The Ocean Inside The Shell
The salty sea spray sprinkles my skin,
like summer showers
That begin
Then end
Suddenly
I stand in front of a crust forming at the edge of the beach
Splintered, softened wood
Seaweed
Stones
Shiny when wet
Their colours
Like common jewels
Topaz, ruby, emerald, turquoise, coral pink, terracotta
All there for the picking
All at my feet
This Novemb...
Wednesday 13th November 2019 5:07 pm
Disturbing The Dead
DISTURBING THE DEAD
We'd buy the hot pies
Vanilla slices
Barmcakes
Sealed in paper bags with a twist of the wrist
By the young girl in the pie shop/cafe
And then
We’d sit
And eat
In this churchyard
On benches inscribed with rusting bronze plaques
One called Walts bench has the following on it
Tony waller 230963 14042015
Together forever, in brackets
A similar age to myself
Sunday 3rd February 2019 9:26 pm
The Close
Grey bin days
Ash spilling
Sparking
From beneath
Buckled
Loose-fitting metal lids
Carried back- breakingly
To the monstrous wagon
Limping it’s way
Around the close
Like a club-footed relic
Behind the chipped
Leaded glass of number thirteen
A terrible gargoylian face
Pressed up close
Stares out
Mrs Ashall has seen a football fly over her neat ...
Tuesday 23rd January 2018 8:00 pm
The Dresser
From the front at least
A beautiful victorian dresser
From behind
The ugly truth
Assembled from wooden orange crates
The company name stamped
Telling of a former
More humble existence
Two little drawers
One at each side
Gunmetal latch handles
Age worn
From opening and closing
Hold family secrets
Make up
Lipstick stumps
Snaps from Blackpool ...
Sunday 19th November 2017 8:23 pm
Remembering James
He used to make this beautiful battenberg cake
Each colour clearly separated
The dense yellows and pinks staining the sponge
Beguiling to the eye as the knife sliced through
Almondy marzipan and syrupy borders
We sat in the car after the church group
He told me how he’d been a chef before
And how his ex used to beat him up
A nervous man always watching his step
H...
Tuesday 24th October 2017 3:11 pm
The Sea Dog
“Jon!”
He shouts at the top of his lungs
I scurry
Awkwardly
Through soggy sand
Tripping over sea-softened
Splitting wooden posts
In my eagerness to see what’s happened
“What is it Dad?”
“What’s happened?!”
I stop.
Puffing and panting
Squinting
Against the sun
I see him
Sat on the sand
Looking flabbergasted
Pointing away
Towards the ...
Thursday 12th October 2017 6:05 pm
Caravan holiday
Away from the city
The town
It's 'nice' districts
And 'not so nice'
Is where I find you
And Dad
Even though you've been gone
For over a decade.
You'd rummage round the big market
in Fleetwood
Drink tea, coffee
Toasted teacakes
From a local cafe
Staffed by friendly ladies
With time on their hands
Got up to look like maids
In an old Victorian cou...
Sunday 21st May 2017 6:32 pm
Age
He nods to one side
Gives in to a few minutes
Maybe half an hour’s worth of tiredness.
In his bungalow
Time is stood still
Mid afternoon melts in through the curtains
Through the half open window.
Outside impatient young mums
Scold their primary school children for wanting to go on the swings
When they just want to get back home
And plant them in front of the tv
Wh...
Sunday 22nd May 2016 9:31 pm
Her star
She's a star!
Ooh,int she a star?!
it gets said
over and over again
about someone who's
done
or said
something worthy of the accolade.
...but she really was (in my eyes)
rarely very angry
always willing to share her time
i'd climb onto her lap
held safe by her arm
and i'd visit woods, and cottages
where my imaginary grandma lived
her home the...
Wednesday 16th March 2016 10:43 pm
Years
Years
Stacked up
Sentinel like
A wall of defeat
On every side
Watching
Me
Microscopic me
Dictated to by giants
Running
The mouse on the wheel
No destination
A thirty year chasm is inside me
Ever famished
Its mouth is wide open
Wanting my surrender
Waiting for dominance
But......
A tiny crack has shown up
In the dam that holds back my future
...Sunday 7th February 2016 10:34 pm
By the light of the local Spar
Eyes snapped shut in the street-facing bedroom
lit up by the light of the Spar
that floods it's white plastic windows
illuminating each passing car
In her curled up hands a faded old photo
crinkled,yellowing,torn,
but the hands,once so gentle,that hold this mementoe,
are as cold,are as granite, as stone
In came Sister with a meagre tea tray
barging in,past...
Sunday 31st January 2016 6:01 pm
The Day Of Her Leaving
the day of her leaving
it's a bit battered now
but I remember it when it was pristine
pages almost sticking together as they opened for the first time
faces inside
staring back
unaware of time passing
monochrome memories
family, relatives, confetti, suits, shiny shoes
daft hairstyles back-combed into oblivion
me as a small boy
laughing at my sister
in ...
Sunday 31st January 2016 5:43 pm
Ocean Blue
Ocean blue
Anaglypta under
Stretched roughly
Corners creasing
All the way down
But it does the job for now
A couple of maritime ornaments
Add to the cover-up
A new lampshade
A wooden board with inspired sayings
These are the things that erase the former occupants personality
Making us smile
Not wince
Can we cover ourselves up?
Mask the lines?
...
Sunday 7th June 2015 9:59 pm
Cake Mix
Lied back
Eyes staring upwards
At the Soft Cell poster
Awkwardly tacked to the ceiling
But already beginning to curl at the edges
The sound of crockery clattering
Gently switches me back to reality
The familiar sound of the pot mixing bowl
Rocking back and forth
As Mum beats the eggs with alarming ferocity
(No mechanical aids in sight to whizz the mix into fluffy...
Sunday 7th June 2015 9:38 pm
I told you
I told you
In 1982
Deacdes ago now
But you'd have none of it
When I said I knew what Eartha meant
When she growled
Hissed
Purred
"I Love men
I love men
I love men"
Didn't you think it was strange
That I enthused so much over Dynasty?
And Joan Collins
In all her finery
Strutting around like the cat
Who'd clearly got the cream
Stiletto heels leaving a bloody trail
Of the r...
Sunday 21st September 2014 8:35 pm
Just In Time
Among the grit
The tears
The nights spent alone
With just a screen
For company
I almost thought I'd had it
Didn't think I'd see day again
Vision clouded by hiding
Me from myself
They say
If you dream you're falling
And you hit the bottom
You're never going to wake up
Just in time
I opened my eyes
Saturday 6th September 2014 8:41 pm
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