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The Bitter Cup
Thursday 10th April 2025 1:43 pm
Who Do You Call Coloured?
This sonnet addresses the irony of calling someone "coloured," highlighting the contrast between black skin, which remains constant, and white skin, which changes with emotional or physical states. This poem reflects on how the colour of one's skin can shift depending on circumstances, challenging the societal labels that define people by their appearance.
When I was born, my skin was dark as...Monday 10th March 2025 2:19 pm
SONNET: IN WANT OF STRONG LEADERSHIP
We sour, in the throes of some disaster
of our own demoralised unmaking,
abjectly pining for lord and master,
with crown, throne and sceptre for the taking
if they would but lead us to salvation
and make us strong again. We want the myth,
we crave security for our nation,
the ruthless rule of law they'd hold us with;
we'd sell our freedom cheaply for the chance
to pretend that our wor...
Monday 10th February 2025 7:16 am
The Four New MUSKateers
This sonnet critiques the dangerous alliance between powerful tech moguls and a corrupt political figure, symbolised by the "four musketeers" who bow to Trump’s person, influence and might. It explores their sycophantic behaviour, the manipulation of media, and the betrayal of values for profit and power. The poem hopefully paints a chilling portrait of cowardice dressed as strength and the erosio...
Sunday 19th January 2025 4:29 pm
The Art of Luck
Oh, fortune's wheel that spins both high and low,
Thy hand seems fickle, yet thou canst be tamed.
Not through mere chance doth serendipity grow,
But by the deeds where effort is proclaimed.
The lucky soul looks not for fate’s decree,
But steps with courage where the path’s unclear.
They plant the seeds of opportunity,
And tend them well with hope and steady cheer.
Prepa...
Tuesday 7th January 2025 8:54 am
A King's Born
Based on the Gospel of Luke 2
A decree from Caesar* spread across the land,
That all should go to be enrolled and taxed.
To Bethlehem, where Joseph took his stand,
With Mary, great with child, as law exacts.
While there, the time was come for her to bear,
And she brought forth her firstborn son, divine.
In swaddling clothes, He lay without a care,
Upon the straw, God...
Tuesday 24th December 2024 8:06 am
Seasons Lost
The summer’s almost gone, already missed,
and waking in her place the autumn grieves
her sister, though they cannot coexist
where russet and burnt ochre bleed the leaves.
Yet in their rigid, regimented ranks,
a growing hesitation brings unease;
whose turn is next they ask, as nature’s pranks
reveal the winter sun and summer freeze.
The seasons’ schedule raises suc...
Saturday 30th November 2024 6:24 pm
The Sequel (Sonnet)
T2 will be an egocentric Déjà vu
T2 will bring back the hullabaloo
T2 will be the worst-ever S.N.A.F.U.
T2 will guarantee vindictive chaos ensues
T2 will be no ‘nice to be back, how-do-you-do’
T2 will bring back the world's horribilis hairdo
Don’t be a Muslim, Hindu, or Jew
Don’t say you’re a boy once named Sue
Don’t say you’re a migrant from Xanadu
Don’t say you’r...
Wednesday 6th November 2024 9:51 am
SONNET: LISAMARIE3
Dear, sweet empty vessel, rattling loudest;
I often wonder if you know the choice
is always yours to still that irksome voice?
Or is it when you feel at your proudest,
causing butterfly thoughts to rend the air?
Teeming morphemes tumble in profusion,
filling space between us with confusion,
thus leaving logic lost, and in despair.
It's futile having a conversation
with Dunning-Krüge...
Monday 28th October 2024 12:09 pm
: Soliloquy :
A life had my thoughts, ephemeral and bright!
Coursing thru’ the skies, in a shimmering light.
And time reached out, in a glorious embrace;
Rushing me breathless, through empty space.
When the memories came, unbidden but true;
From the nether mind the feelings broke thru’.
Some moments to rejoice, some sharp agony.
...
Monday 9th September 2024 3:49 pm
: The Voices In My Mind :
All those voices yet in my mind,
From the years I had left behind.
Casting echoes in that room -
Pulsing through the dusty gloom.
The floating dust catching the light,
Shivered with unknown disquiet!
The echoes gathered to surround.
They animated the space around.
People I loved, now lost with time,
Speaking thru' the years...
Wednesday 28th August 2024 6:42 pm
SONNET: ON BECOMING ELIGIBLE FOR MY PENSION
How so in lockstep with time is nature:
leaves drift in waves with the passing seasons,
marking an arrow's flight to the future
as the fate of life, which even treason's
high schemes and plottings would fail to outwit.
Each year i watch them through my window fall
to earth as they to nature's laws submit,
and am thus reminded i've bugger-all
to feel cocksure about: all things must pass...
Saturday 22nd June 2024 2:25 pm
SONNET: REALIST, OR CYNIC (DEVIL'S ADVOCATE)
Love: just a quack cure, or panacea?
Could it heal all ills, like romantics say
or is what's actually revealed here
a deeper need, to keep hard truths at bay
with rose-tinted fantasies of 'The One' -
meeting your matchless other in a soul
who'll not rest 'til your loneliness is gone;
who'd nurture you and catch you, should you fall;
who'd be both free spirit yet faithful muse?
That an...
Saturday 15th June 2024 9:40 am
SONNET: PRESS BUTTON TO TURN ON
Say, pretty caul, what sweet treasure you hide!
How few of us grasp its proper function
(much less the sensitivity inside,
nor the joy derived when giving unction.)
Perhaps some instruction might be supplied
by each owner, upon application?
For should this motivation be denied
it would stay a loss to half the nation,
while t'other half would remain unaware
that what's once given would...
Thursday 13th June 2024 10:09 am
SONNET: DEAR DONNA
Cherished in my dreams, you've remembered me,
relishing those few brief moments we shared
just as i've held you in my thoughts, and wished
i'd had the bravery to say something
more - perhaps my number, hinting to ring
as soon as you got home - but i finished
off leaving you convinced i hadn't cared
enough, as i recall, to want to see
you again. Well, Donna, that's just not true!
I've ki...
Friday 7th June 2024 12:00 pm
SPENCER STREET
Worn weary, to the edge of sleep my feet
ache, blistered in lead boots, all topped by burn
of calf and thigh; my sole urge to return
to Leafy Glades, i head down Spencer Street,
where it hits me: i've not been here in years.
Forty-seven, to be exact. A flood
of memories overwhelms me. I stood
on this precise spot then, when, in my ears
the first inkling of a revol...
Monday 3rd June 2024 4:40 pm
SCHOOL DESK
Scars gouged through wood - whittled, age-worn grooves,
angles and curves releasing someone's name
from the desk they once called theirs. Each line proves
the testing of some long-forgotten fame,
some cock's reputation, whose ego's claim
to eternity's been overwritten
by a succession of hands - lives bitten
and chewed by history, the very same
hunger to be remembe...
Monday 3rd June 2024 4:26 pm
PLAYTIME
Check out those two kids! Only ten years old
and wasting their time in beating with sticks
the corpse of that shopping trolley. What kicks
can they be chasing? They've never been told
how to play well, i guess, so they don't know
any better (i can see in their eyes
they're barely enthused.) Soon they leave their 'prize'
abandoned, with one last, lethargic blow
and wand...
Sunday 2nd June 2024 4:14 pm
Go Live Day
Sheaves of stamps with perforated edges
Crumpled postal orders and giro books
Biros, jotters, paperclips and ledgers
Welcoming smiles and knowing, sideways looks
Parcels, diligence and calibration
Columns filled with calculator clicks
Ink stamps thud in rhythm with the nation
Lips seal envelopes with efficient licks
One day they came with boxes, drills and cable
“It’s ti...
Tuesday 28th May 2024 2:56 pm
Sonnet 1 - Chorlton Water Park
Face down in the water, she was found, unknown,
a mystery shrouded in the middle of Chorlton's grace,
No name breathed out, no story to call her own,
her life lost in a fleeting, haunted trace,
Lime-green top, drifting in endless sleep,
jeans covered in watery hue lay tragically still,
A tragic tale over the banks, sorrows deep
her mystery longers, pushing against our will.
...Tuesday 2nd April 2024 7:35 pm
Still Moon
Why does one feel with the moon,
Hidden at day and awake at night?
Why does one sing a tune,
Of all that is sad and full of spite?
Why hold on to goodbyes
And keep a sour mood,
When by all the time that flies
You could have been renewed?
O, know that in my mind you fill
And you will always occupy my heart.
So that when the world for me grows still,
Of my soul you w...
Tuesday 19th December 2023 5:06 pm
: Prose and Poetry :
He thought in prose everyday.
And in prose he made his way.
His head held the heart in check.
The heart had no choice to make.
Often it would in a silent mourn -
Stifle a sigh and a silent groan!
His head preferred nothing less.
The heart kept trying nevertheless.
Then deep inside he heard it's voice.
One day thus he made the choice.
And to hi...
Sunday 2nd July 2023 6:51 am
Snow in Spring (A Sonnet)
Snow in Spring
The buds on trees, once ready to bloom,
Are now weighed down in icy despair.
Deserted nests, birds are silenced in doom
Awaiting the spring sun's fair share.
Snow in Spring is a paradox of sorts,
A clash of seasons to nature's surprise.
leaving the path frozen the news reports
As winter's remnants refuse to demise.
The chill in the air, a bitter reminder,
That even i...
Monday 24th April 2023 4:23 pm
Early Spring Sonnet
The end of Winter's grasp now fades away,
As Spring awakens with its vibrant bloom,
The earth renews blowing softly across the bay
dispelling the coldness in the winter's gloom,
the Spring carries secrets of life renewed,
a promise of the growth that's to come,
the hazy sunrise, dancing on the leaves like dew
in a symphony silencing the hum.
My emotions swell with gratitude and cheer
...
Sunday 9th April 2023 8:26 pm
Smitten (A Sonnet)
He was smitten with love for her;
by that arrow deep and sure.
A gooey warmth between them;
filling the heart all within.
But, love's shaft festered, stinking foul;
to gangrenous, aching howl.
Through steamy glass his love moaned;
as he stood outside alone.
Those barbs cannot be reversed;
holding fast in a soul feeling cursed.
Longing for the lost one gone,
to the breast of a differ...
Saturday 21st January 2023 2:49 pm
Shakespeare/Larkin
To the only begetter of this ensuing sonnet Mr P LARKIN All happiness and that eternity promised by our ever-living poet wisheth the well-wishing adventurer in setting forth
They fuck you up, your Fathers and your Mums:
Their Birthright, Dowry, Heritage, and Lot
Of Faults, with further added to their Sums,
Pass down from what they had to what they've got;
These Faults, again, they gained fr...
Wednesday 9th February 2022 3:10 pm
Sonnet
The next sub-theme in Love's Tempest is 'Imaginary Relationships'.
Before you begin to experience love, you think about it a bit, imagine what it might be like.
And at that age too, you're being asked to write stories a lot and poems a little bit at school.
Practicing story telling and poetry writing and thinking about love, it all merges together...
This first one experiments with sonnet form...
Sunday 28th March 2021 3:12 pm
Sonnet No. 2
I tried to write a sonnet. I was quite proud of it, but it didn't win.
Engaged since birth against one deadly foe,
A mortal combat all must surely yield,
No clemency or kindness can we know,
No soul alive will leave this battlefield.
The lines of combat proudly crease my face,
My hair turns slowly, unabashed, to gray.
I must accept with honour and good grace,
to b...
Wednesday 25th March 2020 9:01 pm
These Cages Aren’t Metaphors Anymore
A man loves freedom outside his own abode
Not quick to drink but virtues soon are lost
How fast luck moves! Escape though? ‘Twas so close
Pulled over, cuffed, he learned this liquor’s cost
Now should he leave this fearful site unscathed
He’ll prosper after papers set him free
The luck remained and helped him walk that day
Yet cells contained inmates in need of leave
Surviva...
Sunday 8th December 2019 5:14 am
Starchild's Keeper- A Sonnet
Father Thunder cracked, Mother Thunder struck!
through a cosmic tango, your divine birth!
And into a mad stellar chase I broke
begging to glow as your mirror on Earth...
I plunge into the ocean after dark,
and swim in this indigo-silver trance.
I relish in your splendor, hear the lark
his, a song of sorrow and jubilance.
though bittersweet it couldn't ever spoil
this ne...
Tuesday 23rd July 2019 11:03 am
The Distinct Challenges of Hyperfocus
Straddling a life between town and country,
I remember you once stood on a snake.
You never saw it as we were shouting,
Until you moved and it slithered away.
Once you walked into a concrete column,
As I told you to hurry and catch up.
But you were focused and a little solemn,
Just searching for green anoles close up.
So many times you fell into a pond,
And I had to pull...
Thursday 4th April 2019 3:46 pm
In Memoriam
In Memoriam
The gravestones in this place are wet with tears
Of children, wives and husbands who have stood
Beside dark holes that swallow up their fears
Replacing ice water where once flowed blood.
November skies are grey and hold no lights,
The flowers flattened in a winter gale
That whips away dark thoughts the widow fights
To keep hidden behind her mourning veil.
...Thursday 4th April 2019 2:17 pm
Snow Fields
The soft blown snow that fell five days ago
Crisp frozen now by these five frosty nights
Still blankets all the fields and moors to show
Where pheasant clattered off on noisy flights
While footfall of the lesser birds is scribed
Less deep; and here a small bank vole has run;
There passed red fox and rabbit side by side
Though time kept them apart and saved the one
At the wo...
Tuesday 5th February 2019 9:53 am
Puppetmasters
We see them on the news most every night,
pontificating, make believe they’re wise.
Myself, I think they talk a load of shite!
Does anybody understand these guys?
They tell us what to do and how to feel,
persuading us they know what’s best for us;
that we should acquiesce and let them deal
with everything, and not create a fuss.
They stroke us like a pet they woul...
Tuesday 29th January 2019 12:04 pm
The Invitation
a sonnet
That thou may'st happly spend your day
Fair maid amongst the northern hills
With books and study that will oft defray
Your time and thought in winter's chills;
That there is pleasure 'mongst your shelves
Oh lady in your cottage home
Tis proven by each and everyone who delves
In dusty library vaults to hunt a tome;
That thy bookish studies are good I swear
...Monday 3rd September 2018 9:33 am
Winter’s Bite
As evening’s chill descends to icy night,
A plaintive cry rings out a mournful tune
Through trees disguised in coats of wispy white,
To resonate ‘neath iridescent moon.
The heavens fade from blue to vibrant black,
And stars appear, to shimmer distantly,
Illuminating as the wolves attack
Their prey, despite despairing bids to flee.
Then silence shrouds the land and...
Saturday 11th February 2017 3:30 pm
Oracle
I whispered the words I had come to say;
In humbleness I broke the deep silence,
Perfectly knowing the size and the weight
Of the questions, and of your prescience;
Having said what I came to say, I rose
With hardly a recalcitrant feeling,
Your wisdom is greater than mine I know,
Strictly righteous are all of your dealings.
How famed are your powers of cognizance,
They are sung all about,...
Tuesday 17th January 2017 4:40 am
And What Of The Children
And what of the children as yet unborn?
Who speaks out for them and will take their part?
As the world watches the hellbound handcart
Spiralling downwards with future stillborn.
When our great great grandfathers walked the land,
It should have been simple to chart a course
Keeping hold of hopes to husband resource,
But now supply is outstripped by demand.
So what ...
Tuesday 31st May 2016 6:43 am
Lukewarm Lover
Sunday 17th April 2016 2:53 pm
Ice-Storm-Morning Sonnet
A sheet of ice on black pavement gleaming
As frost, settled on shrubs, illuminates
A white powder morning and activates
The sound of grass, underneath feet, crunching.
I with my twin brother wander, beaming
Along the path untouched, to what fascinates
The mind of two children and resonates,
Bridging the gap between awake and dreaming.
For brief moments the world was fr...
Sunday 1st February 2015 7:05 am
A Wee Dram
A Wee Dram
The dancing flames lick gently at the grate,
a bottle splashes amber to the glass,
soft chimes reminding that the hour is late,
aromas drift of peat and harsh deer grass,
the smoky mist of morning, with each pass.
The glow of bonfires as I gently kiss,
letting the rich swelling flavours amass
and burn upon my lips, no thoughts but this –
“how can something so bitter bring suc...
Tuesday 16th December 2014 7:21 pm
The Prophet Of Amanga
I've published a new ebook, and you can get it for free at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/489438
It's the first part of a trilogy called God The Banana, an epic verse-novel written as a sequence of 437 sonnets. Here's the first one:
Picture a diamond spinning against the dark,
flinging back the brilliance of a sun.
Move a little closer - you’ll be stunned
how lakes and oceans ...
Wednesday 5th November 2014 8:48 am
Decay
It can be said that fate waits for no one
It is almost a certainty in fact
But darkness with its spring heels waits alone
In a recess seldom visited, we go there in shade
Curtained we go there and raise suspicion
We go when there is blood to sacrifice
We come back when there is left only bone
Like the needless prayers of a mother
We disappear in...
Wednesday 20th February 2013 1:15 am
Sonnet on Death
This is an ekphrasis on L'Agonie by Felicien Rops.
Sonnet on Death
Demons clutch at your rib-cage ladder
Grasping the arteries, choking your veins
Your bones are now fragile and ready to shatter
Oh dear, you're looking quite pale.
Your bloodless skin is as thin as paper
With cavities where worms slither in.
A struggling heart still resisting the Taker
...Friday 25th January 2013 7:53 pm
A Reimagining
Sonnets are meant to be about romance
and love.
You know? All that's good.
But why should form be contained,
can one not make love to the page
in their own expression?
I can,
and will.
Imagination like a dodgems car,
wild yet bumpy.
And I guess that's what love is,
you can try to steer in the right direction
but there will always be obstacl...
Sunday 15th April 2012 6:49 pm
Some folk are born with knowledge of their goal
Some folk are born with knowledge of their goal.
I've met them, though I'm not like that myself;
I'm wandering through life, a placid soul,
content to leave adventures on the shelf.
I've loved and lived without a way to know
the field where I should strive to be the best:
to pan for gold, or be a CEO,
or cure disease, or conquer Everest;
and likewise, you're a Poohstick ...
Tuesday 20th March 2012 10:53 am
Among those born as humans on the earth
Among those born as humans on the earth
within their mind the mirrored planet lies:
the universe contained behind their eyes,
more tangible with every day since birth.
Within, each place you love is held for you
perfected; every friendship dwells therein;
and if you dare, a thousand tales begin,
and if you close your eyes you'll see it's true.
Within that place a forest ...
Monday 19th March 2012 10:44 am
Sleep
They say my future follows on your past,
commanded not to love you by the wise.
They say he never truly lives who lies
a captive still, and by your charms held fast:
your warmth was torn by chilly morning air,
through daytime heat your image in my eye
would ever grow, would wane, would never die,
and with the night, you’d once again be there.
You took my life, and took aw...
Friday 16th March 2012 11:04 am
Pittsburgh
This moment, I am God upon this town.
I compass every window spread below:
each pinprick point in total looking down
a pattern only overseers know.
I feel the human flow and ebb each minute
perceiving both with every passing breath;
each lighted room has home and hoping in it,
each darkening a sleeping, or a death.
And nothing, nothing makes it wait to darken;
...
Thursday 15th March 2012 11:05 am
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