These little parachutes of hope and love,

Which float beneath a scowling new year sky,

Will counteract, with luck, the force of hate,

The universal half-truth, and the lie.

Though we take pot-shots at the usual crowd,

And don’t look up above to see what’s there,

The parachutes may lead to better things

Than one more year of feeble, standard fare.

Read and leave comments (9)

Hi Ku-here it is,

A new year from me to you,

Well-seasoned with love!

Read and leave comments (0)

Now we have finished 2022,
What did it mean for me and you?
Had it been for you a lovely year?
Or was it full of dread and fear?

In 2023 do you feel you'll cope?
And shall it contain joy and hope?
Will it contain great determination?
Will it bring unhappiness or elation?

Is it a year for special missions?
And one to plan new ambitions?
Shall it be a year full of belief?
And from you...

Read and leave comments (3)

Will this new year

be a new year?

Or, the same as the old?

I guess, patience is an essence of time

As we wait for what unfolds

So, goodbye to covid 

Goodbye to crime

Goodbye to war

Make peace in our time

Goodbye to jealousy

Goodbye to rage

Let love be the sunlight

And, Earth, be its stage

Goodbye dictators 

Goodbye to greed

We're under on...

Read and leave comments (7)

a chocolate Santa Claus

a piece of motivation

a piece of dedication

a piece of dictation

mission failed

a piece of self hate

a piece of failure

a piece of disappointment

a piece of weakness

cancelled mission

new year, new start

mission restarted

self-hate

lose weight

goals you have to achieve

goals you can't achieve

goals you must proceed

con...

Read and leave comments (1)

In the memory of all the flames that ignited coastlines,
The strings of dazzling Christmas lights,
The long-forgotten chronic normalcy,
The countless ceremonial wreaths—

I realize that from one beginning to the next,
We often overlook the vast expanse of nothingness.
Our stories swing from one pole to its antipode. 
The aftermath, a distant folklore.

But every grocery store receipt,
E...

Read and leave comments (2)

This year has been different and certainly strange,
So for this Covid Christmas we must all make a change.
With our loved ones we may not be able to share,
But remember them still and know that they do care.

Although Covid-19 makes us all be apart,
Try to be strong and remain stout of heart.
Though at this festive time numbers may be reduced,
Know a wonderful Christmas may still be produc...

Read and leave comments (0)

This old Earth has taken another spin around the Sun. (1)
The Solar System continues its endless circle in the Milky Way. (2)
Andromeda has come closer (3) 
as the Milky Way hurtles toward the Great Attractor (4)

Welcome to another year, another turn around Old Sol,
as we wobble through familiar yet unknown deep space 
and spend more time with the music of the spheres
that resounds silent...

Read and leave comments (1)

A Threadbare year
Still too hot to touch
Those that were poor
Remain so
Those full of hope
Chocked on feathers

Ballot Boxes
Full of X defeating Y

Why this thread of decency and kindness
Has become a dye
Faded like a hippy t shirt
Folded away neatly
To decay and die

Instead they are puffed up bloated
And the I I I and ‘we’ will make our country great again
No matter how many
F...

Read and leave comments (0)

Here we go again!

Twelve more months of winds and rain,

Of cereal bowls and coffee cups,

Of morning blues and getting up,

Chasing our tails in the hamster wheel,

Trying to understand the deal.

Here we go again!

Will it be different this time round?

Will the hamster wheel hit the ground

And take us to our promised land

Where music is made and we're in the band?

Read and leave comments (0)

Welcome in this fine new year,
For it has only just arrived.
In spite of worries you faced before
You came through it and survived.

So make it one of hope and joy
And find new ideas and new ambitions.
And know that you shall always cope,
And make successes be your mission.

Let it not be a year of despair 
But one of joy for everyone.
And should you find life a bore,
Turn it into one...

Read and leave comments (0)

It's always the same New Year's resolutions for me...to write more often! Happy New Year to all ...

At First

Just a thought

Then some paper

The words

They came later

QWERTY was flirting

But kindly 

I declined

It's demand

Held a pen

In my hand

And began

Read and leave comments (1)

resolution

I don't do new year
there is a lot of noise here
none of it is mine

when the chimes kick in
auld lang syne hands are unlinked
as phones point skywards

cascading fireworks
fall on lost souls in doorways
where poverty lies

Read and leave comments (11)

Out there beyond the hill

Lights twinkle in time with distant voices

Preparing for the new year,

Making small promises of things to come,

Promising small victories of things to overcome.

What will they remember

When they look back at the year,

The fickle promises collapsing around them

Or the achievements made,

Or the constant redirections to get them through anothe...

Read and leave comments (3)

Inspired by this time space we currently find ourselves in....

The land of betwixt and between

What's been

Versus 

What is unseen

Next year hints

A clarity

Of vision

Perfect for

Leap year

Decisions!

Read and leave comments (3)

The sun sets around this dirty glass.
Just a few more hours until I become someone new and forget who I was.
Im waiting for the fireworks but they'll surely never come.
There's no celebration for killing the demon that's been killing everyone.

You think a simple crucifix could fix this.
I don't think I can send my monster back to hell.
I've killed my insides I'm nothing more then a shell o...

Read and leave comments (0)

(A poem for the turning of the year, taken from my 2013 collection A Long Way to Fall. The artwork that accompanies it is by the late great songwriter and social chronicler, Graeme Miles)

Out of the smoke of a candle flame
lit to mark the turning of the year
I rise, wreathe soot and feathers for my cloak.

Bright eyes flash long-forgotten glimmers, sparks
of peoples who’ve spun ghosts...

Read and leave comments (2)

new year, new me

new year, same old shit, same broken me.

the games they play will never change

the lies they tell will only grow in numbers

and every one

will erode at my happiness

and reduce what could have been mountains

down to only dirt.

i am broken

shattered

irrepairable 

destroyed.

i used to be

i try to be

so kind

and compassi...

Read and leave comments (0)

Forsaking Auld Lang Syne

The city centre puddles

reflect fireworks in the sky

whilst stripped

Christmas wrapping paper

soaks up the deluge

like a homeless sleeping bag.

Dustbins overflow with leftovers

oiled with greasy greed.

A bottle of wine splatters against

the multi-storey car park wall,

vomited from the throat

of opulence at midnight.

Read and leave comments (1)

Close the door slowly
Be quiet as you’re leaving
And turn out the lights

Read and leave comments (0)

New year, New year resolution

Gotta be strong, want absolution

This year I'm going to lose some weight

But what will I do without my cake?

Carrot cake, is that one of my 5 a day?

That areas always been kinda grey

And New York cheesecake, that's not so bad

Without the cheese it could be a new fad

Lovely and rich, chocolate fudge

Keep eating that and the weight w...

Read and leave comments (0)

Cronos (The Reaper)

I wait round corners where the air is still,
in darkened alleys wet with winter snow,
the places only fools and dreamers go.
You will not see me, but will feel my chill
on exposed places where the ice will spill
and with each prickle you will surely know
that, soon, the ancient blizzard wind will blow
and bring the reaper with it for the kill.
For I am called from so...

Read and leave comments (1)

Resolution #9

A cascade of sparks
exploding in the blackness
of a revellers sky
like bright tears.

Crying for the homeless
sat where the light
doesn’t fall,
under archways,
behind garages,
in cardboard boxes.

Damp and cold
while a flaming wheel
greets the crescent moon
as it circles.
A metaphor
of the turning year.

Out with the old and needy,
in with the bright young thin...

Read and leave comments (0)

NEARLY THERE

In less than an hour it will be 1997.

In this short time do you remember?

Do you shrug off the past to make way for the future

or do you hold on to the dying year

seeing every minute disappear before your eyes?

On this, the last day we have been covered by snow

and frozen by the cold as the old God Cronus turns

his hour glass over for another year.

He c...

Read and leave comments (0)

New Beginnings (by Mel)                                                                                                                               

So here we stand once again
With an opportunity to start afresh.

Oh what joy this brings to my heart.
To let go of the past,
And to start a new chapter.

Allowing Love, Happiness and Peace
Into our hearts.
Filling our S...

Read and leave comments (1)

Read and leave comments (0)

BACK O' PUB

We went into the pub's beer garden to see the illegal vodka factory run by Eastern Europeans.                                                                                                                                        

We dance madly around their lorry and sing, "Give us a drink! We're parched like the Gobi Desert. Don't you know, we drank the pub dry?...

Read and leave comments (0)

I’ll put on the table a New Year tree,

The smell of pine needles will fill my flat.

Champagne, chocolate…and I’ll start my spree,

With three candles I’ll chat.

These candles will be my spiritual world,

The lonely party is always free.

My heart will be twirled and purled,

Curse of troubles these candles will be.

With champagne I’ll fill the cryst...

Read and leave comments (3)

That Hogmanay, that blissful distant winter

Along by Brighton Pier, we went to wander.

Resolutions made, we roamed on, rambling

Past the hulks of trundling traffic rumbling.

With no breath of heavy weather brewing,

Sea was millpond still, with no wind blowing;

Mild midwinter sun, echoing summer,

Sparkled on the swell, all silken shimmer.

Squawking seagulls ...

Read and leave comments (2)

Resolutions

Not faint or fool to harsh regret,

No guilty feelings come to call,

The cards once dealt I seize and play,

And win or lose I love them all.

Contempt’s contentment stills the soul,

As bitter herbs the palate pall,

But better still to crush the doubt,

And blame the serpent for the fall.

This tapestry we call our lives,

Is threa...

Read and leave comments (2)

A NEW YEAR

Here comes the New Year, ever so fast,

a virgin time for us to play with!

What will happen? Will it be full of triumph

and tragedy like the last one,

or will it be a permanent high?

I think it will be a bit of both as it nearly always is.

Will you make any promises to yourself for this New Year?

It’s completely up to you. As for me ill stic...

Read and leave comments (0)