Here's a poem I wrote to celebrate the launch of Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau (filmed before lockdown but only just released)

Rise

May you rise like the phoenix from the ashes.

Reignite your precious embers.

Break from your constraints to dance on air.

Rise like the swelling tide, the harvest moon.

Rise like you will dare.

Rise like you're awakened from a hun...

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We live in a society of sanitized brutality.

Austerity increasing exponential wealth disparity, despairing for community. 

Who has put a price on life to ration out a tiny slice,

and grip us in their vice, disguised as moral order righteousness? 

Pretenders to the throne, to throw us only scraps and bones. 

The corporations profit all by raised invoice and taxes slashed,

as ...

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christmas is ridiculous

a frenzy of indoctrination 

sentimental propaganda

pressure to participate

unrealistic expectations

inculcated in the kids

while parents go insane 

it goes against the grain to be 

so busy at this time of year

we should be curled up by the fire

not fucking running round so wired 

to buy this tat that no one needs

sanctifying endless greed

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https://youtu.be/kx6C248MQeQ

On being young and foolish at the second muddiest Glastonbury Festival in history. 

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https://youtu.be/RfD-1qK2vo0

Time’s Up 

Is it coincidence

that at the end stage of the patriarchy

we see the extent of the abuse and rape of women exposed 

alongside the rape of the planet?

As the Earth is pillaged and torn,

all living beings regarded as resources or collateral,

woman is shorn,

time and again, of her dignity, stripped bare,

in the final days...

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https://youtu.be/t-HcWsx4Iqc

Sensory Intensity

LED lights getting brighter. God

my eyeballs hurt.

Dyson dryers far too loud.

How fast do you need

to dry your hands? Slow down. 

It seems like all the world wants more.

And wants it now.

More power. Turn it up. Make it

Faster

Louder 

Brighter

Stronger

Till we drown.

We’re not hardwired for this

har...

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https://youtu.be/WY9SNLEd7DI

there's plastic in the landfill

plastic in the seas

plastic flowers and robot bees

artificial christmas trees

there’s plastic in our food and drink

plasticisers in the milk

plastic plates and plastic spoons

microplastics in our poo

plastic filling up our view

plastic clothes and plastic bricks

I suppose there must be plastic sick

pla...

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If I could bottle up this thunder

in my heart and post it to you,

all those unspoken words would 

tumble out and you would see.

If I could lace my fingers into yours,

we could speak in braille.

If I could lie my head against your skin

and inhale, you could not fail to know.

If I could touch my lips upon your mouth,

and speak the language of eternity,

no words would be...

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This poem is a thank you to Vanessa Kisuule for her poem ‘Take Up Space’, a message of empowerment to girls and women. I thought this was fitting as today is international day of the girl, although the message applies to anyone it resonates for.

https://youtu.be/a3CqdaxR3jQ

Vanessa Kisuule I Thank You

Vanessa Kisuule I thank you,

for your poem awoke me 

to the power of spoken w...

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Don’t listen to them when they call you snowflakes.

Don’t be hurt when they call you fucking pansies.

Pity them. They are damaged. And they fear you.

They think it’s too much work to be inclusive,

too used to being the privileged majority.

Who is it really that’s easily offended?

When they see they don’t define the world anymore.

You do. That is why they fear you.

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love is not 

love is not possession

love is not obsession

nor is it dissolution

of the self except in fleeting

moments of passion

love is not fixing

love is not needy 

love is not forcing

unwanted gifts

nor demanding reciprocity 

love is not being half

nor dependency

love is no debt 

nor a prison of

all consuming exclusivity

love ...

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https://youtu.be/r6O9OOiqHnw

Goodbye to the common land.

Goodbye to our pensions.

Goodbye to free school milk,

and goodbye to fair rent.

Goodbye to a job for life.

Don’t expect a contract.

Farewell to the greengrocer,

selling fruit in paper bags.

Farewell to the council house.

They’re selling off allotments.

The end of days for the bursary.

No more pow...

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I’m not your zebra.

I don’t want you to chase me

to show your devotion.

I’m not your lioness.

You don’t need to pursue me

across the plains

to demonstrate your loyalty.

You don’t need to dominate me

to prove your masculinity.

I don’t need you to need me.

I’m not your source,

I’m not your mother, 

I’m not your bitch.

You don’t need to chip, chip

chip away, ...

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https://youtu.be/ZYTq97CreoQ

To all you writers and poets out there.

Thank you for your words of courage, 

words of truth,

words of encouragement

and nourishment.

Thank you for your solidarity,

for lifting us up.

Thank you for breaking ground,

cutting the edge,

standing on that soapbox 

with daring and drive,

having the nerve to shout out

what many ...

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Pound shops and takeaways,

salons for grooming of

dogs and their owners

sit side by side.

Rancid fat acrid

in back alley junk piles,

settees and Christmas trees

slowly decay.

Damp homes

in damp climate

for cotton mill workers

no longer needed.

The forest of chimneys

now superseded

by new build in miniature,

room sizes shrinking,

l...

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https://youtu.be/68Q0PUSxn2I

Canaries in the mine.

Kids that cut themselves. 

New mums on Prozac, 

Calpol poured down tiny throats.

Twelve year olds try ketamine

(already smoking weed).

Prepubescent boys

ask to drink girl’s pussy juice.

‘Mum, what does he mean?’

A teenage girl has overdosed.

Everybody’s glued to screens.

Can anybody see 

canaries in the ...

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Still 23

I’m 46 next week, but I’m 23 inside,
It’s not just old age denied.
I know my body’s knackered
‘cos daily I’m reminded:
the mirror’s getting scary,
I’m sure my face is puffy.

I used to feel so fit and strong,
stand up in the pub and sing a song,
Give me a coffee, I don’t want a pint,
I’ve no time for fools or picking a fight.

I think I’m pretty cool,
my daughter’s face sa...

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She is long gone

So long I have to strain to hear her voice

Down the years

The last thing she said to me though 

Clear as day

Like the sun through mists of dawn 

‘Oh Janey’

An unexpected heartfelt sigh

Two words could not contain more depth

For she was lost to me long before

She left this earth

Or so I thought

Until the parting of the clouds

So brief

To gi...

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I know I have no right to stand here

and attempt to speak for my sisters

and brothers of colour.

I stand here in awe to applaud

their strength and their courage,

their patience in the face of 

relentless abuse.

As a child I was picked on,

excluded, abused;

I was ginger with freckles.

But now I am grown,

I doubt I’ve been ever

turned down for a job

or a h...

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She lies awake at night,

eyes wired,

frantically reading

anything, anything,

to not think about it,

to patch up the cracks,

sew up the seams,

stuff the holes with cushions 

made of trash TV and Facebook,

while the mould seeps

down the bedroom wall,

letters lie ignored

re: default sum unpaid,

again.

So sick, sick

of hospital appointments, 

waiting in ...

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Insidious, drip, drip, drip,
manipulation,
until normality
is life in a cage
of words and looks.
Like a dog that stands there docile,
the rope untied.

Some words do hurt,
do stick.
The most powerful,
parasitic,
worm into the mind,
unnoticed, unchallenged,
apparently innocuous,
sugar coated lies
on the nature of reality.

But a mind awakened
in the vast realms
of consciousness,
...

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https://youtu.be/4wsNbaVtA9o

Common Ground

All religions can be used or misused,
misconstrued or abused.
All religions may have their mystics,
moral believers, payers of lip service
and fundamentalist terrorists.

Interpretations are as varied as humanity.
Dogma is not exclusive to religion.
Even skeptics, atheists and scientists
are not immune. It’s a human frailty,
a vulnerabilit...

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