Curfew

Leave the light on – lock the door

This ritual plays out each Friday

A barrier to the debauched reveller

Who slips behind the clock returning home

A curfew for the beer vampire

Who will only find a soothing bed

If father specifically invites him in

After knocking twice and shouting through the letterbox

This ancient tribal face off

Between uprigh...

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Label On The Bottle

The label on the bottle told me it was strong

But I drank it all night anyway

And didn’t think that I’d done wrong

It made me very happy in a lightheaded sort of way

It was deep amber in colour

And I would regret it all next day

It burned the back of my throat as a sipped the evil brew

It smelt of cinnamon and spice

And bit by bit my co...

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Silenus In The Brewery Tap

light fights its way

across a peeling window frame

and crashes lazily

upon a dark wooden table

where a man sits

stooped by work and alcohol

so that he seems

to stare for guidance in a pint pot

that stands half consumed

while froth slides down its sides

street noise scrabbles

to overcome the slow whumpwhump of a ceiling fan

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supping at the Silverback Inn

the glass stops halfway to its destination
and the sands of time are quicksand
as you survey the crowded saloon bar
in the gently creaking Silverback Inn

see him
the one with the paunch
I remember him
he was a bully
at school
a right hard case
look at him now
fat and old

the stained and sticky floorboards agree
whispering taunting mocking
all that...

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Drunk (Spinning Wheel Blues)

Two o’clock

and feeling so high.

Walking on walls

and touching the floor.

Spinning wheel blues

in the back of your mind.

Knowing you can’t take

anymore.

Churning stomach

in time with each spin

as the room turns over

and throws you aside.

You clutch to the bed

as though you would fall

and – somew...

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