The Butterfly- Man
Since hatching out of a cocoon,
This butterfly has had many tastes of pollen.
So many whims and fads on which to feed,
Just like the hungry caterpillar.
Whilst being an infant – he would froth at the mouth,
With every new idea and urge,
Driving friends mad and give them a reason to bully.
First it was cowboys, plastic soldier armies, world war 2,
Action men and St...
Wednesday 30th December 2015 2:21 pm
Window Grey (1994)
Three o' clock on this grey afternoon.
Another dull November Sunday.
I wonder what I did last year,
on this same old dreary day ?
Stayed in bed late as I have no money,
and this room is the tidiest in the house.
I try to work out my forthcoming budget,
not that it does any good.
The window is in my attention,
complete with grey skies and speckles of rain.
Th...
Wednesday 30th December 2015 1:58 pm
merry Christmas
MerryChristmas all and have a happy new year. Not sure if I will get any new poems up here before next year (love saying that when it's only a week). I'm not the type to write Christmas poems etc so will leave it at that. Been great salvaging what has been for me the most stagnant and uninspiring year so far - 2015 - you can stuff it like the turkey.
Christmas in France with the in-laws and...
Thursday 24th December 2015 3:44 pm
So Easily Pleased
From a glass of Cote du Rhone,
Stemmed from your place of birth,
Or a framboise tart –
Patisserie delights.
The taste of salads
And hummus garlic that stains your breath
That I so dread to kiss -
I know you have to put up with my nicotine lips,
But it’s me that does all the moaning.
So easily pleased by life’s gentle moments,
When for me it isn’t enough to savour,
...
Wednesday 23rd December 2015 10:38 pm
Kindle publishing
Hello and seasons greetings (happy solstice etc). Does anyone know of a good software to create own kindle book? I've done some research and as always ran across scams galore of dodgy fucking conmpanies that pretend to have great offers and the best software, only to read comments on how peole have been scammed. Does anyone have any advice on how to go about publishing own ebook and what softwa...
Tuesday 22nd December 2015 10:22 am
Sunset on sleaze
If Elvis could of only seen you all -
dancing like peacocks, you're most profound
birds of paradise, extravagant and tall.
Discotheque platforms and ballroom blitz,
topping the charts way back in the seventies,
with pouts and glitz.
Aces up your sleeves,
while some of you later became sex romantics,
sluts and glamour queens -rock gypsy drag,
as you drew heavily on that f...
Wednesday 9th December 2015 5:56 pm
Mother Christmas (97)
Decs up before the 1st, usually.
All splendidly arranged,
never sparing an inch of space from glitter,
and musical mechanical gadgets singing carols -
all part of her enchanted grotto.
One year there were that many lights,
They confused pilots in the sky heading over the house,
And Sellafield had to go into overtime.
Still at least Santa had no trouble finding it.
But sh...
Tuesday 1st December 2015 8:20 pm
ABSCESS (1996)
Subdued and submerged,
This ballistic air bag of throbbing,
Just ready to blow.
All stuffed to its rim,
like an infected water bomb,
held back from exploding and chasing the bends,
by its chains - its anchor.
Just another cock up from nature,
and life's way of telling you to slow down.
Mood sinks.
Feelings sink.
Hardly any emotional response.
No want to do anyth...
Tuesday 1st December 2015 4:22 pm
This is the modern world ...
I open my front door, straight into climate change and the dull M1 roar – all hours.
I go to the school as a teacher, only to drain creativity and imagination out of the kids,
With constant assessment and onlyone focus on grades.
GCSE’s are only league tables’ kids.
I pass by people, finger fucking their apps and friends with smart phone dementia.
Press ‘like’ , press ‘share’ ...
Monday 30th November 2015 2:01 pm
Bluff amongst the olives (For Ted Hughes and J.R.Hartley)
Green serene,
but in-between
runs the blue
of the Greta,
running fast for May,
tinted bronze with replenished stock.
Down by the weeping willows,
where wagtails ponder with a need for insects,
underneath the canopies draping with lavish plenty,
in a dub, deeper by a foot -
he transpires in the brook,
about roughly two foot long,
Salmo Trutta,
alias ...
Monday 23rd November 2015 3:48 pm
Dividing the corners (a prose poem - stream of consciousness type of thing) 97'
DIVIDING CORNERS
Five to nine and a horrible reality. Even the carpet thinks so (after yet another coffee mug spills with the ashtray), and probably the band that's jamming away in stereo, thinking smugly, that they're tomorrow's Beatles, selling out arenas to tomorrow's people.
Still it all seems quite reputable compared to the silver cutlery in the drawer next to the microwave, unpoli...
Saturday 21st November 2015 11:25 pm
If (a song lyric)
A tongue and cheek lyric about the world today and conspiracy culture
Audio / Video version of this song: (Please play LOUD and enjoy the rock)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y98M6rU-FSI
IF
Ever had a thought,
That things are not what they seem?
You go with flow
But your weeping at the seams.
Well there’s more to this life
Than you can ever hope to know,
...Tuesday 17th November 2015 8:35 pm
Up int' Pool
California by day,
Las Vegas by night,
with flat caps, deckchairs,
and other English sensibilities,
once dying, maybe still,
while trams rattle declaring
sealife promises,
to stargate pleasures,
to Cher and her 'life after love',
entwined with the pulse of a rollercoaster.
Sounds of Saturday football matches,
played hard on soft sand,
menace resting seagull...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 8:15 pm
Making a blog and what a good site this is
Hi folks,
Just wanted to say a big thanks for all the views so far. I am currently trying to make a blog / web site type thing using blogger, but some of the features elude me, so complicated.
I would really like to set something up to showcase the poems (old and new), short stories, scripts and music I have produced over the years, as now at 45, I've long past he idea of trying make ...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:53 pm
WHERE WE LAST MET
Where we last met
that Sunday at the ruins,
amongst the grey and mottled stone;
tourists and drop outs glanced
with dark carrion sonata ways,
behind the jackdaw's Polaroid eyes
Where we last met
that Monday at the park,
painted by the willows and the duckponds,
geese and squirrels intimidated us,
with alter educated egos,
while citizens begged for crumbs.
...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:46 pm
From Evolution (95)
FROM EVOLUTION
From out of the sea,
not safe on land,
up into trees,
Swing branch to branch.
Through canopies with the passing of time,
Form our tribes and followed our lines.
Then down we came, finding our feet,
we uprighted ourselves, following the beat,
of evolution.
Grow in mind, tall and strong,
Walk into Empires
singing our songs.
Fearless pro...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:20 pm
Thoughts of a 'pea'
A pea
Small. Ball. Green.
Rolls on tyled floor.
Then stamped under foot.
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:18 pm
ANOTHER WORLD (Inspired by the poems of Adrian Henri) 97'
In another world,
walking is bad for your feet.
And amphetamines help you to sleep.
In another world,
eating is bad for your guts.
Whilst T.V. is therapy for nuts.
In another world,
it's bad for your teeth to be white -
You work every Saturday night.
In another world,
vitamin C causes cancer.
And John Major was a ballet dancer.
In another world,
Lionel Blair ...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:17 pm
HISTORIC AGE OF EXCELLENCE (1996)
Fine wines out of my way,
we've only just matured.
Seen some fucking centuries we have,
in text books and criticisms.
See we're a vintage stock,
of lock, cock and barrel,
and who needs sour grapes
when you can gorge yourselves on us?
Still your 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's what have ya,
Seem covered in dust,
while some of you rust,
in your dismay of a time that outgrew y...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 4:11 pm
IN – BETWEEN DAY (an ansgt poem of the 90's)
Bored.
Dead town.
Dead people.
Wanna get drunk or something.
Wanna get stoned or something.
Anything. Done. Now. This second.
Need a fuck.
Need no aggravation,
from the thing called love.
Need cash.
Need smokes or
even a meal,
while work's all I kind of look forward to.
Sad really.
Need luck.
Need a new head.
Clouded in hash smoke.
...
Saturday 14th November 2015 2:11 pm
The Bass (96)
Lagoon and aqua English blue.
Midget white horses roll with silver eyes.
Their hooves curling forward then crash,
as the surf storms in yards behind.
Tremors invade the sandbanks and gullies,
as the slack creeps in before.
This is the world of the sea perch.
The bass. Striking hard and hitting fast.
Armoured in silver and streaking shine,
as he terrorises the r...
Thursday 12th November 2015 9:26 pm
INFLUENZA (95)
I hate you. I hate you.
"Well nobody loves colds."
Yes but I really do hate you.
"Relax. You'll get over it."
What a blocked nose on fire,
which burns into my brain?
A dizzy head and distorted vision,
Sometimes hallucinating and all of that?
I mean look what you do to people.
"So - All a part of living.
We germs have to live too,
after all it was your kind that cre...
Thursday 12th November 2015 9:21 pm
BAT - (MAN)
NIGHT FALLS ....
Eyes black. Lifeless and dull. But ............
THEY HAVE MEANING
Above all .... Purpose.
SHADOWS CAST
Over Gotham spires and tower blocks, now
GOTHIC AND MALIGNANT ....
as wings beat. Sonar dreams. Enhanced.
SCANNING THE SCUM BELOW
The underworld. Insects feeding. Criminal pests.
HUNGER FOR A RESOLUTION
To tranquillise the pain, as he .....
Thursday 12th November 2015 3:43 pm
Kingdom of the fells
Sun kissed giants,
Igneous and old,
Engulf the lakes as their drinking ponds.
Slumbering green and scree
Scarred in place by ice.
A tied up launch at the rotting jetties
rocks to and fro,
until the spring comes.
The gulls flock madly above
leafless woods.
The lake is high this year from
too much ice, snow and rain.
The wind blows collective
debris y...
Thursday 12th November 2015 3:40 pm
A Galaxy far, far away... (first draft 2015)
A force awakened in this child of 8,
On a birthday visit to the Blackpool Odeon.
It was a force to be reckoned with.
I remember the pitch my parents gave,
Resembling much of their later advice and spoilers in the future – growing up:
“Two funny robots in space:
One fat dumpy one
The other tall and scrawny,
Who go on an adventure -
A bit like Laurel and Hardy.”
No...
Wednesday 11th November 2015 9:53 pm
Campfire song
Akela spreads her wisdom,
In the firelight glow of a young man’s dreams,
This is the time and place to be alive
To be a pack and a family.
To wear pride in our painted faces
ruffle our feathers in flock
To the smells, sounds and crackle of the logs.
At the centre of the circle,
Fireside songs add power
To our reveries of the wild.
Tuesday 10th November 2015 9:56 pm
ROADWORKS (97)
Men banging, machines clanging,
thumping the drains, laying new water mains,
it's kicking my brains, I'm going insane,
why don't they just take it all away,
like down some quiet country lane?
Ripped concrete, concrete ripped,
Digger grasping, claws stretched clasping,
Clearing the old like cutting cheese.
Oh someone PLEASE!
Drains
mains
brains,
in...
Tuesday 10th November 2015 6:41 pm
Preponderance of GOD (type thing)
The weightless factor of gods,
is nothing compared to the slipstream of mere mortal thought,
That loses hold of its' self-righteous semaphore.
I have questions of ethics and esoteric evolutions.
What must it be like to pull anchor on our gravity,
And ascend into the periphery to seek an audience of micro chip angels?
Still where in a womb under wraps in cling film.
Is there en...
Tuesday 10th November 2015 6:31 pm
Haiku
Wind blowing pipe is,
like a flute with a strange tune.
You are a song now.
Tuesday 10th November 2015 6:28 pm
Restless Spirit (first ever poem written 1991)
Restless spirit
(to a memory of being 21)
Something's not right. Something's not bright.
Something's got no light -only darkness.
I'm not happy, but then I am.
Back and forth, back and forth.
Up and down, up and down.
Maybe it stems from birth?
Or maybe my mind is just a mess.
(Funny how at 45 I will address this)
I have a problem; it's a lack of soul,
not being a...
Tuesday 10th November 2015 6:26 pm
http://SURF'S UP.mmm (1997)
Walk A, B, forward stroke, slash, dot, dot,
down to the beach, backslash, full stop.
Buzzed a bit by static, need shades for my tired
blurred eyes, from my day at the office.
Felt a bit awash with some new installations,
and needed my waterproof shorts for my new location -
after all it's my leisure time. 'Where do you want to go today?'
I longed to feel that fr...
Monday 9th November 2015 9:47 pm
On Visiting Rome
Imperial highways consul thought,
of an Empire that once shaped
and wrought havoc on my lands of
Britannia. And they called us barbarians.
Columns fall, the marble erodes of
the conquests of old. Etched into history.
Every building is not spared from,
decor – elaborate design
to amaze the best of philosopher’s minds.
The crowds throng past
fountains, statues an...
Monday 9th November 2015 6:45 pm
Disappointments
Tequila sage lip burn on top of a curry belly,
Synthetic daylight lamp to give me vitamin D’ssssssssssssssss.
Dreaming of going west - south, to the Andes and Amazon jungle charms,
But the gods do not permit this move at this time in my life. So,
I'll demo-shaman some alchemy psalms
And bang my drum to the beat of the ruts and trenches so far forlorn. My
Frustration fed by coffee...
Sunday 8th November 2015 11:17 pm
Rob the train
Rob the train (child’s memory of Fleetwood)
The dunes of the beach are perfect for this
spaghetti western play. We’re 8 or 9,
just runts from Chaucer Juniors, playing out.
Clint Eastwood is our hero – we’re all unnamed.
The mini rail tourist track which seems to stretch for miles,
natural border through the sand of Mexico and the green of the way back to Missiissipi – or the Rive...
Sunday 8th November 2015 11:09 pm
On a visit to Amsterdam in 2006
Float tank treats,
a secret library all arcane,
bicycles and mittens.
Abbraxas foot padding,
With a cherry genever throat,
Hash and harsh after,
Hotel Belga breakfast.
Canal bridge avenues,
A dance on the bar at ‘teasers’
But try and avoid the football crowds.
Red light curiosity – with respect then go.
Paradiso Rock crunch,
In a church that’s in song of 115 dec...
Saturday 7th November 2015 10:16 pm
Southend DeNiro
(for a friend back in 'Uni' days, 1999)
He was never a lad for hanging around piers,
The boards are too rough for black slacks and Beatle shoes.
An original Mod,
But one who chose to ignore pin ball.
Pints in the pub are plenty,
Games of pool,
Brown sauce, eels, mash and pies.
A Southend demeanour,
Smiling in the rye.
Business minded,
Divided by zero...
Saturday 7th November 2015 9:28 pm
Peak – Y – appetite (Matlock, 1998)
High Tor summit,
Cutting deep ravine,
With cable car elevations.
Alpine like in the limestone,
Misty precisions effervesces
Into green.
A dog barks.
A bell tolls.
Cars rumble onwards,
Motorcycles roar
As my stomach groans,
For
Giddy
Edges.
...
Saturday 7th November 2015 9:20 pm
18A IN KESWICK (1995)
Gabled rooftops loom,
half consumed in shadows
that sleep as thick as night.
Gleaming whites and yellows
push back the dark blankets,
from the artificial light.
The lamp posts
emanate into the deep blue
distance of this summer and
echoed on.
Feet walk to shatter the small
flirts of silence, as tourists,
leisure staff, and the public house crowds,
roam th...
Friday 6th November 2015 4:58 pm
As Sala malai kum
As Sala malai kum
Hash bang then it's onto the tarot.
Radgi sitting on tightropes,
over his constellation of thoughts,
past, present, future.
Hanif takes vision from the bucket,
choking wide eyed,
as Bob jams away in the stratosphere,
with reggae lucidity.
This stretches as far as my tea cup and the
one mouthful left,
it's taste now staining the tongue,
as Mono ...
Friday 6th November 2015 4:55 pm
Genevive (1998)
Don't walk too fast on the pavements -
you've got to watch the snails!
Her steps are cushioned, gliding on air,
as if she's strolling in a dream.
Suede brown radiance, a lady Earth,
as bronze streams flow like rapids
in her fire kissed hair.
An Angel from 'out of India',
elephants for hire and specialised incense.
An aura smelt in Pluto,
personified in red.
Soft li...
Friday 6th November 2015 4:54 pm
On the dole in Workington (1995)
Sitting here amongst pals,
T.V. rattling on, despite
conversations, thick and fast,
but all in aid of desperation.
Psychology or just lunacy?
X-files and ghosts!
Suppose we'll never know.
All pockets empty.
Skint is something we all have in common.
So its second hand fags,
rolled from the ashtray,
and one was a lucky bastard -
found a tainted magic stump,
...Thursday 5th November 2015 5:21 pm
X-ray specs (97)
Last night in the wine bar bistro, I saw right through your dress.
Though you didn't feel me staring – doll like figure, white satin,
And certain curve in your hair.
You looked at me, caught the corner of my eye,
but I'd past the gaze back over to normality.
Straight back into conversation, with far out theory friends -
I wasn't there to my shopping.
Another man was thoug...
Thursday 5th November 2015 5:14 pm
Tuna chaos (1995)
Tuna chaos
Eccentric fish don't swim in shoals,
and nobody knows just where they go,
but pass me that tuna sandwich.
Thursday 5th November 2015 4:30 pm
Sunbathing (1995) 20th anniversary edition
Lying lazy this summer beach,
Sun high, vibrant and perpetual.
The world in my most dominant reach,
Its sand draining through my grasps -
running soft like fire in my egg timer like fingers.
Browning of the skin
As molecular grains try desperately to linger.
Translucent seas,
And time is now irrelevant,
Which is the biggest truth.
I'm tranquil,
immunisati...
Thursday 5th November 2015 4:28 pm
St Christopher's court (student accommodation) (1998)
Two cups of tea, always.
Cheese and whole bread are Portuguese necessities.
Half-drunken bottles of whiskey for the Spanish.
Potatoes take root on the kitchen floor,
with sudden imperative
when the security guards come knocking at your door,
or at times even worse - your quarter's window,
only on the ground floor.
And then it's: 'estoy formado',
TV all screened with smok...
Thursday 5th November 2015 4:26 pm
A man walks into a pub... (1999)
I do the pub life,
everywhere I go,
And for no necessary reason,
But for my own solitude.
I don't choose to spill my pints
staggered, pissed, and tilted
On the floor,
Neither do I 'shit' up bored obscenities,
Upon the toilet doors,
With the graffiti of my stench,
but I'm not saying that mine is pure,
still .. MUGSY IS A WANKER,
Or for a good time call ...
Thursday 5th November 2015 4:24 pm
The lonely Roman (For Auden, 97)
Sat squatting
javelin in hand,
sword in sheath,
leather soaking,
cloak draping wet,
coiled on the ground.
Sandals sweating
blistered heals from his walk,
this lonely sentry
far away from home:
the warmth of Rome;
the baths,
the laughs,
the games,
the vestal virgins.
Now cursing these tin islands,
under an Emperors rule.
The wind that's battered hi...
Thursday 5th November 2015 4:22 pm
S & R NONSENSE (messing with a dictionary)
Symmetrical realism,
standing high.
Sympathetic reasoning,
swelling inside.
Synchronised redemption's,
against the sky.
Symphonic resonance,
as birds flock to fly.
Rhetorical questions,
spring to mind.
Wednesday 4th November 2015 9:55 pm
Waiting for Old Smoothy
Waiting for Old Smoothy (for two old Keswickians who supped on Jennings beer in the infamous poet's pub: George Hotel)
Crackled faces, crooked smiles, in little boyish ways.
Cackled laughter, alongside playground rules,
with the want of F words and the rickety squeaking stools.
Eyes all stained in scheme, causing wood to shudder,
in the coin cracked beams.
Their fingers pint...
Wednesday 4th November 2015 9:53 pm
A bit of a do at the poetry café
Brandy, lemonade with ice,
downed by candlelight.
Quite a gothic arrangement really.
No shirt nor tie,
just jeans, leather jacket and a worried eye,
though one eager to pervade.
Feeling a bit out of place,
with no literary anachronisms,
no thesaurus at the ready,
while others sip and swallow their metaphors,
ancedotes and editors euphemisms.
Over on another table t...
Wednesday 4th November 2015 9:43 pm
M. O. T. (self-portrait, 1998)
Footwear:
treads are bad
hardly holding the road chosen.
Shabby denim bodywork,
With rust setting into the fading colour.
UN - HEALTHY exhaust
from too many poisons -
nicotine based,
and damage to the choke.
Overburdened suspension,
with many things.
Clutch too on the go,
with thoughts of evolution,
and alien Factors.
Brakes worn on
verbal atrocities,
...Wednesday 4th November 2015 9:24 pm
Damp day in the Lakes 97'
Wet
Day
Coffee
Stains
on the table.
Cigarettes
Ashtray
Grey
Soul.
Pepper
Shakes,
hands,
with the legs of the tables.
Canopies.
Weep
Rain
Seeps
damp
creeps.
Birds
Soft nothings to -
broken,
ears.
Wednesday 4th November 2015 8:09 pm
Ode to a friend
There's many a thing could be said about a man,
who practices the guitar whilst taking a dump.
A guy who sits between two parked chairs,
playing pool drunk,
then slumping to the floor comfortably numb.
Bathroom antics are this man's speciality,
best friend and lover with the bog brush,
his bed the floor.
His cosy duvet cover is the bath mat,
and the toilet for a pil...
Wednesday 4th November 2015 8:04 pm
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