It soothes it calms

and helps us to reflect

It’s been around for many years

No needles to inject

Medicinal, ingestible

A wonder of the world

Not the opium of the people

but can be addictive 

none the less 

In many a crisis it is used

In hospitals or prisons

Suitable from the very young

to those growing old or wizened 

It’s suggested if we’re fe...

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Eeh it’s gettin’ darker and so much colder

leavin’ t’ pub I glance over me shoulder

In case I clock a face that maybe

after me presents for Crimbo you see...

at Christmas time with bells on

Now a fella int’ snug, he sold me a rug

Not the ones for yer ‘ed but for near

yer bed, to keep ya warm if you’ve

‘ad a snow storm...

at Christmas time with bells on

It’s ...

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It’s deadly, it’s viral

It puts lives in a spiral

The symptoms are toxic

You couldn’t safely box it

It drains you, so painful

You can only blot it out

By lying in bed

to rest your head

Or grit your teeth and shout

As far as we all know

there is no antidote

for the worlds biggest

threat to you

The most dangerous 

disease that you could choose

Yes that’s ...

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In dead of night he slowly weaves
Through ginnels murky with rotting leaves
Unhurried gait becomes steady now
Then the pace increases as he cuts through town
Like a knife through butter, inebriated vagrant lying in the gutter

A mysterious figure very much alive
but it's as if a poltergeist is passing by
Every nook and cranny, wall and railing
Covering distance without even failing
to sk...

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Olive skin with high cheekbone 
Cat like eyes, vacant, alone
But focussed, knows exactly why
It’s not her that is going to die
Only one winner in this covert kill
No time for any battle of wills
The strike will be sudden and unexpected 
The minute the target is unprotected 
Unaware of the danger within
this group of colleagues he trusted in
The woman smiles to catch his eye
In this plac...

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If the sea was green with envy

Would the sky be blue with sadness?

If the gentle turned outrageous

Would the calm be temperamental?

If a dog began to talk

Would we even understand it?

If a liar told the truth

Would he still be underhanded?

If the love we have for others

Could be matched and reciprocated 

Would we overflow with kindness?

Become finer and sophisticat...

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The vast landscape dominates thoughts,
perspectives, emotions and feelings.
Engrossing, a changing of outlook and mood

At the pinnacle, a pause for breath
and meditation on the captivating horizon
Will it lead to a higher place or echelon?

If I surrender myself to it’s awesomenatural beauty,

allow it to sweep me off my feel
like a secret lover, will hope and tranquility prevail?

E...

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The stars sit under the stars at night

Yes the celebs are there for a verbal fight

To influence which one the viewers want

to stay in the jungle or dump in a pond

with alligators, snakes or slimy grubs.

Then eating worms and beetles or shrubs

But It’s nothing new I do assure,

no folks in hotels but preferring the floor,

to sleep, relax and do things much worse,

it’s chea...

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Parliament, Parliament

The place of rules and arguments 

I thank the Lord that I’m not part

Of all that palaver in Parliament 

Now politics for me is a waste of time

I’d rather have a pint or a glass of wine

You can keep your Tories, Liberals

and Green’s, Labour, UKIP and the SNP.

Question time, a live debate,

you can see it on the telly if you stay up late,

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I can make you feel contented or ecstatic

Give feelings of joy, trip the light fantastic 

Conversely, offer worry, anxiety or guilt

Enough to bury your head beneath the quilt

I’ve become to know your every way

Even the pattern of your DNA

The traits and moods, sulks and broods

The finicky, picky habits to do with food

Feelings within that can make or break

Like where’s l...

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How did we get to where we are now

With iPads and mobiles and all things technological?

Messaging, emails, air drops and more

Things go out of date once they leave

the factory floor.

To some of us it's seems only a short life ago,

when spinning tops reigned, and rocking horses

were all the go.

The cursory Christmas stocking filled

with surprises, like oranges, nuts and d...

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SWEET MEMORIES 

By The Urban Poet

A little sweetshop on every street corner

in every parade, as if part of the order,

of life and time, so within this rhyme

we can reminisce,

of the tastes, delight, and sheer bliss,

the humble sweet has given us,

like a kiss, of life that soothes and calms,

excites and tempts. 

Like pick and mix, Lucky bags of tricks

and treat...

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CONTROL 

By The Urban Poet

Draft beer pumps lined in neat rows straight

Bar person trying hard to keep up to date

With endless orders in a busy pub with live music,

Sky TV, and tasty home cooked grub

Everything is under control yea?

Parents rushing like mad to drop off the kids

Morning dew glistening on wheelie bin lids

Diesel clouds billow through the morning light

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Respect is little to ask for

To remember is to respect

To respect is to remember

Those who paid an ultimate debt

When generations come together

To acknowledge, not to mourn

It gives out a special feeling

That’s calm sincere and warm

Hats off to those who turn out

In rain or wind or snow

In aid of those who cared so much

They joined up and decided to go

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A frost chilled dim moonlight night

Putrid air, no stars in sight

Just sheer black sky’s we have

and eerie sounds that shout out “MAD”

It’s moonlight Halloween

It started out as a Christian festival

Priests and Rector’s in their vestibules

The congregation on All Hallows’ Eve

Candles lit for the graves of the dead

No meat eaten, soul cakes instead

Then came ...

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(A tribute to Jamie Havern)

By The Urban Poet

Although he stayed inside,

for the latter days of his time

he just loved being outside,

running around, free, nothing to hide.

We like to think of him out in the park

All day long, until it got dark

As a younger boy, dashing helter skelter,

hence the idea of this tribute, a shelter

A peaceful place for his f...

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By The Urban Poet

Horse racing

Greyhounds bracing

Hare chasing

Runners pacing

Biding their time

To cross the line

First past the post

The faster, the most

speed and guile 

Running a mile

Or swimming at speed

To take the lead

Only to lose by a fingertip

Like a boxer with a bruised split lip

On the ropes and then he slipped

Like a cricketer who ran too...

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By The Urban Poet

Pick me up off the floor 
when I’m thrown out the door
For having one too many again
I lost count though after ten

Pick me up when I feel down
When I’m depressed and all around
Seems dark and bleak and hopeless too
I guess I never got over you

Pick me up on the things I say
When you want your own sweet way
To prevail and win the argument 
On victory you seem hel...

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THE WAITING ROOM

By The Urban Poet

Waiting for our Dad outside the pub

Told to be quiet as children should

Sharing a packet of Smiths crisps

With blue salt bags, in the evening mist

Waiting downstairs as the Doctor arrives

To examine my Father who nearly died

Tuberculosis was rife in those days

Chips wrapped in paper, not on plastic trays

Waiting at the Labo...

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I need to relax

I need to rest

Get all frustrations 

Off me chest

I need to chill out

And do it now!

The problem is I know not how

The secrets of letting go

Of my fears and anxieties

Worries of many varieties

Pent up emotions 

Stresses and strains

Pressures coming at me

Like a high speed train

I’ll completely switch off

Get rid of me cough

Take deep ...

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By The Urban Poet

He’s not plain or restrained

or wet like the rain

Not unobtrusive, nor meek,

humble or demure, he’s not

introverted, bashful, shy or insecure

He’s Mr Glitz, you’ll find him at the Ritz

Not the opera or the ballet, or a trade union rally.

Yes he’s politically correct but he only wants the best, that’s Mr Glitz

He’s designed to impress, being showy and pr...

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Yes I’m writing live now about our village

Hoping the ideas are going to flow

And as things go, I feel it strong

A compulsion to write and highlight 

Things to be excited about, right or wrong

Just about the things we see, as we observe

The flowers, shrubs and trees

In the vast green areas we still have 

In this place we live, maligned and blighted

We may be, but the tru...

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To those who have drifted past a certain age

With some going through to the next stage

Where maybe we see the wrinkles, grey hairs,

and extra pounds.

With changes already showing up,

or just waiting around.

A look at pretty twenty five year olds, a sigh.

But not too long ago we were all twenty five

Just like us, one day, they’ll be our age too

What they bring to the tabl...

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We all crave recognition 

No matter what position 

Or job that we’re in, Is it a sin,

to crave that recognition?

We all need to be noticed

Post our latest photos 

With filters on, pretend we’re young

And hide the bits that’s bloated

Now image is important 

Personality can’t lie dormant

You need a way to win the day

And be right at the very forefront

So if we’re ...

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Monsoons creating mudslides

Volcano erupting in dark of night

Tornado wrenching up trees as if matchwood, 

as flood water sweeps in unabated 

Forces over which we have no control

Bone dry, arid landscape, parched and thirsty

Strangely alluring and yet deadly in its nature

Cacti defying the climate by storing fluid

How many stories could they tell of lost souls?

Forc...

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Fist slams down

Vice like grip

Unprovoked

Bruised split lip

What was said?

What was done?

Dinner gone cold?

I had some fun?

Bank card slashed

SIM card ruined

Friends deleted

Trouble brewing

Stay indoors

Can’t go out

Children terrified

Even of the shouts

Got no money

Not of my own

Can’t buy clothes

I’m home alone

Kids at school

Partner ...

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Intense
   anxious
      fearful
         feelings

Thoughts
      persecution
            conspiracy
                  threats

Delusions
      irrational
           beliefs
                fixated

Unconvinced
        impacted
             functionality
                    limited

Isolated
    time to reason
         unwarranted
                judgement 

Exaggeration
...

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Life can be as captivating as it can be cruel

From the opening of a car door, to the unusually silent journey to an unknown destination.

Intriguing, suspicious,

but in a strange way, randomly wonderful.

A chance encounter in of all places, a supermarket, bringing back images past.

Impressions in the mind now unlocked

As if being released from a dark eerie crypt

Black, but...

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ALEXA AND SIRI

(A digital love story)

By Fred Varden

They met whilst travelling the digital world

Alexa on the Amazon, Siri at the iPhone tower

Alexa had no hair, no not a single curl

Siri, lithe, dark, no frills and no flowers

Both very different in many ways,

but some things in common, voice recognition

And worked twenty four hours a day

They reacted and o...

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Plans for the future
Plans for the present
Planned by councils
Not with the residents
They know better
than us you see
They are the experts
To them we’re like trees
That blow hot and cold
In the political wind,
until our voices are
completely dimmed
By the length of time 
The process takes
Apathy kicks in
and it all goes away
The bulldozers
then appear In view
To produce more nei...

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Seek help they say, don’t bottle it

or throttle it back any longer

By doing this you’ll be stronger

I’m strong in my own eyes

Why?  Because I still survive

A never ending tsunami tide

A roaring surf of emotional conflict

Riding on guilts, responsibilities, anxieties

Dread of the fear of disappointment 

Expert strategies against my mind

A perfect facade ...

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Popcorn sweet and butter toffee

Costing more than a gallon of coffee

Whatever happened to the penny chew?

We used to share between me and you?

A kiss or two on the back row

Would give our cheeks a rosy glow

But now before we even get in

We’ve nothing left, bereft and skint!

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If you want a win you’ll take a draw

‘Cos losing hits a nerve that’s raw

As good times go you’ll take the bad

An alternative to going mad

Now as for diets and keeping slim,

you’ll take whatever clothes your in

As long as they look reasonable enough,

to get the doubters to call your bluff 

You’ll take any odds on a winning horse

As long as the nag just finishes the course...

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I’ve never read Keats, Coleridge or Chaucer

I don’t believe in flying saucers,

but inspiration I sometimes find

in an unknown source that’s in my mind

It’s as if something weird has taken me over 

Infiltrated my thoughts as I get older

But how can I stop it, making me write

scary things that give people frights

When I feel it inside it sets me off shaking

In fe...

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I were out last night at The Brewery Tap
It’s a pub in Lymm where the real ales at
After finishing me second set of poetry
A guy said I needed positivity

Positivity is what I need
Positivity I need to see
If I do nothing else in this life
To be positive is what I’d really like

Now it’s all well and good to have an opinion 
But over positivity I have no dominion
Being morose is what I...

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I wanna be a rebel, no more goodie two shoes

I’m done with being PC

I wanna be a rebel you see

Get myself a girlfriend or three

Or would I prefer a strong cup of tea?

With a double brandy, a lager shandy?

Not radical enough? I’m just not tough

But now I’m growing old I wanna be bold

Eat loads of meat pies, kick sand in eyes,

and because I may havedementia,

say there w...

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Why did we have to connect?

Was it because it was genuine?

Is there really any chemistry?

Or did you like me out of respect?

Why do I have these thoughts 

that haunt me and won’t go away?

Is it that I am fantasising?

Misinterpreting the things you say?

Why in an ideal world

Would there be no me and you

Because of the difference in age

Being together would...

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We look at the world and we see
how it’s turning,
each time we walk down the street.
Some changes we see make
our stomaches keep churning,
each time we walk down the street.

We don’t know why things have to be so
Why does it feel so unreal?
Who can be shy, with all that goes now?
it’s out of control, that’s true.

When all’s said and done
people just don’t feel safe now,
each time t...

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Tick tock, tick tock,

beats time, life’s clock

Vital organ, blocked vein,

chest pain, blood clot

Paramedics, sirens wail,

poorly patient, looks pale.

Rapid admission, theatre prep’t,

hands washed, ready for the boss.

The surgeon, the man,

the star of the show,

is all masked up and ready to go.

Anaesthetist fires the first shot,

which soon takes effect

an...

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Lying motionless amidst knotted weeds and grass

Astride from bloodstained shards of glass

Lady with taunted expression engraved 

Surely nobody could have been so enraged?

As a missing person it started out,

until a neighbour raised an alarming shout

After a glimpse of a somewhat ugly scene 

That turned out not to be a bad dream

How on earth did it end this way?

Had she b...

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What could be better than memories sweet?

Thoughts to hang on to, savour and cherish

Your first love and kiss, as your heart skipped a beat.

Close relationships like food that you relish

What could be more important than life?

The good bits the sad bits, the highlights

Excitement, joy, feeling elated, the strife

The mornings, evenings, the beauty of twilight 

What...

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Drifting between sanity and the surreal, 
I hold on.
Feelings of exasperation, desperation.
I need an explanation! Am I really who I am?
Am I unknown or lauded?  Hold on.

A perilous journey through many years it seems,
highs, lows, pitfalls, cross roads
and dead ends, hold on.
Who is this imposter who I can’t break free of?
Why can’t I defeat it, beat it, complete it?
Hold on.

Holdi...

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He’s got a cough, he’s got a cold
He is convinced he’s growing old 
The futures not looking very great,
and as coughs go, it may be too late
Oh and he may have lost a bit of weight?

The pain is bad, it’s jabbing hard
His family say he’s being mard 
But he’s convinced it’s something sinister
And they will need to call a Minister.

They seem to move around and around
The excruciating pa...

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A love so strong my heart throbs in excitement 
Excitement every time we are meeting up
Meeting up is different every time in every way
In every way we relate to, and love each other
Love each other and our hearts are entwined.
    Our hearts are entwined together, forevermore 
          Forevermore, we will last the course
          The course is set out in infinite detail
    In infinite...

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