Wraith

We all reach that point in life

Where Halloween holds no magic

The ragged clothes and haggard looks

The pale of face and wrinkled mask

The wild unkempt hair of cobwebs

The brittle touch of ancient hand

The racing heartbeat

Pounding out its horror rhythm

The nervous look into dark corners

Death waiting across the grey veil

A cold sweat and night chi...

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Thirteen Minutes From Home

I was thirteen minutes from home

On a warm April day

Bumping my way through a crowd

The future a lifetime away

There were cars revving their engines

As they crawled along the street

kids were playing in gardens

And getting under everyone’s feet

Just for a second I paused

As I turned into Pandemic Close

As the noise fell away lik...

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(not) painting a Carr’s water-biscuit box

George looked at me, in an all-knowing way, and said
“paint what you see”
as he handed me a Carr’s water-biscuit box

it’s blue, I thought, and boring,
but I took it away and set it on a table
in luke-warm autumn sunlight

after a while, I had a rough oil pastel sketch
that I thought was quite accomplished
I had caught the slight sheen from th...

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