A Tale of Two Sandals
Grandparents see future kings in small boys,
promise trips to boating lake and forest
worlds away from the flat above shops
Away from bone-dry August air
heavy with discordant dog barking, raised voices,
kids' screams and throaty open-back buses
Like the one to Ilford Market which passed
by broken teeth of war-bombed buildings.
Nan bought sandals from a man weari...
Thursday 17th August 2017 6:09 pm
A Dog's Life
he talks to me as if I know
I just tilt my head
give him the eyes
thinks I'm his best friend
all I want is a long walk
a few wees, a dump
a sniff around lamp posts
bushes and trees
quick catch up on the news
he has to read that paper
he's just bought
or sit watching TV
thinks he's in charge
but you don't see me
picking up after ...
Sunday 28th May 2017 9:38 am
Bitchin' In The Kitchen Sink Drama
unrest in the kitchen had
been brewing for some time
a pongy cloth waiting to wipe
the smile off surfaces
and behind closed doors
not a fluid ounce of cupboard love.
a storm in a teacup
saw the kettle let off steam
as a mug flew off the handle.
the bin, as usual, talked rubbish
mixing it with the blender -
the one with the short fuse.
a knife's sh...
Wednesday 17th May 2017 12:37 pm
minds under arrest
they chart choreography of lives
learn the mechanism of moves
then wait to bring thunder clouds
to storm and force doors
at the dark side of dawn
with barking mouths and feet
it's in their dna to examine
and remove the fibres of yours
distilling essence for clues
from nooks and crannies
they scour sinks for germs
from scrubbed hard drives
...Monday 15th May 2017 11:39 am
Begging For Time
I wrote this months ago but it seems appropriate to post today after Colin Hill's 'Jesús the Everyman' poem.
excuse me, can
you spare a dime
for this old boy
long past his prime?
At ninety six
I find that I'm
still reaching out
to beg for time
Wednesday 10th May 2017 8:52 am
That Thing We Call Nostalgia
Stepping into the parlour
I smell the oak of the dining table
That reads like a collection
Of days, crumbs of conversations
Aromas of smoke and laughter
With tears of life and death.
The grandfather clock recalls
The order of Sunday lunch at two.
Pops, puffing his pipe at one end,
Dad at the other, me spectating
Banter like centre court tennis
Punctuated by t...
Sunday 7th May 2017 9:20 am
The Politics of Billy Liar
no-one could tell from his face
and his body language never,
I mean never, gives him away
he's way too schooled at staying
cool and too long in the tooth at
being economical with the truth.
strictly speaking his pants should
be on fire and his name could be
Billy 'bare-faced' Liar, a lying
baa-baa baa-sted who craftily pulls
the wool over people'...
Wednesday 3rd May 2017 1:08 pm
Only The Lonely Hear Górecki
only the lonely lie wide awake
staring through windows
in the Great Bed Of Ware
wondering and wandering
boulevards of broken dreams
walking backwards through time
searching for love in a crowd of one
wearing hopes that don't fit
a symphony of sorrowful songs
and ache like empty cases
dragged around deserted airports
a black box of pa...
Monday 1st May 2017 9:30 am
Gossip's Arrow
someone somewhere
has been saying
something about somebody.
someone's had too much
to say for themselves,
toxic words put into
other people's mouths
that will spread
like 'flu to every
somebody else
whose loose lips
spill words like pub drunks.
someone is going
to trip over
a wagging tongue
and set free a cat
from somebody els...
Friday 28th April 2017 9:45 pm
Going Around In Circles
autumn came again to deliver
the last rites, stretching
the shedding skin of summer
into shadows that spelt death.
but you already knew, sensing
the earth's thirsty need
from musty baked breath
whispered up on parched roots
and seeing with eyes that
could stare down the sun,
the emasculation of rays
mocked by morning mist.
so, too, a blanket of...
Wednesday 26th April 2017 10:02 pm
Fibs And Secrets
nanna told me I was found under
a bush and kept a straight face,
and even though I thought it was
a fib, I couldn't bring myself to say.
then Mum told me about the tooth fairy
and I was fooled two times after I found
a sixpence under my pillow in the morning.
but next time I stayed awake counting sheep
'til my eyes hurt and when the door opened
and someone ca...
Tuesday 25th April 2017 8:15 pm
On Nights
darkness draws the curtain of night
from a palate of bible black ink
painting clouds of bats
into corners of the sky
to suffocate the light
until the canvas dies again
to narrow the cornea of shuttered eyes
pulled by moon magnets towards sleep
that place where memory knits the wool
of day from patterns of time spent
spinning experience that stitches
fibres of me...
Monday 24th April 2017 9:40 am
Drop The Rope
drop the rope
in this tug-of-war
there is no hope of victory
you won't pull it to ground
you've tried long enough.
your battle has become
a Chinese finger trap
you will only succeed
in hurting yourself.
the time has come
to rest your anger
it looks tired now
put it to bed
and let it lie.
Sunday 23rd April 2017 11:00 am
Supermarket Space Invaders
itchy feet began to squeeze
into my size 8 shoes intent
on propelling me
out of the way.
standing so close behind
their impatience felt like
fire breathing down my neck
as arms with three-fingered
hands thrust past my open
mouth to whisk away the last
two chicken and pesto paninis
from the shelf, heavily discounted
at a bargain price of £1.79 each.
...
Thursday 20th April 2017 10:42 pm
Undress Rehearsal
zoom in with closed eyes
etching fine details of skin
features, exposing fabric-
coated limbs and organs
to be explored, forensically.
record. save. stop. freeze
frame magic moments
at the mercy of the pull
of sexual magnetism.
rewind. pause. play. retrieve
images from a drive of stored
urges of unrequited longing.
watch. review. delete. review.
...Tuesday 18th April 2017 7:31 pm
Here's The Sting
dive out of bed on a duvet day
to go a-wandering
away from your comfort zone.
do these things in order:
put your worries in the wash
drink two too many coffees
skip the organic muesli
fill up on a full fat fry up
then go...only don't leave
without sensible shoes and
clean undies (you never know).
follow the route I gave you,
1hr 42mins should do it...
Monday 17th April 2017 8:23 am
Eggocentric
my shiny wrapper
hides a gossamer thin shell
of oval ego
the self-centred sick yolk
of albumenandwomen
who seek attention.
you're looking at me
on the shelf, thinking
oeuf, oeuf, oeuf
love, love, love.
and I'm thinking
me, me, me
it's all about me, not you
and I'm chocolate enough
to eat myself, if I have to.
Friday 14th April 2017 2:21 pm
Queen of Camden
the streets of Camden still mourn music
royalty, the queen who lived too much,
soared too high, near to the scorching sun
where only the mad and geniuses fly.
and twenty seven arrived too soon,
before your time but time enough to tattoo
yourself on hearts and minds. On that day
I heard the legend of Sarah Vaughan cry.
and wandering into Stables Market I hear
you...
Tuesday 11th April 2017 5:49 pm
Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling
hitting the ground
on Cooper's Hill
a nine pound round
of Double Gloucester
rolling around and
bouncing down.
and here come
the chasing crowd
flailing arms
stumbling, tumbling
somersaulting
some falling under
the stampeding herd.
it's hurtling down now
seventy miles an hour
flying past perilously
close to spectators
as ambulances race
...Monday 10th April 2017 8:36 am
Being Someone Else
I'm wearing
someone else's smile
teeth that don't fit
in this mouth
that can't speak.
I'm not OK. OK?
don't ask me anything else
because I'm not myself
I don't know why,
I couldn't say.
I'm striding
around town, out of step
in someone else's shoes,
laughing clown's feet
that don't fit my mood.
I'm driving
someone else's car
on the wro...
Saturday 8th April 2017 11:38 am
Jazz Notes, Harlem 1950's
smoky underground sounds
of free spirits of the street
fill the Harlem air.
it's improv, it's in the pocket
hands, fingers and mouths
breathing life, it's the
birth of the cool,
cool notes of jazz.
drum lays down the beat
that pumps the bass
that drives the rhythm
Miles and 'Trane free-blowing
blowing out blue note
messages to the street.
Monk in ful...
Thursday 6th April 2017 9:30 am
Days Like This
on days like this I find myself
seeking things I will never find,
locked inside the circle of a shell snapped shut.
on days like this I avoid
the rotten teeth of the crowd
who bring dread to the door
and keep me stranded in a lake of bed
where I lie dressing and undressing your ghost
sketching the outline of your smile in paints
that drip, drip and wash away
...
Tuesday 4th April 2017 8:00 am
Felling Us
your will, of course, would
eventually do the work
driving a wedge between us
edging deeper into the
splintering cracks, slowly
revealing the tumour
that digested the bark
of our rotting timber
and sensing the end, an
accumulated intent added
weight to your will with
exaggerated swings
and staccatoed slashes
of blades that finally did
the fel...
Saturday 1st April 2017 7:50 pm
Spaghettification
space travel can bend you out of shape
so wandering too close to black
holes would be a big mistake
and if you fall in feet first
tidal forces and
gravitational
gradients
will
make
elasticity
of
your
plasticity
and
stretch
you
vertically
and
compress
you
horizontally
until
you
resemble
spaghetti
Wednesday 29th March 2017 9:12 am
A So-So So and So
just when you think you know yourself
life can creep up on you, the unwary,
to reveal a new persona that stares back
from the mirror at your disbelief, now
that you're normal, a mere mortal, no
longer edgy, racy or extreme, eyes
lacking twinkle and sparkle now
average has been bestowed on you
your confusion will wonder where
you were when the change occured
an...
Monday 27th March 2017 8:13 am
Stalker
drifting past unnoticed
my heart beats a path
in silent steps, following
hanging around your space
this place and that, slipping
in and out of view, waiting.
sideways, casual glances
give no clue of my intention
to inhabit you, inside
where your energy burns
I'm going nowhere
nowhere without you
in my sights
waiting my time
preparing for someth...
Saturday 25th March 2017 1:13 pm
Enigma Variations
all that is and could ever be
but never will be constantly
presents itself as a teasing
reflection of permanency
hidden deep beneath the inky
brine of the unknown, down
where the currents of time
write intricate patterns
of possibilities and fate
that carry life like a tide
somewhere, anywhere
but nowhere for long
Wednesday 22nd March 2017 8:43 am
From Out Of Nowhere
they warned us
it was coming
okay, I thought
this time
I'll be ready
so I waited
and watched
and waited
but there was no sign of it
until
the moment
I turned my back
and suddenly
there it was
out of nowhere
back from hiding
who-knows-where
and there was I
again agog
cleverly out-witted
by the cunning fog
...
Thursday 16th March 2017 9:28 pm
Memory Thief
in the cold light of contemplation
the past slips in and out of focus
from cubby-holes of consciousness
hiding the known from the knowing
dropping hints that tease the tip of
the tongue with a taste of familiarity
and no more, laughing at our futile
attempts to fill the recollection plate
with titbits, the residue of memory
traces pinched by thieving magpies
of...
Tuesday 14th March 2017 8:37 am
The First Of The Rest
you can wait so long that time begins
to stalk you like a shadow that slowly
envelopes and suffocates your being.
when it came, I felt the full force of
disconnection as a tightly clenched
hand pulled me up roots and all.
detached and vulnerable to the elements
I wandered, walking the winds of change
until hope and expectancy breathed again.
returned and embedde...
Monday 13th March 2017 7:51 am
Terminal Zoo
Bedlam's enclosures echo
from trolley wheel thunder,
packed cases of the pack
in the jungle of unearthly delights
herds roam the manic
maze of terminal zoo
gazing, grazing and lazing
now duty-free, with one eye
on the gate that signals escape
from voluntary detention
alpha males indulge in feeding frenzies
as females seek scents
and food to placate the hys...
Saturday 11th March 2017 6:06 pm
Nan Was My Nigella
Fanny Craddock, the TV cook of the 60's, was
too posh to appear with a Player's Weights
ciggie perma-glued to her lip-sticked lips,
but not my nan.
Standing on a chair next to her in aromatic
kitchen fog, I eagerly absorbed the commentary
from the side of her mouth like a microphone.
Although we were in Dagenham not Chelsea,
Nan was my Nigella, only 50 years early.
...Wednesday 8th March 2017 8:06 am
Mona Lisa Musing
It's all about perspective. For example, the
imaginery landscape behind me, in Leonardo's
mind, served as a counterpoint to the enigma
of my reserved posture but, to me, it looks
incongruous.
And they call me La Gioconda, meaning jocund,
but I assure you I didn't see the funny side, sitting
for an eternity on that rickety pozetto armchair.
And although he envisaged...
Sunday 5th March 2017 6:17 pm
Insomnia
turn and turn again
spiral down deep
beneath the earth's
dark musty sheet
plough the frigid soil in vain
for space to plant
the root of sleep
Saturday 4th March 2017 5:09 pm
Inevitabilities
That winter had teeth sharper than
butchers' knives, enough to make
walls shiver inside paper coats.
Honestly, it was that cold.
Why ever did you think a featherweight
Hillman Imp could fight a blizzard
all the way to Anglesey that night?
An early knock-out was inevitable.
Opportunity came knocking in a
snow-white anorak, arms wrapped
tight as a straightjacke...
Thursday 2nd March 2017 1:04 pm
Not Quite 8½
it was one of my Fellini dreams
I'm Guido or somebody
and you're one of his lovers,
Carla maybe
anyway, you're all over me
like a cheap suit
clinging tight like Chanel perfume
wrapped around me like a silk scarf
getting closer than briefs
slipping on and off like sheer stockings
wearing me like a hat
but then you notice
my two left feet
and 8½ l...
Wednesday 1st March 2017 2:30 pm
Emergency: Creative Hiatus
I've lost my way
my insight has disappeared
out of sight
hiding somewhere in this rut.
stale ideas coat the air
like bad breath,
my imagination
is not fertile any more.
the lights have gone out
on my creativity,
I can't find any words
to fill the page.
I'm just staring in the dark,
hiding under blank sheets
on an empty bed
until somebody wakes...
Tuesday 28th February 2017 12:27 pm
The Taste Of Lisbon
on sardined sea-brined air I taste Lisbon's
rich past from the Tagus that still aches
with saudade and melancholic cries of fado,
a story of men yearning to conquer the whole of
the sea. Sorrow sheds tears, and from above
a millefeuille of sea-facing structures hides
the graffiti of grief behind blue-tiled facades.
below, shards of light reflect like glass
from intrica...
Sunday 26th February 2017 12:26 pm
Assive Smoking
sycophant seekers please take note
swallowing praise can harm the throat
and getting lots of verbal bungs
ultimately affects the lungs
breathing smoke can lead to choking
- know the risks of assive smoking
Saturday 25th February 2017 8:57 pm
Mr. Bumfrantic
he had a sticky-out bottom and
a forward-leaning posture like
Groucho Marx and Max Wall.
50 if a day, he couldn't half move,
speeding past our window, you'd
swear he was on a skateboard.
at Lloyds Bank, behind the scenes,
sheet of A4 in hand, going full pelt,
he was normally too preoccupied
to recognise me paying-in.
instead, looking at his back, all I
c...
Friday 24th February 2017 9:29 pm
Largin' It In Later Life
nobody wants to be ordinary any more,
especially not pensioners like nan and grandad,
they're dead cool like us now.
none of nan's mates have crap phones, no-name
trainers, tiny teles or carpet in the lounge, and
wouldn't be seen dead with grey hair. Grandad's
in his element, he calls them his 'dolly birds'.
and they're out in town, day and night, designer gear
and pe...
Thursday 23rd February 2017 10:11 pm
Mrs Fox
I must be honest,
for someone so cute
you're very sly
but, then, strangely shy
and extremely sensitive
(I bet you could hear a fly fart)
you're so aloof, and
unsocial, like the hours
you keep, you really do
keep yourself to yourself.
I've seen you
slinking past my window
en-route to root about
with dark adapted eyes.
dressed to kill, you
cunni...
Wednesday 22nd February 2017 10:22 pm
a glimpse through the side door of paradise
I was a fatality waiting to happen
unable to resist the temptation
of getting too close to the flames
I walked blindly into the path
of fast movers on love's freeway
you found me
a twisted wreck of torn limbs
and breathed life into my broken soul
your bodhisattva healed
my haemorrhaging heart
and re-tuned it
extracting sweet notes from its core
like a s...
Tuesday 21st February 2017 8:06 pm
Breaking Bread With The Dead
if I could share one single
word with you
if I could add one single
ounce of light to your life
if I could be one single
crumb on the plate
then all of this was not in vain
Tuesday 21st February 2017 1:01 pm
The Heart Of The Matter
I sensed you knew it was time
I circled you long enough
before making my move
striking stealthily
taking you swiftly down to death
my marksman's precision
using razored teeth
honed long ago
on prey more elusive than you
standing over you
my prize
I begin a ruthless dissection
ravenous, blood-drenched canines
clinically tearing you limb from limb
c...
Sunday 19th February 2017 7:55 pm
write, edit, re-write, write, edit, re-write
I write and then edit
I write and re-write
my battle with words
is an unending fight
I wake and write notes
so I'm up half the night
but then in the morning
it still seems like shite
the words on the page
feel too loose or too tight
so endless revision is
my everyday plight
I re-do and re-edit
until it feels right
then when its finished
I dance w...
Saturday 18th February 2017 3:38 pm
A Descending Depression
a dense air
a blurred vision
a shrouded perspective
a clouded judgement
an engulfing chaos
my mind was a fog
a descending depression
Friday 17th February 2017 8:13 pm
just a small boy
just a small boy
swathed in night's silence
weaves dreams of innocence
worlds away from
the nightmare that
will break apart the
completed jigsaw of his life
watch him
jolted awake by
the noise of familiar voices
see him
out of bed, bleary-eyed,
moving unsteadily in blackness
.........."mummy, mummy"..........
look at him
at the top of...
Thursday 16th February 2017 10:41 pm
Enough Is Enough
"that's it," she said, "enough....I'm through"
- she's had her fill of making do
she's sick to death of putting up
with nothing but a half-filled cup
dropping out of going without
she thinks it's time that she got out
resigning from the daily grind
she's leaving drudgery behind
this friend of mine at last is free
to seize her opportunity
she's off to Greece...
Wednesday 15th February 2017 9:31 pm
An Exquisite Hand Job
as soon as she saw it she thought
"I must have you"
he smiled, nodding encouragement
transfixed, she reached out and
took in hand the striking beauty.
with delicate fingers she explored
its perfect form, the fine details of
its proud head and the smooth
textured body of this archetypal
depiction of manhood.
even more certain now, she thought
"I simply m...
Tuesday 14th February 2017 10:04 pm
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