Olive

“I ate you” I said,

Bitter, hard hearted affair

I keep repeating.

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Cold Hearted

the calming time

cotton wool squeak

beneath my feet

the air

crisp with cold

crystal palaces

cut from ice

nose and mouth

streaming mist

vivid blue sky

the lake cupped

by mountain hands

in a caring gesture

frozen feet deep

covered with snow

the calming time

distant voices

carried on a

biting breeze

cheeks frost rouged

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Advent

Just imagine

Lying in a crib of straw

Staring at a star

Hanging over the barn

That whistles

With the soughing wind

Prizing at the flimsy wood

That keeps the night at bay

Just imagine

Your future laid before you

In pre-ordained days

That smell of blood and betrayal

The multi-paternal conundrum

That plays upon your mind

As you carve wood

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Less Than Human

Crash landed on this barren planet

Twenty seven forty three

Co-pilot killed on impact

And eaten eventually

There’s no food in the food hold

Incinerated by the heat

I’m trapped here in the cockpit

With the bones of Corporal Lee

Got out through the meteor shield

By use of a sharpened shin

That I made into a passable axe

By very careful ho...

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Votive Offering

the flame was bright

it danced in the dark

the wax dribbled down

the sides of the candle

and hardened

on the slate table

we peeled it off

and placed it

in a pewter bowl

flakes of candle wax

we lit another candle

it was red

the wick was long

and the flare

from the flame

shone just as bright

as the candle

we had lit

t...

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USMF

When the KKK and the Kremlin

Are sharing their vodka and rye

When redneck mutherfuckers

are making Lady Liberty cry

When The land of the free is walled in

So pesky Mexicans can’t get by

That’s the day the rest of us

Watches America die.

When the Whitehouse houses a bigot

A misogynist ‘locker room’ fly

When a multi-billionaire

Stands for momma...

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Red Poppies On An Autumn Day

Never forgotten – here to stay,

a symbol of the hurt and pain

where young men will forever lay.

The old man sells and we will pay

to wear a token for the slain -

never forgotten – here to stay.

Would they have approved? Who can say

If what was lost was worth the gain.

Red poppies on an autumn day

They had little choice ...

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Fairy Cakes

They believed in a mythical being,

who supposedly loved his creation.

Omnipotent and all seeing -

His will needing no explanation.

They followed his lore from an old book

written by disciples raising the stakes -

that one thing they just shouldn’t cook

were those sinful and bad fairy cakes.

“Good will to all men” they proclaimed

(but the women di...

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Mynydd Du

muddy tears from the past

sliding down the cheeks

of those who remember them

the thunder obliterated a generation

that would benefit from the industry

of their fathers

who prayed it all would last

while bosses planned

to take away their livelihood and history

they piled the slurry

into an unreliable black mountain

towering over ever...

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Eater Of Worlds

Zanni

Sits in front of a mirror

Smears his face with paint

His sad eyes

Come alive

With rings of black

And the white muzzle

Cracks when he smiles

Auguste

Paints a teardrop on his cheek

And swigs

From a bottle

Of broken dreams

The hot liquid

Burns his cackling throat

And warms his cold, cold heart

Harlequinade

Tran...

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Rosetta Of The Endless Night

She went away twelve years ago

and sent me missives now and then,

although her words were data flow

not written by a lovers pen.

She passed beyond the world of men,

forever from my earthly sight.

Rosetta of the endless night

The numbers came, row upon row,

from places far beyond my ken -

binary kisses from my beau

who touched ...

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F34r Th3 Numb3r5

F34r

Th3 numb3r5

F34r

th31r p0w3r

t0 pu5h y0u

1nt0 rush1n9

1nt0

Cl0ck w4tch1n9

Th3 numb3r5

On th3 5p33d0meter

0r ch451n9

A bu5

Hurry1n9

Fr0m p1ll4r

t0 p05t

g3tt1n9 w319h3d

b1rthd4y5

4nn1v3r54r135

4pp01ntm3nt5

Th3 c0d1n9

1n y0ur c0mput3r

Wh1ch dr1v35

Y0ur l1f3

B1n4ry ch1ld

1nt39...

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black clouds on a sunny day

a bus ride into town

on a sunny day

a black cloud

crawls its way

across the window

this is about me

this is about me

this is about me

this is not about me

she could be

he could be

there is no sign

how would I know

I glance at her

her smile

curves into uncertainty

at the corner

of her mou...

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Black Bear

like a hobo

walking down a train track

in a slow lumbering gait

we pace with you

coming in and out of view

between dense foliage

that separates the myth

from the reality

fingers point

hushed reverent voices

intone the chant

a bear, a bear

but this is not

some overstuffed facsimile

bought in a tourist shop

this is the real deal

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Let Me Sit Beneath An Old Lamp

Let me sit beneath an old lamp

With its shade tilted at an angle

Tracing my finger along rough paper

Glowing in a yellow light

Lost in worlds of other’s making

Drawn from the ebb and flow of words

Upon a dim-lit page

As evening draws in

Closing around my imagination

Unthreatening, comforting,

Time passing unnaturally

Against t...

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Honourable

If you wrote his speeches

If you contributed to the farce

If you drove him here and there

If you kissed his arse

If you supplied his porcine pleasure

If you shone his shoes

If you offered him your soul

If all your reds were blues

If you served his table

If you served his drink

If you closed your mind

If you tried hard not to think

If you sorte...

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Blue Smoke Ghost

A matchbox scratch

A flare of light

The smell of sulphur

A yellow patch

Above his chair

On the ceiling

A row of pipes

Hung in a rack

Saliva drips

The suck

And suck

And suck on shank

Red glow

In the dusk

On a back step

The aroma

Of spices

In the ready-rub

Scratching

Grey ash

From the c...

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Lady Liberty Weeps

In a Minnesota precinct

On a Minnesota street

The day starts like any other

For the Baton Rouge elite

In the land of the brave

In the land of the free

A cop with a pistol

Shoots liberty

A man reaches for a wallet

With a target on his back

Red white and blue

All the patrolman sees is black

Where the gun is law

The sheriff of the west

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Attrition

Sat here thinking

with chaos all around…

In this together,

family and friends,

some for

some against.

All affected

by the outcome.

All committed.

Sat here thinking

with chaos all around…

Europe needs us.

Allies need us

to face this thing

together and united

for our futures

and our children’s futures.

Sat here ...

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Anger Is A Stone Cast Into A Wasps Nest

Spreading honeyed words

with a silver knife tongue

in some strange world

where the pollen

is not collected by the bees

but, rather, wasps

who gather in their hives

and plan the traitor stings

that will silence

honest men.

The annoying drone,

the caustic buzz,

the honeycomb

of politics

clogged up

by st...

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a peaceful warrior

next week

I’ll make a mark

to show my choice

and there will be

no hate

no fear

no injustice

In that decision

it will be

for the future

for the greater good

it will not be

for brutal killers

bigots

racists

terrorists

from over there

or right here

it will be everything

but that

it will be

fo...

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Xenophobe

centuries turn

witches burn

mantra

monsters

under the bed

home is where

the heart is

not like me

me not like

trolls

under bridges

bogeyman

is gonna get ya

spreading

like a virus

mantra

monsters

in my head

trolls

in the darkness

bogeyman

is gonna get ya

home is where

the hurt is

attacking

healthy

white c...

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Between A Rock & A Hard Place

Trust me

said the man I didn’t trust

Stay in

every part of me

is against

what he stands for

but he has support

from the people

that I trust

Trust me

said the man I didn’t trust

Get out

every part of me

is against

what he stands for

but my heart aches

for what I believe

to be right

Don’t ...

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The Bayonet In The Shed

He put it there in forty nine,

in a woodworm riddled drawer,

wrapped it in a greasy rag.

A remnant from the war.

On top of it he laid his medals,

nothing more was said

until the day my father

took the bayonet from the shed.

We had pestered many times

and he had said ‘perhaps’

when we asked him if he’d killed

any Krauts or any Ja...

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A Pointy Reckoning

She had blonde hair

and beautiful, blue, eyes

and these were far more

Innocent times.

Comprehensive,

seventy six,

before we left

for adulthood.

I was seventeen

and made to look fifty,

she was a year younger

and made to look black.

In a school

in West Yorkshire

we had no black girls

in the sixth form

and the only w...

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Splendid Is The Flower

if I make something beautiful

will you gently touch it

with your perspective

or will you taint it

with a vengeful critics tongue

am I qualified

to judge you

either way

if I make something beautiful

will you take the time

to kiss it with your praise

or will you rip it to shreds

with your own experience

are you qual...

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Head In Hands

when I bring my hands

to my face

the heels fit precisely

into the sockets of my eyes…

my thumbs circle my temples

but do not soothe or ease the pain…

each of my fingers press

against the bony ridge of forehead…

kneading, coaxing,

pleading for relief…

the insides of each hand

pinch against the aqualine

contours of my nose...

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Sun Bleached Bones

someone put it in the sun

and hoped that it would grow

but others said it wouldn’t

and they were right you know

not everything that’s in the sun

is bathed in warming light

a lot of it is hard and cold

and isn’t very bright

someone put it in the sun

and hoped that it would sell

but right minded individuals

can tell a lie by smell

s...

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Cursed Be He That Moves My Bones

“Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”

How often did I studiously fail

to untangle your brier patch of words.

Encouraged by my teachers to prevail

in setting free the frustrated songbirds,

so that their melody could swell the h...

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This Is England

the empty cardboard

coffee cup groans with hunger

eyes to eyes to anything

that isn’t eyes

clothes that itch with dirt

the taste of yesterdays soup

settles against teeth

sleep is the enemy

dulling your hopes of escape

if the spiteful arrive

with mean intentions

and brown leather boots

head bowed against the world

not looking ...

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The Parchment, The Bullet And The Word

It was old,

old and failing,

and it was loaded

and when I pointed it at him

he shrank back

afraid.

I said

“Do what I want

you to do,

because if you don’t

I will use this.

I’m not afraid

To use this”.

He sank to his knees

and prayed

for forgiveness,

prayed to all his little Gods

that I was bl...

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Tumbleweed

In a town called Tumbleweed

sound is deadened

so that every conversation

crawls like a gentle breeze

through cotton wool.

Beggars are kings,

politicians pariahs,

policemen thieves,

priests parasites.

Suzie is a victim.

The streets of Tumbleweed

host sinners, saints and surrogates

sneering into bibles

left to them

by agnostic pa...

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Catechism

I will not be defined by ancient Gods,

or the archaic teachings in their books.

I will tread warily around their words

and avoid the hidden traps and snaring hooks.

I will not stand behind a coloured flag

and spout my blunt imperialistic views

or drape it on a coffin when I die

or burn it on the early evening news.

I will not make a choice that’s...

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The Making Of A Worker.

The lorry tips its rubble

On the road outside our house,

the privet hedge engulfed

in a primordial cloud of dust,

it drives away in chugging glee

having spilled its heavy load

and we stand and watch it go

as the carbon mountain settles.

The sergeant-major father

barks his orders at the troops

and our little hands clasp tight

the...

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I Am The Scarecrow

I am the scarecrow.

Hanging from this wooden frame,

a skeleton of twisted wood

that creaks and groans in protest

at the ravages of age.

The ice cold rain

trickles through my straw flesh

bringing chills to every movement

and dull aches to the knotted joints.

I am the scarecrow.

My sack-cloth head

full of sawdust ideas

that spill fr...

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The Dark & The Light

This cruel winter

claims its marionettes

in a heartbeat.

The dark man

raised from the black rock.

Turning

as the glittering light

cascades over the road,

casting long shadows.

He sees a face

and then another

and then another,

a rainbow chameleon

changing with the wind,

never setting

always fluid.

Rebirth.

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Rich Pictures

catching wasps in cobwebs

brutal lines and angles

graffiti strewn puddles

homeless persons

hopeless gaze

shimmer on a wheelchair

in an old abandoned hospital

where cries ring out at night

In the empty cells

demons in the trees

caught in click

spiral monsters

under piers

foaming lap

of northern tides

fractured bulbs

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Featuring 18 tracks first written as poems and posted on Write Out Loud first - then, later set to music (folk, punk, glam, electronic, rock). This is the 3rd CD from my poetry/music project titled THE CROWS OF ALBION.

18 tracks across a playing time of 80 minutes - the CD is available for £8 +P&P direct from me - it can also be purchased as a download via BANDCAMP for £7.

https://thecrowsof...

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