearby.
The mouth of the Ria Formosa’s a birders’ paradise:
miles of salt pans hosting
birds of low-lying coastline,
in thousands upon thousands. It’s Eden beyond price
in every way but one: the fence of Faro A...
Wednesday 19th May 2021 2:15 pm
Our Lungs
Be still, and feel
This gentle breeze
That brushes by
With careful ease
And ruffles leaves
Upon their trees
And scatters far
Their fruitful seeds
Which vein the earth
To start anew
So you and I
Can live here too!
Wednesday 19th May 2021 11:18 am
APOCALYPTIC SKY
APOCALYPTIC SKY
Yesterday
Had proven science fact
Much stranger than fiction:
Vivid orange night
Replaced
Bright turquoise morning.
Sunlight was postponed.
Normalcy took a holiday.
My neighbour's
Barnyard animals,
Five chickens, two goats,
Didn't know what was going on
With their immediate surroundings.
Neither did that lone bird in flight.
...Tuesday 22nd September 2020 7:47 pm
There’s a heat wave running wild
There’s a heatwave running wild
Theres a heat wave
Running wild
Oblivious of the borders
Run by the corporate money hoarders
There’s a heatwave running wild
As the stealthy arms of
a monetary system
Poisoned with greed
Consumes everything in its path
There’s a heatwave running wild
while the blind insatiable pockets of we want more
And insurmo...
Wednesday 5th August 2020 11:50 am
The Smatterbog
The smatterbog was tepid
Its fluesence slowly heaving
With every gentle billowing
Of the lively tensile surface
a fragrant wind was passed
making stealthy breezes
titillate leaves of dew
That shed their droplet treasures
into the mouths of steaming crocs
as iridescent dragonflies danced
amongst the reeds
along the bogsome banks.
‘Twas then the spotted hoary...
Saturday 1st August 2020 11:56 am
Nature's Breath
Nature's Breath
In those days;
when the shutdown came.
When mankind laid low;
and the money didn’t flow.
In those days,
nature took a breath.
Nature began to heal.
Nature felt relief.
In those days,
the poisons stopped.
The greed died,
and the rich man cursed.
In those days,
the birds sang.
The butterflies flew.
The bumblebee worked.
In those days,
the virus s...
Friday 10th April 2020 8:07 am
The Protectors
THE PROTECTORS
They had stood over me since my birth
Watching, Protecting
Heads bowed in respectful silence
Friends who gave so much
Yet asked for nothing
I grew up sheltered by their love
Safe in their strength
Knowing that one day
I too would stand high
And bask in the light of life
Eventually they fell
One by one
Giving more light each time
Al...
Tuesday 15th January 2019 1:07 am
Earth's sword
Earth is a curious place. Sunrise evokes awe
in those who watch a day’s waking hour. To survive
that day, or consecutive days, we’re totally
reliant upon our ingenuity and
the society we’ve built. Were it not for our
technology, logistics and planning, many
of us would not be here. Earth’s beauty hides this harsh,
double edged sword. Something so beautiful can be
letha...
Saturday 30th December 2017 9:13 am
Accidents Will Happen
For all the aging punks . With apologies to Elvis Costello.
Oh I just don't know where to begin:
we don't want it forever
so it's now or never.
We should keep them hanging on
till the investors have gone
and make sure they can’t get in
without a police chaperone.
chorus:
Because accidents will happen
if we let the frackers win
and we’ll all be the vi...
Wednesday 29th November 2017 12:27 pm
Bigfoot
I’ve left my clomping prints on every shore
since Africa was Eden in my youth.
The sand will bear my dent for evermore.
I chewed-up gum-trees with my baby jaw
and bit the dry red heart with my first tooth.
I’ve left my clomping prints on every shore.
Europe roused my growing thirst for war.
Her spirit fired me up, one hundred proof.
The sand will bear my dent for evermore.
...
Thursday 10th December 2015 10:17 am
END OF HISTORY SALE!
FINAL DAYS! TOTAL CLEARANCE!!
The END OF HISTORY SALE is Now On!!!
Buy this planet! *slightly damaged
When it’s gone it’s gone.
It’s a massive, one-off sale sensation.
Conservation? Don’t be conned!
We’ve got the whole world for exploitation!
When it’s gone it’s gone.
Buy this beautiful hardwood foot-rest!
Timber sourced from the Amazon:
the world’s grea...
Saturday 5th December 2015 8:27 pm
Six Degrees
At one degree the western plains
of the US will be starved of rain,
Bankrupted farmers will pack up and flee
as desert restakes its claim.
There'll be no ice cap on the Arctic,
we'll lose the rivers of Kilimanjaro,
and frost that keeps the Alps secure
won't do it any more.
The Barrier Reef will bleach and die,
mountain animals will reach the sky
chasing the cool, and those that can't f...
Saturday 17th October 2015 1:30 pm
Faced With Tomorrow
Deep inside my swollen body, she kicks
.A tiny survivor, a fighter, a warrior queen,
So small yet she's ready to take on the universe...
...yet I feel guilt at bringing her into a world so unclean.
She knows not yet that she faces a future
So shaky, so insecure and unknown.
I'll love and protect her with a tigress ferocity,
But I can only do so much, one day she'll be gro...
Tuesday 7th October 2014 2:36 pm
Press Pause - an environmental poem
Monday 12th August 2013 11:14 pm
The Bride of Necklace of Tales
Wednesday 6th March 2013 8:04 pm
The Ole Fishin Hole (Haiku)
The ole fishin hole
Toss a stone it make ripples
Water has turned green.
Thursday 7th February 2013 5:14 pm
Nutty Squirrel
This squirrel is crunchy nuts
like Kellogs.
He's oats so crazy.
He makes Hammy look
placid, docile.
And with a cheeky smile
wrecks havoc on Hampshire.
It'll take more than a New Forest
to stop this rabid squirrel.
He subjugates snails
and bullies badgers.
Bonkers, he th...
Tuesday 7th June 2011 11:20 pm
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