She walks in Beauty

I know a girl whose smile

 Is as warm as August sunshine

A girl whose eyes shine

Like the pole star.

A girl whose heart is so powerful

She will share her only food

With people living on wild winter streets.

Behind her smile she hides

The feel of a rifle in her mouth as she is raped

Under a merciless Eritrean sun.

Behind her eyes she hides

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This Christmas

I am wishing you a Christmas

Wrapped snug in family love

Sharing hugs and food and laughter

Celebrating the birth of Christ the dove.

Will you spare a thought for a man I know

Locked up in a Home Office cell

A gentle soul whose only crime

Was to seek asylum from a living hell.

He came quietly to give praise and pray

His eyes downcast his shoul...

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Time stands still

When our tentative lips touch

I want time to stand still

And let us revel

In the absolute thrill.

When you enfold me in a hot embrace

I want time to stand still

As we mesh together

To banish a lifetime of chills.

When your eyes find mine across the dining table

I want time to stand still

As I struggle to breath

Heart racing uphil...

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Found Poetry

I found some poetry the other day

But it didn’t belong to me

The words didn’t speak my way.

Some of the words belonged to Kellogg’s

And some belonged to Nestle

We live in a corporate world

Which leaves real people nothing to say.

These words had no reason

Or rhyme

So I decided to erase them

 From my mind.

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Fight back

Its fight back time

If you can’t accept what we’ve become

A country where homelessness is everyday

Where one in every two children is fed by a food bank

And billions in taxes seem to be going “astray”.

Its fight back time

When public transport cannot move you

And hospitals are terminally ill about to die

Where the media the public own and pay for

...

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Hair – like I care!

When you care about your hair

But you really love the earth

You start to try alternatives to chemicals

And for what it’s worth

I’m going to share the story

Of my own hair care journey

As a modern day Rapunzel

It’s really rather funny.

I have a lot of hair

And it was of some concern

That the products it was consuming

Made my conscience bu...

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Small things....matter

When the size of the world’s problems is so big

That they dominate the media

And swamp our minds

Start with a small thing

Start with a smile.

Give a smile to someone

You give validation

Give a smile to someone

You give a heartfelt burst of joy

Give a smile to someone

You give people power

Give a smile

 Because you can change the wo...

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Tonight I will go home and cry

(This piece is inspired by the words of an employee of the Home Office after hearing a story of human trafficking)

I sat straight faced and listened
As the torrent of terror
Tumbled from your throat
And wondered 
How do you ever smile?
And how do your bird like eyes glisten?
Your smile is radiant.
I heard your story
And tonight
I will go home and...

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We wish you a red and green Christmas

It was Christmas Eve in the workshop

And the elves were feeling jolly

Their little woollen hats

Were decked with mistletoe and holly.

Their faces alight with smiles

Not a sad thought in their heads

For Santa had agreed that Christmas

Should be green and red.

No blousy buxom Barbies

Or action men with guns

Just lots of fair...

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This must be Christmas

I’m sitting watching adverts

For things I’ll never need

Made to appear irresistible

And pander to mans greed.

I’m sold a dream of Christmas

 That happiness is contained

 In gaudy transient baubles

That tantalise my eyes and brain.

I’m propaganderised to believe

That I need so much food

The sight of all those double portions

Really is ...

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It’s war!

I’m waging war on plastic

And it’s really quite a chore

For every time I think I’ve won

I find there’s even more.

I started with the teabags

Replacing them with leaves and pot

I’m really pleased now with my brew

It sure hits the spot.

My milk is now in cartons

Made of cardboard what a treat

And next I turn attention

 To the food I want to eat.

...

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Aged 13

I am 13 and alone in this place

Couldn’t stay where I was born – I am mixed race.

In my home country my mid-east far-east face provokes disgust

Reminder of a legalised –illegal and deeply antisocial lust.

I am 13 and alone brother in Belgium mum in France

There’s talk of “rights to family life” – what chance!

This is the UK in the year 2018

If you believe this ...

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Winter Wisteria

Gnarled winter fingers of Wisteria

 Crying out for spring

With hedgerow birds who serenade them

 As they sing

They heed the call to nestle

 In the bare bent boughs

But they seek solace

 In the bronzed and twisted beech for now.

The grand glory of your velvet violet blooms

A dream of future times

The beauty of your wistful winter arms is here an...

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Congo Childhood

Guns in the green of the garden

Guns at my mother’s head

Guns on our dining table

And wondering if Dad is dead.

Soldiers in the school yard

Soldiers in our hall

Soldiers pointing guns at me

And wondering if Dad is dead.

Menace walks behind me

Menace hears me sing

Menace fills my dreams each night

And wondering if Dad is dead.

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Human Jenga

We’re playing human Jenga

Our limbs are all entwined

I just can’t seem to work out

Which legs yours

And which is mine.

Our skins have lost their edges

We’re all flowing into one

I’m not sure how to describe

This human sculpture

We’ve become.

We’re playing human Jenga

And I think it’s a win-win

This tingling tangle of torsos

That we find ou...

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Drowning in your eyes

We sit cocooned by the velvet night

My hand nestled inside your hand

Our bodies vibrating to the same frequency of life

You smile and I glow in the dark

We are both drowning in a sea of eyes

We move together in a water ballet of miniscule motions

As fingers knot together and hearts lock together

Our lips touch – and we drown.

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Fatal Attraction...

(tribute to “It would never have worked” by Victoria Wood)

I don’t really think we were made for each other,

I listen to radio 4,

You watch Big Brother!

You drink P.G.

And I drink Darjeeling,

I don’t think between us

 there’s that special feeling!

You fancy me,

I fancy your mother,

At a push, if I was very drunk,

I might kiss y...

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The adoration of cats

Now if you are disposed to live with a cat

You need to understand the situation is that

Whilst a dog is happy to sit at your feet

The cat of the house must have the best seat.

For your dog is a friend but your cat is a king

And you really must acknowledge this thing.

Your dog may play catch and fetch with a ball

The cat will stalk past pay no noti...

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The boy in the next flat was tall and thin

He practised his soccer skills in the hall

Until the day the gunmen came

Now he doesn’t need a ball.

I was in my kitchen

When the noise shook the block

I don’t remember the time

Maybe 8 o clock.

I do remember his face

Before the bullets hit

I found him and his family

And now I’m losing my wits.

I can’t think

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Gang 13

I don’t want to be in your gang
I’m heartsick at the games you play
While I am busy building a life
You are busy taking them away.
I don’t want to be in your gang
I don’t want to maim or kill
Don’t want to sell women’s bodies
Don’t want to poison kids with pills.
I don’t want to be in your gang
So you’ve made my life a living hell
Driven me from the land I love
But I’m alive ...

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Bidoon

I want you to know

 That I who have no rights in my country

Still I would fight for my country

Maybe die for my country

Would you?

You who declare me untouchable

Unemployable

Unlovable

Uncountable

Would you?

As I move unnoticed in the midday heat

Across this land of sand and desert songs

Heart sore, homeless, hopeless and longing

Do y...

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Asylum seeker

I saw the holes in your head

Those kind of photographs don’t lie

The result of barbarity beyond my reason.

I saw your face through the bars

 Of a tropical torture chamber

My eyes do not know how to look now.

Your body is silently screaming

And my mind and my mouth are on shut down.

I want to say all is past and know it.

Instead you and I will share ...

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The grumbly, rumbly, bumbly cats

The grumbly, rumbly,bumbly cats

Are racing all around

They’re up they’re down

They’re in they’re out

And they never ever make a sound.

The grumbly, rumbly, bumbly cats

Are very short and very stout

Their whiskers twitch,their tails switch

As in twos and threes they prowl about.

The grumbly, rumbly, bumbly cats

Are gin...

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The Pugs and the Siamese

The Pugs and the Siamese

Were having a war

Identical to the one they’d had

2 years before.

The Siamese spat and hissed

And the Pugs barked and yapped

It was ever thus between dogs and cats.

Now the Siamese were sneaky

And the Pugs were determined

But there are no winners in wars

Of that I am certain.

The Siamese held the town

In ...

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I have lived for 14 years in your country,

Hidden from all eyes,

Sold by my family

For food and basic household supplies.

My hands have been red raw

With sores from inhuman chores

Why are you so surprised?

My smile dimmed by long months underground

My songs of joy slowly depleted until I make no sound.

I am here and here and here beneath your gaze

Why can’t you see my...

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Now hear me tell

Of Billy the Grey

Who’d fill you in about

 judgement day.

He’d stand in the pulpit

Persian fur flying

With tales of hell fires

That had small kittens crying.

He’d tell the miracle

of feeding 5000 cats

With one tin of Whiska’s

And 2 skinny rats.

He travelled the world

 Furry souls to save

Seeking repentment

Till he...

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He slicks back his hair

And knots his cravat

This king of the dance floor

The world’s dapperest cat.

He can tap out concertos

With only his feet

And his Tango has been classified

As “officially sweet”.

His hot chocolate eyes

Say come dance with me

I’ll show you paradise

And if you’re very hungry

I’ll buy us strawberry ice!

He has tutored Fred Astaire

And h...

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Foxtot Fergus

He slicks back his hair

And knots his cravat

This king of the dance floor

The world’s dapperest cat.

He can tap out concertos

With only his feet

And his Tango has been classified

As “officially sweet”.

His hot chocolate eyes

Say come dance with me

I’ll show you paradise

And if you’re very hungry

I’ll buy us strawberry ice!

He has tutored...

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She’s the fastest thing

 On two wheels

When she’s around

The airs full of squeals.

Tyres are tearing up the town

Her fur is up and her visors down.

She’s three times the winner of the TT races

She’ll gladly put you through your paces.

In tight red leathers

And a peacock feather hat

She really is a breathtaking cat.

Her pit crew known as the wild rat pack

Like to...

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7. Demi Stalker – Demon Dog Walker

The bravest cat of all

Is Demi Stalker

Who earns her living

As a demon dog walker.

A resourceful cat

Whose skills abound

Can walk at one time

Twenty two hounds.

She lines them up

The tallest first

Greyhounds and St Bernard’s

And underneath them Bratwursts

Those dashing little sausages

With tummies on the ground

Th...

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Free range Easter

It’s Easter

And murder is on my mind

Not the biblical JC kind

My brain is railing

At the thought of eggs

Unfair trade cocoa

And hens with crushed legs.

In battery cages

And slaved plantains

Are produced the treats

Of our spoilt nation.

The plastic eggy waste

Is choking our planet

That’s why I think

We need to can it....

Bottle ...

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5. Cats Paw Mc Graw

Cats paw Mc Graw

Is quick on the draw

His silhouettes

 a real revelation

He’s the Salvador Dali

Of the Alley

An artistic feline sensation.

He’s studied the grand masters

And modern art disasters

And featured in a Banksie

Or two

He’s painted HRH

With corgis snarling at the gates

For the right incentive

 He would paint y...

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Gang 13

I don’t want to be in your gang

I’m heartsick at the games you play

While I am busy building a life

 You are busy taking them away.

I don’t want to be in your gang

I don’t want to maim or kill

Don’t want to sell women’s bodies

Don’t want to poison kids with pills.

I don’t want to be in your gang

So you’ve made my life a living hell

Driven me from the l...

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Lush life, lost lives.

My country is a tropical paradise

Filled with breathtakingly beautiful plants

And dark death-making people.

I have eaten my evening meal en famille

With a gun at my head

Deep in the heart of my home

What more needs to be said?

And now I sit at your table sans famille

Clasping my cold jobless hands

And tell you of my refugee love for my land

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Rock pools

Six year old sandaled feet

 Combing the beach

Looking for tidal treasures

Far out of reach.

Crimson sea anemone

Scurrying crabs

Dashing and darting fish

They could be dabs.

Tiger striped razor shells

Enchanting echinoderms

Aubergine Mussels

Busy, bustling terns.

Six year old sandaled feet

Dragging home to bed

Vivid visions of volcanic ro...

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Stella Maris

Virgin Mary – star of the sea,

I pray to you

To set me free

Of worldly woes

And strife

And tears

To sail away

Across the years.

Through tides of time

To reach my port

by heaven blessed

and angels sought

oh Stella Maris

star of the sea

hear my prayer

 let it be.

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Frances Drake

Sir Frances Drake was a pirate

 Who sailed the seven seas,

He robbed King Phil of Spain,

To fund his life of ease.

With a yo ho ho

And a bottle of beer

He swaggered round London Town

He knew Queen Liz would stop them all from writing his exploits down.

With his lush raven tresses

And his jaunty pierced ear

He was a smiling handsome rogu...

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The winter sky is hungry

The winter sky is hungry

Waiting to take another life

The sharp North West wind

Cutting off life

 Like a knife

Through butter

Huddled in the gutter

They stutter

In sleeping bags

20 somethings

that already look

Like ancient hags.

They have seen too much life

Red in tooth and claw

It is more

 Than fragile minds and frames

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Saturday morning crumpet

The winter sun shone crisp and bright,

Through holly berries blood bright,

I sipped fragrant tea with oral delight,

And thought my idea of heaven might,

Be a beautiful blood sugar raising bite,

Of hot buttered crumpet!

I licked dry lips with tip of tongue,

Praying the toaster wouldn’t be long,

Want to bang the breakfast gong,

Broke i...

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Because we cannot know,

How long we are allotted,

When we become besotted,

We feel we need to consummate

The passion we feel,

Lest it abate!

I gaze upon the beauty

Of your form

I fight to breathe

Such is my need.

It knots my gut

Such is my lust.

I want to spend millennia

Running my fingers through your hair,

many millennia,

Showering you with gifts...

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Simple Northern girl

Oh I’m a simple Northern girl

My name is Dotty Line,

I want to be a child bride

But I think I’m out of time.

I want to find Prince Charming

Though I’m no Disney Princess

And all the Man united team

Have been inside my dress.

I’m aiming to be posh totty

In my £200 quid Hunter boots,

I’m paying my hairdresser £100 extra

Just to dye i...

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Eternity

Eternity is velvet black

Like an autumn night

Darkness

 Warmed by summer sunlight.

It is outside time and place

In the space

 between here and now

And always with us

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Meeting of minds

I know that your mind and mine

Have met across space and time

We two have eyes that have spoken to each other

Through the darkness of galaxies, by star shine.

I have felt your vital signs

Deep inside my skin

My body has grieved your losses

Yet together we shall win.

I have smelt your scent on the winter winds

Felt your touch in the kiss of summer...

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 The Tesco Express Blues:

(A tribute to the Ballard of Barry and Freda ....by the late, great, Victoria Wood)

I went down to the Tesco Express to buy me some beer,

Never made it inside the store because of my fear,

Cos sitting inside the chill cabinet,

Was a psycho-killer wearing fishnets,

Gonna get my Stetson and my gun,

Lay him down and have some fun,

North Western S...

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Lovelight

I am writing by lovelight

In the peace of my bedchamber

With my soul set to content.

The multifaceted flickering

Of the candle in its glass

Serves to remind me

Of the ebbing and flowing of life.

Here in the safe cocoon

 of my slumbering room

all can be considered

reflected on

and put to bed

by lovelight.

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Curry hurry

I ate a Balti in my bed

The lust for curry went straight to my head

I should have used the table instead

Cos now my face and duvet are red.

I’m hot and bothered

And sticky and smelly

It’s not like those ads you see

On the telly.

The naan bread was crumbly

The chutney was lumpy

Now my odorous lovers

 Exceedingly grumpy.

My scratch and sniff be...

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The UK today

The snow offers candy floss kisses,

To the shivering streets,

Transforms the stark, dark winter tree,

Into an icing sugar dusted

Picture postcard pin-up.

It is dawn but no bird’s chorus

Their song has been stolen by the wild wind.

I search the slumberous sky

For the fall of frosty flakes

At the bottom of my pin-up tree

Is heart break.

My eyes c...

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The smell of snow

Today snow covered the ground

In the town

Where I live

No kids

Were out in the open

Building snowmen

That image from the telly

Of rosy cheeked cherubs in wellies

And vibrant wooly hats and gloves

That marketing men so love.

Sadly I knew they would be alone

At home

Building virtual snow creatures

On their mobile phones.

My heart is...

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Tonight

I sat straight faced and listened

As the torrent of terror tumbled from your throat,

And wondered how do you ever smile,

And how do your eyes glisten?

Your smile is radiant.

I heard your story

And tonight I will go home

And cry.

I am not young or naive

Nor am I impressionable

But your story shock my humanity

To the core.

The vile truths spilled o...

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Earth thoughts

I want the earth

To consider each footstep I take

A caring caress.

I want the earth

To feel each seed I plant

Is a loving if wilful child.

I want the earth

To know that each thought I make

Is healing our sick world.

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