THE SONGS WERE GOOD

(For Les McKeown - Bay City Roller)

There's not much in Wiki

Just the basics

Edinburgh born of Irish parents

Lead singer of the Bay City Rollers

During their most successful period

The hits and money made

The disputes and addictions

That go with the territory

Stuff like that

In 1974 we looked up

As the band waved

From ...

Read and leave comments (2)

Here's a poem I wrote to celebrate the launch of Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau (filmed before lockdown but only just released)

Rise

May you rise like the phoenix from the ashes.

Reignite your precious embers.

Break from your constraints to dance on air.

Rise like the swelling tide, the harvest moon.

Rise like you will dare.

Rise like you're awakened from a hun...

Read and leave comments (1)

https://youtu.be/kx6C248MQeQ

On being young and foolish at the second muddiest Glastonbury Festival in history. 

Read and leave comments (0)

love is not 

love is not possession

love is not obsession

nor is it dissolution

of the self except in fleeting

moments of passion

love is not fixing

love is not needy 

love is not forcing

unwanted gifts

nor demanding reciprocity 

love is not being half

nor dependency

love is no debt 

nor a prison of

all consuming exclusivity

love ...

Read and leave comments (7)

Affinity with words has been part of me since trying to decipher little card cut words given by a teacher, but my journey into poetry began in 2002 when something changed the course of my life as surely as a strong tiller on a lightweight boat, or piece of drift wood caught in a strong current.
Before that I was as a sycamore seed spiralling every which way in winds. What happened caused my ship ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Thirty Plus Years In An Open Necked Shirt.

On seeing John Cooper Clarke @ Wakefield Theatre Royal (29/9/13)

Johnny Clarke, Johnny Clarke

a walking bag of bones

staggers out onto the stage

like Keith Richards from the Stones

rapid, machine gun delivery

sprays audience with Salford tones

jitters, jives, ducks and dives

whilst wrestling with the micr...

Read and leave comments (3)

Gigging this week at

RAW GEMS (30 mins) Zenith Bar, London

BEAT, Peter Parkers Bar Soho, London

Rich Mix with Apples & Snakes & Featuring with  TV Smith at the Poetry Cafe, London

Get in touch if you're in town.

I'll do the poem in the audio attachment here as well as my current 'hit' as here:

Boy Toy

I’m happy to be your plaything

A am your sex toy

It ...

Read and leave comments (0)