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...

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https://youtu.be/kx6C248MQeQ

On being young and foolish at the second muddiest Glastonbury Festival in history. 

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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