I think I found Jim Hawkins.
He wasn’t a regular specimen of a boy, he was a rarity and I could feel the sun and stars and everything in between when he looked at me.
He was nothing but a stranger
Yet somehow his face felt familiar
There was a song in his eyes
But I fail to recall the words
For he's stolen every thought that has ever bothered to exist from my head
It was quite evident that adventure wasn...
Monday 30th September 2024 10:13 pm
Where Les Dawson Were Taught
Where Les Dawson Were Taught
Sometimes, pain is not to be mentioned,
even when young, when children – there is a
special notice inside that says…….
…… ‘don’t act dumb but don’t let on!’
Humility, is something that gravitates to
wealth within human kind, and none know
more-so than those of northern quarters -
(if not quartered themselves for abundance ...
Monday 30th September 2024 9:22 pm
Also by ZTK Space:
There Be An Obstruction Where the Dopamine Should Communicate Freely | The Elusive |Once Upon A Time
Once upon a time
Back in the day
The sun shone brightly
And everything was okay
Once upon a time
I look up to the sky
And I often wonder why
The heavens are just out of touch
I miss holding you so much
But I just have to go on
When all hope is gone
Another day I greet with pain
Knowing that I won't see you again
Not in this lifetime anyway
Maybe on the other side I pray
I hold ...
Monday 30th September 2024 8:29 pm
Also by Tom Doolan:
Falling For You | My Girl In Pearls | Life Is A Circus | Waiting In Vain | Old | Groovy Kinda Girl | Look At Me | Nobody Loved Me Like You | Heart Broken |Unspoken Words
There were a few words left unspoken,
The lawn with uneven grass
And a window with cracked glass
Was fixed to spotless perfection,
Moody lights for the night
Were given undisturbed connection,
Crotchets were rewritten,
Wardrobe was diversified,
And a long-lost-friend
Was dialed again,
A break in chain
To lay down the butterfly effect
Hinting a probable mayhem...
Monday 30th September 2024 5:10 pm
Also by Manish:
Endless Ease | Rage | Evergreen | A Patch of Light |Visit With A Friend
I pulled up a seat at the bar we used to frequent,
ordered a couple of beers and wanted to know
how my friend had been.
“Kind of rough of late”, he offered. “Missing some friends
I didn’t know how to tell I was going away.”
“I get that.”, I said. “A lot of people don’t know how to say goodbye.”
Pulling us both away from the shadows around me,
we reminisced and shared a few laughs for ...
Monday 30th September 2024 3:41 pm
Also by Mike McPeek:
Toll Collector | Shhhh... | Daydreaming | Trinity River Days | Cool Breeze | Cafe Clarity | I Know | Every Now and Then |New Season
A heart once green as summer leaves
Trembling with the expectation of love
Blushing red with emotions decreed
Is it the true love that dreams are made of
But love’s colors fade in Autum’s indifference
Leaving behind a colorless landscape of hope
Love now stands broken with no recompence
Stripped of beauty and warmth, left to cope
Winter’s bleak, colorless days will slo...
Monday 30th September 2024 3:16 pm
Also by Tim Higbee:
Too Much Ale | The Clueless One | Hogshead | We the Sheeple | It Matters Not |In control
Jim read a book,"You can be the man of the house."
He was determined to be in control of his spouse.
Raising his finger to her face,"from now on I am the boss.
Tonight you will make me an expensive meal , no matter the loss.
When I have finished. your going to run me a bath,
Then you wll massage my back and relax me Kath.
After that guess who's going to dress me and comb my hair...
Monday 30th September 2024 3:14 pm
Also by hugh:
Hell !! | Coping with grief | A better world lies ahead | British teenagers are unhappy and our girls are getting sadder |The Match Day Hot Dog Seller
When close to the ground…you could always tell.
You were suddenly greeted by that Hot Dog smell!
On every corner, there was a mobile Hot Dog stand.
A seller at the ready, with a bread roll in his hand!
Walking to The Kop, it was my teen pre match treat.
Back then, food hygiene standards took a back seat!
In fact, I don’t think they even had a ‘seat’ at all.
Not when you judge the state of...
Monday 30th September 2024 2:51 pm
Also by Mike Bartram:
Wat Phra Singh Runcorn | The Cheer | My First Concert | Think This Through | Angel |The Mind, A Time Machine
Few voices, soft whispers,
carrying me back to childhood days,
where it felt like each exam was a mountain,
a test of who I could be,
where late nights turned into silent battles
against tired eyes and wandering thoughts,
or novels stretched before me,
as I gazed out the window,
the world a backdrop to my dreams,
the hum of life a constant song.
...
Monday 30th September 2024 2:33 pm
Also by Ghazala lari:
"Seeking wise counsel and finding the right advisor" | Everlasting happiness | Web of illusions and deception | Choices we make, price we pay!!! |Who Got The Power?
Who got the power?
Every minute and hour
It is the beautiful you
Come sit and have a brew
Let me tell you this as we sip
Give my hand a good grip
You shine like a bright star
That will for sure go very far
You blossom like pretty flowers
Just stand up high like tall towers
Wherever you are in your journey
The situation may be sunny or stormy
But remember, you ar...
Monday 30th September 2024 1:18 pm
Also by Aisha Suleman:
A Beautiful Change | Believe In Yourself | She Will Realise | Positive Spirit |Gulp! What Did You Swallow?
gulp!
ahurr ahurr ahurr
“I swallowed a cricketer”
he shouted with a cough
but, we asked, in a joking scoff
“do you not mean a cricket?”
then to our amazement
and in the very next minute
he regurgitated a bat!
which promptly flew back to its cave
and that, it seems, was that
Monday 30th September 2024 7:10 am
Also by Clive Culverhouse:
At At | A Dinner’s Reprise | The Parrot Cooked A Dinner | The Donkey Set The Table | The Jingly Jib | The Hapless Toad | oo's | Uncle Ned, Fung And Poke | Hey Ho Does An Octopus Know |Awakening in the Stillness
In the stillness of the morning,
the world awakens softly.
Light spills over the horizon,
casting shadows that dance
among the whispers of leaves.
A bird sings...
its song unfolding like petals,
with each note a breath of possibility,
a promise of an unexplored day,
where the air is thick with dreams.
Footsteps on a winding path,
and each step a choice:
the ground beneath the feet,...
Monday 30th September 2024 5:52 am
Also by Eduardo:
Flowers of Misfortune | Why be common when I can be different? | Albert Einstein | To suffer | Connected | Ancient Times | Masquerade of the Damned | New York in the '80s: The Cry of the Abyss | Eternal Dusk | Cosmic Heart |Wavering Passion
Desire is the root of all suffering.
In shadows, deep my wishes lie,
Desire speaks, a tempting sigh.
From ancient tales to modern woes,
It stirs my heart, but pain it sows.
Each yearning wish that dares to rise,
Comes with a cost, a heavy sigh.
In gardens light, I seek the sweet,
Yet I find myself at sorrow’s feet.
The Greeks warned of hubris’ fall,
Desires’ echo, a haunting call.
...
Monday 30th September 2024 3:56 am
Millionaire of Time
Millionaire of Time
I know the richest man in the world
without a penny to his name
he knows the worth of everything
he knows what’s important
he’s a millionaire of time
holding stresses in one hand
other remains open
to whatever sets in it
millionaire of time
moving the clock at will
with truth and beauty
you can make the world stand still
you’d swear you were sto...
Monday 30th September 2024 2:04 am
Also by Robert C Gaulke:
The Greats | Changing World | This Aged Head | Feels like home | Last Witness | My only Secret |mail carrier’s bill
leeward of a lean-to hill
iambic cadence thrill
amber flecked lemonade
morsels don pleated frill
bring on tend’rest brocade
while at windward dale
wizened cheeks go pale
Monday 30th September 2024 12:15 am
Also by Red Brick Keshner:
rue the hay |Infinitesimal
dimensional
cellular division
the genomic sequence
time is a light matrix
encoded in
0’s & 1’s
goes on forever …
and, in that order
10, 9.
A singularity
and absolute zero
the big freeze or heat death
he said no one can help us
when, asking the universe
for answers
what, times any number
… is nothing other than zero
Sunday 29th September 2024 9:53 pm
Also by Shawn Garcia:
Blue Moon | Blue Moon | Family Ties | Moral Support | Trojan Horse | Web of Lies | smooth... | Bible on a night stand | Ebonics | Dark Side of the Moon | Fog of War | Sweating in my Sleep | Dubbed Subtitles |The wilderness of the human heart
makes us see that time is borrowed
that what we perceive
is less than half intended;
wild obscurity blocks our view,
until the curtain’s rent in two
and too many seconds become too few.
memories coagulate like blood,
simmer in t...
Sunday 29th September 2024 6:19 pm
Also by John E Marks:
The morning of the day | The garden of earthly enchantment | Dolorous days | Burnham Beeches with Anna, 1985 | BEAUTIFUL SKELETON | ELOQUENT GRAFFITI | The resurrection of the dead | Stormy autumn comes | Анна Ахматова | The sign of the cross | And Dante | DELPHINIUM BLUES | A WASTE OF TIME | SATELLITE of LOVE |THERE'S AN ENGLAND
There's an England I remember
That I seem to see somewhere
As my May becomes September
I dream that I am there
The old England that made me
Is forever in my heart;
This new England has betrayed me
Of it I want no part!
....................................................................
Sunday 29th September 2024 1:26 pm
Also by M.C. Newberry:
WHEN YOU WALKED INTO MY LIFE - a lyric | AUTUMN TREES |My Crazy September Love
This autumn is so sweet,
it gives me so many presents,
this autumn is my best award,
this autumn is my golden lord.
I am lost in this warm September,
my love looks like an ember,
but only with a tender touch
it turns into a fire and burns much.
Maybe it’s my last flight,
so, I will hold it very tight.
I will not wait for the spring,
I would love in th...
Sunday 29th September 2024 10:52 am
Also by Larisa Rzhepishevska:
My Way | An Autumn Kiss | Try To Laugh And Dry Your Tears | The Autumn And The Rain | Autumn In The Wood | To The Creator | Love Triangle |Is This What British Media Has Become-A Bigot-Filled Sewer?
Twittering twattery
Katey-Click-Baitery
Pissed up on winery
Our Hatey Katery,
Twittering blithely,
is Hatey-Katery,
Twattering, spluttering,
Katey-hate-mongering,
Twattering splattering,
Odiously shittering,
Hatefully mongering,
Twattering blithely,
Is that chap gaytery?
Asks Hatey Katery
He must be gay-ery!
Says Hatey Katery,
Yes he seems gay-ery,
...Sunday 29th September 2024 9:05 am
Also by Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh:
Limerick [Final Solution] | Conference? What Conference? | Who Needs Rhetorical Devices! | Two-Tier Racists | We are Human | Requiem | Them uz ‘ave, will ‘ave | Total Testicles | The Spectator | Nil Carborundum Sanguine Desperandum | England [Stop the Boots!] |Storm
The rollers roll and the breakers break
as the storm sweeps unforeseen,
and the waters boil and the clouds roil
but the moon looks down serene.
All the ships that creep across the deep
and even the submarine
take closer haul through savage squall
but the moon looks down serene.
Though winds may blow and waves may grow
as the tempest supervenes,
sailors hold ...
Saturday 28th September 2024 10:17 pm
Also by Trevor Alexander:
Summer’s End | Sands of Time | Midges |Catching Contentment
Contentment can be hard to catch.
So box it in and close the latch.
Let your contentment not escape,
Whatever be it's form or shape.
Our contentment is so very special,
For with our problems it will wrestle.
And since it helps our spirits rise,
Let it not dwindle nor demise.
Keep it safe from all destruction.
Let no troubles make an interruption.
So whatever be your situation,
For c...
Saturday 28th September 2024 7:17 pm
Also by Stuart Vanner:
Ode to Spectacles | Quantum Leap |Weathering love
Oceans, believe me, will never run dry,
Whilst flooded tears fall from my saddened eyes.
I'm unloved, now you are gone.
Neither can I comprehend, nor explain,
The reason for storms or the driving rain.
Or figure, why you are gone.
Or why the frosted field, now whitened cold,
Is abandoned as my heart, frightened, old.
Lonely, lost, now you are gone.
The Art...
Saturday 28th September 2024 5:29 pm
Also by JD Russell:
Strange how. | 21st-century eulogy |Intrigue
What is more fascinating than the close study of the created being?
In her own way she laughs and then scoffs
and scolds in tormenting fun to the point where she searches your own eyes and coyly tries to look for answers about you in response to your teasing nature.
Even though it's early days there is a soul searching feeling of her fascinating ways that will not leave me.
I am ...
Saturday 28th September 2024 1:54 pm
Also by Rick Varden:
House of Cards | Strings | Football | Friends Prominent | Fanny Arlington | Can’t Get Close | A Means To An End | Alive to your Feelings | This Silent Landscape | Ode to a Pig | Ode to a Toad | Far Beacon Sound | Ebb and Flow | Autumn through my Window | A Perfect World | Who Cares? | Rumours | Replacement Therapy | Money | Mothers Ruin | Is there a Nurse in the house? | Hey I’m Retired! | Clair Voyant | Fake | Confessions | Can You Hear Me Mother? |Wachefeld [song version]
Wachefeld
Let’s start at the beginning
In a land of ice and snow
Where a brave band of armoured warriors
Set sail with sword and bow
To forge a new life far way
And settle in a land
Where the gods had promised riches
For each and every man
We sailed the mighty North Sea
And by the grace of Odin’s beard
Landed safe in England
Where our kinsmen were ri...
Saturday 28th September 2024 11:45 am
Also by Ian Whiteley:
The Merrie City Serenade [song version] |Rearview
(More on - free to subscribe - https://graynicholls.substack.com/)
Our past haunts the present reverberating backwards and forwards our lives, a missing piece of a puzzle that continues to ache even in its absence like a ghost standing just out of eyesight in a rearview mirror of consciousness like an aeroplane stuck between two dimensions, a prisoner of time, a spectral companion that whispers...
Saturday 28th September 2024 10:01 am
From Your Little Moon “Dear Mom..”
Dear Mom...
Every morning, the warm scent of rice from the cooker stirs me awake,
The rhythmic echo of your footsteps, back and forth,
Followed by the sound of boiling water pouring over coffee in a cup,
Truly, it becomes a harmony I always long for,
And, a melody I always wish to hear,
It is etched clearly in my mind.
Dear Mom...
Your voice through the phone...
Saturday 28th September 2024 6:12 am
Also by Yanma Hidayah:
The Last Carriage | I Am Nobody! | The Old Man Reciting His Title | Echoes beneath the Shadow of Faith |You Made An Autumn Space
Would you tell anyone
If you used an impact drill
To drill the cork in a bottle of wine?
It could ruin a perfect rhyme
Would you tell anyone
You made an autumn space
Suitable for each season
With both rhyme nor reason
Would you tell anyone
You're happy to be noone
Even if it means someone
who knows language always rhymes
Friday 27th September 2024 8:50 pm
Also by Auracle:
I Hate Being European | On World Alzheimer's Day | When He Was Dancing To His Tunes | When The Best Things Are Good | The Sounds Of The Northern Hemisphere |Hitting the Buffers
We don’t have much time; sooner or later
This planet of ours will hit the buffers.
By then weak excuses or fake facts won’t work,
Nor saying: ‘well, it’s always been like this.’
Hot air is no defence against the heat;
The war, unfought, starts to flex its muscles.
It seemed so different the last time round,
As smiling faces sauntered on the bridge,
Seeking the usual gl...
Friday 27th September 2024 5:22 pm
Also by Stephen Gospage:
Langue de Bois | Meanwhile, in Ukraine | My Enemy | Time |Unexpected Feelings
Your feelings for me were beyond what you lead on
Did us talking regularly
Soften your heart unexpectedly?
Unknown to me but very known to you
It came to the point where “love you” became “I love you”
Slight change to our goodnights
Nothing to overthink
We’re friends right?
You got “busier”
Our talks lessened
I still see you partying though
I’m confused
...Friday 27th September 2024 5:05 pm
Also by Arrianna:
Option 3 | A love only Grandma can give | Young And Ready | Knotted | Hooked |Day 21
so, lets catch up.
its been a minute i must say.
but today, i had to give
myself time to write.
ive been in a fog of stress.
which isnt everyone?
there is always someone worse off,
having a worse day.
you know, full honesty.
that saying doesnt work for me.
is it selfish to want to think
about your struggles, your sacrifices,
and your chal...
Thursday 26th September 2024 11:32 pm
Haiku-ish Cyclist
skip sit-down breakfast
take a rushed lunch on the run
then late tea for one
repeat ad-nauseum
Thursday 26th September 2024 2:07 pm
Also by John Gilbert Ellis:
A Challenge | Sixty-Five Bus Drive |SEE ME
Discover the same other
whilst under the cover
Creeping seeping peeping
covert operations
my teenage fascinations
awkward altercations
with non queer populations
Sensations that taught me
if ever they caught me
side cautiously er
deliberately blur words that infer derogatory slur
I got very clever,
very clever at seeing without being seen
...
Thursday 26th September 2024 11:42 am
Also by Lee Campbell:
The Missing Bodies List |The Dead Wood
Men, entrenched like ancient trees
whose branches mock their roots,
their trunks engorged with gnarled disease...
embittering their fruits.
The axe gleams brightly in The Sun
beyond the shaded edge,
where with one swing its work begun
it fells their broken pledge.
To cut and clear the rot away
of stock that's grown too long,
where green shoots feel the ...
Thursday 26th September 2024 10:28 am
Also by David RL Moore:
Synesthesia | Breaking News | Harken | Tragic Bus | Shell | Four Stations | Deficit | Songs to lift a heart |Oscar
Dearest lovable warrior
Blessed boy Oscar
Big and strong with a heart even bigger
Champagne ripples he shines
Huge presence his family pine
Raised from a pup
He helped raise the children
Forever so loved
mother she held him
Loyal fur angel God taken back
Forever watch over your chloe and jack
Thursday 26th September 2024 10:02 am
Also by Sarah Louise mcnee:
Lessons and blessings (the black-bird) |Silently walking
The days I focus on manifesting the weather are usually the days I trip over the treasure not knowing any better.
Quite literally Falling over gems but keep on walking, intensely struggling as I continue listening to myself talking.
Interestingly it's never to question my destiny, instead remained silent to appreciate what lay ahead, in times of great calamity only reveals the be...
Wednesday 25th September 2024 11:58 pm
Also by Luke:
Maybe wasted | The devil in my bedroom | Girl in the Sauna | Nill Nutrition | Movements made by many | Saving spiders | Mess | Blonde Girls & Black Mercedes | Shaking faith |The Grace of Age.
As the grace of age settles into all the parts of me
I begin to see life differently
Now, with the album almost full
Looking back is easy
My fingers trace the outlines of memories
While my mind fills the gaps that once lived in between
I watch the young girl in the frame
-A frozen fragment of history-
Gazing out at me
Her eyes have changed
But her heart is ...
Wednesday 25th September 2024 11:15 pm
Also by Clare:
My Name is Anne. | Her Name is Anne. | Her Name is Anne. | Planting Hope for Tomorrow. | Lady of the Lake. | Masterpiece. | Mosaic Heart | Je t’adore. |a wise crank is a wise crack
spirits are a wise crank
spirits are a wise crack of a crank
a wise crack is a wise crank
a wise crack is a wise soul
a crack soul,a crack spirit,a wise crack
a crack spirit is a crack soul
a spirit is a spirit of a crack soul
a shadow is a shadow of a shadowy
a shadow is a shadowy of a wise crack
a shadowy is a shadowy of science
a shadow science is a shadowy of a shadowy
science is ...
Wednesday 25th September 2024 8:15 pm
Also by godlucifer:
make or break |Old soldier to the rescue
In my youth when the whims of women got me down,
I would seek the company of ex-sergeant Eamonn McSwilly.
He’d fought at Rorke’s Drift against the Zulus,
and would often do one of their war dances,
while drinking a pint of stout,
then sob into his glass, recalling the horror of
that misguided military campaign.
I would listen in awe, but it was myself,
a wet-behind-be-the ears young m...
Wednesday 25th September 2024 1:16 pm
Also by Kevin Vose:
Moustachioed man | Men's Group |A tribute to my brain
My teeth feel fuzzy
I think that's a good thing
My head feels funny
I think that's bad
I’ve got six more hours
And three more days
That's plenty of time
Let's waste it away
My score’s an angel number
Eleven point one percent
And the lighting here is pretty
It makes me feel warm instead
I can't do big things
So everything is small
My body’s feeling ick...
Wednesday 25th September 2024 12:16 am
Also by Cryptid:
Nature's child | Trust | Stuck | Summer storms |no room for fake Kings
you were so content
keeping me at arms length
so I ended up
in someone else's
with a trail of teeth
behind me
Tuesday 24th September 2024 9:36 pm
Also by Sherri:
22five22 | losing | conjure | dear diary, it's me again | gently mad | after a Happy Death | the loneliest tree in the desolate yellow | sorry I haven't been writing... I've been CAVING |Myself
I left everything, and made you my everything. Just for you to stab me in the back. Down on my lowest you left. I thought you had my best interest, instead you squeezed my heart to death. And instead of giving it back you left my heart on the shelf. Haven’t let me seen taeden, you got him thinking I left him by himself. Left me for dead, I was sleeping in the car by myself. Cold and lonely, I did...
Tuesday 24th September 2024 4:01 pm
JUST A FOOTLOOSE RANT (OR, ANARCHY UNMASKED)
I scanned the stanzas of some bard,
which, as they landed, hit home - hard.
How could a dead man know such truth,
who'd died dishonoured, stripped of youth?
Down generations flew his words,
their talons sharp, like fearsome birds
sent through the centuries to tell
us all about his manmade hell.
The less we learned, the more was lost;
so today, we've passed on the cost
incurred by lon...
Tuesday 24th September 2024 2:27 pm
Also by Martin Peacock:
VILLANELLE: LET JUSTICE BE DONE | GACK IN THE GOX | 7-UP: THE TROUBLE WITH BEING AUTISTIC IS... |Which Tomorrow?
More poetic flash fiction based on the browsing of best selling book titles in under 30 words. Perhaps next time you're looking at a list you'll spot them all!
Tomorrow and Tomorrow
And Tomorrow
The Last Goodbye
Was the longest
Then she was gone
No one saw a thing
Except for the couple
At No 9
Tuesday 24th September 2024 2:08 pm
Also by Ruth O'Reilly:
Meet me at sunset | Devils and Halos |POETRY IN MOTION
Let me put this out there straight away. Freddie Tyas was called “Spaz”. I can’t help that. He was.
I’m talking here about my schooldays in the 60’s. If you’ve seen any of those TV programmes like “It Was Alright in the 80’s” you’ll understand that it was alright in the 80’s. Twenty years earlier in the 60’s it was even more “alright”. We were closer to World War 1 than the 60’s are to us...
Monday 23rd September 2024 12:29 pm
Also by John Coopey:
DOING IT TWICE | WINTER FUEL PAYMENT | SIEGE OF LENINGRAD 1941-44 | PRISON OVERCROWDING | "TWO WORLD WARS AND ONE WORLD CU-U-UP" |No hard feelings
I guess I am mechanical
I am here at your leisure
Should I cause a problem
You can cast me into the garbage
I guess I am mechanical
In a way, that I will keep coming back
Like an old watch, or something that will eventually wear out ,like a phone
And die off, and none would be the wiser
Not one tear shed, and I guess I like it that way
I guess I am mechanical because
...
Sunday 22nd September 2024 12:04 am
bell towers
down here among the ruined and the rising
I am alien
and the children cannot understand
tears at the comic absurdity of hope
nor the sight of skin thin like paper
covering old peoples' hands folded in prayer
they cannot comprehend
the ferocity of newborn cries
nor the fearful stillness of expectation and Waiting
down here among the glowering bell towers
the silence is apoplec...
Saturday 21st September 2024 4:07 am
Sir Kier's New Clothes
A cloth so beautiful, he said
I’ll weave for you, Sir Kier
That to the simple or unfit
Invisible ‘t will appear
These splendid clothes, I just must have
What do they cost, pray tell
To you it’s free, the Baron said
‘N’ I’ll dress your wife as well
He set up looms and set to work
Weaving night and day
And yet the golden thread they brought
He simply put away
Kier sent a spad to vi...
Friday 20th September 2024 9:46 pm
Also by Steve White:
A Two Grand Hat | Pickles |Black Fire
Everyone has a fire in their soul
A bright passion that makes them whole
An urge to follow like a fool
A desperate need to fulfill no matter how cruel
A bright spark in their eyes
A light that never dies
A wonderful dream that never lies
A reason to get up and rise
A star in their hearts to answer their wishes
A burning desire inside their chests
A cheery pe...
Friday 20th September 2024 4:19 am
What Drives Loyalty
What Drives Loyalty
I’ve learned that loyalty
Can be a beautiful quality
When harnessed in the right way
But it can also keep us in situations and relationships
That make our values sway
As a little girl and a teenager
I desperately wanted to be Lily’s best friend
In fact, I wished I could be her
My hypnotised devotion had no end
Until one day I realis...
Thursday 19th September 2024 2:53 pm
Also by Rasa Kabaila:
It Takes One | The Bridge |Alone
I sat alone
In my small room.
Sitting, lying, sitting....
Switching on, switching off
Radio and television.
I randomly choose
A book to read.
The pages are blank.
The temperature is
Cold outside.Winter
Is on its way.
Thursday 19th September 2024 10:42 am
Also by Ornella. Bushell:
Time | Autumn Memories |Switching Cameras
Some nights my dreams play like movies
I am cast in many roles
At any moment the dream can repeat
A glitch?
Or just a change of camera?
A new perspective to explore
The show must go on
But who am I entertaining?
Wednesday 18th September 2024 7:07 pm
Also by M Lane:
Unremembered | Antique Shop | The Performance? |To be loved or not to be
Love is an action, not just words
I tend to hear people say they “love me”
But they hardly ever call
They say they “love me”
But they never want to meet up
They say they “love me”
But aren’t there for me
I see the action of avoidance
Not love.
I see them make effort for someone else
But not for me.
Is this a glitch?
Why am...
Wednesday 18th September 2024 3:07 pm
Also by mouseinmypocket:
Image |Owl.
An owl takes wing,
Shudders at what it sees,
Rests on the shoulder
Of Minerva, begs her
To bless with wise counsel
The world-weary,
The battle-worn,
All who have lost
Sight of terra firma,
As well as firmament...
Wednesday 18th September 2024 2:31 pm
Also by Holden Moncrieff:
Beacon. |Caffeine Withdrawal
Woke up, then crashed for three days in a row,
It had to be done for my well-being,
There goes my energy, out the window.
Of all the things, I ask, why must this be?
Once energizing, but now it’s draining:
Woke up, then crashed for three days in a row.
Went to bed hoping that the rain would stop.
Comes tomorrow, still welcomed by pouring;
There goes my energy, out the window.
Oh, th...
Wednesday 18th September 2024 12:57 pm
Also by Clive:
Just Another Day | Workweek | Trial |Ye Old Shop Of Books
The old bell jangles as I come through the door
A familiar step down to a dark wooden floor
A petrichor from pages hangs in the air
Its musty aroma telling tales of their wear
On shelves, are bindings crafted by hands
Lost & forgotten to times shifting sands
And others, whose fingers caressed those old pages:
A DNA echo still lingers through ages
In a corner sits Mis...
Wednesday 18th September 2024 12:05 pm
Also by Stephen W Atkinson:
The Hanging Tree | The Unquenchable Fire |Say Good Night
Mom, can I sleep a little more?
My eyes are heavy and my feet ache
And I feel a pulsing in my chest that is getting worse
But I don't know if it's the coffee or the insatiable hunger to be loved
Mama, I'm lost.
I work myself until I cannot carry my own voice
I work until the only thing I see are blurred lines of undefined past, present, and future
Mommy, I'm tired.
Can you ...
Wednesday 18th September 2024 5:51 am
Also by purplemoon:
Forget the Leaves |Seeds of Joy and Sorrow
I planted joy and sorrow both,
In places where my heart once spoke.
And under their shade, in years ahead,
Some will smile, while others tread.
Happiness or sadness, they’ll feel the trace,
Of emotions I left in that quiet space.
For what we plant, though unseen by the eye,
Grows roots in the hearts of those who pass by.
Tuesday 17th September 2024 6:11 pm
Also by Keletso:
Dichotomies: Inspired by A Tale Of Two Cities | I'm not your soldier, I'm your son. | My favourite thing about music? |My Body, My Mind
Locking up my body
Speeding up my mind
Frozen in the bed you made
While the head you infected
Continues to rewind
And replay
The tape
Seeing through someone else's eyes
My body, my mind
Monday 16th September 2024 8:22 pm
Also by Catherine Burnes:
Dear Mom and Dad, | Doe |Dry Eyes
Why oh why
Are my eyes so dry?
With the weeping days I live
And the sorrows that make me cry
There is no time left to find
A heart that allows me to breath
Granting an experience to feel kind
A lesser worry to conquer my mind
With every eye that blinks
And stares and withers
With every muscle that shrinks
And thoughts that gives you shivers
Today ...
Monday 16th September 2024 3:50 pm
Oblivious
Steam rises from vents and grates
The back-alley dumpsters are scattered
Whilst the smell of once fresh meat
And hot grease pervades the night
A guy in white uniform and lazy trousers
Sits on a crate making his smoke last
And looking into nowhere
Oblivious to the world
Oblivious to what is happening
A block away from the intersection
Oblivious to the freezing dri...
Monday 16th September 2024 3:15 pm
Calming Mellowness
This mellow season wrought of change
Turns a fragile moment on its potter’s wheel
Pale sunshine clasping the ripple of leaves
The gallop of muscular cumulous
Migratory flights of wintering exiles
Summoned by generations of calling
Polished light and liminal shadows
Rise perfect from eloquent spinning
Finish the form with satisfied fingers
Sweep spu...
Monday 16th September 2024 10:01 am
Dear Absent Friend
Dear absent friend
Are you still there?
Do you still lurk in the places we used to?
Or have you moved on to pastures new?
Dear absent friend
Do I ever cross your mind?
Even on days with no rain from the skies
It rains from my eyes
Dear absent friend
I long to hear your voice
For your asks I could not fulfill
But I miss you still
Dear absent friend
I hope that you are happy
H...
Monday 16th September 2024 9:24 am
Also by Dilorans:
I am capable of love |"Run Away
“Run away”
That's what they say
“It's how you get the pain to go away”
So I ran until my mind went black
I ran until my lungs burned
And my legs quaked
I fell into a ball
I crumbled to the ground
I Screamed and Cried
I tried to let it all out
In reality you can never escape
If all your crying for your Mother to change
“Your being manipulative”
“Your being l...
Monday 16th September 2024 7:49 am
Timeless melody
The rain gently tapped against the window as Dorothy sat with a steaming cup of tea cradled in her hands. The aroma of the tea filled the room, beckoning memories of days long past. Sipping her tea, she gazed out at the drizzling rain, a soft breeze carrying the earthy scent of wet soil into the room.
Lost in reverie, Dorothy's mind drifted back to her carefree childhood, a time when the m...
Sunday 15th September 2024 11:19 am
Immeasurable
Upon trying to measure
The universe, the infinity itself
The sheer impossibilities that will
Inevitably present themselves.
Love is, as immeasurable
As the cosmos itself.
The heart is open
And the mind is free
Just remember to breathe
It's all a bit of fun.
A play on life and love
Experience it all
And laugh
Laugh into eternity
Vibrate with the sp...
Sunday 15th September 2024 8:33 am
Also by Eric Berard:
Inferno |Shakespeare’s Coat of Arms
Many fans of "William Shakespeare" often miss out the vital details of Shakespeare's life and career.
James Halliwell Phillips writes in his two-volume analysis “Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare” published in 1887 in order to determine the “Correct Dating of Shakespeare’s Plays”:
“The would be biographer of Shakespeare is baffled in every quarter by the want of graphical documents, and l...
Saturday 14th September 2024 11:27 am
Manic flint
Rough rusted railroad steel in my palm
Dogs are following me in the woods
It's a long way to the river yet
Running out of battery
Dark tracks rattling hard
Saturday 14th September 2024 10:23 am
Music
September 13th, 2024
4:59 - 5:03 pm / 8:41 - 9:58 pm
i feel everything
i'm consumed by my thoughts
words in my mind
lyrics say what i cannot
broken are the voices
sounds float in the air
the noise is loud
at the ceiling i stare
my ears fill with melodies
my heart is set free
my eyes drown in tears
i can no longer see
a blanket of darkne...
Saturday 14th September 2024 3:07 am
Also by Kaitlyn:
Healed | Moments | Genesis | ashes | lifeline | lost | awake | life |no touch torture
no letter, no word, no sentence
institutional criminality
human rights ?
far away
repress it, forget it
not here, no
not here
Friday 13th September 2024 7:04 pm
: The Barren Tree :
It grew in the wilds, a sentinel growing tall,
A mighty yogi in presence, embracing it all!
Branches reaching out, to the skies in a plea,
Seeking for the strength - to live it's destiny!
Its ancient bark, a wrinkled, weathered hide,
Tells a tale of the time's, swiftly flowing tide.
Inexorably which has grabbed, life in a churn,
On and onwards to - the lands of no return!
...Friday 13th September 2024 10:08 am
Also by SUVENDRA C DASGUPTA:
: Soliloquy : |The Rich Want To Heal The World, But I Never Knew It Was Sick
You A Masterpiece
On My Kurt Cobain Swagger
Can I Ask You Please
Will You Be My Courtney Love?
Friday 13th September 2024 3:16 am
Brown Paper Bag
If I'm being honest, I have no clue as to what's going on. All I know for sure is that Im tired of trying to fit in. After years of attempting to comply my mind is exhausted.
Maybe this started during an experiment where I put myself in "new" situations to gain a different point of view. Mix that in with feeling insecure and I found myself lost between characters an emotional rollercoaster.
...Friday 13th September 2024 2:36 am
September 2024 Collage Poem: Calming Mellowness
Love, care and compassion is what you need to show.
Two halves of life, older than sleep's womb
The imaginery giraffe in his dishevelled hat
trumpeted his inherited memory of a unicorn.
Messaging each other pecking away at our personal history
Barking dogs burrow into white chalk cliffs as the muted dead
turn under Stockport bus station
A Porcelain Moment as t...
Thursday 12th September 2024 9:41 pm
Last Scene of a Western cut into tw
Cutting out across the music
that last scene cut into the black
with the music carrying on
for a few seconds more
before then cutting out suddenly
and starting off again
with a breath of air
carrying across the forest
as the light replaces the darkness
framing the sky
unto a red-rimmed sunset,
totemic in silence
turning the end into a new beginning
...
Thursday 12th September 2024 9:30 pm
Bloodshot
With your bloodshot eyes.
Every sunset, you cried.
We trusted the lies.
We loved less at times, both upset inside.
The cassette would rhyme.
Play jazz sets to hide.
The bloodshot in mine.
Saw love’s knots and binds.
Untangle the vines.
A tough spot to climb.
Thursday 12th September 2024 3:26 am
Also by DG:
New Heights |A Pillow of Moss
Put me to bed.
Lay my head gently on the pillow of moss
Growing under the old oak tree.
Cover me with branches and leaves,
close my eyes gently - as I am just sleeping.
Allow me to rest until my body
fuses into the forest floor,
my skull and bones all that’s left
beside your distant memory
of who I used to be.
You can lie down beside me
Reach out yo...
Thursday 12th September 2024 3:04 am
THE FANCY TALKING MAN
They were standing in front of a cliff
wanting so badly to be on the other side.
Along comes The Fancy Talking Man
he tells them...
it will be fun
and excitiing
if they simply
Jump
and so they do
not knowing
had they been patient
taken some time
walked a little futher
A beautiful bridge
was just a head
to take them to th...
Wednesday 11th September 2024 9:32 pm
Truly Glorious, Simply Peace
Can you dance in the middle of "what is"
rather than "what was" or "what is to come?"
Making plans can be helpful,
excavating the past can be healing,
but, truly, dancing in the now is glorious!
Step into the glory of right here, right now, this breath, this foot on this ground, this hand on this object, this smile, this frown, this laugh, this tear,
this is all-that-is,
wrapp...
Wednesday 11th September 2024 4:55 pm
Also by Hélène:
Finding Power, Finding Joy |Pursuit
Caught in mundane trivalities in my environs secure
Something seems amiss, of which I am not so sure
No shackles tie me down, still can't seem to express
Odd feeling at the nucleus, now difficult to suppress
Endowed though sufficiently no concerns as of now
Need stoking stimulus, to find new trigger somehow
All familiar seems daunting, must try & explore anew
To bring a bit of sembl...
Wednesday 11th September 2024 2:46 pm
Sonnet No 333
Sonnet No 333
When I come wobbling home from down the pub
you make my head throb with your rolling pin.
Then take the water from the babies tub
and wash away my alcoholic sin.
You shove me in the spare room where I snore
and fart just like a dray horse all night long.
As morning breaks you gently push the door
and gag at Nature’s dreadful beery pong.
The curry rice and ...
Monday 9th September 2024 9:28 pm
Gigged out
Tired, neutered and flat
Drowsy, battered and crap
Scatered, ears ringing and wondering
where did my weekend go?
Gigged out
Spat out and hurt
Load-in, set up in dirt
Sound checked, rain and disturbed
Darkness, smokey and curt
Irritable, sweaty of course
Days lost to the night
Hungry, beyond "alright?"
Midnight arrives
Still loading out in drove...
Monday 9th September 2024 2:43 pm
Also by Wordseffectbrew:
A | Telly belly |Taking the Knee
We clap some Blacks,
we clap them Blacks,
tho' we mow those
others shacks
and dish out smacks,
we clap them Blacks
and forget those whacks
and their blistered backs
and hands that pick the
music tracks,
and then we clap them Blacks
them stand-up Blacks
but not them bent over blacks
for earning all your stacks
of dirty cash
and maids we lash
and keep from dash
yet we stand and ...
Sunday 8th September 2024 7:32 pm
Also by Tommy Carroll:
(untitled) | -rap- |Bittersweet
The clouds are so beautiful, when you see then sun behind them
It's that glimmer of hope and light; creeping out of the darkness.
The tears are so beautiful, when you can see the person behind them
It's the raw, real emotion and the story behind it.
The bitterness is so beautiful, when you see the sweetness behind it
The lost chance and opportunity, the broken heart and the freedom,...
Sunday 8th September 2024 7:27 pm
Also by Sia T:
Feeling Blue | Turbulent Love Affair | My Interpretation | The Gold and The Blue |WE WERE THERE
For a few minutes
we were all I asked for
you were there with me
by the lake, having coffee
my hands now are empty
a couple hours ago you were walking down the stairs with me
before i set you free
Now you know
I love you enough to let you go
and not let the world know
how much it hurt, how I broke
I love you enough to let you go
for you to grow old w...
Sunday 8th September 2024 7:24 pm
Poem
This lesson only grasped through time
Our view emerging in the climb
Its vexed infancy played out the longest:
Our army without guns is the strongest
So sing the old songs, drink deeply
And with tears drying become sleepy
To dream swift, golden spears of sun-rays
On the eve of our momentous day
Sunday 8th September 2024 6:39 pm
“Resurrection”
welcome back! Where'd you go? Revisit the 3rd level of consciousness,Open eyes in the dark,DNA manifestation,I was not in the right space,Research for self doubt, I ignore critics that shout,You have an expired version of Mikey inside your head,I got advice from Osiris,This comeback is one for the ages, At a distance I peep the Nile river over flow,I need one more chance to show,I need a cave so I...
Sunday 8th September 2024 4:19 am
HIS Mercy On Thee....
Thou steppedst into this world with a purpose,
And it's by HIS Grace for Glory,
Each moment HE hath led thee in HIS Care,
All thro' thy twenty years HE kept thee in HIS Bosom,
Each thought in thy mind is HIS Grace,
Each word thou uttereth is by HIS Power,
Each deed of thine is HIS Will to do,
And thy breath in thee is HIS Gift to seek Eternity.
Thou hast travelled twenty m...
Sunday 8th September 2024 1:31 am
Single The Odd One Out
Single the odd one out!
Baby blue, sky blue, navy blue, red.
Correct!
Red does not belong here.
Let's do another one.
Jeans, jumpsuit, jacket, towel.
Correct!
Towel does not belong here.
Now, for the final round.
Sister, mother, brother, father, I.
Correct again!
'I' does not belong here.
Saturday 7th September 2024 11:49 pm
"the wheel in the sky keeps on turning, I don't know......"
Where do we draw the line
In the unforgiving depths of our torture
To the seeping wounds kept under a thick skin
With every bottle or bag of conditioned poison
Some bear many scars healed by the strength of heart
And they have learned how to bleed and what is worth bleeding over
Some of us are bleeding for the first time
Know that you aren't the first and won't be the last
...Saturday 7th September 2024 7:59 am
Cos moss
Where has the night gone
Swallowed by sodium neon, led
We cannot see beyond
Boyhood dreams gone by the flick of million switches
Stand me in a field of dark
Hello Milky Way
Where have you been
Your beauty a slash in the heavens
Quietly rising and setting
Measuring the days
Gazed at in wonder
Through child eyes
Hanging in cosmos by invisible strings
A misty ...
Saturday 7th September 2024 12:02 am
I Accept My Reality
I accept
All the things around me
The harsh warmth of an Indian afternoon,
The confused colors of the evening,
Sheer darkness of night regardless of moon,
And everything between the end and beginning.
I have been trying to change my life,
But all I could change was my perspective.
I can’t seem to change the story, Though I attempt to shift the narrative.
I’ll fulfill m...
Friday 6th September 2024 5:30 pm
long hair (09/06/2024)
sometimes I feel like my long hair
what hides and reveals
what some version
small and soft
lives tangled in the unkempt locks
where it takes work to get to my mother's eyes
her cheekbones
a hair's breadth between.
it's the distance between being looked at
and being seen.
shorn, I feel the shame of nakedness
rather than it's splendor
I feel the parts of me worth hiding
in t...
Friday 6th September 2024 10:50 am
The Happy Teacher
Start off the day miffed,
At being late – blame the lift
Continue being peeved at all,
The door, the window, and the wall.
Am also a bit cross with them –
My footwear – noisily fraying at the helms.
The corridors look drab and tiresome,
People busy in their humdrum.
Can’t run or hide, so quietly surrender,
Head high, kind smile – the happy teacher!
Thursday 5th September 2024 11:53 am
Hope
Hope
They say all scars heal
but I know mine never will
I have so many scars
visible and invisible
they will never go
Memories and reminders and comments
rip the scars open over and over
No, they won’t heal
but maybe the passage of time
will make them softer
like the waves of the sea when they
keep crashing on the shore
over and over
till the stones o...
Wednesday 4th September 2024 1:24 pm
Previous skins
Five years ago flew by
Now, already remote
The rolling of the years
They’re already afloat
Your past self
Already a ghost
When you stand still
You begin to grieve your previous skins
Wonder why you had to forget and kill
Old personalities just to multiply new
So, you cling on to specific moments
Promise not to forget, you never will
But it is not uniqu...
Wednesday 4th September 2024 10:51 am
Garswood Library
If I could be brave enough to remember the first time I went into my local library at the torrid age of 18.
If I could be brave enough to remember what the librarian said to me, as the jaws of a shark stamped those books with a thud.
At first, I held them scared to death, as they contained words and were unnecessarily heavy.
And then as if secretly, I finished a thing calle...
Tuesday 3rd September 2024 8:25 pm
The Wheel
It's funny
You know
This obsession
the human animal
Has with wheels
They changed its life
They made it
Mobile
They helped it
Move things
It couldn't possibly
Carry
And now
We wait
Slaves to technology
And whilst we wait
A little wheel spins
Maybe it's on
The screen
Maybe it's out
Of the corner
Of our eyes
Maybe it's not visible
At all
The spinning wheel
Reminding u...
Tuesday 3rd September 2024 8:32 am
The boy in the frame
Would’ve lived if I never left?
Vinyl on the shelf, the cigarette on the desk, the smell of pastels.
Midnight stars ignite your heart.
The heat goes to the sky, and your mind is burning down.
It’s time to draw your life, the brush paints the guy in the frame.
Blues, grays, and maroon make your new muse
Will it be your last chance?
Will you be brave to hide your lies?
Will it be anoth...
Monday 2nd September 2024 9:50 am
Night Flight
The moment
I knew
my mother was leaving—
no word, no signal,
just a slight shift
in the staff's routine,
moving through
the dim quiet
of the critical room;
tending machines,
securing trays,
smoothing blankets,
quietly closing the blinds
on a life,
while the world
ghosted below
in darkness.
Sunday 1st September 2024 2:26 pm
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