The Inner Sprawl

A morass wallowing in its own destiny

faces of anguish,vacant, lost in a 

conundrum of terrestial confusion

Eagerly in pursuit and pursued

driven by all that should be detested

yet now set upon a pedestal of glory

A beggar with dog of adoring eyes

blue smoke wafts his presence to passers by

Some ignore to rush with bated breath

others bewildered ...

Read and leave comments (1)

Undercurrents

Beneath a calm or stormy sea

raging currents ply their nefarious force

swirling torrents capture the unsuspecting

in watery talons to carry off their victims

into the profound depths of lugubrious darkness

Into an abyss no no recovery

violence is their hallmark 

deceit beneath their calling card

for a destiny of doom in a watery sepulchre

Such ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Banks

The Banks only have to shout

and the Government give them a bail out

Institutions of incessant greed

take money from those in need

They operate under their own licence

to ensure their own existence

Customers have become pound signs

as we live in such mercenary times

Once before the cashier I had a name

now an eight digit number is the same

Personal servi...

Read and leave comments (3)

Nocturnal Incarceration

Days of insipid light offer only abandoned hope

night fall is an avalanche of the deepest hue

Street lights offer not even a shadow

they stand as pylons bereft of any purpose

All is within a world of the broken spirit

daunted by pessimistic glee from a deeper void

Fleeting shadows drone about the hazy gloom

the horizon has surrended herself to t...

Read and leave comments (0)

The Non Event

Fire hackers and christmas crackers

green and red sprouting baubles of silver and gold

glistening, sparkling an alluring fallacy

A deception as icy as a frozen bucket

tinsle ties its heavenly knots and children sleep in their cots

Whiskers white with red delight

a shining nose to lead us astray

A sham of a reality brought low

as the gathering in of wea...

Read and leave comments (3)

A Rush

A bright spark to a dull mind

searchlights beam for inspiration

as the tunnel is abandoned

its dampness gone, the stench with it

Lights scan the heavens and horizons

body and mind exhilarated

transported, enervated to peaks aloft and wide

Ideas fuel enthusiasm to burst the samovar

milk boils over in fleshy wonder

It is worth it, it has arrived

the track...

Read and leave comments (1)

Perplexity

Are my tears those of repentance or sorrow

as they come from a well within

Their flow is incessant as I am drained

with thoughts and people now long past

I lack that spark of inner energy to begin anew

for I am overcome with a profound lethargy

I recline for hours to reminisce and ponder

the future seems imponderable and remote

Then a ray of lig...

Read and leave comments (5)

A Covered Mood

A heavy blanket is drawn over the

     town and surrounding countryside

The world is opaque, shapes emerge from nowhere

     sounds kept in a restraining abeyance

Time is no longer discernible, clarity has

     departed to other places

My heart and mind find no solace

     as I am a solitary figure grey and old

A finality pervades the gloom of my subd...

Read and leave comments (1)

The Womb

A life giving womb

the womb of warmth

the womb of darkness

the womb of nearness

the womb of protection

let me languish here

do not disturb me

I am safe in this dark

keep me till Spring comes

then launch me to the world

to colour, clouds and sun

then take me back

keep me inside

I want to sleep eternal 

in a womb, a place

of intermittent ...

Read and leave comments (3)

The Shopping Mall

A palace of glass and neon lights

Crystal Palace re born in every town

Frenetic figures in high motion

plastic bags clutched by anxious seeking faces

A play ground for the young

a cavern of comfort for a coffee

Signs, posters calling out for

the attention of filled wallets and purses

An Aladdins Cave of treasures for all

trainers, spectacles and...

Read and leave comments (1)

Winter´s Icy Blast

The bear roars his arrival

with bone chilled marrow

Winds clad of ice, a frozen shield

as snow lingers ready to pounce

in darkened shadows of obscurity

Night rules day, the invaders sway

hibernation beckons come

all is gathered in and safely stored

Jack Frost dances with glee

scattering white dust for all to see

Nests exposed in spidery bran...

Read and leave comments (8)

Quietly Exceptional

Only when I reflect do I see someone different

to who he was when alive and I knew him

His life beset by a profound childhood experience

a war which endorsed violence as a part of life

A family man, unemotional and industrious

a husband faithful in adversity

A father unused to children

having had his childhood robbed of him

Beneath a superfi...

Read and leave comments (0)

Down Under

A microcosm of a tropical rain forest

verdant and consumed of life

An undergrowth of roots

which straddle the earth

a veritable spiders web

Where ladybirds and worms 

are on nodding acquaintance

to share a patch of mother earth

All under a canopy of leaves

of foliage and coloured petals

To shield from the the suns rays

and gently absorb a shower

Read and leave comments (3)

The Valley of Chimneys

A landscape ingrained in black and grey

barges pulling mountains of coal

Furnaces which roar into the night

as colliery lifts plunge the depths

Rows of uniformed dwellings

deprived of light or green

Distant moors and farms

so close but dreams away

Children in clogs on cobbled streets

girls with plaited hair and coloured ribbons

Boys bois...

Read and leave comments (1)

A Moment in Time

Dimensions of time where the

venue is fractional 

Heavy bombers drone to distant targets

in a darker world of expectancy

Lives adjacent unconnected

caught in an act never repeated

Church bells hold their silence

pensive for the invasion of evil

Then peels of chimes to announce arrival

Days lived on the hoof of uncertainty

rumours of disquiet s...

Read and leave comments (0)

Reformation

Deep in the earth lie the roots of faith

ruined abbeys of crumbled arches remain

Sanctuaries vacant to the air we breathe

each benefice has its claim of thee

Cupolas, domes, towers and steeples

speak out of a faith held by her peoples

Smallest of valleys with bells to ring

the hymns and litanies we used to sing

A faith snatched by salacious needs

vanq...

Read and leave comments (5)

A Welcome Sun

But the sun does come out 

to challenge a dull November´s day

to cleanse and dispel those curds away

It stands emboldened in a sky of blue

to remind us that all can again be new

Windows glisten as stones sparkle

a breathless breeze which cannot encircle

Fallen leaves a collage underfoot

berries ripen amidst the occasional nut

Few windows open to pee...

Read and leave comments (2)

The Fireplace

A hearth with burning embers

steady ticks Napoleon´s clock

A dimned lamp besides me

a decanter of grapes best elixir

Carpet slippers upon a rug so heavy

a comapnion to tend the fire

A compilation of tranquility earned

from labour this surely is deserved

The dogs sleep in close communion

dear friends of home and land

This retreat bedecked of domes...

Read and leave comments (4)

A Fading Light

Woven furrows of tufted grass

enshrines a natures past

From battlements and lofty spires 

to a ravenous squirrel aloft

Memories layered one upon another

autumns to cover the summer

Capricious skies and radiant moons

the mists of dawn to sit and stay

Solitary figures each a history

in dwellings of ancient stone

A gaunt tree of autumnal fright

...

Read and leave comments (3)

The Red Poncho

Would the lady in the red poncho come in please

She is bent almost double and pushes her shopping trolley

from head to foot she is dressed in red

The same outfit everyday without waver

I cannot estimate her age but well into the eighties

A red shawl, a heavy knitted poncho covers her frame

recently in its centre has appeared a hand knitted poppy

She...

Read and leave comments (7)

Feelings

As a young man I was invincible

a multitude of feelings I could shrug off

without feeling or a sense of any involvement

as one could brush dust off a jacket

The years pass by and I am no longer invincible

I have become emotional and vulnerable

tears are never far away in times of grief and sadness

What I see and hear now affect me deeply

The dust accumulate...

Read and leave comments (2)

The Fallen

Everyday I walk past the town war memorial

at its base a few poppy wreaths lie from the previous year

The names remain the same, some we knew

they have pride of place in our community

On Armistice Day the traffic is halted

we gather in sorrowful silence, heads bowed

Different emotions and reasons compel our presence

we stand often looking beyond the sto...

Read and leave comments (1)

A Treasure Trove

We have become the sediment of society

a deposit of no value, a used product

We have less use than a compost heap

or so they would like us to believe

Our hair has turned white and often falls out

arthritis plagues our mobility and comfort

Medication assists us along the way

and bereft of adequate funds we are forced to stay at home

A sad l...

Read and leave comments (3)

Can the Vice be Broken

Am I crazy or is my perspective distorted

does civilisation advance into a new age of enlightenment

Are we more erudite or compassionate than before

or have we fooled ourselves or been fooled

Schools, academies and places of learning abound

people hanker after learning and to be taught

Science brings new cures and two worlds wars become history

Read and leave comments (5)

Not in our Name

The nation´s emotional temperature begins to rise

as memories, experiences and thoughts return

This is the season of a deep and enduring sadness

as our wounds are once more laid bare

We who are left cannot recall, only try to understand

those who were killed, wounded or survived have gone before us

We brace ourselves to pay tribute to the gallant fall...

Read and leave comments (4)

Dispossessed

Lives ruined and lived in quiet despair

talents and skills ignored or manipulated

All exist within a hot house

a climate under control where day and night are ordered

by the forces of power to determine their menace

as apathetic weary souls capitulate their minds

in a act of economic weary abandonment

Freedom is available but under control

the armi...

Read and leave comments (7)

An Excursion

Some wish to spend a day on the London Eye

sufferers from vertigo a day at the seaside

Hot air ballooning has become increasingly popular

whilst pot-holing has fallen into decline

I suffer from a severe psychological addiction

and obsessive disorder from which there is no remedy

My excursions are quite exclusive in content

their destinations many but all t...

Read and leave comments (4)

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer

a declaration of firm and honest intent

An appalling fraud

passed by parliament as legislation for all

enforced by the law for a gullible public

We are a well constructed camouflage

which veils deceit, giving prejudice free rein

stimulates lies and plays games with people´s lives

We treat all applicants equa...

Read and leave comments (4)

A Glorious Power

Through the mists of dawn

there emerged a huge mass

of perpendicular rock

The defiant face of a blackened cliff 

waves lashed against its immense structure

a formidable onslaught of an effervescent ocean

surged beneath its dormant beauty

Each wave was repelled unceasingly

to return to a cauldron below

The rock pools and crevices

accepted ...

Read and leave comments (5)

The Damned - 1916

In the darkness of a freezing night

illuminated by flares and the thunder of guns

they fell into ankle deep mud to smoke a pipe

or hope for some food before the rodents ate it all

They had no comfort, little hope in a foreign field

holes, trenches dug by their fellow countrymen, now gone

to offer a shield from the torment of the enemy

from an unr...

Read and leave comments (11)

A Gallery of Memories

To reminisce into the folds of time

as drops of nostalgia drizzle down

from a blue awning drenched in time

Faces appear, once young

and full of a vigour and vitality

bouncing with youthful expectation

Places re appear as the landmarks

of journeys long since past

Accompanied by an appropriate music

as Marlene Dietrich sings  ¨

Leben ohne L...

Read and leave comments (3)

Too Late

This day is another day

in a sea of weeks

and an ocean of years

Time punctuated between

darkness and light

Man a solitary figure

a freckle on a swirling planet

Time past and present

have witnessed only a fragment

of what lies ahead

That is if a future be greater

than the sum of the past

We make only the merest contribution

to this cyclical ti...

Read and leave comments (11)

The Web of Sleep

Into the halls of darkness

into the Sarcophagus of night

strands of light filter into the gloom

to begin their daily entrance

Night gently recedes with grace

as the conciousness is aroused

A downward spiral, a whirlpool of dreams

hurries to avoid recognition

Only a sudden grasp 

may retrieve one such 

nocturnal perambulation

At this crucial...

Read and leave comments (6)

Heartfelt Sorrow

At the age of nine years he was laid to rest

he had lived a good life and done his very best

The grave yard was full with people 

standing in the shadow of the church steeple

His parents, brother and sisters with large family were there

as the small coffin was adorned with his teddy bear

There was not a dry eye anywhere to be seen

only stifled sob...

Read and leave comments (3)

The Mellow Years

I was told that age would make me mellow

that anxiety and impatience would fade away

Such predictions brought about a yearning

for the twilight years to pass serenely unto death

Not so, let those who forecast such a time

be told that I have grown intolerant and irritable

I excel at being rude particularly in public

and shout at television whenever...

Read and leave comments (6)

Welcome to my Parlour

If you walked into my house and I was not there

your would soon discover that it was not so bare

Everything that you would so easily see

would speak so very eloquently of the real me

It is a house of oddments where little does match

and at an intital glance not all can be snatched

Wall units vary in shape, size and colour to behold

from the h...

Read and leave comments (6)

Old and Gay

I lie in the undergrowth of a fretful life

when I appear I am forced to conjure an alien face

With behaviour and lies which are not mine

for I leave others in another place and time

I am the innocent victim of nature who I do not blame

I swim in a current and not with the tide

My life is one aimed to conform and please others

my real life lays conceale...

Read and leave comments (11)

Grandad

Everyone in the hamlet called him Grandad

I remember him well as I was only a lad

He lived alone in the very end house

with no water or electricity like a church mouse

He smoked a home made briar

and often romanced, so some called him a liar

In his darkened kitchen he would his baccy chew

and if I turned up he´d say, O it´s only you

A black kettle ...

Read and leave comments (7)

Never a Broken Spirit

This ageing frame enfolds a spirit undiminished

aching joints, the realisation of age do not vanquish my desire

My appetite, my zest for life has not lost its ardour

a creative spirit pervades my need to express

I am not resigned nor will conform to life´s limitations

my stature suffers no erosion from the elements

A glance in a mirror is a port...

Read and leave comments (5)

Winters Royal Trail

The Autumnal Palace opens its majestic gate

it does so now so as not to be too late

From within its lofty walls do fall

a royal carpet of leaves for all

The colours are of a resplendent hue

to cascade from a sky of azure blue

This seasonal event marks the end of summer

before the wintry winds bring their thunder

The nights are now drawi...

Read and leave comments (0)

If Only.....

His eyes held a furtive longing

to which I readily responded

I saw his form which said all

He beckoned and I followed 

to an intimacy unbearably intense

A passion driven by desire

no more needs to be said 

or laboured on

Since that encounter which was repeated

he sits in my memory and heart

like a distant island of longing

It can never be dimin...

Read and leave comments (8)

The Mundane Challenged

I used to ridicule and scorn

the sedentary life style of the old

Their prosaic sense of out dated values

anaesthetized from the reality of life

I despised their lack of courage or endeavour

a fixation of themselves and their orbit

A self induced malaise consumed them

from mowing the lawn to washing the car

Concern for how others perceived them

Read and leave comments (6)

The Bohemian Cafe

It lived true to its name like no other

with mismatched furniture and an odd cover

Not one cup, plate or knife were the same

its clientele seemed only a little tame

The floor was built of unusual planks

as no loan was forthcoming from the banks

Shady deals were often carried out

amidst many a cheer and shout

A strange scent permeated the air

as ...

Read and leave comments (8)

Poverty - A Chasm too Great

I walk a sandy road in my bare feet

with the occasional stranger do I meet

Yet you are far away, in the very same day

Do you think we will ever meet one day

You wander around a department store

going about from floor to floor

Shelves piled high with pricey attire

from this you never seem to tire

My wardrobe is shorts and T shirt

Read and leave comments (5)

In promise of the Seasons

I have returned to the cradle of my being

those places and times which formed me

Moulded me into the person I now am

the oak with acorns about to fall

surrounded by a sea of drooping nettles

morning mists which shroud the dells

as dogs race around in the twilight fields

The expectancy of autumn

its foreboding, the onsett of winter

yet su...

Read and leave comments (6)

It rained on Market Day

As we arrived the first drops fell

the stall owners were very keen to sell

Fresh veg from many local farms

across the road stood the Kings Arms

Umberellas soon began to mushroom

which made for far less room

Soon the rain became quite heavy

some folk went to the pub for a bevy

Tarpaulins and coverings were laid

to cover much of what was han...

Read and leave comments (3)

I saw a Lady today

I saw a lady today

as I walked along a sun lit road

She was walking towards me

neatly attired in a dark blue dress

She wore a straw hat with flowers

which nestled on the brim

She carried a closed parasol

which matched her floral 

patterned dress

Her black laced shoes

were trim and suited her 

overall demeanour

Her gait was most precise

Read and leave comments (3)

Shout it from the Hills

How easily we are subdued and seduced

to lie supine having rolled over in acquiescence

Have we joined the ranks of the moronic hordes

those who are the shiftless and hapless wanderers

We are fed a diet to subjugate original thought

advertisements impress the minds of the mindless

The masses shuffle about on an aimless trajectory

many have l...

Read and leave comments (10)

Love at Last

My sexual awakening took place encased in a tomb

a claustraphobic space which haunted my thoughts

I existed in this obscure place fearful of exposure

my desires and yearnings seen as obstacles

To articulate my orientation would create living hell

fear became all pervasive in this perpetual tomb

It was prudent to say nothing to no one

the merest hint o...

Read and leave comments (15)

Facing the Truth

She sits in a predicament of self imposed despair

withdrawn from the world about her

She attempts to create her own reality

which does not exist, but only in her mind

Days, weeks and months pass by as she lives in her cocoon

seldom does she venture outside

Preferring the isolation which protects her

but also damages her health and well being

Read and leave comments (10)