Every time I let the tap run, I feel guilty

Every time I fill my belly, I turn away from the screen.

Every time the key clicks to my door, I can open and walk around.

But you and yours are raised to the ground.

No guilt from those who cheer on your genocide.  

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Everyday someone is Killed on your street. . .

No one says or does anything to help . . .

It’s not your street. . .

But everyday someone is killed on a Gaza Street   

A human being  just like you and me

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My father liked

Cabbage

But didn’t like me

He swore  blindly

By it

Eating it every day

Boiling the life

Out of it

As he did with me

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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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Come back the country I love

Come back and put

Food on my table

Come back and bring me

Peace & Love

No one is excluded

and I belong here again

Not trembling over words

Or the bang at the door

It is you who don’t belong here

anymore  

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This is not happening

This you can’t see

The prison cells are filling

Whilst you digest the lies on TV

This is not happening

This you can’t see

You play deaf dumb and blind

Until you see

This is happening

This you can see

Your brother your mother your father

Taken away

Live on TV

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Lay your thick white blanket on our land

Cover up the corruption

The beggars scavenging for food

Lay your thick white blanket on our land

It freezes the lies in mid-air

Gives the children a smile

Freezes the parents’ tears

Let the thick white blanket stay on this earth

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The snow is not to blame

In fact, it covers it up

All that I see is kindness

On the white covered ground

The snow is not to blame

It offers a rest bite

from worry,

as the crystals float past

my window  

an endless letting

       go

an endless letting

             go

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I’m staring out of the coffee shop window

In a strange land

A pang in my stomach

Why didn’t I take anyone with me

No one to meet

From when I was 18

Right through to my 30’s and beyond

Until 40’s 50’s I had a new one

But he withered and died

Why didn’t I take them with me

I feel a pang inside

But each carried me

To where I am now…

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The knock at the door will come,

As night follows night.

They come at this time you know  

When justice is out of sight

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If I could be brave enough to remember the first time I went into my local library at the torrid age of 18.

If I could be brave enough to remember what the librarian said to me, as the jaws of a shark stamped those books with a thud.

At first, I held them scared to death, as they contained words and were unnecessarily heavy.

And then as if secretly, I finished a thing calle...

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I fear for the soil

The mother and

Child in tow

The gentle hello

To my foreign wife

I fear that when

She leaves the house

She might not come back

The bus stop is danger

The supermarket

The train

Walking down the streets

I called my own

But now they are “Theirs”

And we must be quiet and hide

Until my country comes back

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“I need to flee my country?”

Stay and die

“I wish to stay in Britain?”

Then lighten your skin

Change your religion  

Don’t talk in your mother tongue

Then you will be fine

If you decide not to accept:

Bricks through your window

Be shouted at

and knocked and spat at

in the streets

Because this is the rotten cradle of democracy

...

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Green

Green

Green

As far as the eye can see

Like,

Green

Green clouds

Hugging the earth

And me

Sea

Sea

Sea

Rugged dangerous

Enveloping me

The People

The People

The People

Safe and secure in their own skin

Unique in pleasure

Happiness overflowing into me  

Green Green

Sea Sea

The People The People

And me

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Dreaming of leaving

       This rock above my

             Head

Dreaming of leaving

The thought you are dead

Dreaming of leaving

Going back to when I

played here, running up

the path mama mama

kissing your sweet forehead

now motionless and

       cold

Dreaming of leaving

                                 Not wishing to go

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And so it goes

On

People protest

Against dead bodies

“They’re all terrorists

each and every one”

He says, they say

And so it goes on

The people are lost

Picking through rubble

Discovering their loved ones

Dead clothes

But the truth is being hidden

Sanitised by the news

The killing is not so awful

They plead

And so...

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Everyone’s  a  C*NT

I see the teenagers

Throwing things on the floor

A protest

Leads to the finger

Everyone’s a CU*T

The internet is down

They said they’d send someone round

Nobody came…

Everyone’s a *UNT

They’re blaring out music

On a crowded bus

Chatting to friends

Until ears start to bleed

Everyone’s a CUN*

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He belted his little heart out

Same time every day

It lasted for hours and hours

But still…

She  does not come.

I shouted out to the little bird

“Why not perch on another tree?”

“I was calling out to you…”

the little bird replied,

“To keep that smile on your face.”

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As poor as I am

I can still see the lies

Dripping down from posters

Larger than life

Each party vying for my eye line

Sides of the same dice

Hope, Fear

Progress,  Strength

Hate, Together

Each rolling towards me

Saying anything I like …

A tannoy blurts out

Some nonsensical nonsense

flags are waving in the air

and the dumb have becom...

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Burn the tents

With the homeless inside

Attack a march

Calling for peace

Gather your stormtroopers

To march down the streets

         A Nazi pogrom

         In all but name

The torch has been lit,

To burn down the streets

of London, your town, neighbourhood

and brain

mulling over…

“Suella who’s the next

person, group and cause

Should...

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I heard the shots, I did

And my siblings being dragged screaming

Out the door

My father ran, carrying me like a football

Up into the hills and miles away

Terror in his eyes “Which way now?”

Into the truck, freezing at night

Dumped on the shore

There was no need to ask

“Are they coming too?”

As I knew…

They were no more

The boat with a hu...

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Death is

R

O

P

P

I

N

G

From the skies

     L  lies  lifeless

     O on

 E V ery

Str E et

Death is

R

O

P

P

I

N

G

From the sky

Bodies mount up

1.500 here…

1.500 there…

L

         O

                 V

                          E

                                  Lies in ruins…

    ...

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There

  I’m not there

And neither are you

But we have all danced at festivals

Walked down the streets

Cooked food in our homes

I’m not there

                        And neither are they now…

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In the bubble gum 80s

I floated around

For truth

And feelings

And then she cried,

And cried out loud over and over again

Her life no holes barred

No filter “just me”,

Just be

You taught me

Just be yourself

And fuck anyone who disagrees

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Fear tips off your tongue

Like raw sewage into the sea

The air of hatred pollutes

the minds of your supporters

But across the way

Hope springs eternal,

A burning ember of

Love and peace.

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V

That’s what the TV commentator said

Over and over again

nobody waves you to work

You can’t even afford the electricity meter

King Charles is more important than you

And yet you wave and clap along

Like a gaggle of geese

Watch the military goose step away

King Charles is no more important than you

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This is the body I love

And I can change it

You take food from it

Let it shiver in winter

Make it wait 9 hours in an ambulance

As it withers away

This is the body I love

But you have changed it

It waits in a

bomb shelter

and screams

don’t kill me

It gasps for breath

In a frozen sea

Please don’t

Drown me

This is the...

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Terry Hall

I heard the news

At 4.30 a.m. exactly

I knew it would hurt

And it did so badly

A voice that blew away the fluff of the 80’s

A sincere stare

And words that were rich and plenty

I heard the news

At 4.30 a.m. exactly

I knew it would hurt

And it did so badly

An honesty that left you feeling less alone

A life of pain

etched ...

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We live in fear

Of putting the electricity on

We live in fear

Of the next bill to come

We freeze in desperation

As the gas dies down

We live in fear

Of people in dinghy boats,

Though we know none of them

They make us fear…

The bus we can’t catch

The train we can’t ride in

The pub we can’t go into

Whilst they unpack

Fresh Harrods s...

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There are no words

Because words can lead to death

If I let my pen run freely

I will be the next

You will be next  

Until, the door is closed

And the audience has left

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There are no words

Because words can lead to death

If I let my pen run freely

I will be the next

You will be next  

Until, the door is closed

And audience has left

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After holding the country

In a straight jacket

Of lies, deceit  and

Despicable behavior

The Lunatic has left

               The asylum

After…

Trashing the country

Smashing up democracy

Popping corks when people died

The Lunatic has left

                The asylum

But the rats will enter again , from the side door

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On “Victory Day”  Knee deep in blood

The arms and limbs of the dead

Climb up you

In day and night terrors.

Murdered by you

Mothers

Fathers

Lovers

Sisters

brothers

children

&

Babies

All silenced by you

Your final solution…

Like the Jews in the ghetto.

All must go

But on your death bed

“Your god” whispers

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The cars outside my window

Rumble to and from places

Without a care in the world

The children scream out Mehmet’s name

To come out to play

And when he does

Their little faces light up  

In Mariupol there is just silence

A bird sarcastically chirps

A dog sniffs round

But there is nothing to eat

The rumble of tanks has gone

The screams have ...

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I wake up to coffee

My failing eye sight

Classical music  gently calming down

The beats of the coming day

My cat encircles me

Wanting food

And then with trepidation

I turn on the news

They are waking up to

An underground shelter

Darkness all around them

Hearing in the distance

The slow thunder of tanks

And the loss of thei...

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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”

...

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Inflation is going down

Though you know it’s rising sky high

He gets to the dispatch box

And says 2+2 are 5

“No, it’s 6” scream the backbenchers

“It’s 7” “No it’s 9”

The thin burning tissue paper

Of lies

Corruption is a badge of honour

The truth is a lie

Just sit back and watch

The country burning from the inside

The thick corrosive wound fes...

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                           For once I didn’t open my eyes

                           And flick on the screen

Scan the news, designed to make me scream.

Posts and pictures of people “seizing the day”

Each not so subtly saying

“Look at me look at me”

Instead…

                 I poured coffee

                 With my first cigarette in hand

And looked at something ...

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It was running round the House of Commons

With no mask

Handing out PPE contracts to their mates

For a laugh

As the population was falling into graves

They gave out party invites

Drunk on festive cheer.

Tears streaming down the cheeks of relatives

Who couldn’t see them go

                                        Ho Ho Ho

The lies multiplied, given a boost

N...

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Everything is new here
And I know my father
Would know what to do
A history of bitter words
But he would get me through

A guide, through
These strange streets and lands
Having my back
Though he could
never say I love you
to my face

“Everything is new here”
“I know”
“I don’t know what to do? ”

You see dad… oh and
this is so difficult…
I’m here with you son.

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What stays with you forever
Will never live a day

The footsteps treaded over and over
The kiss that gave you away

The backlog of memories
That will never come out to play

Just banging and crashing on the ice rink
Making fools of us all

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He never thought he’d be killed

By words

That freely come to your mind

Took for granted

That his thoughts could run free,

Across the city

Climb up mountains

And settle on the land

Then one night…

He was dragged out of his bed

And shot in the head

Because the stench of death

Has run riot in the streets

The Taliban snuffing out

Anyone...

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I now have time

To see all those

Little David’s

Lost on the streets

Of Liverpool, Germany

And many stations in-between

Lamenting a love gone wrong

Crying to himself

Too broken hearted

To pick up the phone

Hours upon days and years

Out of sorts

A rattle bag of fears

An assortment of misery

Freshly picked from the store

But now I have ...

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I now have time

To see all those

Little David’s

Lost on the streets

Of Liverpool, Germany

And many stations in-between

Lamenting a love gone wrong

Crying to himself

Too broken hearted

To pick up the phone

Hours upon days and years

Out of sorts

A rattle bag of fears

An assortment of misery

Freshly picked from the store

But now I have ...

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Under the sun I was a good boy

I never did wrong.

The trees were very giving

As I climbed

The highest branch

Under the sun , I was a good boy

Who never did wrong

The light would stay

Till I was too tired

To kick a ball

But at home, I was bad  boy

Who always did wrong.

The dark spelt

Foreboding

Trembling

Till...

The light broke way 

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I can

Still feel the

Freezing cold

Air on my cheeks

An air long since gone

Like the people I used

To greet on the streets.

And you so small

I could fit you on the

Back of my bike

Sitting under the slide

So the cold rain wouldn’t bite.

I can still feel the freezing cold air...

And I worn out by life’s daily chores

Pulling the sledge to school carrying

th...

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“I won’t wear a mask.

I’ll do what I f’in want to do.”

But he just kept walking

Round and round

Doing more than this government ever could do

“I’ll see who I want

When I want.”

But in the years when he should be

Just letting go

He gave it all to us

A hospital he will never see

A cancer patient walking out pain free

A child’s broken limb, now ...

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I am stuck in every moment I have lived or

Not lived enough

Each drags me back

To sort out what I

Forgot

To settle the score

Paper over the cracks

I am stuck,

In every moment

I failed

To live

I was,

But

Just not enough

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On a particularly down day

I saw this little fella

        Pushing through

Cold all around

With little beauty by its side

On a particularly down day I saw this

And thought…

My little fella

Can pull through

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Liverpool won the cup…

In an empty stadium

And stadiums of souls around the world

Ascended into heaven

It was the best of years

It was the worst of years

Vaccines were produced at break neck speed

And lies disseminated to stop people taking what they need

Heath workers went the extra mile

Risking life and limb

Applauded by million with a loud din

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