As a child I dreamt of attending an elite public school, like Eton, but my parents sent me to Mulchester Marton, which was much cheaper.

There, the beautiful Delphine Duvall encouraged me to study drama, and become an actor.

I listened entranced as she reminisced about her birthplace in Carcassonne,
with its mediaeval streets echoing to the ghosts of armour-clad knights,
but instead of pla...

Read and leave comments (0)

Like a towering Alien with metallic jaw.

It brings down The Royal, floor by floor.

With wiry neck, all muscle and power.

The old Royal disappears by the hour.

Munching away with each greedy thrust.

Releasing clouds of dormant, grey dust.

Tearing its way through stone and steel.

Chomping away like it’s devouring a meal.

It twists, it clamps with a ferocious bite.

Read and leave comments (1)

auntie’s coming 
let’s go the store 
we’re gonna make 
that special roast 

I need your help 
put on your coat 
she’s making 
a visit just for us  

in for the weekend 
with strange presents 
chatting to mom about 
unheard adventures

bright lipstick 
tight sweaters 
leaving impressions 
on the subconscious 

decades later 
in another life 
tells me she can’t 
stay the night...

Read and leave comments (0)

Oh, I felt it then, a sudden surge of pain. 
A familiar entity of constant ubiquity,
yet simultaneously not there. 
I tried to feign indifference, but it soon became clear upon the springing of those dainty edges. 
I was harrowed by despair. 
How could I not care?
Their meek, limp, cunning stance made me sigh with frustration. 

Their insistence to grow with an air of indignation to all th...

Read and leave comments (1)

In a desperate effort to outdo the racist bigots who, we are led to believe, currently threaten his ratings, PM Kier Starmer has carried out an egregious attack on the freedom of speech of UK citizens, and an overt incitement to racial abuse.

In doing so, he has displayed an astonishing ignorance of the diversity of languages currently spoken by natives of the British Isles: Cymraeg (Welsh); Ke...

Read and leave comments (2)

There's not many of these around

So very few to the pound

This one was well hid

Located in Brid

That's that's where this one I found.

He reigned, my history book says

325 days

He chucked everything

For George to be king

Who agreed the pillar box stays.

So here it is as you see

A symbol of red history

Preserved in good faith

For Edward VIII

And ne...

Read and leave comments (2)

an insidious dementia

a generation infected,

the brains of our beautiful

youth, once vibrant thirsty

sponges, now lame and

parched with inertia,

~G~

a voracious machine

feeds our children behind

our backs, suckling their

grateful inquisition with a

plug-in rechargeable

intellect, whilst milking their

desire to seek out learning for

themselves,

Read and leave comments (0)

1 Be smoke free

It's never too late to stop smoking,

It's harmful,cut the risk by stopping.

2 Keep a healthy weight 

Keeping a healthy weight can reduce the risk of cancer,

Being aware of your portion size's is definitely the answer.

3 Stay safe in the sun

Stay safe wherever you are,protect yourself from the sun,

Cover up with a hat and sunglasses when out having ...

Read and leave comments (2)

A soul refrains from distant quests,

Throne, temple, summit—all forsaken.

The answer dwells, soft-spoken, near,

Its whispers carried on dawn’s breath.

Kindness becomes as oil of lamps,

A quiet deed ignites warm glow.

Within the dark, love forms a hymn,

Illuminating hearts, unseen.

Do not journey far,

The warmth you seek

is folded close,

Residing de...

Read and leave comments (4)

Just heard Herman's Hermits on the radio

'I'm Into Something Good' 

Of course he wasn't really called Herman

and they weren't hermits

but that's not the point

the name was sort of catchy

they were popular and had a few hits

Wonder what they look like now?

A bunch of sad old gits

but at least they tasted success

before they called it quits

I wasn't too bothered

n...

Read and leave comments (6)

From the blues came rock & roll

Music to fill an empty soul

Teens watched movies in their cars

Dean & Brando, immortal stars

They sent men up to the moon!

Whilst Disney conjured magical cartoons

Little ol’ Blighty, seemed so dull

In shadow of America's neon pull

A place to be who you wanted to be

A land of true democracy 

Like a big brother standing tall

To pr...

Read and leave comments (4)

Billy Collins wrote about how long a snowflake takes
to fall to the ground. Two hours, I think it was.
All we get here is rain racing to the surface, by comparison.

I wondered if either were jealous of the other's journey.
Did the rain miss anything in its rush, or was the snowflake,
meandering along as it will, guilty of same?

All I know for certain is the wind,
which I generally have ...

Read and leave comments (1)

THE CHILL FACTOR

Chillax and stay in bed

Pull the duvet over your head

Its not worth all the stress

So the worlds in a mess

But what does it matter

Go out, have a natter

As long as theres a brew

a pint or a fag

no point in losing

your flaming rag

Who gives a toss about a win, draw or loss

Footballs a drain and Cricket’s a pain

And if it rains you go...

Read and leave comments (1)

Image: Austin airport welcome sign and the way to passport control, collect suitcase and a short formality of checking my passport and once again it's "Welcome back".

09.04.25 – 15:9) An early night seemed right

And so, to bed to sleep like the dead

Then come alive when my alarm goes off at 1:45

Wash, dress, coffee and then seen taxi arriving at 2:15

Luggage stowed a...

Read and leave comments (0)

They tell us all to climb the tree,
To reach what hangs for all to see.
But though we stretch and though we try,
The fruit remains too far, too high.

A fox will feast, a lion dine,
While sparrows peck at crumbs and pine.
The branches bend for weight and pride,
But never lean to those outside.

We’re told, “Grow strong, and you may rise—
The climb is fair, the prize the prize.”
Yet roo...

Read and leave comments (2)

Don’t wait for the stars to align,
Dance beneath your own design,
The clock won’t pause, the days won’t stall,
So, laugh out loud and risk it all!

Chase the sunrise, kiss the rain,
Find wild joy inside the pain,
Speak your truth with fearless grace,
And let your fire light up this place!

Climb the mountain, sail the sea,
Be everything you dream to be,
Life is not a script, it is a bl...

Read and leave comments (1)

I am unconscious 

Floating  in a sea of darkness 

Drifting towards a light

Nearing its ambiance 

I see myself 

absorbing the universe 

Rolling my arms up and out

Giving birth to angel wings

I am returning

It fills me

 I hold center

moving faster than the speed of light

I am exalted

The crime of war is not without punishment 

The ob...

Read and leave comments (0)

A part of them wants to stop talking
But from another side within,
a different voice, calling…
“Dad, I’m tired”
“Mom, I just want to cry”
To their parents,
they want their voice to be heard.
But they choose to swallow it,
afraid of being a burden.
That child...
hides behind the name.. “an adult.”

Read and leave comments (2)

The dilution of poetry is an unavoidable consequence of shifting literary trends—where the distinct, evocative nature of verse increasingly bends toward prose, losing some of its rhythm, compression, and intensity. In a world saturated with unfiltered streams of consciousness and sprawling narratives, poetry often finds itself absorbed into prosaic expression, stripped of its defining cadence and ...

Read and leave comments (0)

What a marvellous day for a boat trip!

The English Channel flat calm

The British made us feel welcome

The French lacked a certain charm

Read and leave comments (0)

This is the age of the porky;

This is the age of the lie.

Big men who wield power

No longer even try

To utter one word

Which might just be true.

They know they don’t need to;

They’re laughing at you.

They’re laughing at you

Because you lap it up,

As if you read tea leaves

In their plastic cup.

They make up the numbers,

They make up the quotes,

They’re...

Read and leave comments (4)

Western imperialism knows no bounds,

They mute our pain and silence the sounds.

Stealing Congo's natural minerals as each country takes turns, 

And veto power grants these same nations freedom from any terms.

Children are being forced into daily slave labour, 

Yet, nothing is seen on the mainstream news.

I guess black suffering is only considered major, 

When we...

Read and leave comments (1)

No matter how we seek to reinvent ourselves
we can never fill the empty spaces left behind
by a dear friend’s suicide.
I do not know how, precisely, I feel,
I just know there is a wandering in my heart,
something hiding between the folds of my soul;
it is so much more than a deflecting mirror,
it is memory mumbling at me, incessantly,
“there’s his story to be told, be brave, be bold”
...

Read and leave comments (0)

Netherlands, don't disrespect yourselves.
You've lived long before your name.
What is buried along ancient waterways
Might move — and remain the same.

Can you imagine us moving?
A future that's filled with good,
Where joy isn’t mere hedonistic,
But rooted in what it should.

With all due respect for truth.

Netherlands, this isn't over.
Netherlands, we aren't done.
Your facts and yo...

Read and leave comments (0)

I scare.

Easily, I scare.

when you breathe. I scare

when you look at me and I am speechless.

I scare with each heartbeat.

I scare

Uneasily. I scare 

from my vulnerability. I scare

with this family we created; this fragility; I scare 

With this unconditional love.

Read and leave comments (0)

Trying to write I lift a scab

to see my lifeforce flow,

for under the crust of all things dead

lie things we crave to know...

yet with such knowing are we fixed

or wounded all the more?

by careless angst we self-inflict

there is no reason for.

Read and leave comments (7)

There's a hole on my heart

Love has shot me down 

There's a hole in my heart 

I am a sad dying clown

There's a hole in my heart

I am a king without a crown

There's a hole in my heart 

Life is a journey is what I'm told

Young you start and soon are old

The road you take determines your fate

With twists and turns that lie in wait

You cross many people's paths al...

Read and leave comments (2)

When I was a child

I remember thinking

that chain around

the elephant’s leg

wasn’t strong enough.

Elephants are tough!

If he wanted, he

could free himself just

by lifting that mighty foot

shaking the metal loose

and walking away…

Why does he stay?

No-one could stop him

If he chose to go, take

his own path. No more

performance on comm...

Read and leave comments (1)

Everyday someone is Killed on your street. . .

No one says or does anything to help . . .

It’s not your street. . .

But everyday someone is killed on a Gaza Street   

A human being  just like you and me

Read and leave comments (6)

At what point did the world beyond my fingertips stop breathing?
I don’t remember when I committed such a crime as killing. I only remember burning the pages to an ink filled book, crying into the flames.
I ended my lifelong passion and allowed the emptiness to consume me.
Since then it has been so dark.
Words are but a mystery to me, no longer do they bleed from
the flesh.
Instead they hide...

Read and leave comments (0)

The Palace made of Crystal

That time we met there,

15 years ago,

after a few dates,

I saw you in a completely different light,

beautiful smile, smoking

Head turned, hair blowing in the wind,

I thought, ‘I think there is something here’

The Palace made of Memories

I liked the name of that station,

Crystal Palace, because the word ‘palace’

almost rhymes ...

Read and leave comments (0)

My dear friends!

          Read my poem in the comments.

                                          Regards,

                                              L:arisa

Read and leave comments (4)

Semi Colon

There are gaps between us...not chasms, oceans, continents

But gaps nevertheless… small and persistent spaces in togetherness.

Not between paragraphs, chapters, not a full blunt stop even…

But a pause between two inter-connected thoughts

Or a moment of silence, no response.

When first we met it was exclamation marks,

buzzes, thrills, trembling which fills

each ve...

Read and leave comments (2)

Tried stressed out weary of everyone 

My house has bo order 

So am stumbleing and falling 

Trying to stay standing uo right but my eyes are level with the ground, that's right the wearerd me down again 

I wish I could fall into an off licence order a bottle and say aman but I got to be a man even if that means feeling alone so with tears in my eyes , I try to keep go keep it in the day...

Read and leave comments (0)

                                    One Prayer

I’ve only got one heart Lord, make it true.                                                 Give me the strength and the faith to trust in you.

Help me to see, help me to find                                                        a way to walk with you on this road I’m on.

  I’ve only got one mind Lord to think things through           ...

Read and leave comments (0)

In Bangladesh, where rivers softly flow,

A land once rich, now bruised by times of strife.

Unrest and chaos seem to steal the glow,

Of hope that once embraced the nation's life.

Corruption spreads its roots, so deep, so wide,

The youth, in search of dreams, are left dismayed.

While voices rise in protest, none collide,

To heal the wounds, or drive the dark away.

Y...

Read and leave comments (2)

Heart racing as if a mile had been lost,

at odds with the stillness of a newly

emptied room, taking in the failure

of pencils on the floor and books left

on tables. He sees ghosts, hears the

echo of children’s voices, careless and

free now it has gone three, oblivious

of the anguish stalking this classroom;

a place conflicted all day, growing

through the week wi...

Read and leave comments (0)

There are so many bubbles,

 big ones small ones and all sorts in between

But the only ones I care about

 are dying in the leaves 

They hit them and pop 

but sometimes one gets through

And after that where do they go,

 they have get popped too

they’ll hit something later down the line 

and get disintegrated

From every other bubble 

they’ll be separated 

But ...

Read and leave comments (0)

She left everything that reminded her she was loved, and took everything that reminded her you were loved. Her life trap is herself. 

I'm okay 

You're not okay

I'm okay

You're okay 

I'm not okay 

You're okay

I'm not okay

You're not okay. 

Is this an emotion? Or simply physical discomfort from an unmet need.

Feelings are not facts. 

Metacognition. 

Thoughts are n...

Read and leave comments (0)

So you’re bitter.

I hear it in the words that you whisper.

Told me to consider, got me in love with the liquor.

Now your words bring a shiver, plus outside we’re in winter.

Said if I stay with you that's a winner and anyone else would just hinder,

The progress we started to picture.

But I'm injured.

I can't love myself at the inner.

We differ.

Le...

Read and leave comments (0)

Time drunk down with ravenous thirst.

Time: Though we desire it, it’s cursed, 

Cursed: Precious love, unused,

Cursed, precious love, refused.

Refused love shelved, love unrequited,

Refused love, once decisive, now flighted. 

Flighted: unable in love to partake,

Flighted, everything before now, a mistake.

Mistake: I thought you and I were true,

Mistake: I thought the futu...

Read and leave comments (0)

Poem 213 of 230:  MORE AMOR PATRIAE

There is tai chi and there is tennis,

    Line is fine but so is Morris,

There is curry and there is the roast,

   And, when England is playing host,

It is the rest-of-the-world’s good wish

    To sense culture that is English.

(C) David Franks 2003 - https://walkaboutsverse.blogspot.com

Read and leave comments (3)

In the toxic basement locked a querulous dog

tethered to a bench speaks out

Grumbling robots put washing up

liquid in Grandpa’s pipe as the

trains come & the trains go

The space between the stars

I failed my Latin exam in the high dusty hall

the guy next to me kept asking

How soon is now? and What difference does it make?

I watched the trains come, I wat...

Read and leave comments (3)

Seeing through the third eye,

it becomes clear that intention is the essence, 

the driving force,

behind all these thoughts and prayers we send into the ether.

Picking up the rosary beads,

sitting at the altar and chanting,

twirling in a dance of bliss,

climbing to the mountaintop to reach the skies--

the intention of love--

this is what unifies,

amplifies,

creates...

Read and leave comments (2)

a house with good bones
is still a corpse
and
my mouth is
just a quiver
full of arrows
ready to conduct
a symphony

Read and leave comments (0)

Victory

Today

He had his head down

Holding his breath

So the snipers couldn’t hear him

Laying flat

In the Burmese dust

With the flies and mosquitos

From the green canopy

Hovering over him

Like Kamikaze

Today

He feasted on

Meagre rations

And drank a warm tepid water

Drawn from a dirty stream

Somewhere

Something exploded

And debris rain...

Read and leave comments (1)

all aboard!

and the table was full

as it sailed out of the harbour

eight cows and a horse

were finishing their course

as the journey grew harder and harder

the table it tipped

and rocked on the waves

nine pigs and five dogs tried to row

the dinner was done

and so was the fun

and twelve sheep shouted “under we go!”

the table it sank

down into the sea

Read and leave comments (0)

Your troubles began long before you were born;
it's not your fault. You could boast, if you would,
of walking towards the light.

When young you think you can fly. You think
you can live forever. You thrill to think
you will escape a forest of razor-sharp thorns
and fall into the open arms of Love.

So suddenly old, you do reach the heights-
relentless mountaineering just a way of l...

Read and leave comments (0)

We held ourselves close in the stuttering cold
as, from somewhere away over the rooftops
two dogs debated which was the colder,
and a few streets to our right a flare went up,
its parabola of stark, saturated light
redundant in the snowblind, starched evening.

You laughed at nothing, baring
teeth like off-kilter tombstones
to the assembled throng, while
behind us somebody
hacked up a m...

Read and leave comments (2)

She loved

She tried

She believed

But who was she?

Was she the victim

The survivor

The daydreamer

Or just an misunderstood

Queen?

She knew there was no shape

To grief

No weight in tears

No depth to the smile

From a stranger

She knew she left

An echo

In the hearts

That she touched

But there were no shadows

Only light

Not...

Read and leave comments (4)