She sat alone
Finger sandwiches and black americano,
She watched others in the little high-street bistro
Aloof and from a distance,
A sort of elsewhere, nowhere, socialising.
She checked her phone screen,
The picture of the young man
Still unchanged from the last time she checked
Just a few moments before,
There were no missed calls to return,
No texts to reply to,
She lingered for...
Wednesday 14th December 2022 10:33 am
A young man from Leeds
There was once a sad young man from Leeds,
Who struggled through life, with special needs,
Physically abused while at school
Mentally confused; considered a fool,
He committed suicide on his TikTok feed
Sunday 11th December 2022 4:33 pm
Criticism of this poet, by his friend
My friend, the poet, is a fraud
(He's also intellectually flawed),
He strings together, badly I'm afraid,
Words without rhyme, their meanings strayed,
Undecipherable as hieroglyphics
Less literary, somewhat more scientific,
Four-line stanzas of moans and groans
Naked imagery without any flesh or bones,
I've read several lines of his so-called verse
Each following line ap...
Monday 5th December 2022 4:07 pm
A franchise on my soul
I felt that my life was diminished
My smallest of dreams, suppressed
There stood before me a man of conviction
Asserting that I need not feel oppressed.
Like the pied piper he whistled, I listened
Of ancient arcadia, his land of hope
Where I could escape the rigours of conformity
That hung around my neck like a rope
Simply cradle in the soft arms of Morpheus
Safe, fro...
Wednesday 30th November 2022 5:04 pm
Hope For Our Love
You have said, that it has to be
Our future is no longer we.
There's always you, but without me.
I cling to our memories of what went before
Before you said we were no more,
With your suitcase in hand, you slammed the door.
It seems strange, yet clear to me, I'm
Unhappy being this carefree,
I want a second chance at being we.
I cling to our memories of what wen...
Monday 28th November 2022 9:55 am
The Hairdressers Tale
She became a woman today
Her marriage vows have fallen away.
As yellowing leaves of an autumnal tree.
All her hurt and shame
She knows just who to blame.
Inconsistent husband, now the absentee.
With a pounding of his heart that raced
He turned and closed the door in haste.
This half-glazed threshold becomes a barrier.
Love lost wouldn’t again grow st...
Friday 25th November 2022 9:48 am
Anxiety
The lady in a long fluffy pink coat
Over a pink roll-neck sweater,
Was suffering,
She was suffering from invisible anxiety,
Constantly she cranes her neck behind to see
Furtively looking,
Out through the cafe door
As if waiting for someone,
Someone,
She's not too sure she wants to meet.
Tugging gently at the tassel dangling from her coat
She has anxious d...
Monday 21st November 2022 11:33 am
The Minder
“ John put those back”
“ We don't need them.“
“ No John we don't need those either”
“ Come on.”
"If we’re not careful, we'll be here all day.”
“ I want to get home, I've had enough shopping”
“ John let’s go and get the milk, then we'll get the bread”
“ No John not here, the floor is not your bed”
“ Come on John move, you can do it”
“ If you're a good we’ll get a slice o...
Sunday 13th November 2022 5:34 pm
RAF Swinderby
SWING THOSE ARMS!
PICK UP THOSE FEET!
LEFT RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT LEFT!
YOU SHOWER OF SHITS!
YOU SHOULD HAVE JOINED THE BLOODY NAVY!
WHAT’S YOUR NAME SON, TINKERBELL, YOU FAIRY!
DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, I’M NOT YOUR SWEETHEART!
We had just six weeks to go,
Apart from our sleep last night
We had been here in hell just eight hours,
Nothing prepares you for this life...
Thursday 10th November 2022 7:56 pm
Stay with me
A child without influence
Conceived lacking counsel
A child of slender chance
Cry, cry, cry until
This silent life, held in hand, is yours
To shout, I am she,
Hammer deaths doors
Stay my love, stay with me
Saturday 5th November 2022 7:20 am
One, Two, Three, More
As one,
I thought that love was done
Then meeting you
We merged as two
Formerly you were three
Two young sons, and the divorcee
We became four
Them and us, and what's more
Now a family together
The sons, their mother and her lover
Friday 4th November 2022 7:56 am
No more the fool
We've both travelled far
We've journeyed long,
You've whistled your tune
I've sung your song,
I've listened intently,
Attended when asked,
We've played our lovers’ game
I've settled for last,
I've danced to your beat,
Recited verse,
You've needed a fool
I've come off worse,
I've lived for and loved you
Throughout the abuse,
Cried silent tears for you,
...Tuesday 1st November 2022 10:35 am
Fields of Poppies
Let's hold each other's hands,
And in silence, stand
Where the fields of poppies grow,
Let us remember them
Our brave young men
Buried just below.
For those who cried
As they laid down and died,
So very far from home,
With just white clouds,
Deaths gossamer shrouds
Covering their tortured bones.
Let's think a little more,
Is liberty worth dying for?
...Saturday 29th October 2022 7:57 am
The Small Square Table
They sat close together at the small square table
Two ladies lunching, demure and cultivated
Maybe wrongly, I surmise they're unrelated
But I sense a friendship of many years
Together, through laughter and many tears
Hair recently coiffured, sprayed with earthquake-proof hold
They appear interchangeable, sat side by side
Both dressed similarly, much refinement implied
...
Monday 24th October 2022 3:43 pm
Lest We Forget
Soon be remembrance day so I thought I would offer you this thought
Form a queue boys, form a queue,
Stand still in line boys, stand still in line,
It's coming to you boys, it's coming to you,
One at a time.
Your country needs you boys, your country needs you,
To fight in their wars boys, to fight in their wars,
For the right and the true boys, the right and the...
Saturday 22nd October 2022 3:21 pm
Born to Die
Waves rolling slowly, onto an empty shore,
Wash clean the pebbles and the sand,
Whilst bubbling white foam, marks
an evaporating monument to the journey's end.
Freely dancing on the open water,
Light, from the sleepy harbour, reflects
as facets of a cut jewel glistens
Into the gem cutter's eye.
No mourners in melancholic song,
Lament the sea's daily demise,
No me...
Wednesday 19th October 2022 8:04 am
Paint Life as an Abstract Expression
The Abstractor brushes a green day
A pink sun hung in a star-studded rainbow sky
A nude autumnal tree at the conclusion of spring
Roots suck the life from a metallic river of red
That springs from one cobble of a cobblestone road
With a roof for a floor
A wall for a door
An escape from your dreams
An expression of love, a hue of silent grey
Hate a fierce streak of v...
Monday 17th October 2022 2:20 pm
Running scared little maiden
Why are you running scared little maiden?
Why do you hide amongst the trees?
Do you believe your dreams are in tatters?
And that you’ve finally crumbled to your knees.
Are you sure you want to run little maiden?
Please take a pause whilst I hold your hand,
You’ll see then that running till your heart bleeds
Won’t help you navigate life or understand
You believe that sh...
Friday 14th October 2022 12:29 pm
The Mysterious Letter
Sam quietly opened the study door.
Her stepfather was standing by his desk,
Rapt by a letter from the morning post
Looking near comically Chaplinesque
"You'll never get those filthy hands of yours
on what I've built, you despicable slag"
He was shouting loudly at the letter
"I'll finish you, you malevolent hag,"
From the desk, he took the long letter knife
...Thursday 13th October 2022 11:40 am
Our love has a DVT
I thought we would be forever, together, better
Then any individual thrill, yet still
We overlooked each other
I thought that I would feel a happy chappy not crappy
Like I felt with previous lovers gone before, so sure.
We subsequently unhooked from those others
Yet what is bizarre, we are, not far,
We’re close at hand. Must we disband?
For this love has a deep...
Monday 10th October 2022 11:06 am
Ode to an M&S toasted teacake
Oh toasted teacake
Whose spiced fruitfulness
buttered buns doth make
My taste buds, multitudinous.
Strawberry jam scooped
luxuriously spread,
Juiced raisins covered
Sweet blanket overhead.
Oh toasted teacake
soft baked, brown coated
slightly burnt domed hat
Adds texture, pleasantly noted.
A certain keenness
to repeat this pleasure
Like ...
Friday 7th October 2022 11:04 am
The Last Will and Testament of a Poet
My England.
May I ask?
That when death calls,
You'll caress
this poet.
Where his shadow falls,
On his grave,
Lay a rose
of deepest red,
Shed, just one
single tear,
For your loyal dead,
Paupers grave
without cross
or marker stone.
Silent rest,
rest in peace
In your arms alone,
Entombed in
Blakes rhythmic
green and pleasant l...
Wednesday 5th October 2022 1:06 pm
Symi
Symi
A small island of the Dodecanese
Island folk seem so eager to appease
Unhurried life puts us firmly at ease
Gently blown by the soft Aegean breeze
Symi
Archangel Michael of Panormitis
This monastery draws us, invites us
Somehow we acquire a monk to guide us
Lighting candles for those gone before us
Symi
With neoclassical coloured houses
Gift Shops, some bar...
Monday 3rd October 2022 2:53 pm
The simile of The Mist.
Fine mist,
On Scottish hills
(is like the fattened paunch
of a corpulent man,) it just
rolls down
Saturday 1st October 2022 9:24 am
The old man in the next bed,
It's coming, I know it,
My final hours of life,
I have regrets
But I have no more strife,
My past stretched behind me
There is nothing ahead,
I'll be relieved when the time comes.
When I'm finally dead.
When that moment arrives
When finally I'm gone,
They'll say of me
His pitiful life, done,
He lived, he loved, he laughed,
Somewhat reluctantly.
Graspe...
Thursday 29th September 2022 10:06 am
Little brown pictures
Proud, and oh so beautiful.
The Peacock emerges monochromatically
from surrounding flowers, to be reborn.
Nearby sepia swans encapsulate your beauty and your success.
Enhancing both energy and health
All silhouetted by the bronzed-toned moon above
Leaves on vines show longevity in our devotion.
The winding chestnut-coloured dragon
wrapped loosely around my forearm
en...
Tuesday 27th September 2022 1:06 pm
Don’t play it again. Uncle Sam:
Mr America,
Why do you shout?
You’re really a loudmouth.
That’s without doubt.
You scream patriotism from deep in your lungs.
At those with diverse traditions, an assortment of tongues,
In the land of the free, you incarcerate those
Less fortunate than most, those too easily disposed
Mr America,
Why do you gloat?
As you sail away to damnation,
In your open-top...
Sunday 18th September 2022 2:09 pm
Faded Pictures
Pathetically and silently, she sat
In her chair, a frail old lady
Neither showing emotion nor self-pity
Rejected and ignored by the family she conceived,
Their faded pictures are framed on her wall.
But they are not coming soon.
Certainly not this week.
Their lives are now at such a pace.
There is no recognition that hers is concluding.
She sat
A miserable, life-sca...
Friday 16th September 2022 12:41 pm
Simile and Metaphor
Poetic similes and metaphors
They are just ungainly analogies.
The writing on the wall says Belshazzar.
The poets' gold turned to brass by alchemy.
Describing Guardsmen erect in their ranks
stood like the contents of a vesta box.
Or a prostitute on the street corner.
A marina where men sail up and dock.
A cloud is a cloud, however lonely.
Child of a man is still a girl o...
Wednesday 14th September 2022 11:17 am
To old, too young
One by one, it seems
Our joy from childhood dreams
quickly falls away.
Until the day
None of those dreams remain.
The red balloons
We let loose to fly
Those floating memories of our youth
Passing by, high in the sky
Our childhood days
Sometimes, misguided ways
They made us cry.
The laughter we had then
Beyond recapture
We will never live aga...
Wednesday 7th September 2022 11:27 am
1997, She’s gone
On Sunday, August 31st, tragedy.
You came to our room, waking me.
"Diana is dead."
You said
Prince Charles is on his way to France.
Why are you giving me that sideways glance?
On Monday, September 1st, "Let's talk."
We're over. Love has walked
This is the end.
Let's just be friends.
In London, there's a one-minute silence.
Here, never-ending silent defiance.
...Saturday 3rd September 2022 3:18 pm
Death in polite society is quieter.
When the time comes and I must die,
(Unsurprisingly, there's no date for when).
Gathered family weep, may even cry.
For this life, lived and loved, amen.
Will I die lying in my bed?
Peacefully, restfully, within my home,
Will friends encircle my soft final breath?
Or slabbed in the morgue all alone.
I'd prefer to die in slumber.
My lover and I entwined, fa...
Friday 2nd September 2022 9:16 am
Let’s not fall in Love.
Heaven, full of shooting stars, watched
while we lay close together on a sandy beach.
Wishes made that day may be cast away.
When no longer close, when we're out of reach
We'll surely blame one another.
For the closeness of our smother,
Then we may part.
Bittersweet tears may fall.
From our eyes to the floor
Promises sworn may be torn.
from hearts, and yet o...
Tuesday 30th August 2022 9:49 am
Goodbye Mum
I'm sitting in this quiet shell,
I neither belong to it, nor it to me,
I want to lift up my head, just once,
Then sail away, be free.
My body though doesn't act the way
That other bodies really should,
Why is everything that I do in life
So wrong and never good?
Why does my Daddy shout so much?
Why does my Mummy cry?
Why can't I be like everyone el...
Friday 26th August 2022 9:54 am
Busy Mister Taxman
Dear busy mister taxman
I trust that I find you well.
I hope you're sitting comfortably.
A story I have to tell.
It centres around the rebate.
You so kindly sent today.
It really is too kind of you.
To remember me this way
But wait... What is this I see?
It fills my soul with terror.
Because dear busy mister taxman
It seems you've made an error.
...
Saturday 20th August 2022 4:51 pm
The Charge of the Light Ale’rs (apologises to Tennyson)
Half a lager, half a larger,
Half a larger. Onward
into their bellies so fast.
Poured the six punters.
"Four more light ales they craved!"
“Charge a large gin!" he said.
Into their bellies in haste
Poured the six punters.
"Four more light ales !" They craved
Err, were men so ale'd?
Not though the barman knew
Someone overcharged.
Not them to make amends...
Friday 19th August 2022 9:15 am
Within your eyes
If only I could find preconstructed words
Scattered amongst vocabularic sherds,
That could easily describe and characterise
That bright sparkle within your eyes,
For then the world may understand
That, which I know for sure first-hand,
For within those eyes,
All my future pleasure lies,
Deep steely blue pools of passion
Are not as cold as one may imagine,
Like ro...
Tuesday 16th August 2022 5:48 pm
When we were young
Summer morning, Nineteen Seventy,
Field study, Miss Skipworth's junior third,
Inspired location, unvisited
But silently, we listened, absorbed.
Amazed that Carr Dyke was Roman-built,
I had no knowledge and less inkling,
Imported empire goods transported,
From Nene valley up to Lincoln.
Engineered during Hadrian's reign,
Built fen waterway, the border wall,
...Friday 12th August 2022 7:57 pm
Father and Son
“I have a good mind”
No, you don’t
You bully, harrass, and cajole
But never with a good mind,
Ever.
“You just sit there”
I’ll sit, but you dear father
Can’t stop my mind from racing
across the universe, to view
The wonders
“You’ll never learn”
You never teach,
Or demonstrate clearly
What you ask is out of my reach
And my interest
“Why do you answer ...
Monday 8th August 2022 6:27 pm
Riding the Tube
Travelled in London,
Rode the Picadilly line,
Deodorant's fine
If others spray, otherwise
There's no nasal protection.
Monday 25th July 2022 12:17 pm
Making Up in BSL
Lovers at a round table
Experiencing alfresco Expresso,
Arguing so passionately at each other,
Their flailing arms demand the attention of the other,
Facial expressions accentuate each silent voice
Grimacing with gritted teeth, wide-eyed disbelief
Frantically fingers touch their face with force
Spelling words and phrases only they can share,
Some shock the reader but ...
Friday 22nd July 2022 7:44 pm
Clouds of White
Floating gently above darkened clouds,
Looking down upon madding crowds,
Whistling wind and dripping rain,
See those people mightily strain
Against the boredom of their humdrum life,
A husband late home to his nagging wife
Who’s spent her day in effortful cleaning
Washing, cooking, all-day preening,
Ironing, polishing, occasionally resting,
Maintaining their home so both...
Saturday 16th July 2022 1:50 pm
See you later Alligator, In a while Crocodile.
Let's go for a wander
Anaconda,
What’s your wish?
Jellyfish,
Let's just have a gander
Salamander,
What shall we see?
Chimpanzee.
We’ll see what’s about
Rainbow Trout,
Whether that's a little
Or even Axolotl,
Where shall we go?
Water buffalo
What about the beach?
Common Leech,
I don’t fancy that
Little brown bat,
How about the park?
Gre...
Wednesday 13th July 2022 9:43 am
Four Pound, Half An Ounce
Two bags of sugar
A pinch of ground black pepper,
Weight of the baby
Mother gave birth to that day.
(I've sure made up for it since).
Born on the Sabbath
Priests rejoiced at her bedside.
Six weeks early though,
Sagittarian archer
Not a horned Capricorn goat.
First hours without God
We both looked death in the eye,
Mum scarred by cancer,
I, tubed and...
Friday 8th July 2022 8:03 am
Lost in Conflict
Many years ago
In a long-forgotten time,
I watched a Channel Four TV show,
I was hooked in episode one,
The endings had a certain style
Making me wait impatiently for next week,
I was gripped by the excitement
Needing to understand more.
Each character held and hid a secret
Plots had subplots galore,
I couldn’t always keep up,
So I took comfort in social ...
Wednesday 6th July 2022 4:56 pm
Virgin Summer Night
Nothing assaults the senses like the chill air of a summer's evening,
Forearm follicles as erect as a pubescent boy's expectation of his young penis
Or nipples hardening through your silken blouse.
The smell of summer love when two bodies collide in passion
It has the warmth of the day yet exacerbated and put to fire by your sensual touch,
Sweat from our movements and desire...
Saturday 2nd July 2022 11:49 am
Metaphors of The Unsated
A pebble thrown into a millpond displays delightful concentric circles
I have thrown countless pebbles, to no avail
What’s unfair should make you stronger,
I’m the sum of my life's successes, not my failures,
A bicycle peddled, generates forward motion, faster and faster downhill,
I’ve pressed down firmly, I’m no more forward than I was before.
What’s unfair should make you...
Wednesday 15th June 2022 7:52 pm
Mocked by Weevils
I will take your hand, please lead me from darkness,
Living this tortuous love, every day,
I saw hurting myself as reasonably, to my mind,
the only exit.
But I was too much a coward, without your help
Each day my skin crawled,
Infected by imaginary long-snouted Weevils
That left tiny footprints on my dry flaking skin,
Each print points forward
Mocking my decision to ...
Sunday 12th June 2022 5:47 pm
Confused Dot Com
Just three little questions my dear friends,
I hope you can lend a hand,
Each scenario happened today,
And I still don’t quite understand.
If the square of the hypotenuse,
Is the sum of squares on either side,
How do you get an Articulated lorry,
Through a gate just 10 feet wide.
The calculated arc of a cannonball,
Hits square the castle wall, not the moat,
...
Thursday 9th June 2022 4:36 pm
Offspring
All my life I have heard their sound
But they rejected the want of me
My unfading desire to see
I the father. It was never meant to be
We had each other, desires abound
Still, they rejected both you and me
My unfading desire to see
I the father. Was never meant to be
We tried, we cried, in tears, our love drowned
I rejected you, they still rejected me
...Wednesday 8th June 2022 3:29 pm
Paul and Art’s ‘B’ Side to Mrs Robinson
The deepest depth that it’s possible to fall,
Is into an abyss of betrayal and despair,
Duplicity cuts deep for the unsuspecting soul,
Leaving life without direction, reason or care,
Yet you held your head high
Showed him the door, waved goodbye,
And you moved on.
The longest journey you could undertake,
Starts with that initial tentative step,
Traversing the p...
Monday 6th June 2022 8:57 pm
Jubilee
Just another day? No.
Unlike any occasion for a descendant of Alfred,
Bunting fluttering, balloons flying, bonhomie bestowed
Images of infectious inclusivity, involving
Legions of patient Mall celebrants
Euphoric and excitable subjects of the realm
Embracing each and every moment of Royal reverence.
Saturday 4th June 2022 10:30 am
Granchester
I’ve walked in the footsteps of Rupert Brooke,
Paddled barefoot in Byron's pool,
Had tea with Mrs Woolfe and Maynard Keynes,
The sky, reminiscent of grandparent's tales of youth
For them then, it was always warm and sunny with a blue haze,
They always finished their tales with the phrase, "not anymore."
Yet today it was, a pre-1940 azure blue sky
Reminiscent of an Arthur or En...
Friday 3rd June 2022 3:37 pm
Mud
One Night,
Up The Airy Mountain
On the slopes of Shangri La
L, L, Lucy and Rico were to Drift Away
although inexperienced
Under The Moon Of Love.
Lean On Me my Slow Talking Boy, Lucy comforted
I’ve read the Book of Love
We should Just Try A Little Tenderness
For Rico, there was no Beating Round The Bush
This was no Hula Love.
Use Your Imagination
And tre...
Thursday 2nd June 2022 11:09 am
The Man in the Crooked Hat
"No one will know," Said the man in the crooked hat,
"No one will guess, see, I'm very well respected,"
"I'm a pillar of this community,”
"I wouldn't even be suspected.”
But I will surely know, I thought,
I will have to carry this shame,
As well as a guilty conscience,
But I'll never carry your blame.
I can't remember your facial features,
I remember your ...
Wednesday 1st June 2022 11:22 am
Will You Come And Hold Me
Will you come and meet me?
When I get to heaven,
Will you come and find me?
I’m afraid to go
But I know you’re there,
Will you come and find me?
It's not been easy,
No cure-all for a broken heart,
Will you come and love me?
I think every day
About my love for you,
Will you come and love me too?
I’ve missed you,
Sought-after through sorrowe...
Thursday 12th May 2022 4:18 pm
Don’t Break the Bat, Play the Game
Catch the midnight thirty train from oblivion,
Hold high your head to the morning light,
Sense newfound wisdom in your heart,
See opportunities once hidden from your sight.
Hope is not lost to a poor man's widow,
Love not destroyed in a spiders web,
Dreams are not abandoned whilst we’re not sleeping,
They are just postponed, as the sea on the ebb.
So take up ...
Wednesday 11th May 2022 4:19 pm
Debt Owed and Paid
Black-hearted they, black shone their eyes,
Their final resting place, below ground, lies,
Tabloids surmise the last intake of breath, then,
Retell painful stories of these felonious men.
No mourners they, all excluded from this site,
Cold stiff lifeless bodies now in their deaths contrite,
No tears of grief from lamenting eyes are shed
Only priestly absolution...
Tuesday 10th May 2022 1:43 pm
Marion Braidfute (Wife of Braveheart)
Longshank’s Primae Noctis
Favoured sport of overlord
Returning sullied to my husband, crying,
I grasp his battle sword,
Our Lord this nicht has defiled me
My virginity tooketh, not giv’n,
Let’s pledge undying hatred afor him
Ne’er shall he e’er be forgiv’n.
Let us seek our retribution, with this sword I will unbleed him
My flower may be stolen, but he’ll ne’er tak my fr...
Saturday 7th May 2022 12:25 pm
1967 Coniston Water
Bluebird whistles in the air,
We were there, when
The bluebird dipped into the lake,
It reminds me of us, once singing sweetly
Then down,
Overcome by the black waters of indifference.
Bluebird rises up, not confidently
Spluttering shoreward, down, gone,
It reminds me of us, quick to love
Then speedily to oblivion.
Love remembered but hopelessly lost,
In those dark ...
Saturday 30th April 2022 8:40 am
Bitter Colours
This bitter coloured wind,
Steelyard blue,
Cuts like a knife piercing the skin, cold as frosted sparks.
Your bitter coloured smile,
Pursed pink,
Sucks life as an Octipi suck, and leaves ugly marks where you have touched.
The bitter colour of your love,
Redacted black,
Blocks light as a lid over our past and future, our present is already lost.
This...
Friday 29th April 2022 11:33 am
Not the worst thing?
Parasites that suck from your veins,
Ticks, quickly gorge and grow
Fit to bursting.
Fleas, trigger your flesh to complain,
Leeches induce blood t’flow,
That’s not the worst thing?
"Not even close," said the politician
Monday 25th April 2022 12:14 pm
Need some help?
Diazepam sponsors your mental health
Destroying the heart of your brain by stealth
Sunday 24th April 2022 10:17 am
Every day is Earthday
Earth Mother wearing her pastel blue bonnet,
White clouds like cultured pearls strung around her neck,
A stole like warm breeze envelops,
Sturdily held treetops cast shadows on the ground,
Leaves and grass a similar green, cast grey.
Babbling, a small transparent stream, without the guilt of direction,
Meandering, sometimes galloping, sometimes near still,
Waterside Weeping ...
Friday 22nd April 2022 12:22 pm
You Can't
You can’t, choose your family
They get to choose neither,
They have no say in you,
Or you in them either,
The boss made the rules,
He can’t exactly break them,
Your family is as is,
You shouldn’t really blame them,
I know you do,
Things happen, possibly blamelessly,
...Friday 22nd April 2022 9:17 am
Alliterative Dating
Single salacious Sagittarian,
Seeks safe sexual satisfaction,
Sensually seductive Scorpion sought.
Simply send solicited Snapchat snapshot,
Successful satiation,
Secrecy sworn.
SWALK.
Thursday 21st April 2022 7:11 am
Is it too late to kick start a wasted life?
I'm amazed at just how little I know
about anything at all. I thought I knew a lot,
I have hundreds of books on my shelf that's got to mean something,
Especially If I had read them!
Then I would know lots more, But it seems that this is my anachronism
Old fashioned knowledge learning, juxtaposed with modern living
The time I’ve not spent reading these regimentally stack t...
Wednesday 20th April 2022 1:41 pm
Diabetic Discography (Sung to the tune, Prince Charming by Adam and The Ants)
Vipidia, and Gliclazide
Atorvastatin, Finger prick and testing
Don't eat sugar, Don't eat sugar
Stop getting Hyper, Finger prick and testing
Metformin
Metformin
Glaucoma is something to be scared of
Vipidia, and Gliclazide
Atorvastatin, Finger prick and testing
Vipidia, and Gliclazide
Neuropathy, don't forget all your tablets
Vipidia, and Gliclazide
Neuropa...
Monday 18th April 2022 3:17 pm
You Can’t Fly A Kite In The Rain
The only obligation for living,
Is that we lay down somewhere and die,
The only thought we have of happiness,
Is felt as we breakdown and cry,
So don't speak to me of your understanding,
Don't expect telegrams of thanks,
Luxury cocoons you from misery, as
With hands tied we fall on life's tracks.
Ministry for Empathy’s doors firmly bolted,
All other avenues to a bri...
Saturday 16th April 2022 9:23 am
Life Has No Refund Policy
Life is not just a game
That you or I can play,
Life is what we all make
Of each, and every day.
Lifes ups and downs are there, so
We can laugh and cry out loud,
Wished for silver linings are
Accompanied by a cloud.
You're not alone in life's game,
There's nothing, no one to blame,
We all struggle the same,
Way walking in the rain,
Our death at th...
Friday 15th April 2022 2:55 pm
Ministry of Misanthopery
Miserable men
Bow your heads in shame
Let guilt of a thousand years be your name
Foul-smelling offspring
Of a winters freeze
Satisfy your smugness, down on your knees
Crawl even lower
Than the sons of snakes
Crawl from the chaos you've left in your wake
Slither silently,
Without any sound
Slither silently as you go to ground
Ebb fairly q...
Wednesday 13th April 2022 8:27 pm
Stevie 1902 to 1971
Miss Smith, Oh Miss Smith,
Whom did you share your life with?
I hear no men, nor grateful lovers
Slept nightly warmed, between cotton covers.
Miss Smith, Oh Miss Smith,
Backbone filled with English pith,
Father absconds when you’re only three,
So, off to 'Lion Aunts' for afternoon tea.
Miss Smith, Oh Miss Smith,
Celebrated poet smith,
Cap...
Wednesday 13th April 2022 11:01 am
Happy ever after
Hearing my name,
I sprang off the bed,
My new mum had shouted "dinner time".
Running down the dark corridor in this big old house,
I am reminded of the Romanian orphanage where I had lived,
There were no windows, nor light
in those corridors either.
Young then
and small,
The older ones would bully me,
Often forcing me to give up my food to them.
My perfect day
...Monday 11th April 2022 2:24 pm
Uxoricide
I had a wife,
Her name was Claire,
She had beautiful eyes,
She had long blonde hair.
We also had a dog,
Claire called it Mac,
If she threw a stick,
Mac brought it back.
We had a cat,
Claire's little Mabel,
She would feed it by hand,
From the dining room table.
We had tropical fish,
From the freshwaters of Japan,
Claire watched them for hours...
Sunday 10th April 2022 12:12 pm
Wooden Flooring at the Bottom of our Stairs
Hard shiny flooring
Interlocking laminates
Feels cold to bare feet
Slippery when wearing socks
Step safely on rug islands
Saturday 9th April 2022 8:16 am
Morning Canine Constitutional Stroll
White frost underfoot,
Green shoots poking through,
My shoes letting the cold come in,
What’s it like for you?
Circling slowly,
You need that perfect spot,
This cold, now biting my feet,
I should’ve worn thicker socks,
This way, then that,
Surely you must know,
The direction we are going,
Do you have to walk so slow?
The sun shines, yet it’s still...
Friday 8th April 2022 1:48 pm
Turgidity
(from small acorns, mighty oaks grow)
So much pressure on growth,
Small acorn by comparison to most of the world,
Yet I will undoubtedly amount to so much,
I just need time and turgidity,
Push through,
Push upwards,
Push onwards,
Gravity gives a clue about which direction,
That I must push against,
With all those pressures, I’m Geotropically immune,
Suc...
Thursday 7th April 2022 8:29 pm
I Don’t Know What Went So Wrong That Day
I don’t know what went so wrong that day,
It happened before my own life began,
You met a man, you fell in love,
Turned that man into my father,
You forgot, however, to turn that man from
Being a bigot,
An emotional bully was his nature,
He raised children like a Sergeant Major.
I don’t know what went so wrong that day,
It happened when I was about four,
Yo...
Wednesday 6th April 2022 11:44 am
Yesterday, Today, No Tomorrow
There's no hope in a world full of desperation,
When our worst nightmares have all come to life,
There's no heart in the greyness of desolation,
When the mere act of surviving is strife.
The bearest of care for those suffering,
Death is the only escape from the pain,
The nuclear mushroom uplifts its horrors,
Depositing all its doom down as rain.
Yesterday's visions of our t...
Sunday 3rd April 2022 12:59 pm
Not Too Young to be a Pensioner
With a thick tartan blanket,
An old rocking chair,
A pipe, some slippers,
White thinning hair,
A little black mongrel,
Asleep on the floor,
The love of a good wife,
Who could ask any more?
A big flat-screen TV,
Tuned to BBC 1,
A roaring log fire,
Matching the warmth of the sun,
A mug of hot chocolate,
With a biscuit or two,
The joys of old age,
Are com...
Saturday 2nd April 2022 10:05 am
Miss
Miss Guided,
And Miss Directed,
Driving home together, from their lovely holiday,
Hoping this was the best route for their drive,
But they had been given poor advice,
By Mister Roundabout
And Mister Junction,
They should never have been on the ‘A’ Two Two Five.
In a panic, they started ringing friends,
For more up to date route finder advice,
But Miss Read, an...
Friday 1st April 2022 5:05 pm
The School Run
Young mums of all shapes and sizes,
Stood outside the little school gates,
Superciliously smiling,
At other young mums, as they wait.
Some of them come on bicycles,
Others arriving in flash SUVs,
Walkers with prams or other tots,
There's even one with a taxi.
There are some Nannies, not Nannys,
Mind you, there could be one or two,
There are granddads an...
Thursday 31st March 2022 12:23 pm
Hula skirts, Kisses and Leis
To sleep,
I remember nothing during the time that I’m asleep,
Do you?
I dream of exotic places with sandy beaches,
Desert island,
Ladies in hula skirts handing out kisses and Leis,
Do you?
Or is it just me, in that early morning central heating,
Too warm,
I arise, quickly dress, and descend the stairs,
Downhill now,
I see the evidence of the morning that I had miss...
Wednesday 30th March 2022 1:10 pm
Interior Decorating
We've had the decorator in this week,
Such a nice chap,
Hard-working,
He's local,
But originally from Newcastle,
But we can’t hold that against him,
Can we?
The colour choice,
Not chosen by me,
It’s a sort of Starbucks, Costa theme,
Cappuccino,
With frothy barley white,
Stick it in a mug and I’d be happy,
It's going in the dining and living rooms,
Then we ...
Tuesday 29th March 2022 8:18 pm
Mrs. Lloyds Daughter
Mrs Lloyds' daughter, Carrie,
Lives a fast life, will not tarry,
Wishing away the nights that she sleeps,
Cursing the hours of the days and the weeks.
Cursing away those hours in her day,
Annoyed that her life hasn’t turned out the way
She had planned, hoping her future had instore
An escape from this routine she endures.
Life took offence, he fled through the doo...
Tuesday 29th March 2022 1:18 pm
A Dutchman Earmarked For Greatness
(words in Bold are his paintings)
There was once a painter called Van Gogh,
Who painted young Adeline Ravoux,
Still life, Cabbage and Clogs,
A Cart with Black Ox,
And a Wheatfield covered in Crows.
The early works of Vincent Van Gogh,
Showed working folk, scenes set in snow,
A Peasant Burning Weeds,
Autumnal Landscape with Trees,
Sowing, picking, peeling and...
Sunday 27th March 2022 1:56 pm
Dance on, little kite, dance on.
Cushions of lace, cushions of lace,
Rest your head little kite, rest your head,
Then fly high, straight and proud
Fly high amongst the clouds,
Dance on, little kite, dance on.
Diamonds and pearls, diamonds and pearls,
Shine through little kite, shine through,
Fly high coloured one
Fly high to the sun,
Dance on, little kite, dance on.
Whispers of wind whi...
Saturday 26th March 2022 11:20 am
Youthful Love
Together in the park, that summer, we had so much fun,
Such a lark, the both of us carefree and young,
Escaping mothers who were highly strung,
We played, occasionally to our shame, we
Misbehaved, carving our names into a tree,
Youthful ways, those days of being we.
Those youthful days were an endless bliss,
That long hot summer, when we fumbled our first kiss,
Our attempts...
Friday 25th March 2022 9:13 am
Thanking God?
Empathy
Is often mistaken for
Sympathy
But don't be confused.
One is about walking
In the footsteps of others,
The other is about
Thanking God that you’re not.
Thursday 24th March 2022 10:27 am
That's just crazy
That's just crazy, seeing
An elephant climb an Acacia nut tree,
Or hedgehogs on a supermarket spree,
Even marrying a blue whale called Penelope.
Even crazier than that would be
Seeing a horse playing Texas hold ‘em,
A cat doing laundry, ironing and folding ‘em,
A parade of Echidnas with one Ant beholding ‘em.
That is so crazy to comprehend
But what's even craz...
Wednesday 23rd March 2022 11:52 am
Young Man, Old Man
A young man with old man's knees
Please,
I’m only just sixty.
A young man with an old man’s back,
Lacks,
Straightness, now all twisty.
A young man with old man's eyes
Surprise,
That was a blur a moment ago.
A young man with old man’s legs,
Unterwegs,
I think I should stay not go.
A young man with an old man’s brain,
Refrains,
From reme...
Monday 21st March 2022 12:04 pm
Just Last Week
The lady who lived in the big house,
At the end of our quiet street,
Unfortunately and without warning,
That lady died just last week.
Her daughter has been round several times,
Assisting with household chores,
That will eventually make the house sale complete,
Once theirs, it could soon become yours.
I have to pinch myself every time I see her,
When she is out...
Sunday 20th March 2022 1:41 pm
Friday Night Is Date Night
image by Faustina-Cusco
the words in (brackets) are my inner voice.
We were seated at table forty-five,
Two chairs a table and a tealight,
Tucked away in the corner, sandwiched,
between two larger parties,
When I say larger!
(I don’t just mean in number).
Some of these diners were huge, just like their meals.
At one point I had to say ‘Excuse me please',
(I was b...
Saturday 19th March 2022 10:29 am
Shopping
I hate weekly food shopping
I feel sometimes like, Topping
myself, I’d enjoy much more, Hopping
around on one leg for a week, or Lopping
my legs off at the knees, be seen Bopping
to The music of Chrissie Hynde, or Belly-flopping
off the Eiffel tower, Chopping
down an endangered rain forest, or Mopping
up vomit on an emergency room floor, Toppling
headfirst, over the gra...
Friday 18th March 2022 4:20 pm
To Be A Lion Or A Mouse
Oh, Kremlin Lion,
Do you not dream
Of being more than just a fool,
Can you not see
From around your heavy mane,
Can you not hear
Above your own thunderous roar,
You’ve charged headlong,
Not pausing to think,
Not stopping to wonder why
You’ve gained the scars of the hunt.
But not gained the victory spoils.
You are baffled and beguiled
By Kyiv mouse,
...Thursday 17th March 2022 12:09 pm
He's not, he's just missing
Johnny, Johnny Johnson,
Where have you gone, son?
I've looked all over the housing estate,
Come back little man it's getting late.
But still, you haven't come back home,
Tell me boy are you alone?
I've worried for you lad, what with all the news
Of those evil men, who abduct and abuse
Both little girls and little boys,
Then they break their bodies like you break you...
Wednesday 16th March 2022 2:31 pm
She Gasped For Air
Drifting lifeless body, floating in this dirty old river,
Looking at her now still body, motionless, without life to shiver,
She must have thrashed about a lot, trying to grasp the muddy bank,
She must have been held, anything else in this river would have sank,
She went under a few times her bloated corpse shows,
That she breathed the foul water, through both her mouth and nose,
...Tuesday 15th March 2022 1:07 pm
The Hunt
Resplendent upon their Chestnut Mares,
The white legged riders ride,
Wearing shiny boots and scarlet coats,
They scour the countryside.
The Fox, alert with poise and grace,
Redden as the setting sun,
Hears in the distance both man and dog,
Anxious, she knows she must run.
Through freshly harvested fields she bounds,
Plunging into ice-cold waters,
Darting first this wa...
Monday 14th March 2022 1:40 pm
Imagination Limited
Majestic Oaks, your crooked limbs o’shadow me,
From the expanse of red autumnal sky,
Shading me from the reasons
How come, I sit, pondering the why.
Why, ‘cause I’m a poet, least I think I am,
Writing lines, that transports
Both myself and my readers,
From reality to dreamful thoughts.
And yet the loftiness of these trees,
Overwhelms my imagination to describe,
The c...
Saturday 12th March 2022 9:31 am
And God Spake Unto the Snake
Whisper silently my own, my snake,
Move cautiously for your father's sake,
When you judge the time as right
Then draw your fangs, and sink your bite.
But never bite the Forbidden Fruit,
The taste of that apple for you won't suit,
But beguile and tempt if you can,
The fruit of eternal pain upon Man.
Friday 11th March 2022 1:37 pm
Life, A Montebank?
I turned the other cheek again,
I turned the other cheek, and then,
A man stepped up and slapped my face.
I turned and walked away again,
I turned and walked away, and then,
He stepped inside and mugged my place.
I turned and looked around again,
I turned and looked around, and then,
You both had gone without a trace.
I turned and closed my eyes again,
...
Thursday 10th March 2022 10:00 am
Second Crucifixion Postponed, Indefinitly.
A concerned face turns out from the shadows,
Looks onto a desolate scene,
Confused by men's absence of emotion,
Senselessly shuffling as in a dream.
These frail almost clothless bodies,
Shamble past, hearing a silent beat,
Rows of conforming nonentities,
Trodden down by tyrannies feet.
Neon lights flash brightly in the distance,
Beckoning all to listen and take heed,
...
Wednesday 9th March 2022 5:28 pm
Ballad of Ada Lovelace (December 1815 to November 1852
For International Womens Day
"Oh! What an implement of torture have I acquired in you",
The first words were spoken at your birth, you would never have heard
Uttered by father George, who wouldn't, or couldn't, love you,
But you loved him, eternally side by side interred.
Eighteen fifteen, death to the Napoleonic Wars, but birth
Of Ada Byron, fair daughter to the ince...
Wednesday 9th March 2022 12:25 pm
Each morning
Each Spring and each Summer morning
Whilst watching the new day dawning,
I marvel at the splendid sight in flight.
Martins, Swallows and Swifts, abound
The blue canopy, all around
A majestic legion of flight in sight.
Robin dressed in bright red waistcoat
Coloured to consistently gloat,
Upstaging his sombre cousin, sparrow.
Wing claps heard loud from way up high
...
Tuesday 8th March 2022 1:02 pm
A late summer afternoon stroll with John Clare
The byway, like an arrow shoots the fallow field
Hugging the hedgerow I head for the Hawthorn tree
Climbing the style steps, I stop and stare beyond
At fields of wheat, wafting and waving before me.
From my vantage point I view a pending dispute
As the seasons are seemingly shifting, without fanfare or frill,
The summer sun and offered warmth once welcomed
Gives w...
Monday 7th March 2022 3:30 pm
Not the Worst Thing
Parasites that suck from your veins,
Ticks, quickly gorge, and grow
Fit to bursting.
Fleas, trigger your flesh to complain,
Leeches induce blood t’flow,
That’s not the worst thing?
"Not even close" said the politician
©Russell Jacklin 2022
Saturday 5th March 2022 3:00 pm
Road from, and to,oblivion
I was not alive during World War two,
Even dad was a lad during the blitz,
Living a stone throw from Fisherman's wharf,
Nightly bombarded by 'The Luftwaffe Fritz'.
Remember reading of the Yangtze incident,
In a historical magazine edition,
As well as the wars in Kenya and Korea
The horrors of Indian Partition.
Little more than just a toddler,
Back in October si...
Friday 4th March 2022 8:27 pm
They Lied, She Died, He Cried, He Died
The doctors confidently told him
That she would soon be well again,
They lied.
Shrouded and bound
All alone in the morgue,
She’d died.
He had loved her so very much
Hoping that in the end he'd go first,
He cried.
He missed her every passing day,
She'd always been so close
By his side.
He saw no point
Just existing without her,
He sighed.
He ...
Thursday 3rd March 2022 11:12 am
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