There’s a town

Where there is a street

Where are all the cobbles polished

By the rain

Solid and set for good

Each and every house one after another joined at the hip

Slates cut perfectly aligned

Where the rain falls

In steady showers

Off rooves down pipes

From cast iron

Black as night gutters

And doors shuttered but never locked

Red steps meticulously cleaned

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In this house there are many rooms

And in the rooms are many cupboards

And in the cupboards are many clothes

Clothes in which we dress

And seek to shed to suit the mood

Suits in which to parade and hide

And yet we never truly own with pride

They are that which we are born too

That which comes in many shapes shades and sizes

Some to the untrained eye are ill fitting

So...

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Bring on the night

The open sky

Let it be beyond the neon flashing glow

Far away from the on off metronome signs

And ceaseless click clack chatter

Turn off the raging sun

And naked searchlight sky

Let me be beyond the reach of carefully mapped out streets

Let my guide to the after light be the stars

And pitted spotlight moon

Let me see and feel the perfect quiet

of...

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He moves out from the shadows

Stepping under the spotlight streetlight sign

Dark coat fedora and a single smoke signal curls

Up and around

No words spoken as he leans against

The lamp post

Waiting patiently for

The patent sound

Of her heels hitting the sidewalk

To take him off his guard

A lipsticked pencil skirted honey

With too much to lose

And not enough to ...

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Speechless naked feet

Brush the boards

Where carpets are bare to tread

In threadbare pile

Of warm worn through

Early spring sun

Long legs languid and fair

With hairs that stand up

Feeling the fresh air rush of the tingling chill

Coming up through floorboard cracks

And the regular slap of skin against wood

As she walks in just an old man’s shirt

Running the fing...

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It is coming to that time of year

When battalions will assault the beach

Running marching plodding and tramping

Some dancing and lighting fires

Occasionally fornicating

An army armed with windbreaks

Mats dogs and towels

Bikinis shorts and trunks

Some with acres of flesh

Which wobble and supplicate to the merest movement

Others finely chiselled models

Of what is be...

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When we try to hold on

To the handles that no longer turn

The keys that no longer fit

The jokes that are no longer funny

The lies that we told to get ourselves

Through the year of days

We can say that they are full of rust

When the hinges on the doors remain stuck fast

And we have hung on to the paper clippings

Of a love that collects dust

The engine and the bra...

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His face was as dark and grizzled

As the thoughts running through his head

His half -shaved expression breaking up with a confused grin

Laying on his bed he spoke to whoever might listen

Whether there or in his head

This stranger in a strange land

Misunderstood by others and himself

He cuddled and coddled the memories

Behind his darting deepening eyes

As he walked throug...

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Words sneak up on me

Come up behind me

Grab me round the throat

Gag and starve me of all else

Beat me about the head

Until my mouth

My pen release them

A teeming, fighting stream

Of conscious thought

Storming an unconscious self

Words that nag and push me around

Like a long-lost friend

Assaulting my senses

Lying dormant for a time

In sleepy tired dreams

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It was the smell of leather that hit me first

Old crisp leather

Well used

Beginning to crack around the straps

One of the buckles slightly bent

He shuffled nervously from one foot to another

As he entered the flat

A friend of a friend

His polished black shoes

And well- worn overcoat hanging over his slender frame

Gave him the appearance of a door to door salesman

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The night is as thick as coal dust

As the night shift starts

The electricity keeps going out

No lights, no oxygen

Who will die tonight?

Back on again

A Doctor sprays the room before the start of her shift

To protect against the dreaded fly

Among the sweat and heat the medics loose blue uniforms move around

With needles and gloves

Children cry with pain

Some vomit...

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Oh, dissolute and feckless youth

When wiliest thou surrender to all that is given

Wiliest thou not seize with both hands

All that is offered and granted freely to thee

The boundless pounding rhythm that rises in thy chest

Does thou not recognise all that lays

In rich and fertile soil

Beneath the crust of barely hidden dust

Wilt thou not lift thy face and greet the sun

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Daylight finally comes

In yawning unrepentant stages

And I want to shrug off the sleep of the night

Turn off the bleep and cheep unholy communion of monitors

The farting

The coughing

The snoring

The swearing 

The confusion from the bed next door

But its nearly six o’clock

And time for temperatures

The blood pressure measure

Of heart rates and blood taken

...

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The dog track is closed now

The rabbits packed his bags

And gone to find himself

The dogs hang around in street corner packs

Tripping up old grannies

And stealing little kids’ sweets

On Sundays chasing balls on the sand by the coast

The older ones retired and live in a home

Some others died early on

Not able to take the strain

The dog tracks cinders have been kic...

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My mother had recently remarked

That despite her desires

I had ended up being a townie

I reflected on this

As I left the town of my birth

With the slightest hint of regret

The train jangling along

The sun shining on all it looked upon

a mighty searchlight

Highlighting every last detail

Across the backs of high terraced houses

That seem to shiver

Steeped on three...

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There were winters past

When we walked across

Paths and tracks with mac’s

And coats that floated in harsh torn winters gale

Upon fields of white stalked green

Steady crisp crunching footsteps

Marked our trail

On crushed even grass

Trying to avoid the rutted tractor tyre puddles

Of snarking bracken waters splash

Laughing over bootfulls of over eager tread

Of h...

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It’s another hotshot night in the Steaming town

Of screaming wailing sirens

Crowned with singing and dancing

Pumping thumping music coloured lights

Among the daily dilly dally splashing of flower laden heights

bathing in the fountain

washed in freezing frothy folly filled pints

And shots with shouts

Of she’s just another

Among the glut of burning talent

Who strut the ...

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