Born for the Morning
I was told my past was perfect
so, to bring back some of the feeling
every day I set my alarm for 8:20AM
the time Mum said I was born.
Waking has become a re-creation
an affirmation, making my daily rise
a reset, and precious kick start
toward a future better than yesterday.
Wednesday 13th November 2024 10:16 am
The Sequel (Sonnet)
T2 will be an egocentric Déjà vu
T2 will bring back the hullabaloo
T2 will be the worst-ever S.N.A.F.U.
T2 will guarantee vindictive chaos ensues
T2 will be no ‘nice to be back, how-do-you-do’
T2 will bring back the world's horribilis hairdo
Don’t be a Muslim, Hindu, or Jew
Don’t say you’re a boy once named Sue
Don’t say you’re a migrant from Xanadu
Don’t say you’r...
Wednesday 6th November 2024 9:51 am
Haiku-ish Cyclist
skip sit-down breakfast
take a rushed lunch on the run
then late tea for one
repeat ad-nauseum
Thursday 26th September 2024 2:07 pm
A Challenge
A picture post arrived
carrying sixties girls
beaming in beehives.
Proper girls, no pink hair.
I wanted to respond
say I can’t tell.
The pictures
are in black and white.
A fighting reply
found at the perfect moment
but our previous
says we’d be off again.
Down the back in the day
slippery slope.
Remini...
Tuesday 10th September 2024 6:06 pm
Sixty-Five Bus Drive
The 65 Bus Driver said sorry
I need to reboot the bus
bit like a computer
to resuscitate vital functions
no longer responding, then
we can continue our journey together.
Please don’t panic
but the lights will go out
and the darkness rush in.
I’ll leave the doors open
in case you wish to get off
seek another way to safely continue
your journey...
Tuesday 3rd September 2024 7:20 pm
Word Search
the blank page waits
for the quenching stink of ink
a scribble of unflinching words
something to mull and make it think
the filled page grits
when the savage pen comes down
to flay through failing words
lose many and put others under doubt
the final page knows
these few are survivor words
strong enough to tell the story
clever enoug...
Thursday 22nd August 2024 10:56 pm
Cycle Scene
The cyclist got slighted
when
the smiling car pulled out.
Then raced to accost the suspect car
fleeing
the scene of the crime.
Allied forces of clamber and anger
grew
as the enraged cyclist caught up
on the hill of moral justice
bursting
to confront the cornered car.
didn’t you see me? signal next time!
you must have ...
Thursday 15th August 2024 6:35 pm
Edmond Halley’s Place
A human skeleton stares
out of a second-storey window
near the Bridge of Sighs
in Oxford, listens
to the rhythmic thump
of a distant building site
and dwells on what he maybe
misheard in transit to this place.
‘When alighting, please
mind the eternal step’
or he heard it right, and
the metronomic thud is now
a soundt...
Thursday 1st August 2024 2:33 pm
Poem Sat on a Coffee Shop Wall
My wallflower poem is dressed
ready to be seen
feeling positive for anyone
who wants to read.
My coutured poem scans
the queuing line
with eye-catching layout
and comforting rhyme.
My needy poem comes alive
when someone's engaged
then impressed when their expression
is perfectly changed.
My vain poem wants to be captured
...
Tuesday 16th July 2024 2:28 pm
The Sequel
T2 will be an egocentric Déjà vu
T2 will bring back the hullabaloo
T2 will be the worst ever S.N.A.F.U.
T2 will guarantee vindictive chaos ensues
T2 will be no ‘nice to be back, how-do-you-do’
T2 will bring back the world's horribilis hairdo
Don’t be a Muslim, Hindu, or Jew
Don’t say you’re a boy once named Sue
Don’t say you’re a migrant from Xanadu
Don’t say you’r...
Tuesday 19th March 2024 2:20 pm
Under Heard Announcements (Nonets)
This is a secure announcement. If
you do not hold a valuable
ticket, you may be issued
with a Penalty Fare
or face possible
persecution.
See it, slay
it, sort
it.
Due to today's wet weather, please note
that services may be slippery.
We are experiencing
some cankerous delays
and luggage may be
terminated.
See it, slay
...Friday 15th March 2024 2:21 pm
Time Was II
Once I was a pacifist, I was an objector.
A campaigning reformer, I was a protester.
Now I’m a radical extremist and snowflake moaner.
Mob rule wokeist, another social-justice warrior.
Someone who’s made their point but won’t shut up.
Prepared to tear society apart, a loon, and a zealot.
An agitator and disrupter, someone who must be reined in.
A danger ...
Monday 11th March 2024 4:51 pm
Palace of Tears
In the fanfare seasons when we get spoiled,
delight openly weeps.
A change from the usual stress attacks,
brought on by a lack of clean sheets.
Not a tin pot, or F.A. Cup,
or division won in years.
Disappointment sits, stares, and lingers
behind sunken red eyes and blue tears.
Elegantly euphoric promotions,
and grandiose upsets,
take centre stage with stella...
Sunday 3rd March 2024 10:44 am
Shop Now Open (Sonnet)
Profligate words loose
on the door of the British Library Bookshop.
‘Shop Now Open’,
a toxic affront to the pedantic poetic diaspora,
and mobiliser of minds to make the words clearer.
‘Shop Open’ or ‘Open Shop’,
an improvement, but still pointless to the picky,
who righteously say it’s stating the bleeding obvious.
‘Shop Now’ or worse, ‘Now Shop’,
are ...
Friday 1st March 2024 10:18 pm
Can Bing Win the Next World Cup (or Euros or Afcon or the Asian Cup)?
A.I. is a saviour and the new soccer sleuth,
here to solve online searches for footballing truth.
So, is the Golden Boot made of real gold?
Can a 47-year-old be trusted to play well in goal?
Did Hungary once feature Bela Lugosi?
Does just turning up get you a World Cup trophy?
How did Scotland qualify for the Euros?
Will there be more dancing in the streets of M...
Tuesday 19th December 2023 3:03 pm
Just Stop Turmoil
We’ve reached a tipping point, one destined to accelerate our demise.
These self-obsessed in-fights will bring obliteration to our kind.
We must rebel to stop extinction, demand courageous government action.
Only a reset and full intervention will save us from ecocide oblivion.
We face a mass wipeout, a countrywide loss of bio-strength.
Brought on by public disbelief, w...
Monday 11th December 2023 5:33 pm
Record Investment
Why does he keep us? When will we ever be heard? What’s the point of filling these shelves? Packed, prominent but inert.
We’ve become part of the furniture, when once we were front and centre. The most invested thing in the room, his entire world, his very epicentre.
He used to pour over our gatefolds, stare as we spiralled round, carefully replace us in our sleeves, introduce us to his new...
Thursday 7th December 2023 2:18 pm
Time Was
Once I was an objector, I was a pacifist.
Once I was a protestor, I was an abolitionist.
Once I was a demonstrator, I was a militant.
Once I was an opposer, I was a dissident.
Once I was an activist, I was a picketer.
Once I was a nonconformist, I was a dissenter.
Now I’m a snowflake-worrier, an enemy-within extremist.
A social-justice warrior, must I be made a conformist.
Thursday 23rd November 2023 11:19 am
Suellanelle (or The Erati Writes Back)
You dismiss us as the tofu eating wokerati,
the triple cooked, brioche bun, bake off obsessives,
and all-seeing blobby illuminati.
Make out we are the economic establishment glitterati,
who obstruct brave striver neo-conservatives,
the dangerous tofu eating wokerati.
But we the challenge; and alerted chatterati,
and the latte drinking buttermilk progressives
stand...
Saturday 18th November 2023 12:34 pm
Dancing In the City
Commuters pirouette,
and trade positions, in
dance off thousands
on London stations.
Tourists saunter in
markets and shops,
while busy workers
improv, move,
and never stop.
Mamils hygge
in Lycra clothes,
aim their bikes
to rumba
right over your toes
and samba,
swing, and jive, to
skim potholes and
the slow shuffle
of the c...
Wednesday 8th November 2023 3:18 pm
Autumnal Abscission
The whiff of death,
party’s over, this
technicolour decline
needs a makeover.
Leaves gone acrid,
red, white and
blue blossoms
turned rancid brown.
Red and yellow
spots emerging,
a bloated assemblage
is rotting down.
Unkempt and
maggoty,
extremities
have putrefied.
And desperate
deadheads cling on,
won’t give up
on cal...
Friday 3rd November 2023 4:11 pm
We The People
We the people,
live on the edge
of knowledge
built by human endeavour.
Expertise
to embrace,
enrich,
not scorn.
You claim wisdom
ignore experts,
you born again
alternative
converts.
I can’t believe
I’m reduced
to refuting
your nonsense.
Just thought
I’d let you know,
fuckwits.
Wednesday 25th October 2023 9:17 pm
Border Spectacle
Great Britain is being (choose one or more):
invaded / stormed / assisted / visited / colonised / seen as a safe haven
by another:
fleeing group / flood / hurricane / astronomical number / vulnerable gathering / economically motivated gang
of:
asylum seekers / Illegals / migrants / refugees / criminals & rapists / displaced people
hailing from:
Europe / Africa / Middle East /...
Monday 16th October 2023 3:45 pm
I Like to Be
I like to be in Afghanistan.
Okay for me in my own Sudan.
I like to be one team Iran.
I like to play in peace when I can.
I like to be safe, without war.
Bring it right on, early doors.
I like to play, win, and score.
I like to be welcome on your shore.
Bullets for me, not in Hertfordshire.
Jumpers for goalposts, yes in Yorkshire.
No penalty kicks in Shropsh...
Wednesday 4th October 2023 2:51 pm
Keep Football Out of The Bedroom
A tense game played out at top volume.
Weeds three feet high,
make tidy play almost impossible.
A pass back short, away from the defender.
A collective lunge,
the ball skids high over our keeper.
Next thing I know I’m flat on the floor,
water flying, books, electronics,
in upended uproar.
My desperate kick to save one for the team,
caused me to cras...
Monday 2nd October 2023 10:08 am
Encouragement
I can go miles
with someone believing in me.
So, speak into existence,
those words I need.
I’m not kidding,
or play acting a pose,
this isn’t a hobby,
it’s me you see, exposed.
My time is here, and
I don’t want to stop.
Give me that shout,
dissolve my doubts.
Monday 25th September 2023 12:44 pm
I Know You
Writing for a friend here…
He knows early morning wake ups,
measures life in coffee cups.
He knows brunch time habitats,
gauges wealth in catch-up chats.
He knows evening drink delights,
treasures life in plentiful pints.
He knows routine late lock-ins,
taxes his crumbling self-discipline.
He knows nighttime wide awake,
...
Tuesday 19th September 2023 12:46 pm
Minimalist to the Max
Hear me out for one sec.
Limit is mine,
I’ll keep it quick.
My hinterland’s given in,
given up,
gone to the skip.
I’m sticking to three thoughts a day,
much less than you think.
And still,
I vow to be,
more minimalist than succinct.
Tuesday 12th September 2023 6:46 pm
All Part of the Art of Falling Apart
My gouty foot
shouts doubt at night,
turns up the pain
if I don’t eat right.
Warming comfort
isn’t enough, to amuse
my grumbling
two-bit hoof.
My broken big toe
won’t let go.
Keeps telling me off
for its creaky woes.
It’s my fault
for this sorry state,
should’ve skipped the tackle,
pulled out too late.
My gallbladder
was a c...
Thursday 7th September 2023 2:35 pm
Best a Poet Can Get
Poem scribbled into my phone
is my best and new number one.
Can’t believe I’m so in the zone,
where in space did that come from?
Hit me with extraordinary pace,
ideas strident, in avalanche flow,
filling the bright white open space,
the right words set up to glow.
Me witness to growing perfection,
and conduit without choice.
Happens so rare...
Monday 4th September 2023 3:00 pm
There Was Talk
There was talk of train trips
and long-distance walks.
There was talk of mountains
and open water sports.
There was talk of eating wild
with and without forks.
There was talk of the pub
and stopping for shorts.
There was talk of diary strain
and see after vacations.
There was talk of cash constrain
and deferred decisions.
...Friday 1st September 2023 10:24 am
Living the 1950's
I don’t remember
the 1950’s.
But I spent
4 months and,
15 days,
living in the 1950’s.
At least I’m told I did.
My parents got me there,
before moving
to the 1960’s.
All I know
of the 1950’s,
is grainy,
distant,
and black and white.
Dad quiffed,
Mum elegant,
caught happy,
in...
Friday 25th August 2023 4:55 pm
Funeral Food
We’ll eat well when one of us goes,
when Paul passes, when Dave no shows.
We’ll eat well when it's Tony’s turn,
chicken drumsticks, sausages nice and burnt.
Bring out the quiche,
bring out the pork pies,
cold rice salads and lots of fries.
We eat good when someone dies.
We’ll miss friends when the next time comes,
yearn for their company and gone wisdom.
We’...
Saturday 19th August 2023 10:04 am
Omagh, Ireland, 1998
The Vauxhall Cavalier
parked in the gap,
but gently ticked over,
while police shifted people
nearer the attack,
an unintended blunder.
You wonder
if the troubles are done,
but men hurrying back
across fields
to a waiting vehicle,
aren’t two lovers on the run.
Peace gone again,
another letdown.
An unearthly bang,
an eeriness,
a darknes...
Wednesday 16th August 2023 6:49 pm
Quick & Easy Brain Rapid Surgery
You know what’s wrong
with NHS target times,
they need to take tips
from recipes online.
Where nothing’s
difficult or complex
to achieve.
Three ingredients
and ten minutes
is all you’ll need.
Ready in a flash,
easy to fling together.
A scalpel, a doctor
and hey presto,
the patient
gets better.
Easy as pie,
easy on the eye.
...Tuesday 15th August 2023 3:30 pm
HS2 Is Not Coming Soon
I am sorry to announce,
but my long awaited
HS2 poem
has been branded
‘unachievable’,
and is at risk
of not coming out.
Successive
brutish reviews
say it won't deliver
soon, and
a poetic replan
should cut the
quatrains to haikus.
My sonnets
run obsolete,
villanelles
don’t complete,
and the limerick (below)
is the only...
Monday 14th August 2023 1:19 pm
No Time Added On
We don’t talk much
beyond the weather,
but we can talk football
forever and ever.
Drive into the box,
mark the man in space,
a shared language, we
can kick all over the place.
Your personal terms met.
Time for a fresh dawn.
Our commentary box quiet,
your armchair view gone.
Our home game ended,
and there’s no time added on.
Thursday 10th August 2023 9:58 pm
We Refuse to be Poor Anymore
Based on the words of Mick Lynch, leader of the Rail, Maritime, & Transport Workers Union. Also the words of one Richard Madeley. Written in rhyme royal format (ababbcc).
Mick Lynch, are you a Marxist,
into revolution,
and bringing down the capitalists?
No, I’m leading a dispute about working conditions,
and opening an interview with that, is a nonsense position.
Ri...
Tuesday 8th August 2023 9:58 am
Proceed to the Route
Take the second exit,
not the one which suits.
Did I not make it clear,
proceed to the route.
I know which way’s best,
to complete a commute.
So, do what I ask you,
proceed to the route.
What is the point, when
we live in dispute.
This shouldn’t be so hard,
proceed to the route.
Or switch me off,
this unwanted control.
Go on, I dare you.
...Sunday 30th July 2023 3:21 pm
The Unmentionables (In Rubaiyat Format!)
This is in response to JD Russell’s 'Naught Nonet' poem: Naughty Nonet | Write Out Loud
Pretty isn’t so principal,
more they gotta be practical,
made for a proper fit,
durable and comfortable.
Call them what you please,
underdaks, or even grundies.
Maybe pants or kecks,
or possibly plain old undies.
Trunks don’t excite,
lumpen, dull and slight.
...Tuesday 18th July 2023 3:43 pm
Perfection
A friend took my football memorabilia
to a better place, another the CDs I never play,
and the charity shop have the books I’ve read,
plus, the ones I hadn’t got to yet.
A decorator finished all my jobs, the garden’s
paved with a plastic lawn, the car's been
replaced with my Oyster account, and the
shopping arrives daily in small amounts.
I’ve digitalised every...
Thursday 13th July 2023 12:45 pm
Indiana Jones and the Denial of Decrepitude
Yes I did see the latest Indiana Jones...
Indiana Jones and the never-ending franchise train,
Indiana Jones and the nazis have come back again.
Indiana Jones and the new de-ageing technologies,
Indiana Jones and the glowing commercial opportunities.
Indiana Jones and the implausible car chase scenes,
Indiana Jones and the guns that never do anything.
...
Friday 7th July 2023 9:25 am
90's New Frontier (Pantoum Format)
I’ll catch you on the information super highway,
where the history of the future is written.
A world-wide wonder created for today,
they say our future is data driven.
If the history of the future is to be written,
this motor of modern society is the place.
Human destiny will be data driven,
in the digital networked cyberspace.
The motor of modern society is the ...
Thursday 15th June 2023 12:07 pm
Quality Punditry
Lack of quality in the final third,
is the one phrase I wish I’d never heard.
Trotted out by pundits lost for words,
the useful and useless so casually blurred.
Quality player, quality ball,
Peter please stop, we’ve heard them all.
When City don't score, they hardly ever win,
Michael, cheers for stating the bleeding obvious thing.
Why if a player hits the ball too...
Thursday 1st June 2023 11:36 am
Almost Famous
I’d love to try fame on for size,
check it’s not something I’d end up wanting to despise.
Happy to start on the bottom rung,
so, I get to see first-hand, how fame gets done.
I’ve been close, I’ve been almost famous,
I once shared a New York cab with Billy Ray Cyrus.*
I know vaguely the muse for Adele,
you know the one she obsessed over that didn’t go so well.
...
Friday 19th May 2023 11:47 am
End of a Beginning
Thinking about the times
we spent chatting in the pub,
thinking I might have talked
just a bit too much,
and I'm thinking about
how I blew a chance forever.
Thinking about the time
you could have spent in my heart,
but we never got together
or made a real start,
thinking about the you
I never got to know better, and
even though we could
have...
Tuesday 18th April 2023 3:04 pm
Loft
My cluttered chaos is full
of every obsession I’ve ever met,
filled up in every safe place
and angular dark recess.
Furnished with retired vinyl,
CD’s and used up books. Featuring
the songs and subjects
that grabbed me with their tender hooks.
Memorabilia revealing
my secret space of dreams
with no dividing walls
and awkward ceiling beams.
Diffi...
Friday 14th April 2023 11:37 am
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