SIDEARM

________

 

In the 'hood,

man's best friend

isn't

a dog.

An honour

normally belonging

to a Pitbull

goes to 

his more trusted friend

 

Browning, Sig-Sauer, Glock, Smith & Wesson, Tec-9.

 

Different names

depending on the block

& the owner's hands.

 

& like

any trained

Rottweiler,

enraged,

baring sharp

teeth,

 

they...

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It must have been lonely, empty.

All these lies you learn on TV. 

Maybe it's just not the right words, or phrases. 

You can bear it, untill the morning light breaks.

Bear it, but it's not real. 

 

I can't cut through the lies in this blogpost.

Many times I've realized something's wrong. 

 

In church we would discuss the topics. 

In school..... it's too painful to admi...

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Most famous tram in Lisbon — Photo from the Pexels image bank.

There's so much confusion in our choices that, deep inside, not even I can say what decisions I'll make tomorrow. Today I might think one way—especially about life—and tomorrow wake up wanting to do everything differently. The day after that, I might already be living a different situation. The truth is that we really are comple...

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fracture

 

embracing london’s musicality

early saturday morning

the tube’s mighty roar

over ambient drone

on my pods,

of the rocky mountains

i recorded when

i lived in canada,

the sound of

the once daily

amtrak train pulling

up in banff

on its long

way to vancouver,

a sound i

will never forget

 

and that now

creates a fffffffrrr...

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She took off her shoes

and walked along the path,

over hill and dale,

mountains and valleys,

deserts and beaches--

feeling the ground beneath her feet,

impervious to heat or cold, 

soft or hard terrain--

it mattered not,

her feet traversed the country and the city,

sleepy town or wild metropolis--

it was all the same to her.

She held in her hands 

a precious ...

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Social media man 
Doing the best that I can
Don't know if I even exist 
Could be an AI hypnotist
Social media man

I have gone digital about to overload
I'm a global creature with no abode
The world is my oyster for sure
I'm an Internet addict got no cure
I am logged on 24/7
DM me and I will be in seventh heaven 
Thousands of followers that I never met
Nobody really knows me instant f...

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I love you too
chronic,  6 am nosebleed . 

.

I can feel it 
I can feel it circling 
and breaking off 
layers scivved away 
by the cloying event horizon
by a tired pain in my chest

the weight 
of waiting

while the slumber of the river
calls.

could i be ophelia to you? 
left sun-bloated by the bedsheets?
death drawn through 
a pneumatic syringe and layers
of sickened foam
...

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A figure slumped beside the road, a heap of ash and thread. No face, no shape, just heavy cloth, and eyes that looked half-dead. “Who are you?” asked the wrinkled one, with voice both calm and kind. “I’m Sadness,” said the shape, half-formed, “the one all try to bind.” “They turn from me,” the figure said, “as if I bring disease. They smile too wide, deny the weight, pretending th...

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It’s not a goal, I suppose,

more like a corner or a throw-in,

but I wish I could be

in somebody else’s poem.

It would be fame, of a sort,

though not the kind that should be sought;

it ought to happen by chance

and be in another’s hand…

 

...unless it could be planned!

 

Can it be so hard

to locate a versifier?

An unsuspecting bard,

the type who won’t enqui...

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In quiet moments, truth will speak,
A voice within, both strong and meek,
It hums beneath the world’s disguise,
A spark behind your searching eyes!

The winds may howl with harsh demand,
And shape you with a stranger’s hand,
But your beautiful soul, a lantern bright,
Refuses to be robbed of light!

They will draw a map, then point the way,
Insist you walk it, come what may,
Yet every s...

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The gears don't just turn; 

they gnash—teeth of industry, 

blood-stained from forgotten hands.

 

Whispers don’t drift;

they crack like breaking glass,

but no one listens.

 

Faces sink into hollow screens,

cogs spinning louder than their voices.

You scratch at the edges,

 

but the rust doesn’t heal—

it spreads, then consumes,

until the machinery roar...

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Some years ago, I realised

I am the driver of my life

And so I chose light

 

It was a difficult decision

More difficult than it sounds

It’s hard to know what it is to see

When there’s no darkness around

It’s easy to equate pain with feeling

To attach pain to being 

And so I never ran from the dark

I marched towards it

Let it smoke my heart

Instead, it was alw...

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“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
 ― T.S. Eliot

Fresh water suits my watery nature.
 I squint into the ripples of redemption,
 watch the ducks glide quietly beside me

Keeping me on the straight and narrow,
or trying to,
the random calls of strangers splatter across
the swirling sky as I choke on what I know ,
I am not crying, cannot...

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November Heart

 

My heart feels like November,

Not yet dead but getting colder.

For as long as I can remember

I’ve just been getting older.

 

Blood congeals in icy veins,

Unable to reach a conscious thought.

In the brain confusion reigns,

Nothing’s found if nothing’s sought.

 

Passion left a while ago,

Heart and head decided,

Where blood and thought no lon...

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I  heard somewhere that getting away from it all was good for your mental health, green spaces, less faces, gives a real feeling of genuine wealth. 

So, I contemplated my predicament skipped probation and decided to head for Clachan bridge the bridge that connects both ends of the Atlantic.

From the city places to pastures new, passing scenic shades of pastoral green,  purple heathers, reds,...

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i unravel
not like a ribbon but like rope— 
wet, splitting at the seams

you turned, smirking like it was a game 
like breaking me was just physics
so clean, so unmarked

you the one always slipping off the hook 
"poor you"—the story you sold while i sank
bare feet on loose earth 
always moving, never mine

i learned to float, lip-bitten 
quiet through the avalanche 
your lie...

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You've gotten by without it.
Tucked away.
But now,
It's a rainy day.

 

 

 

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There was a time

I thought was better

I came of age

total trend setter

 

I made the world change fast

 

now I’m bolder

with life perspective 

vantage point

of done the mileage

 

I’ve still got something to add

 

I don’t need

to be vogue again

I don’t need

to be chic again

I don’t need

to be cool again

 

be the last word

 

culture...

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I am frozen.

Rooted in place, locked

in your mesmeric gaze.

 

And you, barely moving,

move me, still me,

hold me in this moment

 

where nothing else matters

but the boundless depths

of your eyes.

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Ole Miss Myrtle: She didn't dress like all the rest,

She looked twee in dark Crimplene with a floral vest.

"I'm off," she would declare, garnering attention,

"To fulfil this shopping list's great expectation!"

 

Walking the two miles, alone, into town.

Smiling pleasantly, no sign of a frown.

wearing a black beret pulled to the front.

Her steps, marked with an occasional huf...

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What is your story luggage, are you going away?

Are you leaving Liverpool, a final ‘goodbye’ to say?

Or have you come to Liverpool, over ocean and sea?

Because part of this amazing City, you want to be!

 

Behind every piece of luggage, there belongs a tale.

A journey to success or a journey doomed to fail.

Luggage of all sizes, luggage of all shapes and styles.

Some luggage...

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The Snap Tin invited Stockport W.O.L to do an open mic event at the Poynton Arts Festival on Tuesday the 24th June.

Andy Millican W.O.L poet will be hosting the closing party at The Cask Tavern on Sunday the 29th June starting at 7pm all are wellcome.

Light humour danced throughout the night

Wicked wand had us in it's magical spell

Dad I've turned into you

Storytelling mixes in with...

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You left this world with no name, I will never get to see you grow, I will never be able to feel your touch, to hold you against my chest, so many names you had, but you are nameless.. There will never be a day that goes beyond that I wouldn't think about you.

A day when I would wonder what you might have looked like. I don't get to see you or say good bye. When you left my body I felt like a p...

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In the waves, she swayed in time
with their insistence.
It was easy to understand.

But we had no idea then
about the persistence of time.

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A paper boat sails across the sky.
If you ask,
Why did it choose the sky?
Imagination knows no bounds, anyway.

His tiny hands
break through the air,
guiding the boat toward its soar.

Don’t hurt him by saying,
"You are wrong."
Everyone has the right
to define their own.

In the imagination of being found,
he believes he is an existence.

And through the form of imagination,
he i...

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A cool breath of morning mist lays itself across the water,

where pathways break the wooded edge, it probes the leafy tracks.

 

Green and dappled reds announce the warming rays,

rustling snouts and gentle song rise to fill the dawning cracks.

 

Beyond this unseen miracle we shuffle ourselves awake,

inviting news and noise, we break the fragility of nature’s spell.

 

...

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Let’s start from the very beginning!
- Ok, I know, it’s a very good place to start.
- If you want to know how to read, 
you have to learn the English alphabet.

As long as we are not in a race,
you can face 26 letters in one phrase.
“The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog”.
Now we’ll have some dialogue.

You’ll see how new words appear,
I hope everything will be clear.
For ex...

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Wait what?

 

 

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Bonnie Madleen

I first had the idea for this song / poem on hearing the news about the good ship Madleen, setting out for Gaza.

Thunberg and her crewmates were not “deported” from Israel, as reported in the biased media, they were released after the Madleen and her crew were illegally abducted to Israel, and her cargo stolen.

The so-called “personalities” - several failed “comedians” amon...

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Fallen pieces of wood collected 
And arranged neatly in a pit;
Some stood perfectly well 
While some were made to fit.

The fire waited impatiently 
For the woods to be soaked in oil
While bitter doings surfaced up
Causing the heart to recoil.

The cold wind stayed put 
To let the rest of the heart 
Be marinated by the bitterness 
That had univitedly given a start.

The bonfire stoo...

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I feel distant from hope

like a soul that is separated

like an empty space

there is only me and uncertain thoughts

 

waiting for the end of the day

but wishing that there was no tomorrow

as if all my dreams are hard to achieve

and slowly my ambition fades

 

I feel like I see someone else inside me

I don't recognize her

little things feel new to me

and death b...

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Massive fire in old building in-between Oxford Road and Deansgate Train Station / Was it Arson?

Built in 1801 but abandoned since the mid-1990s / Structure built almost completely of wood / Was it Arson?

In 2018, a joint venture between Blue Dog Property and MCR Property Group secured permission to redevelop the site into a 28-storey apartment building, but it didn’t happen / Was it Arson?

...

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Having your windows blown out

And your face cut by the glass,

And seeing your neighbours' daughter

Blown in the air and tumbling,

Minus one leg, next to their dead dog,

Ranks as pretty low grade stuff now.

Let’s face it, it’s not nuclear, with madcap types

Talking of Hiroshima and obliteration.

Having said that, it’s not exactly nice here

There’s a war on, you know.

 

...

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So much living happens in the spaces we don't fill.

We rush through days filled with constant noise

of words, plans and demands

We crave explanations and definitions

the clear articulation of everything

But so much of what matters

unfurls in the quiet.

 

Think of moments just before a storm

the air thick with hushed anticipation

Or the calm after a profound experience

...

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'Twas on a Monday morning that I tried to phone BT

I listened to the options and then pressed the one for me

A prerecorded message said that I'd been put on hold

So I listened to some Mozart for an hour like I was told.

 

Then a lady answered telling me she couldn't help at all

So after 40 minutes she ended our phone call

I'm afraid I'd got frustrated and I'd begun to screech

...

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Wandering slowly down
from Mount Otowa
We’d gotten lost
behind Kiyomizu-dera
in quiet contemplation
of the winding lanes
like night and day
from heaving temple crowds

Rejoining civilisation
the souvenir shops
and chocolate-dipped strawberries
We make our way down
to the Kamo River
with crustless sandwiches
cans of iced coffee
and legs in need of rest

Sitting on the ancient path
...

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FORCES OF NATURE 

By the Urban Poet

Monsoons creating mudslides

Volcano erupting in dark of night

Tornado wrenching up trees as if matchwood, 

as flood water sweeps in unabated 

Forces over which we have no control

 

Bone dry, arid landscape, parched and thirsty

Strangely alluring and yet deadly in its nature

Cacti defying the climate by storing fluid

How many stor...

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Am not saying an perfect 

Am don't even say that's the aim 

Honestly I don't have much left in the tank ,they have taken all but my flesh but I try 

Try to get up every morning keep myself going sure that's all you can do 

Loving you can be hard when am hard on myself I can't get everything right I suppose who can 

And it's hard hard to return every night when loving is difficult do...

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Don’t call.
Not today, not tomorrow,
not when longing makes promises.
Don’t wait.
Waiting has teeth
and it bites when you nap.
Don’t write letters.
Paper keeps too much,
and some pains deserve to be forgotten.
Don’t wish for meetings.
They happen at the edges,
where the world can’t reach, and there, everything slips away.
Don’t blame time.
Time just passes.
What remains is you,
with...

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A clerke there was, that Bowdler was yclept,
And sex and swearinge could he not accept;
Against all lines that talked of *********
There would he place a line of constellatioun;

When that an eager Scholar did espy
These stars, then woke their curiosity,
And swift to library they brought their bokes
To seek for Master Geoffrey's penis jokes;

Ful better printed had this matter been,
For...

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Reeling from their 

Spirit's thousand deaths,

Raring for a rebirth

That howls its avowal

Of Life, unmesmerized

By manoeuvres and 

Halcyon heroics,

At long last,

Noting well that,

Indeed, epiphanies

Tend to rest

On diaphanous wings...

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In the darkness of the night
when tranquillity should be restored 
Anxiety rises and swells 
anguish that cannot be ignored 

Depriving me of sleep and rest
refusing to be kept at bay 
Trapped in the bleak cavern of my head
negative thoughts ricochet

Flashbacks replay on repeat
thundering roar to distant rumble
Sharp reminders of hurt and shame
fade into a nagging grumble  

Caught...

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Am I Enough?

 

Today I didn’t go anywhere

I wallowed in the heat that strangled my home

Took a seat in the spot that I frequent and listened for the changing winds of time

 

They never arrived.

 

In fact it was more of the same

‘You Okay?’, ‘Im glad’

Empty words of intricate meaning

Convey both care and solace 

Who cares?

The rain didn’t arrive all the same.

...

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In Gaza a baby got blown to bits

Whilst Trump got some new golfing tips

He waited patiently for a hole in one

And - for Palestinians to be gone

Then, GazVegas baby! he could build!

Well…

as soon as the blood & guts were swilled 

 

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A day will come when the whole world wll be destroyed.

When our Supreme Creator's skills and knowledge will be deployed.

By He who brought life to dry and decomposed bones in every single nation.

By He who is well versed in every kind of brilliant creation.

 

The necessity of life after death is what believers demand.

The fate of each soul according to tbeir needs,dealt with firs...

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It’s really very warm today - 
Global warming, gone astray.
While I listen, children play.
Sitting in the shade.

In walking down familiar paths,
Elder, nettles, blackberry craft
A green seclusion and gentle draft
To keep the blaze at bay.

They sunbathe in the local park,
Lotioned skin that gleams so stark,
Without a solitary remark
On this unusual day.

Every day she walks her dog...

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This isn’t Shock and Awe,
This is GENOCIDE

“The deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people,
Because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race”
GENOCIDE

Happening right now in front of our eyes
GENOCIDE

Yet those people still can’t decide
GENOCIDE

Ethnic cleansing with nowhere to hide
GENOCIDE

Destroying infrastructure and hospitals, making way for thei...

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Kali Maa came in the night

and whispered as I slept:

‘It’s time’

 

Time.

From the deepest winter

troubled slumber

technicolour dreams of open winged flight

 

Closer to the sun

Not like Icarus

But wiser, older, learned

Knowing how to rise

and be carried by conflicting winds

 

But these wings, this scream,

Never seen, never heard

Emerging from the ...

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History will record how lamentably we failed;

the indigestible truth that money can’t buy you

love, shelter, bandages, put bread upon

a non-existent table

without safe passage.

 

History will peel away the flesh

of all our collective anguish

the hand wringing, the tears

the howling at the moon,

focussing instead

on numbers, places, dates

the bare bones in rubble

...

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Life is but a journey, a trip for me and you

Everything is fleeting, we’re all just passing through

No-one can contain it, none can make it last

Just know it’s at your fingertips, it’s limitless and vast

 

Appreciate each moment, they all whizz by so fast

Know that as it’s happening, it’s already in the past

It’s not a dress rehearsal, this is the real deal

There won’t be a...

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