What is it and what could it be?
In the final drawer
On the morning of the clearance
Long undisturbed by mysteries
Hovering over soapboxes and items rearranged
A few now discovered things
All solid and haphazard
Like fingers pointing towards crevices
Away from discovery
Shaped and separate objects
With undisclosed stories
Looking for repurpose or conversation
Maybe even the happiest connection
...
Sunday 8th January 2017 4:50 pm
Fair
Fair
Labelled “fair” but tastes a lot like abuse
Snidey guffaws and earnest propaganda
"What do you think?" asks the BBC news
About poverty and this seasonal weather
I think that it’s fair – evenly balanced
For every free banker, an ATOS corpse
I think that it MUST be ever so just
Royal babies emerge and my widescreen warps
Rational, reasonable, really right, right?
L...
Friday 22nd November 2013 10:20 am
Penguin woman
Penguin woman
Penguin woman walks imaginary hills
Takes two steps, then stops and checks her pockets
Hands like spatulas slowly scooping nothing
She shrugs shoulders down into a burdened breath
Tongue clucking, looking down the road
She shifts her weight like a stood-up date, sighing
Her make-up’s three days old; her shoes are scuffed and flat
F...
Sunday 2nd September 2012 8:07 pm
The reception
The reception
Baby screams over the chorus
Causes the record to jump
Guests shuffle round the sticky patch
Eyeing it cautiously
Treating it suspiciously
Evidence of the killjoy attendee
And the rudest of interruptions
Somewhere in another room
Away from family and witnesses
A new bride cries the bitterest tears
Poetic vows, laughter at ric...
Monday 7th November 2011 12:51 pm
The joke that leaves a sour aftertaste…
Ever present in the pub
Like a Toby Jug gathering dust
He sits beneath His name
In His corner and judges
A pissed-up His Honour
A slurrer of uncivil words
Waits with ruddy face
And a case to put forward
Says something earnest
As he grabs your elbow
Would like to get to know you well
Skips about like the record
On the too used, not demanded jukebox
...Tuesday 1st June 2010 4:37 pm
Dirty Weekend
Dirty Weekend
Chipped china cup half washed up
Rests in her hands
Forty a day smoker stains
Tepid tea sloshes down the drain
Sodden biscuit crumb remains
Glistening like fools’ gold
She never dreamt she’d be this old
And to have to start again
Without her man
Wedding vows aren’t worth a damn
I do’s give way to the big I am
Voices raised, fro...
Friday 18th December 2009 5:46 pm
Light bends
Light bends
Can you hear that rumbling?
Four in the morning and the boiler’s clearing its throat
Pipes tap-tapping, rapping on old joists
Laddered padding long since worn
Round metal that crosses buried crosses
Beneath well-weathered floorboards
Daylight’s been out all night
And now rattles round the window
Stretches itself around the curtains
A vampire victim of the night bus
S...
Tuesday 15th September 2009 3:59 pm
Our Hero
Our Hero
When the book was closed
The adventure put away
Our hero gave a sigh
Stretched his creaking bones
Rested his feet of clay
When the book was closed
To the sound of good night groans
And night snuffing out day
Our hero gave a sigh
Sleep fell like temple stones
Into dreams where victors play
When the book was closed
Mummies thwarted, Pharaoh’s thrones
Fall to the...
Wednesday 27th May 2009 2:48 pm
The Mean
The Mean
Keep your cruelty in a box
Take it out an pass it round
Like a parcel no-one wants
A bauble that hides a blade
Gilded with septic intent
Where wound gives birth to wound
And every word you say
Smears its shitty hate
Purposefully contaminates
Because you’ve got to have your way
Dominate what you survey
Occupy the higher ground
But the Moon has stuck around
And the tide is ...
Tuesday 21st April 2009 12:06 pm
Fresh
Fresh
Fish heads rest on ice
Sparkling diamond gleam
No rubies here
Or crimson smears
Just mouths and eyes fixed in a scream
Plundered from dark depths
Where gloomy gardens grow
Through rocks and wrecks
And bottlenecks
Of interminable shadow
For a shop window
The murder scene’s precise
No trace of blood
Knives swish and thud
And fish heads rest on ice
Sea creatures disp...
Sunday 8th March 2009 11:34 am
Party to it
Party to it
Slump on the stairs with me
Lie here and talk of all we hate
As I do my best James Dean
Red label Thunderbird sedated
Eyes squint, upturned collar
Desires and designs on you
As your mates dance on the sofa
Because your folks are in Corfu
Bass kicks like a pissed-up ninja
And something in the kitchen crashes
You say something vodka-breathed,
Forceful, though your false...
Saturday 21st February 2009 1:48 pm
Snow Marilyn
Snow Marilyn
Marilyn Monroe's
Body sculptured snow
Smiles bright white
And lies a bright
As white lies
Long ago.
Tuesday 3rd February 2009 10:33 am
Career Politicians and Bankers are evil (insert expletive/s)
Career Politicians and Bankers are evil (insert expletive/s)
One villain makes a world full of heroes
Crises thrive on ones and zeroes
Morons will respond with "tough!"
But it’s the bravest who will shout "enough!"
Champions dare to show compassion
Even when resolve is ashen
Write off our protests as rude
When the choices are a roof or food?
Sickening. Calling it a crunch
Arr...
Thursday 13th November 2008 2:35 pm
Spare Filth
Spare Filth
Take the pennies from his eyes
And put them in the tin
Your alms won’t cure
Or countermand accountability
It’ll pay for a minute
Of a machine
Dressed up as care
But only if you have
The right amount to spare
Take a month off and dig
A child sized grave
For just two pound
Then shove her into
That inexorable hole
A reward for state
She’s obliged to declare
A debt t...
Saturday 25th October 2008 12:42 pm
Perfect City
Perfect City
Its mornings are washed in post-storm sunlight; burnishing slate roofs on sleepy-eyed homes; casting shadows on streets dusted down with a baked bread scent.
Its song is the creak and clunk of a front door that fills the world and shakes the sunrise from its slumber; each dawn a melody and rhythm for footfall to fathom.
Its expression is found beneath the weathered surface of ...
Tuesday 26th August 2008 8:12 am
Holocaust Deniers
Holocaust Deniers
Come out from under the pond scum
Come down from out of the trees
Evolution’s a revolution that will set your anger at ease
Evidence of inbreeding is all you’ll find in purity
So, come out from under the pond scum
Come down from out of the trees
Join us by our fire (an ancient discovery)
Learn from other cultures
Extend your vocabulary
Cast aside your hatred and...
Wednesday 13th August 2008 7:05 pm
Obsession equals self-obsession
Obsession equals self-obsession
Winds stir old words along the morning’s empty street
Post-it notes disguised as rainy day receipts
Some read ‘I love you’ others ‘Notice me!’
All trampled underfoot with necessary cruelty
These are the words that once unwound inside of me
A mind and tongue that railed against pathetic fallacy
Now tied to it – shadows bind truth to fettered memory
An...
Monday 21st July 2008 10:09 am
The Fun-Fair
The Fun-Fair
Bodies spin, stomachs churning
Wurlitzing like teenage yearning
Shrieks whip up a sugar snap
Ozone crack cherry-pink beehive hairdo
For tonight the scrubland is suited and booted
Embraces the fair - holds tight
As snug as a razor-bladed lapel
That flush in your cheek is a fighting chance
The iron in your blood - the weekend
Squeezing through overcrowded veins
Jostling...
Thursday 26th June 2008 7:50 am
Drinking absinthe
Drinking absinthe
We are all in the gutter
And our star is Wormwood
Fallen, insalubrious in paramount ways
From this vista we spring
Legs like galvanized slinkies
Lurching, bounding in an emerald haze
Of joy and greed for the vivid
Sate us with hues and inform us buffoons
Crown us with garlands of Wildeian tulips
And an earnest death in the afternoonWednesday 26th March 2008 9:18 pm
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