Eeh it’s gettin’ darker and so much colder

leavin’ t’ pub I glance over me shoulder

In case I clock a face that may be

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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Now if there’s a job to do they always say
To do it yourself, even put up a shelf
Now that’s ok but only one prob
No tools for the job, ’cos I like being a slob

So, I pay a few bob to someone on the dole
To bang and drill and put screws in the holes
I can’t be arsed to be any part of that DIY
Oh, it makes me flaming cry! 

I did once have a go at a job you know
But I didn’t have a clue...

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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!
Rick Varden, the Urban Poet

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Can you hear me Mother?

Since you've been gone, I just can't cope

Looking after this place is a flaming joke

I miss your apple pie with a glass of gin

It's no picnic keep living out of a tin

         Can you hear me Mother?

Why did you have to up and die?

In all your life you never hurt a fly

It doesn't seem fair that you have gone

And did you know that Eileen...

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I’m late, I’m late

For a very important date

I don’t mind you see

If it’s a blind date or three

‘Cos I prefer not to know

What she looks like and so

I just turn up, give her a sultry look

and then hope for the best

(you can imagine the rest)

Now in my mind’s eye

She’s a looker, that’s why

I always prefer, to buy 

flowers for her 

But I’ve had too many sh...

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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 obeyed in any position

Hey Siri! Alexa would shout, to get atte...

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Glides through the streets sporting long black hair

it’s as if she’s travelled almost everywhere

Heads turn, people stepping out of the way

Not something you experience every day

Mystery girl, she’s in a whirl, she’s here,

she’s there, she’s gone.

Only she knows the ways of the world

and how to tell right from wrong.

An age old story since time began, the one abou...

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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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I hate myself, today I hate myself

Yesterday was so different, clarity of mind

Did I ever love or admire myself?

If I did I cannot remember when

Because today I hate myself

I love you, today I love you

Yesterday wasn’t any different, I love you

I’ve always admired you

I cannot remember when I didn’t

Because today, like every day 

you understand the reasons 

wh...

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Torrential rain teeming upon dank streets

The stench of stale urine flung from flee infested tenement dwellings, makes people retch as they venture past

This is daily life in an era of poverty and famine

Every child seen playing on the cobbles

have desolate frowns, instead of smiles

on unwashed faces. Teeth black as tar

Toys here being bundles of rags to kick around or bones...

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I’m all alone and in despair
A desk, a computer and an office chair
A reading lamp when life grows dim
But at least people can see that I’m in

I never dreamt it would turn out like this
All the years of learning, now it’s hit and miss
Instead of a new life and making friends
I’m stuck in the house going round the bend

My tutor looks older on the screen
His clothes seem shabby, where’s...

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Cruising along in the gear of six

After dashing around and thriving in the mix

Slow down in third to take any knocks

But always being ready in the starting blocks

Looking over your shoulder is not always good

What’s past is gone and you know you should

Look straight ahead and concentrate

Don’t lose your nerve and hit the brakes

Focus on the things you see

To ge...

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The way you walk in those
country brown brogues
Your posh tone of voice
when you’re in chatty mode
The jodhpurs, riding hat,
horse whip and such
All well and good, but that
don’t impress me very much

You try so hard
to win everyone over
A sultry look that says
“get down Rover”
You like slim men, large,
wimpy or butch
But try as you may,
it don’t impress me very much

I’m also a ...

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C-19 is not a dream, or the name of a robot

It came very suddenly, a thief in the night

It won’t ever be something that time forgot

The effects have burned like piercing light

Not just lives lost, but jobs and business

Financial catastrophe across the world

It’s origin is clouded by those suspicious

of some sort of plot as insults are hurled

World leaders point th...

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I have an array of tents

They’re nearly all the colour black

I don’t use them for going camping

Or carry them in a pack

They don’t go over a ground sheet

To keep out the wind and rain

or provide temporary accommodation 

When I’ve lost my flat again

No these are the ones that I wear

For every occasion you see

They have to be very loose fitting

To make room for a per...

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Alone again tonight as I turn off the light

No one to tell me “everything’s going to be alright”

It’s seems years and years, a shed load of tears,

have literally been salted away.

I can’t remember the day someone said

“everything is going to be be alright”

When I was a boy, I had no toys as such

 ‘cos we didn’t have much, no we had sod all,

but if I tripped over or too...

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Swish coffee shop on swanky seaside plaza

It certainly entices, as his throat is parched

Looks right, left, and right again to cross

“Just inside here sir, table for one?”

He chooses to sit outside under plastic cover

It’s drizzling but no choice in the matter really

“Large skinny latte, shot of gingerbread”

“Suppose I’ll get ripped off" he mutters

Now, the real r...

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My chair has been around for many years

It has supported me most of my life

It’s structure has mainly been very sound

Colour not always of choice but needed to blend

in with the requirement to fulfil its purpose

My chair has changed from time to time

It has seen many aspects of life and rooms

that didn’t always do it justice

in terms of ambience and mood.

Mood, ah y...

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Keeping my distance

not offering resistance 

To the rules and regulations

set across many nations

Covid-19

not a scary dream

But vivid reality

Get back to normality

Is all that we want

and all we need

Just want to be freed

Free to hug our family

and friends

To say “I love you”

or make amends

For that fight we had

Or that falling out

can’t eve...

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I really love my bicycle 
I think that it loves me
Can’t cope without my bicycle
It’s part of me you see

The places I can go on it
The likes you’ve just not seen
I ride uphill, or freewheel down
Don’t ask me where I’ve been

I sit here on my balcony
Enjoying sunny days
It’s good to know that travelling
Is done in many ways

Now some may travel on a bus
Whilst others take the train
...

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Is the answer to the question acceptable?
Does the question deserve an answer?
If I ask you to be honest will you hear me out?
Or is it going to be distractions, deflections?

There’s a pattern emerging here, that fills my heart
with fears, doubts, what’s this all about?
Answer the questions, don’t counter with another question,
it gives me verbal indigestion 

There seems no rhyme or re...

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I can’t believe people think I’m sexist
Everyone has opinions even on Brexit
It’s really unfair just because I’m male
So that is why I’ve penned this tale

So, do as I say woman, but not as I do
Why are you dressed like that?
What the hell is wrong with you?

Tone down the way you look 
And stop buying all those bags
When you go out with your girlfriends
You all look like a bunch of sl...

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Don’t say a word you may regret

Don’t say a word they’ll not forget

Don’t say a word about the past

Don’t say a word it might be your last

Don’t reveal secrets, no not one

Keep to yourself any private thoughts

Springing up like jets of steam

Just be thankful you were never caught

Don’t say a word you may regret 

Sometimes words can spoil and hurt

Words said ...

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I wish that things were like they were before

When we pulled together with an open door

When people conversed face to face, even when dashing all over the place.

I wish that there were no mobile phones

Computers, tablets and flying drones

Like when we called round to see our friends

Or chatted to neighbours over the fence

We pulled together when things got rough

A...

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There is something about the selfless people

whose life perspective

is aligned to the weak and feeble

It's almost as if they can feel the pain

and see the strain of those to whom

they empathise yet not just sympathise 

Being careful not to make routine

their angelic and compassionate deeds

They choose not recognition

but to go unseen, quietly carrying on.

Sometimes un...

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Life as we knew it, meant we could do it

Because we could, we did as we should

Knew right from wrong, joined the throng,

of whatever was our bag, a drag on a fag or

a pint in the pub, a lock in, or then on to a club 

The weekends were great, a turnstile gate

of fans at the match.

The ref sounds the whistle

my seats in the middle, of the swankiest stand

Amongst some ...

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Suburban life awakens in a super output area of deprivation
According to the statistician’s index, this place has to be the pits of the earth in isolation 

Children void of early morning food, plead with parents to get them to school, but know that they will again, fail to be heard above the wind and rain
No one taking the blame for how things remain,
in a grey and black world of cigarettes ...

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It’s not as if it creeps up

like a hungry predator

stalking the silence

Or that the blackness felt,

is mixed with the slightest

tinge of grey 

But the fear is tangible

It is strangely and eerily simple

Easy to reason, but not entirely

comprehensible in any sense,

because it causes trepidation

The fear is real

It’s now too late to realise,

that a sol...

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Sitting in the steel bowl

like pearls of wisdom:

Glass fruit

Glass apple

Glass pear

Glass pomegranate

Yes it’s there!

Glass orange

Glass banana

Glass grapes

No wear, no tear

No teeth marks

I swear, in my

Glass house with

Glass table and

Glass chair

Glass ornaments 

Everywhere

Blondie singing

'Heart of glass'

On a glass turntable

from d...

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An underwater house

In an underwater world

With underwater guys

And underwater girls

In a subterranean

homesick land

Where mermaids

take you by the hand

Their bodies gyrating

to water music

With a strong backbeat

you can shake your booty

Some of those maids 

are raunchy fish

But not in it

for the money

If you get my drift

So if you fancy copping o...

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The stress the strain and endless pain

Is normal in a world where sun is rain

Where white is black

and you daren’t look back

or answer when they say “hey what’s up?”

When was it that for all this I signed up?

Don’t get me wrong I do the caring

not for money or gifts but for love and sharing,

and promises I made on that special day

but hey!  When did I sign up for th...

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Richard Smith is on his way

To sell his products on this new day

As a salesman he’s cool and slick

On his van is painted ‘Moby Dick’

Nothing worth buying that ‘ain’t on board

From milk and bread to fags of course

From early morning his round is set

No need to surf the internet

For anyone else to deliver your stuff

Of Moby Dick people can’t get enough

Sausages, pies, c...

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Hopes and fears for the coming year

At a time when we will all be divorced

from the European Union of course

Will things really change, with much less pain?

Or are we set for a bumpy ride against a roaring tide, of situations we can’t control?

A need to be braver, stubborn and bold?

With the benefit of hindsight and 20/20 vision

will the year ahead bring better decis...

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Acrostic
Grateful  am I for the things you do and all you mean to me

Remembering all the times we had and all those cups of tea

Appreciated are the favours given when I’ve been up against it

Trouble, setbacks, mountains to climb, and worries over Brexit

Invaluable your advice has been to put my life into perspective 

Thankful am I to one so kind, and one so well respected 

Usual...

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