Oh, what a joy for me on World Book Day

to sit beside our five-year-old in school:

our little lass read Frozen to her Granddad,

as long and short words, sure and steady, flowed:

I read a little while to let her rest:

then, ended thirty minutes of delight,

when teacher summoned in another class. 

A forty-minute drive, then forty back;

all worth it! Granddad’s proud he’s don...

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The Berlin Holocaust Memorial is stark.

For the Tool though, those Stelae made a brilliant backdrop

to his ‘Twenty-Two election publicity lark;

The Shoa, he reduced to a pantomime prop,

Behind you, behind you! Look, Sir, it’s the …!

At Auschwitz yer man is on ‘Twenty-Five’s photo-shoot,

The strain in his face, act studiously honed

to show that he cares, oh, look at him, ...

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My mother had a habit, when times were bad, for example when dad had lost his job, of uttering the phrase: “God is good!”, an expression of her Christian faith and hope. The expression: “Thank God for that!”, is an everyday one of gratitude, as of course is “goodbye”, derived from “God be with you”; a similarly used Arabic phrase forms the title of my sonnet.

My republican instincts lead me to ...

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The Irish proverb:

Capall na beatha an grá,

/koh-pul nuh baa-ha un gra/

literally means Love is the horse of life:

the English equivalent is Love makes the world go round.

it’s an example of the historical importance of the horse in Irish life.

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Love’s revolution,

Capall na beatha a...

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My spirit’s faint, of joy and beauty starved,

Of late, this grieving heart has known but gloom,

So, prayers I’ll say on ancient Anglezarke,

And dance with Gaia, to a brighter tune,

Where soars my soul, between earth sea and sky:

Fear’s put to flight, in nature is true strength.

A lark’s song celebrates up there on high

The beauty of our vast horizon’s length,

The grandeur o...

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Flag-shaggers claim The Silence is their own:

one such, in ignorance, presumed my guilt,

and sneered: “he is alone”, but knew not why;

“He’s running free”, sez he, “why’s that allowed?”

I say to him: “Mate, you know bugger-all:

five comrades, blown to bits of blood and bone,

must keep their silence now, that of the grave;

the silence that I keep has been dear bought,

...

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The title of my sonnet is inspired by that of the excellent 1995 film, Land and Freedom, directed by eminent film director, Ken Loach, persecuted in the UK and elsewhere for his compassionate socialist views.

With reference to my last six lines: the terrorist murder in 1946 of British soldiers, of Jews and others should not be forgotten in the rush to attempt to justify the seven-decades-long ...

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There’s a saying around here: “Them uz ‘ave, will ‘ave,” meaning: Those who have, will have. It’s always been true, and is  moreso these days.

Them uz ‘ave, will ‘ave, ‘cos thi’ve got cleawt’,

Bur if th’art cowd n’ ‘ungry, on’ gets blotto,

Tha’ll get cawed neawt bu’ feckless workshy leawts,

‘Cos “Aw’m aw reet Jack” ‘s allus bin their motto.

Aye, them uz ‘ave, will ‘ave, ‘c...

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The gobshite bullies came for me,

When I, at ten years old or so,

Was forced to admit we’d no TV,

The haunted fish-tank being despised

As nothing but a frippery,

So I couldn’t discuss Four Feather Falls,

And I had nowt to say about Sunset Strip.

When they tried to throw me over a wall,

I fought off five or six of them,

With a “bloody” this and a “bloody” that,

I elbow...

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