Rise!
Here's a poem I wrote to celebrate the launch of Rise! Spoken Word at The Bureau (filmed before lockdown but only just released)
Rise
May you rise like the phoenix from the ashes.
Reignite your precious embers.
Break from your constraints to dance on air.
Rise like the swelling tide, the harvest moon.
Rise like you will dare.
Rise like you're awakened from a hun...
Tuesday 10th November 2020 11:39 am
This Is Capitalism
We live in a society of sanitized brutality.
Austerity increasing exponential wealth disparity, despairing for community.
Who has put a price on life to ration out a tiny slice,
and grip us in their vice, disguised as moral order righteousness?
Pretenders to the throne, to throw us only scraps and bones.
The corporations profit all by raised invoice and taxes slashed,
as ...
Wednesday 29th May 2019 12:28 am
Christmas Is Ridiculous
christmas is ridiculous
a frenzy of indoctrination
sentimental propaganda
pressure to participate
unrealistic expectations
inculcated in the kids
while parents go insane
it goes against the grain to be
so busy at this time of year
we should be curled up by the fire
not fucking running round so wired
to buy this tat that no one needs
sanctifying endless greed
...Friday 14th December 2018 4:45 pm
Glastonbury 1997. Don't Go There.
https://youtu.be/kx6C248MQeQ
On being young and foolish at the second muddiest Glastonbury Festival in history.
Thursday 22nd November 2018 2:06 pm
Time’s Up
Time’s Up
Is it coincidence
that at the end stage of the patriarchy
we see the extent of the abuse and rape of women exposed
alongside the rape of the planet?
As the Earth is pillaged and torn,
all living beings regarded as resources or collateral,
woman is shorn,
time and again, of her dignity, stripped bare,
in the final days...
Wednesday 7th November 2018 5:41 pm
Sensory Intensity
Sensory Intensity
LED lights getting brighter. God
my eyeballs hurt.
Dyson dryers far too loud.
How fast do you need
to dry your hands? Slow down.
It seems like all the world wants more.
And wants it now.
More power. Turn it up. Make it
Faster
Louder
Brighter
Stronger
Till we drown.
We’re not hardwired for this
har...
Sunday 4th November 2018 9:26 am
Plasticiser (a plastic rap)
there's plastic in the landfill
plastic in the seas
plastic flowers and robot bees
artificial christmas trees
there’s plastic in our food and drink
plasticisers in the milk
plastic plates and plastic spoons
microplastics in our poo
plastic filling up our view
plastic clothes and plastic bricks
I suppose there must be plastic sick
pla...
Friday 2nd November 2018 7:29 pm
Long Distance Love
If I could bottle up this thunder
in my heart and post it to you,
all those unspoken words would
tumble out and you would see.
If I could lace my fingers into yours,
we could speak in braille.
If I could lie my head against your skin
and inhale, you could not fail to know.
If I could touch my lips upon your mouth,
and speak the language of eternity,
no words would be...
Tuesday 16th October 2018 7:39 pm
Vanessa Kisuule I Thank You
This poem is a thank you to Vanessa Kisuule for her poem ‘Take Up Space’, a message of empowerment to girls and women. I thought this was fitting as today is international day of the girl, although the message applies to anyone it resonates for.
Vanessa Kisuule I Thank You
Vanessa Kisuule I thank you,
for your poem awoke me
to the power of spoken w...
Thursday 11th October 2018 5:00 pm
Respect to the Snowflake Generation
Don’t listen to them when they call you snowflakes.
Don’t be hurt when they call you fucking pansies.
Pity them. They are damaged. And they fear you.
They think it’s too much work to be inclusive,
too used to being the privileged majority.
Who is it really that’s easily offended?
When they see they don’t define the world anymore.
You do. That is why they fear you.
...Thursday 4th October 2018 10:52 am
love is not
love is not
love is not possession
love is not obsession
nor is it dissolution
of the self except in fleeting
moments of passion
love is not fixing
love is not needy
love is not forcing
unwanted gifts
nor demanding reciprocity
love is not being half
nor dependency
love is no debt
nor a prison of
all consuming exclusivity
love ...
Tuesday 2nd October 2018 10:18 am
The Voice of the Commons
Goodbye to the common land.
Goodbye to our pensions.
Goodbye to free school milk,
and goodbye to fair rent.
Goodbye to a job for life.
Don’t expect a contract.
Farewell to the greengrocer,
selling fruit in paper bags.
Farewell to the council house.
They’re selling off allotments.
The end of days for the bursary.
No more pow...
Friday 7th September 2018 4:53 pm
I’m Not Your Zebra
I’m not your zebra.
I don’t want you to chase me
to show your devotion.
I’m not your lioness.
You don’t need to pursue me
across the plains
to demonstrate your loyalty.
You don’t need to dominate me
to prove your masculinity.
I don’t need you to need me.
I’m not your source,
I’m not your mother,
I’m not your bitch.
You don’t need to chip, chip
chip away, ...
Monday 23rd July 2018 2:41 pm
To all you writers and poets out there
To all you writers and poets out there.
Thank you for your words of courage,
words of truth,
words of encouragement
and nourishment.
Thank you for your solidarity,
for lifting us up.
Thank you for breaking ground,
cutting the edge,
standing on that soapbox
with daring and drive,
having the nerve to shout out
what many ...
Saturday 30th June 2018 12:15 pm
Culture
Pound shops and takeaways,
salons for grooming of
dogs and their owners
sit side by side.
Rancid fat acrid
in back alley junk piles,
settees and Christmas trees
slowly decay.
Damp homes
in damp climate
for cotton mill workers
no longer needed.
The forest of chimneys
now superseded
by new build in miniature,
room sizes shrinking,
l...
Friday 22nd June 2018 5:36 am
Canaries in the Mine
Canaries in the mine.
Kids that cut themselves.
New mums on Prozac,
Calpol poured down tiny throats.
Twelve year olds try ketamine
(already smoking weed).
Prepubescent boys
ask to drink girl’s pussy juice.
‘Mum, what does he mean?’
A teenage girl has overdosed.
Everybody’s glued to screens.
Can anybody see
canaries in the ...
Friday 8th June 2018 1:11 pm
Still 23
Still 23
I’m 46 next week, but I’m 23 inside,
It’s not just old age denied.
I know my body’s knackered
‘cos daily I’m reminded:
the mirror’s getting scary,
I’m sure my face is puffy.
I used to feel so fit and strong,
stand up in the pub and sing a song,
Give me a coffee, I don’t want a pint,
I’ve no time for fools or picking a fight.
I think I’m pretty cool,
my daughter’s face sa...
Wednesday 6th June 2018 6:56 am
Mama
She is long gone
So long I have to strain to hear her voice
Down the years
The last thing she said to me though
Clear as day
Like the sun through mists of dawn
‘Oh Janey’
An unexpected heartfelt sigh
Two words could not contain more depth
For she was lost to me long before
She left this earth
Or so I thought
Until the parting of the clouds
So brief
To gi...
Friday 1st June 2018 11:11 pm
For My Sisters And Brothers Of Colour
I know I have no right to stand here
and attempt to speak for my sisters
and brothers of colour.
I stand here in awe to applaud
their strength and their courage,
their patience in the face of
relentless abuse.
As a child I was picked on,
excluded, abused;
I was ginger with freckles.
But now I am grown,
I doubt I’ve been ever
turned down for a job
or a h...
Tuesday 29th May 2018 2:02 pm
Real Life
She lies awake at night,
eyes wired,
frantically reading
anything, anything,
to not think about it,
to patch up the cracks,
sew up the seams,
stuff the holes with cushions
made of trash TV and Facebook,
while the mould seeps
down the bedroom wall,
letters lie ignored
re: default sum unpaid,
again.
So sick, sick
of hospital appointments,
waiting in ...
Thursday 24th May 2018 6:03 pm
What Is Freedom?
Insidious, drip, drip, drip,
manipulation,
until normality
is life in a cage
of words and looks.
Like a dog that stands there docile,
the rope untied.
Some words do hurt,
do stick.
The most powerful,
parasitic,
worm into the mind,
unnoticed, unchallenged,
apparently innocuous,
sugar coated lies
on the nature of reality.
But a mind awakened
in the vast realms
of consciousness,
...
Thursday 24th May 2018 2:07 pm
Common Ground
https://youtu.be/4wsNbaVtA9o
Common Ground
All religions can be used or misused,
misconstrued or abused.
All religions may have their mystics,
moral believers, payers of lip service
and fundamentalist terrorists.
Interpretations are as varied as humanity.
Dogma is not exclusive to religion.
Even skeptics, atheists and scientists
are not immune. It’s a human frailty,
a vulnerabilit...
Wednesday 23rd May 2018 12:32 pm
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