THING
Bruv, you know that thing, that thing we were talking about
when we went out for drinks and we almost passed out?
Bruv, you know that thing, that thing, the other week in the pub
we were chatting about when we were out
on the lash and I was up for a snout?
Looking back, I regret it, like what must you think?
This thing that I told once I’d had a drink?
You know ...
Sunday 17th November 2024 8:17 pm
Jock the Cock
Paul, my mate like to mock
John, my Dad, Scottish ‘Jock’
Sat at home, doorbell knock,
Open door, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Out with dog, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Dog and bone, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Down the phone, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Slam it down, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Where’s his brain? Out of stock
But lock the door, he’d pick the lock
Round the clock, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
‘JOCK THE COCK!’, ‘JOCK THE COCK!’
Sai...
Friday 15th November 2024 11:21 am
Spanner
It’s going well
between you and your date
Until he puts in a spanner
and calls you ‘mate’
Oh fuck.
Wednesday 13th November 2024 5:47 pm
Mapping Pins (final version with audio recording)
We are cut
from the same cloth
Our poetry, our words
are mapping pins
The inner rip
The visceral tear
The internal cut
Fist rage embodied
in every silent tiny prick
of the mapping pin
Your pins,
in their cadence, their sound,
Gravity loss in my pins
Damn it! You’re clever
you keep my feet still on the ground
Your pins map the ...
Monday 11th November 2024 4:43 pm
Mapping pins
We are cut
from the same cloth
Our poetry, our words
are mapping pins
The inner rip
The visceral tear
The internal cut
Fist rage embodied
in every silent tiny prick
of the mapping pin.
Thursday 7th November 2024 9:02 am
BETTER KEEP QUIET (with art work by Lee Campbell)
Better keep quiet. This is complicated. Multiple parties involved
Save the answer until better times
ME. Reckless homosexual, romantic punk
loves being taken on journeys
with as few words as possible
HE. Charmer, disarmer, gambler, better
His few words took me on journeys
Did he ever really care? I bet he never did
FUCK HIS RETICENCE!
I bet on him and lost
YOU. K...
Sunday 3rd November 2024 6:33 pm
Better
BETTER
All that I had in mind for me and him in the future,
now in a long but unforgotten past
You are the better version of him
You are all the things I wish he would have been
He, who I had no so many hopes for,
promises he never kept
He was a charmer, disarmer, an addict, a better
I bet my dreams on him and lost
You are the present day version of him
...Friday 1st November 2024 5:07 pm
SMUDGER JOCK
SMUDGER JOCK
Though in the print by trade, how the bills got paid,
my Dad for years went window cleaning
Smudger with scrim, I remember him,
Jock kept those windows gleaming
With bucket in hand, throughout the land, my Dad was fit as a fiddle
Up high he would go whilst I’d stay low, not even to the middle
of his high ladder, would go my bladder whilst Dad up 80 foot
...Thursday 31st October 2024 11:10 am
Better Version
Friend, you are the better version of him
You are all the things I wish he would have been
He, who I had no so many hopes, dreams for,
Promises, he never kept
All that I had in mind for me and him in the future
now in a long but unforgotten past.
Friend, you are the present day version of him
but I will never tell you
how you embody all those hopes, dreams
Prom...
Monday 28th October 2024 12:02 pm
My Body Is A Heckler (with audio recording)
I’m going about my day
NEWSFLASH!
Unexpectedly
like a bolt out of the blue
my body interrupts me
46 years of chronic pain sciatica
has taught me the disruptive nature
of the body’s physicality
Visceral newsflashes
Corporeal shoots of pain
Physiotherapy and Amitriptyline only temporarily numbs
My body heckles me
Poetic, lyrical, unexpected, transformative interru...
Thursday 24th October 2024 10:15 am
Battle of the Mourners (with audio recording)
Following my feature set,
sharing poems about losing Mum,
the next artist started his
shouting something rather dumb
‘BIG UP ALL THE DEAD MUMS!
My Mum died years before your Mum, Lee.
And I was much younger than you
when my Mum died. So, I WIN!'
This woman in the audience then shouted back,
‘IT'S NOT A COMPETITION!
NOT A BATTLE OF THE MOURNERS’
I would no...
Tuesday 22nd October 2024 10:57 am
Nonlinear
You Google, you search, you find
and then print it off
Checklist for
how to arrange a funeral
it will say you call this person,
you do this, and you arrange this,
and you pay this,
go through it
very linearly
You can go through it
one by one,
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
But at the end, there should be a
‘now you just go and figure it out
on ...
Monday 21st October 2024 12:29 am
HOW TO LINE MANAGE A NARCISSIST
HOW TO LINE MANAGE A NARCISSIST
I used to work with Blowers-Browne
who gave everyone dirty frown
Though I line managed Blowers-Browne,
he thought it HE wearing the crown
A narcissist was Blowers-Browne
who liked to put everyone down
He had this voice did Blowers-Browne,
everything else out it would drown.
In Chelsea, claimed lived Blowers-Browne,
but bet he lived in Canning Town
...
Thursday 17th October 2024 11:02 am
Beyond
I always felt ,when it first happened,
and still now, that there are certain feelings that I have
and experiences that I go through
that I just cannot find the language for.
Or I don't want to.
There's nothing that neatly puts it
into a term.
If I say this word, people go,
‘I know what that means’
It's like just looking around
to have something
which you cannot put into language
...
Friday 11th October 2024 1:58 pm
Checklist For A Funeral
You Google, you search, you find
and then print it off
Checklist for
how to arrange a funeral
It will say you call this person,
you do this, and you arrange this,
and you pay this,
go through it
very linearly
You can go through it
one by one,
tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
But at the end, there should be a
‘now you just go and figure it out
on your own’ box
...Friday 11th October 2024 1:56 pm
SEE ME
Discover the same other
whilst under the cover
Creeping seeping peeping
covert operations
my teenage fascinations
awkward altercations
with non queer populations
Sensations that taught me
if ever they caught me
side cautiously er
deliberately blur words that infer derogatory slur
I got very clever,
very clever at seeing without being seen
...
Thursday 26th September 2024 11:42 am
The Missing Bodies List
I’ve lost my body
Where is my body?
Has anyone seen my body?
Mum, I
miss you.
Ever since
losing you,
I’ve lost
myself too.
Life events
you prepare
yourself for
play themselves
out in
front of
me. I’m
a spectator
in my
own body.
The audience
in the
protagonist’s skin.
Like I
am watching
my life
...
Tuesday 24th September 2024 2:10 pm
Dad Bod
DAD BOD
Link to poetry film online
https://filmfreeway.com/DADBOD2024
I spy, my eye
Summer day in July
Lee go lido
Know just where me eye go
Hairy chest bloke
over female breaststroke
Cute lad, sad sod
and oh my god his dad bod!
I spy, man boobs
Blimey, look at his moobs
Dad Bod swagger
Hardly Moves Like Jagger
Quick flash, bum crack
makes ...
Thursday 22nd August 2024 9:42 pm
UP YOUR DOVER! (with audio recording)
Who’s sat there on that bar stool
with half a cider jar full?
Big Head Ben - dirty rascal
of Elephant and Castle
He’s never been to charm school
A handful and an armful
Up your Dover, partial
Like Dad, an army marshall,
the apple don’t fall far fall
At night as shooting star fall,
there underneath the tarpaul
in Ben’s Capri, his car full
of men eating ...
Monday 19th August 2024 10:03 am
LOOK AT YOURSELF!
Image: Me aged 18 at Maidstone College of Art in 1996
LOOK AT YOURSELF!
‘PAINT! PAINT! No, you ain’t!’
said Mike Addison, my Graphics tutor
to me at Maidstone Art College in ‘96
‘PAINT! PAINT! No, you ain’t a graphic designer!
LOOK AT YOURSELF! You’re covered in paint!’
Hands in paint! Mate’s complaint
I can’t stop painting hands
The words ’BLOODY HANDS’
gr...
Friday 16th August 2024 10:05 am
LOOK AT YOURSELF!
(Image: Me at Maidstone Art College in 1996, aged 18)
‘PAINT! PAINT! No, you ain’t!’
said Mike Addison, my Graphics tutor
to me at Maidstone Art College in ‘96
‘PAINT! PAINT! No, you ain’t a graphic designer!
LOOK AT YOURSELF! You’re covered in paint!’
Hands in paint! Mate’s complaint
I can’t stop painting hands
The words ’BLOODY HANDS’
graffitied in black pain...
Thursday 15th August 2024 4:52 pm
TWINK WINK
Word famous landmarks. Wonders of the World
Golden Triangle, California road trip, 1993
Me, twink. R.E.M mix tape on my Sony Walkman.
One of the things I remember most, what I still carry as a souvenir,
is being winked at by guys sitting outside a bar in West Hollywood
as I walked past them sipping cocktails
If I had only had the confidence back then and known my true sexual...
Thursday 1st August 2024 2:32 pm
DAD BOD
I spy, my eye. Summer day in July
Lee go lido. Know just where me eye go
Hairy chest bloke over female breaststroke
Cute dad, sad sod but oh my god his dad bod!
I spy, my eye. Swimming pool in July
Fee, fum, fi, fo, get me bum off lilo
Dad bod, back stroke, butterfly or front crawl
Towel fall, all pool sees daddy fully frontal!
Thursday 1st August 2024 2:01 pm
SLOW REVEAL
Standing in front of David Hockney’s Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool
Aged 16.
I have always been a keen swimmer
The thrill of the cold water sea chill - that sensation
And now I was keen at looking at the swimmer in front of me
I felt a sensation
I was unsure then over my attraction
The form and content of
Supposedly ‘flat’ static surfaces
reveal themselves over time
...Tuesday 30th July 2024 8:24 pm
NO SOUND AS LOUD AS SILENCE
He gets home
and locks the front door
Confronted by a sound
so deafening, so loud
Its noise goes in one ear
and out the other
A hissing sound with a frequency
as devastating as the fear
of being eaten alive
by white noise
He sits there and imagines
she is in the other room
Even though they often spent evenings
in separate rooms,
they were together...
Tuesday 30th July 2024 9:12 am
JAKE THE SNAKE (with audio recording)
JAKE THE SNAKE
Northbound overground
Southbound underground
Say you’re straight but play around
in London’s gay playground
You go to pub, the Fox and Hound
Get in the drinks, it’s your round
Til orders last, bell sound
Then bus it home, northbound
Your sorrows how they got drowned
Shots you had, pints downed
Tonight you’re not the one crowned
in strip...
Monday 29th July 2024 11:05 am
YOU MADE ME SWING!
ILLUSTRATION BY LEE CAMPBELL (2010)
In apple orchards, playing games, a rather fruitful tale
of teenage me and my friend James who thought he knew me well
Not just the cider talking or me being drunk on ale
Me sober seeing him naked set off my ding dong bell
At local pub one night got drunk, James only wearing socks
Him nude on that tree swing, me see the sexies...
Tuesday 23rd July 2024 11:16 pm
TOWEL TALE (with poetry film)
https://youtu.be/Suwqf8LHLEQ
Boys’ changing room, Dan hid my towel
School bully boy, he not my pal
So, I nicked his, nicked it somehow
He lucky boy, so well endow
The size of it made me go, ‘WOW!’
I knew right then what I’m still now
I’m into boy, not into gal.
I fancied Dave off Emmerdale
Made straight things gay. That Tory cow
Thatcher made straight white ...
Tuesday 23rd July 2024 9:35 am
Uncharted (with poetry film)
https://youtu.be/p87NvF_Qiy8
Teenager in Nineties’ Britain, always had in my hand,
a pencil to make drawings, to help me understand,
the world I was born into, which felt like foreign land,
my homosexuality was not what they had planned
Me drawing in a straight world, but mine was gay instead,
I made drawings in secret, hid them under my bed
I drew the world I ...
Monday 22nd July 2024 5:40 pm
Keep On Keep Off
Keep on the bics
Keep off the box
Keep on the kicks
Keep off the cocks
Keep on the dicks
Keep off the dox
Keep on the fix
Keep off the fox
Keep on the hicks
Keep off the hox
Keep on the icks
Keep off the ox
Keep on the jix
Keep off the jocks
Keep on the licks
Keep off the locks
Keep on the nicks
Keep off the knocks
Keep on the pics
Keep off ...
Wednesday 17th July 2024 10:51 pm
Cut Off
Cut off your pee
Cut off your piss
Cut off your bee
Cut off your biss
Cut off your sea
Cut off your sis
Cut off your dee
Cut off your diss
Cut off your fee
Cut off your fist
Cut off your gee
Cut off your gist
Cut off your eye
Cut off your iss
Cut off your key
Cut off your kiss
Cut off your Lee
Cut off your list
Cut off your me
Cut ...
Wednesday 17th July 2024 10:13 pm
Towel Tale
Boys’ changing room, Dan hid my towel
School bully boy, he not my pal
So, I nicked his, nicked it somehow
He lucky boy, so well endow
The size of it made me go, ‘WOW!’
I knew right then what I’m still now
I’m into boy, not into gal.
I fancied Dave off Emmerdale
Made straight things gay. State not allow
gay pics back then, that Tory cow
Thatcher threw men lik...
Monday 8th July 2024 9:33 am
Uncharted (The Cartographer) (with audio recording and my drawing)
Teenager in Nineties Britain, always had in my hand
a pencil to make drawings, to help me understand,
the world I was born into, which felt like foreign land,
my homosexuality was not what they had planned
Me drawing in a straight world, but mine was gay instead,
I made drawings in secret, hid them under my bed
I drew the world I longed for, imagined in my head,
I wishe...
Sunday 7th July 2024 7:18 pm
Uncharted (The Cartographer)
Teenager in Nineties Britain, always had in my hand
a pencil to make drawings, to help me understand,
the world I was born into, which felt like foreign land,
my homosexuality was not what they had planned
Me drawing in a straight world, but mine was gay instead,
I made drawings in secret, hid them under my bed
I drew the world I longed for, imagined in my head,
I wished my world w...
Tuesday 2nd July 2024 7:31 pm
Posh Nosh (with audio recording)
** Italics means Polari slang – some translations like ‘nosh’ into English (not ‘food’ in Polari) are too rude to print **
State school in ‘90’s Britain, near posh boy’s private school
From working class background, those posh boys were so cruel
Laughed at Dad’s Ford Cortina, my Iower class accent
For them a double no-no - being common, being bent
They shouted through the s...
Tuesday 25th June 2024 9:52 am
Death Cafe
Losses
are also traumas
Embed themselves
in our bodies
May be surprising or shocking
after several years
That you're still living it
almost as if it's the same day
Immediate kind of rawness
when something first happens
Like the top layers of your skin
have come off
Ebbs and flows, not linear
Comes and goes
in waves.
Can't always know
whe...
Sunday 23rd June 2024 11:41 am
Memory Scents
Memory Scents
I used to buy Mum flowers
Put them in a vase
Their petals fell where Mum
looked out the living room window
Their scent filled the room.
Dad now buys Mum flowers
Puts them in a vase
Their petals fall where Mum
is now buried.
I urged Dad not to buy plastic flowers
because the scent of real flowers
fills me with memories of Mum
I be...
Thursday 13th June 2024 10:18 am
IN FOR IT! (with audio recording)
In for a penny, in for a pound
In for a benny, in for a round
In for a hurry, in for a half
In for a murray, in for a laugh
In for a penny, in for a poke
In for a jack, in for a joke
In for a smack, in for a smoke
In for a sack, in for a soak
In for a penny, in for a pop
In for a tip, in for a top
In for a blip, in for a bop
In for a slip, in for a slop
...Monday 10th June 2024 2:17 pm
Hanky Panky (with audio recording)
Handkerchief on his behind, has this gay guy called Frankie
Know what’s on his mind, just from the colour of his hanky
Red means only hands, he wants just winky wanky
Shower, if it’s green, must clean your pinky panky
Black, the flip of that, he likes it minky manky
Blue hanky, his behind, has our guy called Frankie
He’s feeling so inclined, up for some hanky panky
...Sunday 9th June 2024 10:45 am
Lost Myself (new version with audio recording)
Mum, I
miss you.
Ever since
losing you,
I’ve lost
myself too.
Life events
you prepare
yourself for
play themselves
out in
front of
me. I’m
a spectator
in my
own body.
The audience
in the
protagonist’s skin.
Like I
am watching
my life
and I’m
in every
scene but
my body
is elsewhere.
I , the
...Wednesday 5th June 2024 3:35 pm
Lost Myself
miss you.
Ever since
losing you,
I’ve lost
myself too. Life events
you prepare
yourself for
play themselves
out in
front of
me. I’m
a spectator
in my
own body.
The audience
in the
protagonist’s skin.
I'm watching
a film
and I’m
in every
scene but
my body
is elsewhere.
I, the
disembodied actor
in his
own life
he is
directing but
somehow feels
...
Tuesday 4th June 2024 11:38 pm
MILKSHAKE FARAGE!
Milkshake Farage!
Creamcake Farage!
Pisstake Farage!
Burnstake Farage!
Arseache Farage!
Uprake Farage!
Bitesnake Farage!
Newsfake Farage!
Upbreak Farage!
Fucksake Farage!
Paymake Farage!
Give whoever milkshaked Farage a medal!
Tuesday 4th June 2024 6:48 pm
Popped
‘Anne Campbell’s
birthday today,
June 4th'
just now
on my
Facebook feed
popped up.
Yesterday was
my birthday,
June 3rd. .
Happy but
sad birthday.
First birthday
since Mum
popped off.
When I
blew out
my candles,
I wished
that Mum
had for
my birthday
popped round.
I’ll do
like I
often do
a...
Tuesday 4th June 2024 9:36 am
Mr Brighton Bear 2024 (with audio recording)
MR BRIGHTON BEAR ’24
I’m in the finals, guess what for?
Brighton Gay Bear ’24
Guess entry made selectors ‘Phwoar!’
But what dare ask, is there in store?
I’ll make those voters drop their jaw
when I get speedos out the drawer
Strip down to them on Brighton shore
And if I must, I’ll strip down more!
Yeah fancy week in Ecuador
If I win prize, oh what galor...
Saturday 1st June 2024 9:45 am
SELF-COMBUSTING LIFT (with audio recording)
SELF-COMBUSTING LIFT
(written in response to seeing sign displayed by lift in Vienna)
It’s best to give this lift short shrift
because it’s known for giving gift
of you inside it, in the midst
of fire!
FIRE!
Lift sets itself on fire!
When you saw sign, you look quite miffed
It’s too late mate to catch my drift
Best have a brandy, have it stiff
Yeah, fir...
Friday 24th May 2024 9:41 am
Goldilocks and His Three Bears (with audio recording)
Sat in the sun and most awares
of cubs giving them quite the glares
On Brighton beach, in their deckchairs
sat Goldilocks and his three bears.
See cubs like us, like men with hairs
all over their bodies and everywheres
And boy they knew, they answered prayers
did these Brighton beach burly bears.
Hell yeah I’ll stare at Ben’s, Pierre’s
meat, potatoes, their pom...
Tuesday 21st May 2024 9:24 am
Goldilocks and his three bears
Bears and cubs and don’t just live in the forest …
Sat in the sun and most awares
of cubs giving them quite the glares
On Brighton beach, in their deckchairs
sat Goldilocks and his three bears.
See cubs like us, like men with hairs
all over their bodies and everywheres
And boy they knew, they answered prayers
did these Brighton beach burly bears.
Hell yeah I’ll...
Monday 20th May 2024 11:32 pm
Grammar School Guy
Grammar School Guy
Link to poetry film version:
https://filmfreeway.com/GRAMMARSCHOOLGUY
During a McDonalds stint, I perfected the art of the squint
Escaping the gloom in the male changing room
It was late ’94, the first time I saw
this guy from the grammar school strip to his jock
I thought it rude not to glance what’s under his pants
My eyes couldn’t stop, my eyes we...
Sunday 19th May 2024 10:07 pm
Take me on a journey (with audio recording)
Take me on a journey with your
words.
Let your words soar off the page like fire
birds.
Take me on a journey with your
verse.
Let your verses cast a spell or even
curse.
Take me on a journey with your
rhyme.
Let your rhymes create new rhythms in space and
time.
Take me on a journey with your
beat.
Let your beats turn up the volume, turn up the
h...
Friday 17th May 2024 9:46 am
TAKE ME ON A JOURNEY
Take me on a journey with your
words.
Let your words soar off the page like fire
birds.
Take me on a journey with your
verse.
Let your verses cast a spell or even
curse.
Take me on a journey with your
rhyme.
Let your rhymes create new rhythms in space and
time.
Take me on a journey with your
beat.
Let your beats turn up the volume, turn up the
he...
Friday 17th May 2024 12:43 am
Hot Mess (with audio)
HOT MESS
You made
me feel
I had
to hide
everything about
myself when
I was
much younger,
whilst I
fancied the
hell out
of you
straight man.
Tonight, I
bumped into
you on
way to
queer poetry
night in
London Bridge.
That second,
I became
hot mess.
Pulled on
strings of
your backpack
to stop
you and
say...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 10:51 am
Hot Mess (with audio)
HOT MESS
You made
me feel
I had
to hide
everything about
myself when
I was
much younger,
whilst I
fancied the
hell out
of you
straight man.
Tonight, I
bumped into
you on
way to
queer poetry
night in
London Bridge.
That second,
I became
hot mess.
Pulled on
strings of
your backpack
to stop
you and
say...
Wednesday 15th May 2024 10:50 am
Hot Mess
You made
me feel
I had
to hide
everything about
myself when
I was
much younger,
whilst I
fancied the
hell out
of you
straight man.
Tonight, I
bumped into
you on
way to
queer poetry
night in
London Bridge.
That second,
I became
hot mess.
Pulled on
strings of
your backpack
to stop
you and
say hi.
Quick...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 10:53 pm
Compulsion to box
Dream never forgotten,
even in adulthood,
me aged 6,
in clouds with
telephone to ring
Grandmother in Heaven.
Conduit to otherworldly
out of sight
people and things,
triggered my fascination
in memory objects.
Collapsing and combusting
past and present,
these portals help
connect us with
the now gone.
Compulsion to box
everything up when
Mum passed away.
All I could...
Friday 10th May 2024 1:28 pm
The Bird Feeder
Almost every inch
of our garden
knotted in green.
Shears in hand,
tackle beastly overgrown.
Hard at it.
Garden far end,
corner favourite suntrap
to bare both
chest and soul
Playing with words,
poetry about Mum.
A small bird
cops a worm.
Takes a peck
but not devours.
Worm will not
give up fight.
Serious wiggle action
outsmarts the bird.
Red breasted Robin.
Mum lov...
Tuesday 7th May 2024 9:42 pm
Ignorant
Try educate the ignorant straight,
doubt anybody could.
Doubt Jack the lad does contemplate
and why he ever should
learn all about queer history
and those misunderstood.
History shows ‘gay’ beyond Pride day
and sex up Hampstead Wood.
If you think true, Jack, your IQ
is size of your manhood
when you told me, sure as can be,
‘You gays have never had it so good!’....
Sunday 5th May 2024 11:06 am
Living the Unimaginable
You know those
dreams where you
do the unthinkable,
where you stand
on your head,
do something unimaginable
because you know
you are dreaming?
It’s almost like
you are awake
when you’re asleep.
I love those
moments when something
totally unbelievable happens,
the penny drops
and you know
you are dreaming.
Knowing your dreaming,
as psychopatholo...
Saturday 4th May 2024 12:16 pm
Olfactory
Wearing a palimpsest
of the past
in the present.
Smells mark those
we have lost,
but made alive
again through the
power of scent.
I’ve been wearing
perfume left behind.
Calvin Klein’s ‘Contradiction’.
Its label reads
‘unisex’, I would
wear it anyway.
Its scent helps
heal my pain.
Just one spray,
immerses me in
olfactory sensations that
bring Mum alive
in the pres...
Friday 3rd May 2024 5:33 pm
Queering the Landscape (with audio and poetry film link)
Link to poetry film https://filmfreeway.com/QUEERINGTHELANDSCAPE
Bluebells stuck in-
between toes of
gay man laying
alone in woods.
Queering the landscape
with every breath
as leaves fall.
Feeling an affinity
with changing landscape,
the liminal lure
of woodland wonderlands
that appear unexpectedly
in suburban sprawl
where green hues
paint their palette
over concrete gr...
Tuesday 30th April 2024 11:29 pm
Queering the Landscape
Bluebells stuck in-
between toes of
gay man laying
alone in woods.
Queering the landscape
with every breath
as leaves fall.
Feeling an affinity
with changing landscape,
the liminal lure
of woodland wonderlands
that appear unexpectedly
in suburban sprawl
where green hues
paint their palette
over concrete grey.
Laying alone feeling
in ...
Monday 29th April 2024 3:54 pm
POO IN THE LOO
Go in the loo, do number two
Won’t flush away, poo in the loo
You wait a day, reflush the loo,
can’t see the poo, shout a big ‘Phew!’
Look back in loo, still in the loo
Somehow it grew, eyes times two
Poo in the loo, looking at you
Face turns blue. What can you do?
To wit, to woo, you say to poo,
‘Fancy a brew? Often come here do you?’
Not getting through, ...
Sunday 28th April 2024 1:45 pm
Kissing in Nero
Bored in Cafe Nero
Music was so damn drearo
Male candy, nada, zero
But what pricked up my earo
My eyes then towards veero
Beard razored Richard Gereo
Short hair, had fight with shearo
Beard sat beneath a Miro
with book by Gerrmaine Greero
Japan man named Akiro
Served salad cav’lo nero
Then two lads they appearo
I knew they gay, both queero
Kissing whilst here in Nero
Thought h...
Saturday 27th April 2024 9:59 am
Tactics of Seeing
A source of frustration, my school sex education
My elderly teacher although terribly kind
was not well prepared for a teenagers’ mind
‘Andrew, this condom, roll it down this banana
I can hear giggles from someone. Is that you Pollyanna?’
Andrew struggled at first to get the sheath on
‘Miss!’, Jason shouted, ‘Andrew’s banana is two inches long!’
The default is hetero but wha...
Tuesday 23rd April 2024 5:58 pm
Lucky Dragon Shirt
‘If you must’,
us teachers told,
‘do it appropriately’.
You from Japan.
English language lessons.
Sitting shy at
back of class.
Gentle Japanese man.
Summer-intensive class,
you bought calm.
Learning English to
study Violin at
Royal College London.
Moment seeing you
smile at my
lucky dragon shirt.
Blue cotton shirt
with three dragons.
Number three is
my lucky number.
I wore...
Saturday 20th April 2024 10:28 pm
Green
GREEN
First date.
Instant spark.
Called you
obscenity as
term endearment.
‘Don’t shag,
first date’,
you said.
You let
that kiss
turn snog
linger linger
longer than
any shag
I’d had.
Invite you
to my
shows. You
come. I
act dumb
around you.
Like you
just some
bloke I
know. All
I wanted
was you.
Everybody el...
Thursday 18th April 2024 8:03 pm
The Tale of Aunty Rose
‘A right piece of work’, so the story goes
that’s what Mum said or the truth she chose
about Mrs Jeffreys of Tunbridge Wells
Mum’s great aunty, her Aunty Rose
Despite her rather dowdy clothes
and crooked teeth and her wonky nose
My great great aunty, Aunty Rose
looked rather sweet in old photos
Like parents, both tight so and so’s
My great great aunty, A...
Tuesday 9th April 2024 10:27 am
THREE HARD WORDS
You text me
and I’m back
in my twenties.
Seems like now,
you and me,
far from done.
It’s as if
last twenty years
did not happen.
I want to
send you back
‘I miss you’.
I then remember
and I'm back
in the fire.
I would text,
you would only
reply when drunk.
I should reply:
‘NUMBER NOT AVAILABLE.
Fuck right off'...
Saturday 6th April 2024 10:15 am
DON'T LOOK YOURSELF (new version)
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
The lock is broken!
Don’t mock yourself!
Don’t knock yourself!
Shake up yourself!
Wake up yourself!
Wake the unwoken!
Don’t lock yourself!
Unblock yourself!
Unlock yourself
and shock yourself!
Speak,be outspoken!
Thursday 4th April 2024 1:01 pm
JEREMY HUNT
JEREMY HUNT
MY DATE IS OUT THE FRONT
MY DATE IS OUT THE FRONT
I’M GONNA TAKE A PUNT
I’M GONNA TAKE A PUNT
I’M GONNA TAKE A PUNT
I’M GONNA TAKE A PUNT
CALL HIM RIGHT JEREMY HUNT
CALL HIM RIGHT JEREMY HUNT
CALLED HIM A JEREMY HUNT
CALLED HIM A JEREMY HUNT
WAS OUR DATE UP THE SHUNT?
WAS OUR DATE UP THE SHUNT?
WAS OUR DATE UP THE SHUNT?
WAS...
Thursday 4th April 2024 12:46 pm
BEAST
BEAST
There’s a beast in me, it’s lurking
It don’t make any sense
He comes out when I least expect it
He’s watching through the fence
The beast brings out this side of me
that likes to cause offence
I tried to beat him out of me
but the beast is too intense
There’s a beast in me, he’s lurking
His beat is so immense
Tried hard to make amens with him
but can...
Tuesday 2nd April 2024 11:04 am
The Reckless Homosexual
For the unreciprocated,
the obsessive,
the infatuated,
and the envious,
a late night lament for the reckless homosexual.
Only in the calm of the night
and the quiet of an alone bed
at midnight, can I write this
only now, twenty years on.
Only under flickering screen
in the cold light of night, with memories for company,
now I see it, plain as day.
...
Sunday 31st March 2024 11:41 am
DON'T LOCK YOURSELF
Sign spotted on Pizza Express men's toilet cubicle outside door, then wrote poem. 'Wock' comes from Lean, a polysubstance drink used as recreational drug. Other names include "sizzurp", "wock", "Texas tea", "mud", "dirty Sprite".
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself!
The lock is broken!
Don’t lock yourself!
Don’t lock yourself...
Friday 29th March 2024 9:44 pm
REJECTED
Dear Lee Campbell, you care to write
‘Your poem sent is sheer delight’
You list the things you say you like
then reject it, you say polite
as my poem is not quite ‘right’
for your journal, which if i might
reply to you and say despite
me wanting take you out for fight
I say ‘Thank you’, like I’m Snow White
Dear editor, you’re talking shite
F*ck off you tw*t, get ...
Friday 29th March 2024 4:31 pm
Little Seeds, Big Dreams
Sunflowers perfume, eau de toilette
Mum’s favourite by Elizabeth Arden
When I catch its scent, the memory I get
is embarrassment in my mate’s garden
In the Eighties, we both lived in rural Kent,
just outside the village of Marden
I once caught him gardening in the nude,
my good mate Gary Barden
Little seeds in me had been sewn by he
I said ‘Ooh, I beg your pardon’
...Thursday 28th March 2024 3:50 pm
Sun In My Eyes (with live reading recording)
https://youtu.be/g145nQ41VOs
Sun in my eyes
Warmth on my face
It’s a surprisingly warm day for March
I’m on the beach at Clacton
Mum is on a cruise around the Med with Aunty Jan
They are on the top deck
sipping Malibu and coke
Topping up their tan
Sun in their eyes
That’s what I tell myself
Every time I get the sun in my eyes
I think of Mum
...
Thursday 28th March 2024 10:03 am
EINS, ZWEI, GERMAN GUY (A PLAY ON THE GERMAN NURSERY RHYME ‘EINS, ZWEI, POLIZEI’)
C.U.T.E is YOU!
SEXY GESICHT HAST DU!
Eins, zwei, Polizei!
Sechs!, funf!, vier!, drei!
I spy my eye
Cute German guy
Eins, zwei, Konditorei!
Cute Cologne guy
I can’t deny
look in my eye
Eins, zwei, Spiegelei!
Spy Spandau guy
Makes me feel high
as kite in sky
C.U.T.E is YOU!
SEXY KÖRPER HAST DU!
Eins, zwei, Abgabenfrei!
...Wednesday 27th March 2024 12:16 am
How To Draw Rufus
https://youtu.be/hTY2RCGZp40
Dear Rufus (the dog),
Da Vinci drew the body to help him understand
I too have learnt about you using pencils in my hand
Four years since I first drew you
Many lessons been learned
Drawing helps overcome my dog fear
The tables have turned
It’s okay Rufus you can have them, you can take all my chips
And my pizza, take it all, c...
Monday 25th March 2024 12:59 pm
THE POWER OF ETERNITY
Carol
‘Smeddle, Smith and Smyth. Carol speaking, how can I help you today?’
Dad
‘Yes, Mr Campbell speaking. Is that the solicitors?’, said Dad,
‘I’m enquiring about the power of ….
er… that thing you know when we all go a bit doolally up above
I’d like my son to make decisions on my behalf for him to have, he wrote it down for me
Ah, yes, I’d like to enquire about my son ...
Sunday 24th March 2024 10:04 pm
Winston Churchill’s Prostate
WINSTON CHURCHILL’S PROSTATE
Mum worked as a legal secretary and known throughout the land
for her impressive skills in the art of SHWPM
That’s the rate of words per minute you can write shorthand
As a child I’d find Mum’s notes around the home wrote in way I could not understand
All squiggles and doodles and funny letters weirdly written full stops and ampersand
S...
Sunday 24th March 2024 8:36 pm
Cancelled
https://youtu.be/-aFDhomDI40
You tried to get me cancelled
‘cause I associate
You tried to get me cancelled
with folk you claim to hate
You tried to get me cancelled
You tried to seal my fate
You tried to get me cancelled
I remember the date
You tried to get me cancelled
October twenty eight
You tried to get me cancelled
Whilst mum was in a state
You tried to...
Saturday 23rd March 2024 6:21 pm
Sun in my eyes (with poetry film)
https://youtu.be/wHKWfFYxAoE
Sun in my eyes
Warmth on my face
It’s a surprisingly warm day for March
I’m on the beach at Clacton
Mum is on a cruise around the Med with Aunty Jan
They are on the top deck
sipping Malibu and coke
Topping up their tan
Sun in their eyes
That’s what I tell myself
Every time I get the sun in my eyes
I think of Mum
Fro...
Wednesday 20th March 2024 10:12 pm
Sun in My Eyes
Sun in my eyes
Warmth on my face
It’s a surprisingly warm day for March
I’m on the beach at Clacton
Mum is on a cruise around the Med with Aunty Jan
They are on the top deck
sipping Malibu and coke
Topping up their tan
Sun in their eyes
That’s what I tell myself
Everytime I get the sun in my eyes
I think of Mum
From that photo of her
before s...
Monday 18th March 2024 4:51 pm
The Tree Man (with live readiing recording)
https://youtu.be/lWz2ru4AGII
It’s early Summer
Dad is out the back again
Gardening in between cricket from the Ashes
If it’s not football, it’s the cricket
He’s digging a hole to plant a bush
Not digging where squirrels stash their Winter food
It’s now mid-Winter
Dad is out the back again
Squirrels feast on nuts and berries
He’s digging a hole to bury ashes
...Monday 18th March 2024 10:01 am
The Tree Man (with video poem)
https://youtu.be/moEx8wdf80Q
It’s early Summer
Dad is out the back again
Gardening in between cricket from the Ashes
If it’s not football, it’s the cricket
He’s digging a hole to plant a bush
Not digging where squirrels stash their Winter food
It’s now mid Winter
Dad is out the back again
Squirrels feast on nuts and berries
He’s digging a hole to bury ashes
...Saturday 16th March 2024 1:39 pm
Mending (with poetry film)
https://youtu.be/AegG6yElMko
World turned dark, stopped her heart
Parent pending, sudden ending
Stopped her heart, fell apart
Sudden ending, life upending
Fell apart, blown apart
Life upending, time suspending
Blown apart, ripped apart
Time suspending, no pretending
Ripped apart, so damn hard
No pretending, uncomprehending
So damn hard, this end can mark
Un...
Friday 8th March 2024 12:20 pm
Used to be
https://youtu.be/t92lrUC5lUk
USED TO BE
Used to be slim
Used to be trim
Used to get ‘Wouldn’t mind getting with him!’
Used to be star
in the gay bar
Used to get ‘Ooh, how handsome you are’
Used to take mates
Out on some dates
Bar taken now over by straights
Used to be fit
Work out a bit
Used to get ‘Look at the bottom on it!’
Used to be young...
Tuesday 5th March 2024 10:23 pm
proper + improper
proper
proper job
proper nob
proper mint
proper skint
proper bent
proper meant
proper rude
proper chewed
proper slim
proper Jim
proper mate
proper gate
proper bloke
proper woke
proper full
proper cool
proper less
proper guess
proper half
proper laugh
proper script
proper flipped
proper porn
proper gone
proper ...
Tuesday 27th February 2024 2:23 pm
LOOK IN THE FRIDGE! (with live performance recording)
https://youtu.be/CRRkI2QZaPQ
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
Why don’t you look in the fridge?
If you can’t find the cheese that you’re looking for
If you can’t find the keys that you’re looking for
Or the birds and the bees that you’re looking for
Listen please, look ...
Saturday 24th February 2024 9:20 pm
Look In The Fridge (for Sarah)
https://youtu.be/RBtG8fBmjrI
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
If you can’t find what you’re looking for
Why don’t you look in the fridge?
If you can’t find the cheese that you’re looking for
If you can’t find the keys that you’re looking for
Or the birds and the bees that you’re looking for
Listen please, look in ...
Friday 23rd February 2024 11:55 am
Wristy Gristy (with poetry film)
https://youtu.be/t6ugaGR59zs
An opportunity, school bullies never missed
An ingenuity, of rhyme they couldn’t resist
See Martin hadn’t he, slept with a girl or kissed
by time he in Year 3, were boys on Martin’s list
‘Oi! Martin Grist with your limp wrist!’
‘Oi! Martin Grist with your limp wrist!’
Like Martin Grist with his limp wrist, me too I liked a man
Out of u...
Tuesday 13th February 2024 3:12 pm
Trigger Finger
https://youtu.be/vfzTa5iLSso
To finger is a verb, but I’ve never liked the noun
They pushed me to the curb on primary school playground
They never made a noise, they never made a sound
Those 1980s boys would tease me with their finger
TRIGGER, TRIGGER FINGER
PULL THE TRIGGER FINGER
It wasn’t what they say, that used to make me frown
I used to hate the way, ...
Sunday 11th February 2024 9:13 pm
Tube Stairs
Oh God, I hate these station stairs
Anticipate my mind despairs
Commuters looking everywheres
Like I’m the weight of fifty bears
Go down with mates in twos and pairs
Push past the mums with their pushchairs
Or overtake me if you dares
Exaggerate but so unfairs
They escalate all kind of glares
Downstairs I go and want to swears
Tip toe and slow but still what flare...
Saturday 3rd February 2024 3:36 pm
Himbo Jimbo
Himbo himbo, do you know the lingo?
Gay man slang for gay male bimbo
Himbo himbo, have you got the lingo"
His name’s James but he’s ‘Himbo Jimbo’
Himbo Jimbo whilst he’s reading Rimbaud
trying to look smart with his legs apart akimbo
Himbo Jimbo, so you’re not in limbo
Shiny decorations looking shit just after Chrimbo
Himbo Jimbo, name’s got quite a ringo
Say...
Friday 2nd February 2024 7:07 pm
STD
You gave me an STD
So said the nurse in the pharmacy
You gave me an STD
Her proctoscope up inside of me
You gave me an STD
Sitting on the throne like His Majesty
You gave me an STD
So said the bloke on the BBC
You gave me an STD
Sitting on your throne on your lavatory
You gave me an STD
Sitting out the back on your balcony
You gave me an STD
So s...
Tuesday 30th January 2024 1:58 pm
Who Framed Rufus
In me and Alex’s bedroom, an emergency summit
for a group of bears to discuss an eventual whodunnit
In attendance are teddies, the soft-type cuddly toy
Many like Angus and Sooty, I’ve had since I was a boy
Chief Bear Ted begins, ‘We are here to discuss today
what must be done to keep Rufus away
He comes into our bedroom
We’re shoved in cupboard or drawer
to keep us out of...
Tuesday 30th January 2024 9:35 am
see me.
see me
learn me
write me
join my letters up.
headline
sideline
suffix
crucify the fix.
adverb
advent
address
advert of a dress.
letter
second
stamp
authoritative clunk!
article
artichoke
artist
antichrist in the antichoke.
icky-sticky
print me
in icky-sicky absolute.
catchphrase
paraphras...
Monday 29th January 2024 6:06 pm
Jagged
https://youtu.be/oyEOIXnPfYk
Why did you cut my toenails jagged
on the day I came out, Mum?
That night I lay awake thinking
‘Does Mum not love me anymore?’
Did you have a conversation with the scissors
on that day I came out, Mum?
Blade stabbed my toe
Gushed with blood
You didn’t put on a bandage
Didn’t kiss it better
You can’t hoover up memo...
Friday 19th January 2024 12:29 pm
Indignantes Pollice (Downturned Thumb)
https://youtu.be/lK6x_RTy5lQ
I, indignantes pollice
I am a most indignant thumb
Digitus pollex (thumb)
Me, pollex, the most powerful digit
Infestus pollex (hostile thumb)
Pollice verso (turned thumb)
Not just the separated finger from a family of four on your hand
Don’t underestimate my pollex (power)
for magic and healing
in controlling access to the gods
Lik...
Sunday 7th January 2024 10:53 am
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