I.

I have no faith, yet
in this foreign church
I find solace,
sanctuary.

I never expected
to need such a place,
but I sought it out.

A stranger to its ways,
I sit in silence, alone.
Its echoing ambience
embraces me.

City noise and bluster
muffled by centuries-old stone;
it welcomes and warms.

A refuge, I rest:
No more voices.
I can breathe here.
I can be here.

The sw...

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I see cold barbed wire behind your blue eyes.
Your Verboten! signs are lit-up searchlight-bright -
scrawled artfully with a cartoonish smirking
skull-and-crossbones minefield warning:
“Step carefully…
No unseemly emotional transgressions threatened, please.
Nor unfortunate, unwanted love-struck doe-eyed yearning here.
That’s all in the past. 
Move on. It’s over. 
Clear?”

And my doomed ...

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Remember that night we sat in the car
on the ridge above the city,
listening to “our” songs on the radio
and looking out at the motorway lights? 
 

They shone in the haze like a runway
- exciting, inciting, enticing us to flight,
towards the adventures
of our lives.

Those lights stood dancing in the heat,
forming a shimmering orange arrow,
curving gracefully to a fearless infinity, 
...

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January fifth.
The black car is almost here.
I wait
and I remember:

Early morning, deep December.
Phone rings;
heart sinks;
today, I know, is the day.
Exit day, the expected day: the day to say goodbye.

A rush hour slow-slog through thin and sickly dawn.
Idiot-bright festive lights fail to sense the mood.
Mother in the back seat – quiet, watching, alone.

A red light river – a sto...

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I don't usually do pre-amble, but in this case it's necessary. I took part in a city team slam last night where one of the requirements was to 'roast' the opposition city in a warm up exercise.

In West Yorkshire, particularly in Rugby League, one of the historic rivalries is between Leeds and my home city of Wakefield - we co-exist just 7 miles apart. I was asked to 'roast' the city of Leeds - ...

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6th December

Sunday

Leeds

There was a monk
well, a former monk
and he was handing out free cups of tea
to passers-by
As he did he spoke of
Great Energies
Oneness
and letting go of material possessions.

I took him up on his offer and we conversed
but then he asked me about my job
and I ashamedly admitted that I felt down
because
I work for a corporation
but he held me in a s...

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