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Map

A world of uncertainty

Leaves life without a meaning

Plotting your journey on a map with form

Distance and time spearing you to the floor

Spontaneity and the notion of irrationality

Appear to make one’s life more fruitful

As it is not micromanaged

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Also by Cody Roach:

My Eighth Wonder of the World | A world without you | Promise | Glory |

I Offer Flowers

So, I ask you

Is this it?

The moment

We have quietly

Dreaded

 

Are we to die

At the hands

Of a Russian

Sociopath?

 

For the first time

In my life

The unbelievable

Has become believable

 

His cold eyes

Glaring out

On the TV screen

Send shivers

Down my spine

 

The BBC

Assures me

It’s a bluff

Trust us

All will be fine

 

...

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Also by Clare:

Elvis is Dead! | What Will Happen To The Women | She has gone now | Jacquie | Kind Kathleen | Keeping the Shrink Away | Learning How To Be | Waiting for Answers | New Musings | It's Gone! | Tigers Wear Orchids | The Kids Home | The Wandering Wise Woman. |

W in black

Wanda,

such a time,

was an air

of

promise,

of

wanted mail,

of

envelopes,

the sort that fall when

news is good to arrive.

She would traffic

your bumper-to-bumper

thoughts,

your ushered

streets

of firm respect,

with your belief,

Her laugh accompanied

that gentle shake of head

was more

fond of you

through open doorways.

Then glancin...

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Also by Tommy Carroll:

Waiting for balance | Down by the sea | Again? or Capital Gains Taxed | Hence |

Questions Of The Day

I ask questions of myself 
each moment of each day 
Watching the news constantly
in disbelief and dismay 

Is there nothing I could do 
is there nothing I could say
That could make a difference
to help take their pain away 

Is there something I should do
is there something I should say 
Should I stand up in protest 
should I bow my head and pray

Which donation should I make 
that...

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Also by julie callaghan:

Feeling Helpless And Hopeless | I Stand With Ukraine | Ukraine | Online Shopping | 700 Days, 700 Writes | Twomorrow Is Twosday | Stormy Weather | Get Well Soon Ma’am | Calm After The Storm | Storm Eunice | West Side Love Story | The Grand Old Duke Of York (rehashed) | Sleepy Ladybird | Four Seasons In One Day | We Stick Together | Scone Or Scone? | Feathered Friends | Sorrowful Snowdrop | Good Grief Umbrella Day | To Eat Or Heat? | Hellebores And Snowdrops | Brave Robin | Platinum Jubilee | Afterlife | Snow White Flu | First Snowdrops | Something About Nothing and Last Day Of January | Cold February Day |

Night-time Serenade

(Re-edit)

 

The dusk turns to dark

As I look to the sky

With starlight reflected

In the blue of my eyes

 

Softly, into focus 

Shine the heroes of old

Each golden cluster

A tale to be told:

 

The Hunter & his Hounds

Search the night sky

For dragons & serpents

And horses that fly

 

Whilst Perseus 

Gives Andromeda the eye

And grabs her a moonbe...

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Also by Stephen W Atkinson:

A Stale Wind | Your Scar |

Cold

The space race was not enough.
The war could not be won
by Laika, or Yuri, or Neil.

So Spassky and Fischer
were sent to the front line,
reluctant troops in Reykjavik,
playing to save the world.

The Soviet’s revenge
was on the basketball court,
an arena as unlikely
as a miracle on ice.

Americans never
marched in Moscow,
nor Russians in LA.
Better a boycott
than a Bay of Pigs,
...

Read and leave comments (0)

After the storm

The tears that build up are never easily shed

By the old man with the walking stick

That beats his leg to make it work

The youth that stands at the bus stop

Blinking into the sun

Waiting for the bus that will never come

The little girl just out of school

Holding on to mummy’s hand

Wondering what’s for tea tonight

But mummy’s’ only thought is to keep all men away

As sh...

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Also by Martin Elder:

My head- a seagulls lounge |

Waiting For The Bus

 

Clumps of kids
sit on the grass
with books and backpacks
and their ever-present phones
always staring at phones
they do not see the other
right beside them
they do not care
they just wait in a trance
blankly staring at screens
waiting for the big yellow school bus
to take them away
remember the day
when we rode without phones
and were so excited to be...

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Also by d.knape:

War Games | One Day Closer | The Center For Disease | Old Fools | Pain And Suffering | Anger Management | Adopt A Poet | Clutter | Hugs | Half A Poem | The Alliance For Tired Senior Citizens | The Lizard Story | Sign At The Post Office | The Glade | Under Bridges | No Two Alike | CROW | The Treadmill | Neither Here Nor There | Killer Freeze | Hurt Feelings | Bugs Under Rocks | Snow Day | The Sun Calls In Sick | Power Outage | Free Thought | Masked Men |

UKRAINE AGAIN!

Ukraine will rise again,

As healing subdues pain.

Its people are undaunted

As Russia's flag is flaunted

In futile fashion when it's plain

Ukraine will rise again.

.....................................................

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by M.C. Newberry:

A WEB TALE FOR TODAY | DISHONOURING THE TITLE | PARIAH | PUTIN | NEW AGE | CARRYING A BIG STICK | WOKE'S WEAK! | EVENTIDE |

Triplets

When Allah made Adam (a.s)

He gave him lots of work

Sent him on earth

As vicergent of God

 

Adam and his children

Are born with two things different 

An angel true to guide them to do good

And a jinn to whisper in their ears evil

 

The choice is left to our will

Whether we respond to good or evil

Choices we make, prices we pay

Both in this world and after tha...

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Also by Ghazala lari:

Feelings | (untitled) | Bubbles of success | Perseverance | I Have A Dream |

Split in Two

The way I hide away, 
to remove myself, from myself, 
from my other self, 
the one that overthinks, 
to remain in motion, 
without hindrance or hesitation, 
because she doesn’t want to 
think of how disorganized, 
an absolute wreck, she is  
trying to keep it all together. 

She exhausts herself; gives 
too much to others until 
burnout. She keeps up with 
self-care, responsibilities...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by kimberly:

Thank You For This Gift |

Don't judge

After a few stretches, she went to the door. Like everyday she picked up the newspaper, started to read. She comfortably sat on the chair in her garden with her coffee mug on the table. Took a few sips refreshing her mind. She turned on the next page and had only read few lines. She felt uncomfortable, anyone could read her face. A look of discomfort, grief, shock and anxiety ran down her face. Hu...

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Also by Sunshine:

Zelenskyy - The real super hero | 107. Poem | 106 poem | 105 poem | Uncanny tale | Detox | Sugar withdrawal symptoms | Inspired | Just a page | 104 | New beginning | 103 | Good morning | Shadow of words | Unfairytale | Faith |

4 Science Fiction Nightmares at the edge of Madness

(1)

 

Talking with strangers

she only realised she was talking with strangers

when she saw her husband’s rocket

get shot down orbiting Mars

 

(2)

 

Nobody thought the terrorists on Venus

could get through their Robot Fleet

until ship after ship fell through the heavens

like apples from a decaying tree.

 

(3)

 

Gazing away from the rings of Saturn

...

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Also by Andy N:

4 Memories at the edge of Darkness |

The last Romans

"The murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to, and starvation in, the deserts of other hundreds of thousands, the destruction of hundreds of villages and cities, will the willful execution of this whole devilish scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian [or Assyrian] Christians of Turkey  –  will all this go unpunished?"  Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to the Otto...

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Also by John E Marks:

WAR GAMES | BETRAYAL | The speech of angels | Mr Inexorable | For Armenia | For Harry O'Neill | Chaldean Numerology on St Valentine's day | Eulogy for Pete | Unacknowledged legislators | Rowdy skies | Like roses miss the dew | A view of the new 1922- 2022 | Mirroring time | Entkleidungskammer : The Undressing Chamber | Meggy | Tomorrow belongs to.... | Submission |

A Time to Write

It seems a waste of time to write

While shots ring out

And bombs and missiles fall,

While populations flee

And others have their backs against the wall,

While bullies swagger round the land

And choose their puppets to install,

It seems a waste of time to write.

 

No! This is what the strongmen want:

Put down your pen and  call it a day.

They seek monopolies on word...

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Also by Stephen Gospage:

The Point | Nureyev | Pension | Radio Play | Day of Rest | Crisps | Sunday Afternoon |

The Ugly Woman

leaves latifundia

votes republican 

vacations 

in european 

social democracies

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Robert C Gaulke:

Our Designs | Now we wait | You bother me | The Favorite |

The Bitter Night of the Soul

The Bitter Night of the Soul

A large full moon

Bathes the earth

Giving shape to fields and hedges

Defining roads and buildings

All is closing for the night

Growing still, quiet in the darkness

There are no fierce flashes of light

There are no sudden explosions

People do not run, in fear

Children are not crying

Calling for their mothers

In the churchyard

Of a...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by Brenda Wells:

The Wild Winds of Spring | The Night of the Flaming Beacons | Number 3 Curlington Mews | February | Why Am I Here? | Painting the Day in Rhyme | The Beauty of Moss |

Where Did The Crazy Acts of Passion Go?

Where Did The crazy Acts of Passion Go?

 

At age fourteen

Scotty engraved Sarah's name in to his arm

 

They were not together

They'd never kissed

Or even held hands

 

Sarah didn't see him 

In the way that Scotty saw her

 

She cared for him as a friend

Bit it didn't change how much Scotty loved her

 

He told me once— at recess

That the scar on his arm...

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Also by Rasa Kabaila:

Bus Crush | Take Me On | Beautiful Things |

"Peach Jam"

Paradise, You'll find yourself running with the waves, We are all here at the beach and I couldn't be happier, Tribal dancing, Tribal dancing, Huge loveable smiles, There is a celebration today let's just say its the peach jam, I found out how we got here, I dispersed from the riff-raff, exchange your love for pain forgotten memories ain't the same, A gift that goes unaccepted but thank god I foun...

Read and leave comments (1)

BEWARE THE BEAR

Beware the bear, my father said,

and he’d been taken to its lair,

read the truth, and clawed his way

from its clasp, a gasp from death

where all breath slows,

in Siberian taiga snows.

 

Beware the bear,

that funny, honey, sunny-featured creature

which, as a host, will greet you

to its land of ice and hut-filled woods,

with a hug and, open-armed,

insist your stay...

Read and leave comments (5)

UkraineGulagRussia

It Is Better To Be Alone

It's better to be alone

Than to be resented

By the one you love

It's better to be alone 

All on your own

Than to feel alone

With someone else

It's better to be alone

Than competing for 

The attention of 

Someone you put first

Whilst they put you last

It's better to be alone 

Than secretley hated

By the one you share a bed with

It's better to be alone

...

Read and leave comments (0)

Cup Final You'll Never Walk Alone (For Ukraine)

The result for me tomorrow takes a back seat.

I won't lose any sleep over a Cup Final defeat.

Replace our red banners with yellow and blue.

At Wembley dedicate our Anthem to Ukraine too.

 

Show the watching world were our thoughts lie.

End this War now, no more innocent people to die.

Let Wembley be our platform, our stage, our time.

Show support for Ukraine, this message o...

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Also by Mike Bartram:

Occupy | Red Monster | Pray For Ukraine | Happy Birthday Alba ! | For Ronnie King...15 Years Ago Today | Money Talks! | Opposites Do Attract! | UFO Over Knotty Ash! |

All Contributions Gratefully Accepted

 

write a poem
everyone's a critic
read a poem
everyone's a philosopher
fold the paper carrying the poem
into an origami aeroplane
aim high, let it go
everyone's a child at heart
hopeful dreamer, lover of the good 
unschooled slackline walker, poet
write a poem
do it for mama
it's the least you can do
do it for the cause
every little helps
televise the performance
in the company...

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Adam Whitworth:

Punk Poem | What To Do!? | Questions That Surround Them | Honesty And Generosity | Poem For Today | Creation |

A Message To Send

what does betrayal look like?

can we bend someone to our will?

Do we dare to try?

If my arms were always wide open, would it mean a thing?

Do we hold the Power?

 If we truely reached deep down inside ourselves and touched every bit of our pain and humbly honored our journey, paid tribute to our past, can you not see then, the warrior that is within us?

The ego is abolished

The...

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Also by New Shoes:

Settling Our Affairs | Law of the Land | A Holy Affair |

The New Czar

The New Czar

 

Have we not been here before

thrown against the evils of war

Dictators are back as ever before

who act in defiance of the law

 

They care not for life nor limb

but act according to their whim

They lie, deceive and cheat us all

as people die beneath a smokey pall

 

Dictators are the serpents of evil

and care not who or what they kill

To stamp...

Read and leave comments (3)

Here Comes The War

HERE COMES THE WAR

Upon the hand that wears the ring

Upon the land where locusts sing

There lies a shadow that begins

To make fools of foolish kings

 

By fear, hunger, hate and pride

By secret tears never cried  

By flood, famine, fire and rod

By supplication to their God

 

Here comes the war

Over the border

Right to your door

Here comes the war

 

U...

Read and leave comments (1)

UkrainewarRussiapowerweaponsWWWNATOhistory is a virus

Without Peace Souls Don't Sleep

Heart wrenched grief

diehard prays defiance

human corpse mountains

no longer asking

their freedom lost.

Read and leave comments (3)

Also by Nigel Astell:

Handcuffed in Love |

senseless killing has to cease

Purpose.

You find that thing 

The one you can’t live without 

You’d sell your soul for

You’d bleed and die for 

And you chase it 

With sweat in your eyes and dirt in your lungs

Follow it until your knees give out 

Because where you land

Is exactly where you are meant to be.

Read and leave comments (1)

Also by Jordyn Elizabeth:

Beauty Standards. | Brevity | Cowards Way | The Free Fall | Hospital Visit. (1.) |

Unspoken Rule

 

There's silver and air beneath my feet

Seagulls cry out as sailfish swim

 

Coarse white hair covers the man’s jaw

He pulls bait from his hat’s rim

 

The small girl holds a smaller pole

Her voice as happy as a bird

 

Her fiery-orange hat

Shades her rainbow tie-dye shirt

 

Shells spread on white sand and twigs

Hungover from the night before 

 

The ug...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Candice Reineke:

Your Mind is Yours |

beachhumanitysocial contract

I Wish I Was

I don't want nights to end

I don't want days to begin

And I know I'll spend my entire life

Wishing I was six feet under

Crushed under water pressure

Old blood stains on the stone dirty alley

Bones and grit in places unrecognizable

Picture in the papers

40 words on a daily column

Wooden frame with pretty flowers

Tears of strangers

Hushers and whispers

A wall hang...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by chuuyahua:

Don't Look At Me | Burning Ashes | Forever Might Take Too Long | Secrets | white | In Shadows, In Truths | Infinity Marathon | Long Lost Troubles |

poetry

ONLY ME!

For a long time now I’ve been more than comfortable with the targeted pop-up adverts thrown at me over the internet.  But whereas I once used to have my pick of Ukrainian beauties desperately seeking good-looking dudes like me for husbands, I now attract more age-related ads. – “Release Your Pension” and such like.

However I am even more appreciative of TV ads more recently doing the same.  Aft...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by John Coopey:

THE GHOST OF TARAS BULBA | ANOTHER DAY OFF | CATS' LIVES MATTER! | THE RHYMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' | THE RED LADY OF PAVILAND | ALICE'S RESTAURANT | THE BULLY AND THE BULLIED |

Escape window-Aggression

Escape window- Aggression

Friday,25th Feb 2022

I feel concerned

at the turn of events

it presents the horrible face of the world

misery may emerge in quantities untold

people are running for safer shelter fold

are we free from slavery concept?

Are we prompt to offer the counter?

All the nations keep escape window open

add fuel to fire and aggravate the situation

th...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Jadia4708au:

Nice poetry | I want to say | We are susceptible | Only one race | Love to lead & excel | Life is beautiful | Day's work | Decency | No option for man | The feelings | Love & affection | Good poetry |

Jadia4708au

Crumble and Fall

I never wanted to be like ridged things
I've seen them crumble and fall
Fractured and angry at their failure

Rather, like the trees
The branches sway and dance to meet the storms
The leaves fall and renew

They do this countless times
through the years
Until the fires come
And they will come

But I will gambol and spin
until the fires leave me ashes

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Mike McPeek:

Wanderer | The Carpenter | Coffee With My Ex |

Feather

Life is like a feather

strong when it hugs

weak when it flies

rough when it falls

and soft when it leans in for a kiss.

Read and leave comments (0)

One Last Affair

I’m wearing blue, you’re dressed in red
lit by the dancing candle light
in the depths of some back table
at a late night poetry evening
Our only hope to stay safe tonight
is to keep this table between us

Some wily orator spills their guts
before the hallowed microphone
but all I care to know now
is do you smell as good as you look
Each of us wills the other to go too far
with a ‘what’...

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affairartistswriters

Accusations

I know you think your life is over. I know you think you don’t deserve love. I’m here to tell you that you do. I’m here to Tell you that I love you. I wanna be there for you. I want you not to fret. Don’t take it personally, She's just startled by ur silhouette. I don’t see why. All I see is beauty. Is it ur sad eyes that makes her so afraid? Or is it just your quiet overthinking personality. Eith...

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Have we had our chips?

Even if this does prove

to be our last fish and chip supper,

even if it's technically 

just a pub lunch, 

if Vladimir the Poisoner

in a mad rage presses the button  

just because we don't admire

his rippling torso, just because

we laugh at his ugly Botox features,

 

before I perform in the am-dram

tonight, before we even rehearse

the lines one more time, then

...

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Also by Greg Freeman:

The carriage in the forest | Rehab |

Oh, Poor Life!

Life is as tear drops of the morning.
When the sun throws its warm kiss
Away to the drop,
It becomes an invisible entity.
 

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Ujjal Mandal:

The Real Definition of Life |

sadlife

Afterlife

Some days I imagine it might really happen:

an orifice oozing with ectoplasm,

Dorises with messages that we can’t fathom;

transmigration’s been the fashion since ages ago

when Buddhists could make it to the sixth Bardo

or lose their many selves in Limbo.

You don’t think so?

Of course, it’s never on the news, YouTube or Skype,

not the kind of repeats you see on both sid...

Read and leave comments (0)

Jake overcomes a gut obstruction

Jake was an alcholic,addicted to a variety of ales,

Jane noticed he was holding in his tummy while stood on the scales.

"Holding in your tummy isn't going to help you get a lower reading ,"Jane did say.

Jake answered,"But that's the only way I'm going to see how much I weigh."

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by hugh:

Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak have locked horns | To many socks create a misfit for John | A punctuation victory for an abused female | A poetic protest, Berghaus gets the boot | Lower energy bills popping through our letterboxes would be ace ! | A change of heart by Her Majesty the Queen | Get a grip !! |

Vladimir the queer

Vladimir the queer 

 

" Oh Vladimir, Vladimir

Why did you do this my dear" 

Because I'm full of fear 

my dear I fear 

That Yes I'm a queer 

With a wooden strap on 

In place of my spear! 

 

 

Read and leave comments (1)

THOUGHT BUBBLE

Take a thought bubble strip it of its skin

until it fills the whole space of your mind

examine its components

 

describe them in a palace of time

wrap those images in words write them on paper

you've captured that bubble in poetry. 

 

Walk away: it remains to nag you

with its shiny or tawdry ego

bursting with love or hate

 

but hopefully not indifference

for ...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by ray pool:

WE MAKE A SHOULDER OF THE WIND | THE LUTON FREE DIET |

The Sirens Ringing Out

The sirens are ringing out

Did I wake up to 1939?

 

Bits of paper waved in the air

As a bomb rips through a house

 

“we’ll hit them in their bank accounts”

But no statement can save a child’s life

 

The sirens ringing out

Wailing across a Kyiv square

 

A mother in Donetsk a sister in Odesa

A cold chill running down her spine

 

“It’s hopeless”

...

Read and leave comments (4)

Also by David R Mellor:

The slow tissue paper of lies |

Ukraine

Eye of the beholder

I read it as a child,

But forgot,

As I grew older,

Beauty lies,

In the eye of the beholder.

 

Stones – lifeless and rough

Shine and amaze him!

Peering at them like a master crafter,

Beauty lies,

In the eye of the beholder.

 

Old bottles, tinsel and glue,

Inspired by 5-min crafts

Focused on making the prettiest pen-holder

Beauty lies,

In the eye of th...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by pallavitryingthings:

A Dog's Day |

More Real

If I feel it,

it's real.

If I taste it,

it's real.

If I love it,

it's real.

When I lose it - it's more real.

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Bill Dodsworth:

Waking | The Mists of Being | Spanish Stillness | Conversations | La Faba - 2017 | Somewhere in Spain | The Market | Messages Lost | Camino Days |

lovetastereallose

Texting a Friend

A fleeting aura of the last ditch moment. A concrete thing of blood and bones feeling. Great not left unbroken. Unshackled to a doubted mind. A requirement has left you burning. Holes in books. The thing of warning. For grafting to the skin at night. Your life in venomous mourning.

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Alita Moore:

Mid Month | slowly warming |

MARINE

MARINE

Herded down to the beach at ten

on a winter's morning

in thin white gym shorts as if our volition

came from his barking.

He claimed to have been a marine

and we were terrified,

with anaesthetised flesh

on the oily beach

strewn with bladder wrack

like something coughed up foul and green

and a pill box

full of trash and graffiti;

concrete obstacles from ...

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Also by john short:

FLANNEL WHITE |

GODDESS

You're a Goddess he said 

A sexual Goddess 

There's something about you that makes me obsess 

You own me he said 

In that way for sure 

The queen of my bed 

I can't take no more 

This power you hold and your sweet non intention 

Like a spell you control 

This whole new dimension 

Fantasy maybe

Closeness is tension 

Yes shy modest maybe 

Sex Goddess Lady 

H...

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Also by Sarah Louise mcnee:

NOT JUST SOME BIRD |

obsession?sexual goddessFantasygoddess

Aberystwyth, February 1978

Standing at the brink

in off-brand corduroy, dyed wool

picking apart the sunbeams

with your one hand slowly

closing.

The funicular sings silent

the third curve of dust-white

aggregate is steeper still

and behind you lies

the vast bowl of swallowed

time, the shattered stopwatch

shards hanging loosely

quivering swords

over ripped Polaroid.

 

You drop the ...

Read and leave comments (0)

whatever

An Epiphany

After forty years at the chalkface,

Retirement enticingly beckoned.

Time to reflect on a teaching life

Of missed opportunities,

Of driving the unwilling,

At the government’s behest,

To the shores of Lake Knowledge

To oversee their drowning

Whilst faithfully recording the results.

Schools have created many a pig’s ear

From the finest, expensive silk,

By trying to de...

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Also by John Botterill:

Learning French | An Academic Reflection | Hide and Seek | Twenty Minutes to the Bell | Old Leather Balls! | Gizza Game | The Changing of the Guard | Sonnet 18 Revisited | Tetris |

Book Review: Swan Songs by Lee Scott (Repeater Books)

Lee Scott should not in 2022 need an introduction to fans of underground UK rap (but may need one to non-fans). He is arguably the best rapper in the UK of the past 10 years, profilic musician and record label co-owner who has helped bring many talents from the North East of England such as King Grubb, Tony Broke & Bill Shakes to a wider audience. 

Yet still his music is not as widely known as ...

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The Colors of Black and White

It makes not difference to me whether you are black white or green

It makes no difference to me whether or not you want to be heard, smelt or seen

It makes to difference what you choose to wear

Do you think I give a f*** about your hair

So what is the care

Between the perception of yours and the eyes that stare

What is the care

Revolving through this air

Shy away through ti...

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Also by JAZ:

BreeZZy | Just Waitin Around | Arrogance | Wanderer’s | As in Itself | Thank You Ma’am |

sheltered soul

A sheltered soul is not soulful.

He’s hidden with worry and exhaustion.

Because the thought of pursuing is tiring,

Is damning,

Is embarrassing.

In a space that is too wide

There’s too much interpretation for the open.

So instead he closes himself softly,

Harshly.

He’s never been told.

He’s never been asked.

He’s never known that a sheltered soul is not soulful.

...

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soulsoulfulmenwomenemotions

lOst at the CafE

Empty coffee cup

L’addition

Stuck

Between saucer and cup

Sultry sun

Wicker seat

Accordion beat

Another cigarette

Marking time

Blue smoke

Hangs 

Iike a cloak

Marble top table 

Room for two

Blue ashtray

Full of stubs

Plane trees

Cool shade

There she is

Cool white

Flowing dress

Knowing yet unknowing

Her eyes caress

Scan the scene

...

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Also by Edbreathe:

Ra-iN. | teMPEst | eNd of THe lINE | aN vIL |

reflections

reflections

reflections

I saw you at the spring
this morning

you were looking at your
reflection and trying
to adjust your face

there is no need for that
the spring loves you
just the way you are

and waits each morning
for your return
just as I do

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Also by Clyde McCulley:

early spring, early robins | the long winter is almost past |

Kachō-Ōji (課長王子)

Close your eyes,

It's okay you won’t feel the pain anymore.

 

Close your eyes,

You can rest, no more fatigue or feeling sore.

 

Close your eyes, 

This will be quicker than waiting for a cure.

 

Close your eyes,

It's time to meet the Angel of Death to relieve you from all that you've endured.

Read and leave comments (2)

DeityDeathgodsLife

Being who you are By Louis D'Alto

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are
Don't have to rule a kingdom, or be a superstar
Live a life that's genuine, original and true
Show the world just who you are, the one and only you
Don't try and be somebody else, that's not what God intended
That will never free your soul, the gift will be suspended
Shine the light that is yourself for all the world to see
Break the chains t...

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Also by OZoFe:

In God'S Wisdom By Neng Cheche |

Whiskey dinner

Winding down a well penned road, written like red leaves and hickory smoke
Wandering down another limestone dust dirt nothing, little slice of heaven in the sun
Creeks rolling, eyes wide on Folgers and a spent cigarette, walking a mile for the next pack
Pack on your back, climbing up crevice and crack, quiet nights with thunder and fire
Fire and rain, eyes in pain, wipe away these tears from m...

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Also by sandbar:

Ember flick |

Mariner

The margins of the mariner differ:

while people of the land wither, 

he makes friends with the waves

peopled by gods, trusting his

compass in cahoots with the North, 

hoping the Old Man of the Sea

stays sufficiently appeased 

to send his Nereids in aid,

should the voyage be in peril.

 

The scorecard of the sailor differs:

all it has to check

is how oft he conver...

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Also by Holden Moncrieff:

Not Alone | Morpheus | Silence | What If... | Dreamer. |

One Last Time

 

Seashells and wave echoes

swirled and laughed in the emptiness behind my eyes.

But now I have let them go, sent them away,

unlocked the door and set them free.

The remaining empty space is vast, but quiet, and soft.

Yet never truly empty despite my best efforts

for when I’m not looking, the wave echoes return to roll around the edges of my inner space

once again.

They ...

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Co'op

I thought

I'd joined a cult

They assured me I had not

When I  got a loyalty card 

From the co op

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by Jed:

The Girl With the Imax Forehead | Cold Haiku |

"Buttery- Muttery" !

‘Buttery- Muttery’!

 

Our ‘human-footprint’ on this Earth

has ‘cocked’ the planet up, from birth.

We’ve nappies that won’t de-compose

(You’ll wait a thousand years for those!)

We’re causing climate change, alas

with pipelines full of oil and gas.

Mechanical deforestation,

stripping back each third-world nation.

 

All examples, such as these

spell global-wide cat...

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The Troll Who Saved The Earth

before Trump a darkness on the Earth

silent were the people as their alexas'

taped their snoring

and everything else in

their quater-waked states 

 

and then              thanks to the efforts of

some unseen force a known troll 

took the United States Presidency 

 

I knew he was the real deal when

they tried to kill him several

times and I finally gave in and 

...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by Kealan Coady:

Mods | Thrice-blind | Raft of Wreaths |

The Secret of the Sunflowers

The Secret of the Sunflowers

is one that my mother knows.

How their gaze forever follows the sun,

the more that they grow

and glorious they become!

The late afternoon shadows lay forgotten behind,

they remind me of where our mother taught us

to always turn our minds.

 

 

 

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Also by Rachelle:

Behind the Silent Wall | 'Seven Times' |

mothersunflowersflowerspositivity

Beware the Crooked Billet

Beware the crooked billet

 

He’d passed his tests, he’d made the grade

He’d got his just rewards

First-class degree from Cambridge

His future was assured

 

He’d had his farewell party

And took a little glass

Maybe one too many

As was his trait alas

 

He’d had his farewell party

And drunk with gusto, and vim

He’d drank the Dean under t’table

And wiped th...

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Sirens in the Distance

She was everything I wanted

Blue eyed and blonde haired

she made me laugh

and talked a lot about love

but I heard sirens in the distance

 

she called at random times

and her sing song voice enchants

she's checking up on me

but what the heck, she made me smile

but did I hear sirens in the distance?

 

I've known girls before

that were car crashes waiting to hap...

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Also by Steve Higgins:

The Humble Tree |

ex girlfriendgirlfriend

.

We dont talk anymore, but i miss you. You probably think im in a bar, when really, im just in my car. Thinking about you, thinking about the number two..and three, and four, and how I know you wanted more. I see your face all around me; my repeats of Serendipity. I hear your voice; this was never a choice. I feel your hands, your skin; why didn’t we win? I remember your scent; god, I wish I could ...

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Paradise with white flowers

On lace
Wrapped in linen
Displaced, saved from sinnin'

Open gates
Dogs got loose
Lost the race
Cut the noose

It ain't words without rhythm
It ain't time without spinning

 ..in your tracks
Step on tacs 
Whatever sorta concentration
Illumination
Effervescent
With bubbles and sparkles..

 that send tingles through your nose
Self composed.

Thin lines between edgy and ledge of...

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Fairytale - For V & K

An entrance to a fairytale waiting to happen,

Sweet scented flowers, second only to the story that's about to bloom,

Flickering candles mimicking twinking stars in the dark sky,

Like the love that survived through thick and thin, dark and light...

 

A slow stepped waltz, opening to a dance of a lifetime,

followed by a ballad about a love that grew from childhood

and an eternal...

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loversloveWeddingmodern fairytaledestinyEternity

upheivel

Otherwise uncanny,

A dress in short shoes,

And a drained thing left of you.

 

I don't speak,

to be heard,

I speak to see.

 

There isn't steps abound in midnight,

which held in air desolate but few,

and eyes between sunshine.

 

When in that great horizon,

squishing my arms,

I bend in two.

 

Slept in at night,

A shallow morning slumber,

Crescent ...

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Also by Pamela Lundin:

Control Theory |

Browsing

Browsing

I think I need a jacket
It's getting very cold
I'll have a look online
It's very easy, so I'm told

I'm not sure that I like it
It feels like it's quite forced
As I swipe through all the options
But there's some I like of course

The first one was suitable,
The pockets just too shallow,
Number three felt like a winner,
Better suited to another fellow

I sometimes sit and...

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Lovehopesad poems

A boat

I dig into my memories

looking for that feeling

 

I was happy, I was sad

I was caring, I was upset

 

But the beauty of being in love

It’s the only one I cannot recall

 

The way I looked at the world

That was different I am sure

 

Something in the background

Changing my days, my actions

 

I close my eyes

one image comes to my mind

 

A boat in th...

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If We Never Met

If we never met

If we never met,

I would have never known your existence,

If we never met,

We would have never talked,

If we never met,

I wouldn't have ever loved you,

If we never met,

I wouldn't ever know love,

If we never met,

I wouldn't have experienced a heart break,

If we never met,

I wouldn't have experienced hurt,

If we never met,

I wouldn't have ex...

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Snowflakes

"Everything dies in the winter but snowflakes"

I was always a Summer boy,

Craving when the sunshine made love to my melanin.

Hot showers against my back; thick covers cradling me to sleep.

Autumn colors gave way to December's frostbites

Gnawing at my thoughts time after time,

Leaving nothing but dead memories.

So when your snowflakes brought me warm touches,

I wanted Winter...

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I Love Your Allure

I would never question your narrative— as it be, figuratively.

Cheers to another year: it’s ever clear — our glasses never get drunk.

(for all intents and purposes) spirited twin flames pour out libations to a personal god
No half truths with you.
I idolize your third eyes outlook on life...
Our inner visions - seen to fruition - showcase infinite possibilities
Granted we share the same ...

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NaturepoetryspiritualityValentinesloveloversromanticromantic poetrygodcreativeastrologyastronomypaperromancecreation

Drunkenness

Being drunk can take us to a wonderful place,
Where we may be merry or just stare into space.
We may become silly but reactions are slowed,
And we may either be calm or we may explode.

Invincible is how we often do feel,
Where the world is all great and life is ideal.
We may believe we'll be like this for ever.
We can become lively or think that we are clever.

We may reveal feelings or...

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Stuart VannerDrunkennessDrinkAlcohol

For you

I had begged you to stay.

Cried to you to not leave me.

I told you to just be here, present in my life even if you did not have time.

I would not distract you from your goals.

I begged you.

I walked on my dignity.

I gave it all up.

I opened my wounds.

I bled.

I was vulnerable. 

But you walked away anyway.

You said goodbye.

You did not stop me.

You let me walk...

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It’s hard to realize 

I’ve never wanted to admit 

I’m the one who compromised 

To flee the truth I had to split 

 

It’s hard to realize 

That I never knew you 

Even with blood ties 

You were never once true 

 

 Hiding behind the size 

Of unwavering values 

To claim the title of a wise 

Tho hollow and of no use 

 

Giving you a sense of pride 

A need t...

Read and leave comments (0)

Also by racha:

Books |

Come Back to Me

You cannot change the world,

but you may be able to be an

influence in someones world.

The world is wild and unruly.

Chaotic in nature. But you

can make  a difference each

moment to feel into its texture

with your touch. It won’t be much,

but maybe it is just enough.

it is all you can do in the face

of the storm that matters.

 

Live it. Live it for those who can...

Read and leave comments (3)

mental healthlife

February 2022 Collage Poem: Relief from the Darkness

 

Wallowing in darkness like warthogs in a pool

Horrendous December in the Gym

Under my duvet a donut prods my lust.

Outside the ambulance carries the lost prophet Susan

Through the slashing rain.

 

Channelling memories that everybody liked

More than joy, joyriding with sweaty socks leaving

A pile of charcoaled grief.

 

Grim and grimmer walked away 

Without a gl...

Read and leave comments (2)

Stockport Write Out LoudCollage PoemFebruaryRelief from the Darkness

Not If

When the cut and thrust of politics is real

When the cut and paste apologies are fake

When facts matter less than what you feel

And truth and lies are given equal weight

 

When “I get it” and “I’ll fix it” are a sham

When extremists are emboldened by your act

When you genuinely couldn’t give a damn

And your policy does nothing but distract

 

When you use your privileg...

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politicsboris johnson

Just This Once For You

 


Just This Once For You, And Only You


     A day is only little,
People walk, talk, eat and contemplate,
     quicken expectations or, hang every
moment on a hopeful obsession,

A day, gathers dust in Africa,
     tethers homes of Eskimo within
snow-like cocoons of inner sanctuary,
     where the ruddy glow of smiling
children quickens my envy – heart,

A day, can see a mount...

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love

It Needs two to dance

She was all dreamy and hopelessly romantic,
Watching chick flicks, behaving like an antic.
But was happy and positive in all her thoughts,
because of the support she had from her folks.
She met the one she dreamt for always,
They managed to talk and meet for days.
It was his first time to meet such a girl,
He was swayed by her smile and was enjoying the swirl.
From his, she...

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Also by Pri.....:

All in Vain | A small Lie | Hurting Silence | I Miss you | Why I love you! | A depressed Wife!! | A women's Self Respect | Miss You Dad!! |

Figuring it out

Dead to the world I refuse to comply

Policy flourish's  within my minds eye

Presented with one path forward I'd rather die

Perhaps All You Zombies one day, will learn to fly

 

"Give me liberty or give me death!"

Whatever happened to that old epithet

An empty platitude lost to history

Live, Laugh, Love evidently the one for me

 

Our Tech Oligarchs decide the stories to...

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Johnson O’Pouncy, the mysterious Englishman

Those who remember that enigmatic fellow, Johnson O’Pouncy,
were told by those who knew him in the old West,
that, though he appeared to be of limited means,
he’d amassed enough funds to take over a shack
just outside Horsetrough City, in Texas, which wasn’t worth a hill of beans.

Neighbour Jebadiah Jenkinson remembers meeting this tall,
enigmatic man with his dog Cactus, and wondering wha...

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Also by Kevin Vose:

A mountain spirit speaks out |

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...

Read and leave comments (1)

LarkinShakespearemashuppastichesonnetsilly

What is life? What is death?

We begin with a small balloon.We blow into it.

It becomes inflated 

With thoughts, opinions, judgements, beliefs.

With views, hopes, fears, worries.

With perspectives and dreams and all the ways in which we experience things

With all the obstacles we create and all the possibilities we allow.

We fill our balloon with problems and desires

With everything our imagination can enc...

Read and leave comments (1)

Crash

Sitting on the beach

Drawing your name on sand...

 

Sitting in the dark

Looking for your star in the night sky...

 

Sitting in the room

Imaging your smiling face...

 

Walking around

Trying to repress codependency...

Read and leave comments (0)

Watch and wait

This game you're playing
Is not the kind you can win
Being hurt doesn't justify hurting
Life's cruelty doesn't explain your ways
This is you, always
You can shed many skins, but you can't lose yourself
The excuses run out
And your luck will follow
Your promises are hollow
And unfortunately for you
My wrath can only grow
Run little reptile, run
Writhe and thrash
Wear yourself out
Sell...

Read and leave comments (0)

Claim to fame (haiku)

I, for a short time

Was the worlds youngest person,

But not for long though.

Read and leave comments (0)

A TRIBUTE TO MELODY QUEEN

A TRIBUTE TO MELODY QUEEN

You stamped everlasting inscription
on the forehead of phoney life.
The imprint of voice so genuine
will sing the melody of queen for ages to come.
The melody of your silvery songs
linger longer for time immemorial
Your voice-aroma fills to the brim in every piece of melody.
Of all songsters to come,
Your stamps, their lighthouse!
You're a vine where leaves of...

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Grief

 

No one could believe that our sun was really gone.

Was it us? Something that we did, or hadn’t done?

We felt numb. Then rage

against the dying of the light.

Facing endless night we tried to conjure it with candlelight,

but tallow only goes a certain way and that’s down.

We fell to the ground in despair

where we stayed, thinking

morning wouldn’t come

so we’d better...

Read and leave comments (7)

Psychedelic Chic

Psychedelic Cheek

 

He’s the epitome of bravado

In his sunshine yellow suit

His shirt is avocado

And his after shave is Brut.

 

With his round handled black umbrella

And his bright green kipper tie

He’s quite a unique fella

A dashing kind of guy.

 

He’s become a local landmark

Parading Chorlton’s streets

He’s never been to Primark

He has psychedelic chi...

Read and leave comments (2)

Also by mike booth:

She |

erruption

I see where we're at now and look into the future.

I don't want to get to a point or THE point where we say things that come from anger. 

I don't want to see how bad it could get.

I don't want to see how nasty it could get.

I don't want to take the good and sweet things you say to me for granted, 

because I'm scared that maybe one day, ill screw up and make you say the things you've...

Read and leave comments (0)

anxietyrelationshipfear

Live Every Moment

Live every moment

Life’s each component

One after the other

Without fear, just discover

The beauty around you

So blissful and true

Forget the negativity

And explore the liberty

The colours of the rainbow

The sounds of the tornado

Not forgetting droplets of rain

Erasing all the sadness and pain

Giving and receiving love

Watching the clouds up above

Hearing ...

Read and leave comments (4)

Metamorphous

You’re right

3 years ago, I viewed frogs as aliens

Now I wonder whether they’re angels

Months ago, I hated the sound of songbirds

Now I write their songs

I tweet along

Everything I did, I did do

It still was

Even if it no longer is

Whatever I am

I still am what I was

Even if I no longer am

You’re right

I was right and now I’m left

But the person I was hasn...

Read and leave comments (4)

changeevolveadaptdifferenceafraidgrowsameanxietymatureoldlifequirkyrealrealismfantasyimagerymetaphorpersonalityfearcomfortworlduniverserandomsocialsocietypersonpeoplehumanmind

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