Trees
I have always liked
The look
The smell
The touch of trees
Old or young
Frosted
Naked
Barren
With or without leaves
I like their shape
Their form
Their fruit
Their spawn
I like the way they grow
Tall sharp and upright
Buckled or bent
Blown and hewn
Not manicured or sawn
I like their roots
The way they
Spread, rise
Contorted and worn
...
Saturday 19th December 2015 3:10 pm
Napalm death
It’s 1972
She runs down the road
Her naked body
Casts a shadow
In Sunday supplements
Not her Sunday best
The times
National geographic
Tabloids
Broadsheets
T.V screens
Behind her napalm death
Burning in smoking colour
Lighting up her village
Her picture cast across the globe
In black and white
A young girl less than ten
Fear written across her fac...
Wednesday 16th December 2015 11:02 pm
Church of stone
On coastal path
Up and round
By headland edge on sand and stone
Passing clumps of gorse and heather
Bare rock is revealed as torn skin
Where no grass grows
A patchwork quilt of
Lime green lichen glows layered
Amid a temple with hidden stony beach
Cut off when tide is high
Barren except for knots of sea borne kale
This undiscovered country
Protected, hidden from ...
Wednesday 9th December 2015 10:59 pm
Drop the needle
Pull the vinyl from the sleeve
Drop the needle
Trip the track
Let the stylus ride the black
Hear the crickle and the crack
Filter out the hiss and boom
Scritch the scratch
Let the music
Jump and jive
Feel your body
Shudder and tingle
As the sound hits your brain
At last you come alive
Tuesday 1st December 2015 10:20 pm
Dark
Dark
It is the darkest of dark
An inky black of Carbon Sea
Where sky and water are of one
Where hell in its fury is unleashed
As it sweeps and swaggers
Upon all it surveys
Fury set ablaze
Its shadow cast upon sea and land
Every man, woman or child that falls
Beneath its breath
Beneath its gaze that witness
The spark and crackle of r...
Tuesday 17th November 2015 10:46 pm
Summers such as these
Mods in parkas
Riding vespas
With a battery of lights and whiplash aerials
One with a Colonel Bogey horn
Ride up and down our road
In the diminishing dusk
It’s hot and I’m not sleepy
The night is muggy and steamy
One of them the newsagents son
A year or two later died
In a road crash
Leaving his parents with two younger brothers
It was the kind of summer
...Tuesday 3rd November 2015 2:16 pm
Night fishing
Night fishing
It’s Saturday night and I just got paid
The lines of the song come to me
As I walk down the street
A certain swagger
A nervous demand on self
To look, to feel the part
Because I am out
In the night
Set to conquer
To overcome
To find that which seems illusive
It seems an ill conceived notion
Amongst the busy street
Of people and of colour
A...
Thursday 22nd October 2015 10:47 pm
Superman
Eagerly anticipated
Conscripted into lines
All of the colour but none of the smoke
It’s Friday night
And he’s had a few Pints
Of sup up and soak
There’s a queue at the place
Where the white queen rules
A place for a bit of sniff and snort
Teased out of hiding
With two tenner’s and a promise of more
No thought
No hesitation
No look of heartfelt perspiration
...Thursday 8th October 2015 8:16 pm
We
We the fat and the greedy
Hereby give all that we have
To you the hungry and the needy
We the conniving and the seedy
Hereby give half of what we have
To you the old, the tired and weedy
To you the orphan, the widow
The stateless
And the unemployed
We give
We pledge to ensure
That you we will not go without
That there will never be room for ambiguity
Or doubt
...Tuesday 15th September 2015 6:00 pm
Your turn
One and one equal two
A simple equation
But for you
It simply doesn’t ring true
Your life seems to add up to three or four
Maybe more
Bruises and abrasions
That you don’t care to mention
Hidden on the inside as well as out
Like constant sores
Opening out and closing up
Waiting for another poke
Another punch
Another slap in the face
The constant ache t...
Thursday 3rd September 2015 10:02 pm
The wordsmith
Is it the destined way of man
To plead to beg
To scratch and scrabble
Clawing through naked earth
Like a desperate hungry animal
To dig down to the very depths
Of all that he holds dear
To snip and to sneer
At his own ability
To watch himself flounder
On jagged rocks
Cut and bleeding
To chip away at every sliver
At every splinter of every letter
Of every w...
Tuesday 25th August 2015 7:00 pm
Down the pub
Down the pub
It’s the place of breakfast and of beer
Shaded
Darkly lit
A cold pint and hot food
Drizzling ice cold glass
Hot sausage beans and eggs
A hubbub of conversation
A place where every man
Under forty five is a lad
Where standing at the bar
There is vague chanting
Laughing and good cheer
At scattered tables under carpet deep
Sit those who have the ...
Sunday 9th August 2015 5:33 pm
Going with the flow
I leave the station on the hill
Going with the flow
A shoal of bodies
Weaving
Winding
In unison to avoid the net
Some like spawning Salmon
Fight the expulsed tide
By going up stream
Jehovah’s witnesses
Standing battle ready
Disconsolate
Waiting, daring anybody to accept
The proffered hand
Holding a magazine
A book
Designed to bring belief
...
Thursday 23rd July 2015 10:29 pm
Brighton Beach
As a boy
Maybe five or six
Before a time of mods and rockers
I always complained about
The shingle under my feet
Large hot stones
Protruding, standing up
Pushing, shoving
Brown grey and white
Cooked and baked by the sun
Difficult to walk on
Sitting on small pebbles further down
Leaving an impression of my bum
Whilst nibbling on an ice cream cone
Shive...
Thursday 9th July 2015 11:27 pm
Not from round here
Between every few steps
He staggers
He rocks
He sways like a sail
Caught in a gentle breeze
Then says to me
You’re not from round here
Are you?
I nod in the affirmative
Wanting to move on
As he seeks to make conversation
His ship now stuck fast
Perhaps like his thoughts
Run aground
The after a moment’s thought
He confidently declares
‘You are from Lo...
Monday 29th June 2015 10:18 pm
Eyes
City eyes
Twitch and blink
Snick and flicker
As they pass the screen
Coloured lights
Dancing ever quicker
Fade and vie
Flash and bicker
Seeking attention
To catch the eye
Just a hapn’th worth
Of recognition
A few seconds
A minute
To deliver
Download and reform
Your life
Your thinking
On what you want on what you need
A whole new way
To st...
Sunday 14th June 2015 11:16 pm
Hoochie Coochie man
Down the bottom of market street
Where marks and Spencer meet
On a corner
In a warm day in April
Sits a man
Under a large umbrella
His badge of office
His shades
A guitar on his chest
His nimble fingers
Run up and down the fret
Sliding down the neck
His voice rasps out
Shame into the day
A harmonica at his side
He sits a rolling and a rocking
Ready ...
Thursday 4th June 2015 3:27 pm
All that you said
She rocks
She rolls
She turns over
In her head
All her thoughts
All the feelings
From all the words that you said
All that you promised last night
She asks herself
Will you still be there
With her in the morning
I n the daylight
Of her life
Her memories
Her dreams
Will your thoughts
Match hers
As you lay there breathing
Evenly in her bed
W...
Saturday 16th May 2015 11:08 pm
How dark
How dark is the darkest sea
That swallows up
And spits out
The unremitting deluge
Of ships and boats
That make the journey
Across its unforgiving breadth
Fully laden
Awash with souls
Packed and packaged
Desperate and Desolate
In their desire
For a better life
How dark is the face
Of human misery
Of they who would be
Transported, trafficked
Pr...
Tuesday 12th May 2015 11:49 am
How dark
How dark is the darkest sea
That swallows up
And spits out
The unremitting deluge
Of ships and boats
That makes the journey
Across its unforgiving breadth
Fully laden
Awash with souls
Packed and packaged
Desperate and Desolate
In their desire
For a better life
How dark is the face
Of human misery
Of they who would be
Transported, trafficked
P...
Sunday 10th May 2015 3:02 pm
Duvet
Duvet
I lay under white smothered duvet
Beneath folds and creases
Fighting coughs and sneezes
Until at last
I snooze and creep
Doze and sneak
Far away from the illusive vaunted
Much talked about sleep
That of a dark Calling
Falling
Into a chasm
Into the deep
At last encased and shrouded
Not daring
Wishing
Or wanting to move
Barely breathing
...Monday 27th April 2015 10:48 pm
The Truth
They want
They seek
To scandalise
To brutalise
The truth
To disrespect
Disrupt and corrupt
To take away your youth
How far and
When are not words
They understand
When is a step
A step to far
To protect
To hide
What’s been said
What’s been done
By whom and when
It’s just another
Cunning ruse
Wrapped up
Carefully packaged
Presen...
Monday 20th April 2015 10:50 pm
There was a time
There was a time
When all was
Jumping
Giggling
Screaming at
And avoiding
The cracks in the pavement
Never thinking of
Looking back
There was a time
That all that mattered
Before mortgages and bills
Aches and pills
Was
Running
Through trees
Across fields of grass
Three foot high
Over gates
Jumping streams
Never asking where
Who or...
Monday 13th April 2015 9:45 pm
There was a time
There was a time
When all was
Jumping
Giggling
Screaming at
And avoiding
The cracks in the pavement
Never thinking of
Looking back
There was a time
That all that mattered
Before mortgages and bills
Aches and pills
Was
Running
Through trees
Across fields of grass
Three foot high
Over gates
Jumping streams
Never asking where
Who or...
Monday 13th April 2015 9:45 pm
Die tomorrow
If I were to die tomorrow
Would I die a death?
That only death can hold
To be gripped in a vice like grip
To be held in place forever
By deaths final hand
That has been dealt
The sting
That none can stop
The bite of a fevered
Snarling foe
Who executes
Proclaims its victory
Whilst its poison
Works its evil fate
Would I gradually
Writhe, twist and...
Thursday 2nd April 2015 8:46 pm
shadow
Early morning light
Pushes itself
Grudgingly
Reluctantly
Through curtains
At first in streaks
Into the room
Casting shadows
On to walls
The mirror, lamps
The kettle, the table
Caught in silhouette
The T.V. always
On standby
Ever ready to burst into life
It’s red pin point light
Ever present in the bleak
Black darkness
Amongst
The land o...
Monday 16th March 2015 7:58 pm
A boy for all seasons
Dry cracked
Vaselined lips
Over which my tongue
Would stick
Ignoring grandmothers advice
To keep them moist
And don’t lick
Red legs raw from
An unforgiving wind
Blown ice cold
Through thick grey shorts
Hiding chapped thighs
Whilst Ink stained cotton
Revealed a blob of
Dark blue on a fresh clean
White shirt
A Blue and yellow striped tie
Saili...
Sunday 8th March 2015 11:06 pm
sleep
Aimlessly appreciating
Ruminating
Pontificating
Without artifice
Towards any feeling
Of malpractice or discontent
Endlessly trying
Forever tying myself in knots
Thoughts travel through my head
Without a start
Middle or an end
Continually contemplating
A cacophony of silence
Of elongated pregnant pauses
Unpopular and long forgotten
Washed up ca...
Sunday 22nd February 2015 10:45 pm
Approval
You seek her approval
Hoping above all hopes
That what you seek
That what you feel
Isn’t weird
Or unusual
Knowing that she is the one
That doesn’t need to shout and scream
To stamp her pretty feet
She will give you that look
The one that says you are wrong
Do not persist
Do not even try to carry on
Do not try to offer
Any sort of argument
Defer or resis...
Monday 9th February 2015 10:46 pm
The college years
Enter the pretty young things
With fresh faced blue jeaned legs
Their hair long and blond
Flowing free
Not yet tied back
Tied up
Not yet constrained
By babies, lovers, soft furnishings
Hard decisions and crushed dreams
Their conversation glittering awash
With all there is to do
Bags and coats
Eyes ablaze
With questions, thoughts and ideas
Not for them...
Friday 23rd January 2015 10:16 pm
Celebration
Cheery laughter
Smiling faces
Lipstick graces
Glasses
Spoons
And cheeks
It has been that time of year again
When we are told to be jolly
Put your life on hold
Let your hair down
Spend large amounts of lolly
Party, party, party
Embrace each and
Every kind of folly
Spend, spend, and spend
Don’t worry if you haven’t
Got it
We can
Lend, lend, ...
Sunday 11th January 2015 4:27 pm
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