CANAL SONG
CANAL SONG
Today I saw mallards
fed crumbs by a local drunkard
stumbling from the Grapes
onto the murky cut.
He crooned a forgotten song
that floated on the wind
as narrow boats chugged past
a chalky towpath
old as ghosts of workers
mean-eyed, coal dust-coated
heaving sacks and urging horses
in days now deemed heroic.
It guided him home
under mossy humpbac...
Friday 11th August 2023 12:08 am
ME AND THE DEMONS
ME AND THE DEMONS
Seven years old
in Saint Cecilia's church,
murals of scorched monsters,
red obscenities
dragging souls to hell.
Nudged down the left aisle
to that marble altar
I kneel under huge pillars
distant from the priest
whose beatific radar doesn't track
my schoolboy error
and I eventually give up.
Denied the sacrament,
denied protection
...Saturday 17th June 2023 1:28 am
ENGINEER
ENGINEER
She got an old Volksvagen
and at weekends
we'd drive to the country,
stop in some small market town
for fish and chips
or tea in a corner cafe.
We were young
so not thinking constantly
about corruption,
injustice or conspiracies.
Another time was passion
in a broom cupboard
at the university
until someone opened the door.
She had a serious...
Monday 1st May 2023 1:36 am
TINDERBOX
TINDERBOX
Firewalker faith must be required
to hop this white-hot sand
and now all zones are tinged with fear
of sunburn or combustion.
We stretch naked in the dunes
until guards arrive on decency patrol,
ice-cream hawkers melt away,
persistent surfers finally desist.
The sea's an aquarium of coke cans
anyway, and plastic in the throats of birds.
Interpid...
Thursday 16th March 2023 1:40 pm
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