Glance at the clock as the movie ends.

Time for a drink, but not too much,

or you’ll be up all night.

Open up kindle, pick up where you left off,

read a couple of chapters.

Waken the laptop, check email, Facebook,

reply and comment.

Lock doors and windows,

switch off lights, carry out

bedtime ablutions.

 

Get into bed, punch

pillow into shape,

set the alarm a...

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I'm walking backwards to Christmas

across the Irish sea

I'm walking backwards to Christmas

its the only thing for me

I've tried walking sideways and walking back to front

people in the sanitorium say

Spike! why don't you go by punt?

I say no! I prefer walking backwards to Christmas

to prove I love not being whitewashed blue!

 

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Every time you speak another

Pocket full of secrets spills out over others

And they are left there on their own clutching these secrets

Like they are holding on to jelly that may slip away

Falling into somebody else’s lap

And the stain that was contained has

Been passed on one to another

Touching all and any without restraint

And the secret that had no title

Has beco...

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They said the law was ironclad, Two terms—no more—was all he had. No man could take the seat again, No vote could bring him back to reign. Yet buried deep within the code, A hidden path, a secret road. Not banned from power, just the race, He’d claim the throne from second place. Then Peabody, with studied hand, Exposed the flaw, the law’s weak stand: “A man who’s served his legal ...

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In the city, the cat walks its first life,

a dupe wandering through alleyways,

seeking warmth and food from strangers.

One night, it follows the scent of fish,

only to find itself locked in a cold cellar,

a victim of its own curiosity.

In its second life, it becomes the scapegoat,

taking the blame for spilled milk and broken vases,

while others watch from the sha...

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They said 'better now than later',
That you were kind enough to ease the pain.
Soft whispers to calm the storm.
But I was already submerged,
Drowning in the undertow of your affection. 

Does the timing change the outcome?
What difference does it make to end it now or then?
Heartbreak was always inevitable.
Timing merely delays the fall,
The outcome never changed at all.

You didn't sa...

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I write about what I see…

 

If you don’t want me to see it

Close the TV channels down

 

I write about what I see…

 

If you don’t want me to scroll up and down

Close the internet down

 

I write about what I hear…

 

If you don’t want me to listen

Put all the people behind bars

 

Though I fear, the truth

       May slip through the cracks  

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We were watching ice skating on television,
and, suddenly, I was desperately missing my mother.
I couldn’t exactly connect the reason why in the moment.
The capriciousness of sadness, I assumed.

She was not into ice skating, as far as I know.
But maybe she could have learned to appreciate it,
and we would have watched it together, had we more time.
The thought welcome, I thanked her for t...

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Of Succubus and Demons,

my dreams are filled with fiery hollows.

 

A grey figure lifts its gown

serpentine the foetus writhes,

my throat of blood floods to drown,

though I'm consumed; the child survives...

 

Followed by a beast that leads

nocturne sun devours the soul,

subconscious in my waking needs

the seventh circle takes me whole...

 

Deeper, Deeper ...

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At the forest's fringe,

Where vines embrace the sky,

A town forgotten 

Where concrete dreams hold no sway.

The last farmers,

Their hands a language of the soil,

Live here, where modern hands have slipped.

 

No paved roads reach them

No towers pierce the humid air.

Here, seasons paint their world in hues of green and gold.

Here, stories sprout like seedlings

In t...

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I walked, the road was only mine
And the weight of the world beat on my flesh
The pain was only the shadow of what I am not
Yet still, I went

Life dragged me, with no questions, no answers
It was a thread in the wind, it was a nameless gesture
The strength I seek does not come from the hands
It comes from the abyss that dwells in the chest
It comes from the void that fills and consumes

...

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At the start of December, I always remember. 

The way your cheeks looked, red like the peppers.

This timing is clever, cause in the summer you wanted this, but id rather the weather.

Then it gets cold and you got all my sweaters.

I swear this love lost all of its effort. 

Your heart gets torn and tired altogether.

The snow falls fast, faster than ever.

And here we are again, w...

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I love love 

I love being in love 

I love seeing love 

The energy of souls infatuated with one another 

In a lane of their own 

With their lover 

I see some protecting themselves with umbrellas 

Not allowing the evil eye to ever get near them 

They send that back cause they never did fear them 

I love seeing love 

It’s amazing, that new love, that old love 

That fe...

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Feeling a spring stirring saying,

                              blossoming blooming

                                            hinting

I am ready for a new muse

 

How i’d love that

                          to be touched again, share a life, see my own magic through another’s eyes, giving again

 

Understanding

                    after so much time & wasted patience

...

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Uninvited Guests

 

The men who were our neighbours were here.

They casually called on the off chance we were home,

Looking for us to introduce them to our families.

They found our hiding places and made themselves known.

 

The men who spend bullets were here.

They scattered ammunition like loose change,

Falling from bottomless pockets onto bloodied earth.

They nourish...

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Blink and you are dead
Yes that's what I said
Life is but a grain of sand
Time is short nothing planned
Here today gone tomorrow 
Take your pick joy or sorrow
Blink and you are dead

What you got in your DNA
Do you think you are gonna be okay
You might stick around for a while
Eventually you will lose that smile
Make the most of it and believe 
Give love and you shall receive
Karma w...

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I pray for those where

the world is exploding,

I pray for those

where bodies are falling.

Cling not to this mortal existence

when all is breaking

into hopeless pieces 

of cruel destruction!

There is no choice

but to cry out

in desperation

and hope for release

from this devastation.

The flower pushes up

from the cold concrete.

So, too, our spirits rise

...

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PARENTHOOD

By The Urban Poet 

Parenting can be a joy

Whether bringing up a girl or boy

It can also be hard, it is no lie

Especially when you’re sleep deprived

But don’t lose heart and have no fear

It only lasts for twenty five years!

25 Years Later…

And now that 25 years are done

You then begin to have great fun

No, not going out and having a good time

But dropp...

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I had a dream last night, vivid as could be.

In my sleep, my Mum said ‘Hello’ to me.

My Mum just talked about this and that.

I loved so much our latest Heavenly chat.

 

Those dreams of Mum, they seem so real.

When I’m hurting, my Mum comes to heal

My Mum, she guides me, when I’m unsure.

Just like she always did, many times before.

At times I see a young mum, last night...

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Small steps etching,  
In the water drifting,  
It's tinkling,  

The pitter-patter,  
The girl is a learner,  
Taking a leap in a charmer.

The father was waiting  
As the rain began heavily drizzling,  
Their jokes full of banter and giggling.

The pitter-patter grew bigger,  
She took her step further,  
Leaving the father and his longing for her.  

The father in his prayer,  
...

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Your eays hold stars that light my way

A gently grow at the break of day.

Your touch is warmth, aspak to true

Like dawn's soft kiss and drops of dew.

Each Breath you take , a song so sweet

A melody where heartbeats meet.

Your laughter dances in the air

A whispered promise, light and rare.

Through  storm  aand sun , through time untord

Your love is fire, fierce yet gold.

...

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Breaking from a

thirty-year habit

of only buying

medium thin green,

today, I bought

brown flavoured Rizla

 

Even though I

never use filters,

prefer it raw,

they don’t taste

quite as liquorice-y

on my own

than smoking liquorice

roll-ups with you

 

Neither that sweet

reverb after inhale

Nor comfort kiss

of eating liquorice

shoelac...

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I don't have millions, yet I could save these civilians.  

 

Upon my cross, I bear witness clear,  

To fractured ties and love insincere.  

Fathers who falter, mothers who stray,  

Brothers who chase bold courage away.  

 

Desperation drives us to toil nine-to-five,  

Depression our wage for so much wasted time.  

Will this world ever be mine?  

So many are waiti...

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Applaud yourself for all the work you do…

Even if you are feeling tired, sad and blue…

Nobody will celebrate more than yourself…

So, get out of that dusty and rotten shelf…

Even your smallest wins deserve a clap…

Wherever you currently are on the map…

Treat yourself and do the things you enjoy…

Maybe drinking, travelling or buying a toy…

You deserve to be recognised for you...

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The odd small child has copped it,

A writer here, a pensioner,

And, just around the corner,

An engineer.

 

It’s the same old detritus of war;

Keep moving now,

There’s nothing to see,

Nothing to fear.

 

The single mum with stumps for legs

Has made somebody’s day,

Just like the school and hospital,

Each with rooves blown away.

More detritus, but life goes on...

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I would prefer to not have a taste of being chosen if it is fragile enough to be taken away in a second.

Why do I always keep my heart keen? I must be colder. I have to be in order to survive. 

I don't understand men. They desire me one day and despise me another.

Unfortunately I am hungry to be the one. To be loved. To be desired.

At the surface level I adore men, I truly do.

They ...

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which will break?

first my soul, then my voice

i wait outside the door and hear laughter

the good kind, this time

for a second, i see my reflection

in all of them standing together

until i remind myself not to be too hopeful

i meet all of them, wishing to be in their frames

but there’s been a change of plans, they say

CRAACK.

first my soul, then my voice

it’s just...

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Mental health today is a complex matter.
Where stigma judges all to be mad as a hatter.
But there's no shame. There's no disgrace.
It's something of which we'll have to face.

So don't be afraid and feel no guilt.
And with help our lives can be rebuilt.
So of mental health we must now speak.
It doesn't mean we're strange or weak.

So do not run or try to hide,
But find someone in which ...

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https://youtu.be/-Lr4jYSJsZQ

 

I've softened my tone,

for you I've simmered down. 

For us I'll live on:

hearing, without listening

listening, without understanding

understanding, without grasping

grasping, without clasping. 

I've withdrawn our hearts from conclusions. 

And in that motion, live on. 

 

https://youtu.be/-Lr4jYSJsZQ

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I fell into a fever of dreams

Where nothing was as it seems

The world had changed, liberty frail

Captain Ahab v the great white whale

I saw the moon turning red

The autumn leaves crisply dead

Underfoot and underhand

Fill the graves with shifting sands

When Heaven falls, Hell will rise

Through corporate suits, & silken ties

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No longer human

 

I am no longer human,

Devoid of life;

Just existing like a stone

At the entrance of a shrine.

 

A puppet,I am;

Will-less and cowardly

Toy; keyed to play

By the observers,

While they smile

I smile back.

 

A computer, I am;

Thinking what others

Thinking and planning,

While rusting and rotting

Away to oblivion.

 

A statue,I...

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After Come Sunday by Mahalia Jackson
 
We woke up this Sunday morning 
with the crows inside our heads.
Yes, we woke up this Sunday morning 
with the crows pecking at our beds.
Outside and inside this morning,
they forage for our dead.
 
And Ryan’s gotta tin can,
gonna twist it to a blade.
Our Ryan’s gonna kill a man,
cos his debts have to be paid.
The Bishops took the cornered Pawn.
...

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This is the name of a pub in Leeds.  The words is not in my Concise Shorter Oxford but I think it is best not to know. (I know what one is).

 

 

One for vengeance, one for blood

Watching, waiting, ever still;

By a pulsing body stood,

Hooded, The Three Hulats.

 

Two for Death and two for Life

Dancing in between those scales;

Arbiters of Pain and Strife,

Grinning, Th...

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Auschwitz, now Gaza.

Broken hearts cannot weep, so

rain feeds our snowdrops.

Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh, 27th March 2025

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Before finishing the germination

The pink camellia with its carnation

The verdant petals bloomed in the cold

With little time to hold

They wilted and cried

With little left to pride

They withstood the harsh winter nights

Without so much as putting up a fight

 

The evenings grew darker and the flora dissipated.

 

The garden was no longer a sanctuary 

Instead it h...

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I have a pair of jeans

That fits just right.

To remind me that I'm still cool.

But another pair I have

Makes me feel like a fool.

The same is with the genes I have

That are a part of me.

Some are too loose.

Some are too tight.

Some fit me to a tee.

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It’s hard to always know in life

which way is best to go.

Following fads and trends

tends to be not,

from what I know.

 

But does that mean in everything

you go the other way?

I’ve tried that

and I’ll tell you what

at the end of the day -

 

if you live life against the grain

most times you will be right.

But if it’s all you ever do…

then you will miss t...

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Have you heard of a TV show called Country Constable,
that popular TV crime drama, derided by some?

The villages of Sussex were favourite places, in which to set the series,
and I often watched them catch fictional villains, from my cottage in Pottle-Picklington.

My hit, Last train to Tangiers, a rare success during my singing career,
had enabled me to buy this bucolic retreat, hoping its...

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I go to midtown and stare

at the professionals

they’re confident 
like they’re on television 

the more I walk 
the less I wanna spend 

until that two dollar pizza 
is looking like a bargain 

there’s been some error 
on my paycheck 

and now my department 
has been eliminated 

but there’s this wonderful 
feeling of freedom

that lasts a moment then 
something falls into...

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Keen young footballer

Hope inspired skill

Devoted single ambition

One day playing

Famous Red Devils

Ten years old

Life cruelly taken

Angels sadly welcome

A broken dream.

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Sometimes we lose track of our own peace because we live in the sorrows of others. Allow yourself to let go and maybe you'll find your path home.

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crime is a limit
crime reach the limit of the sky
reach is reaching for the sky
reach is reaching for a crime
the initial of the sky is the initial of the crime
reach is reaching for the initial of the sky
reach is reaching for the initial of a crime

literature is a play of a literature
literature is a initial play
literature is a initial crime
literature is a initial sky
a crime is a...

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Covid hit hard

Strangers and families in the backyard

Distant figures sharing pints

One of many rare sights

 

"Only those that lost still remember"

Painful deaths lost to the never

A different dimension for most

Yet the ghosts that linger are loved the most

 

Will you speak of it?

In schools, clubs and gatherings just a bit?

Not a word refering to it can be spok...

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A cloth cap on the ground inverted

becomes a begging bowl

guarded by a dog whose wants are sparsely served. 

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thousands of the faceless break ranks,

they scramble through the make-believe   

of another carefully calculated marketing ploy,

they have no control over their addictions,

materialism has overridden what’s free,

nothing of any value survives in a consumer society,

we’re in debt to the creator,

a manufactured greed

fuelled by a manufactured need,

to replace meaning wi...

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Bleak tears,

And jaundice,

The sailor is near.

 

The fleeting night,

And day,

In years.

 

A white grip,

Fathomed and tattered,

Fleeting so near.

 

A glimpse of hand,

In shining throne,

Fleeting so near.

 

For two in one,

And hands so brittle,

Fleeting is here.

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You stare at his thumping heart,
It’s rhythm and nervous smile 
Sweeps your insecurities aside,
His exceptionally wide arms
Makes you want to be wrapped 
But you wait for the 
Beautiful beginnings to unravel.

How far could you travel? 
How far is he willing to? 
All that you once expected
Is all that you now want to be;
There’s an urge to fill up the garden 
With all pastel coloured ...

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To effect an alteration,

To tweak or redefine,

To vary by transformation,

Or an adjustment by design.

 

To modify on reflection,

Adapting a future path,

Embracing the unsuspecting,

Reshaping the aftermath.

 

Change is like a book chapter's end,

Realise that it's time to turn another leaf,

Move away from thoughts that others defend,

Regard their stubbornness a...

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