Threads

Thread:
If only he hadn't had freckles.
Thread:
If only he had been taller.
Thread:
If only he hadn't spoken with a lisp.
Thread:
If only he had liked playing football.
Thread:
If only he hadn't been so shy.
Thread:
If only the teachers had noticed.
Thread:
If only he hadn't worn shorts.
Thread:
If only he had liked pop music.
Thread:
If only he had said something.
Thr...

Read and leave comments (7)

Herringbone

The pallor of the parquet floor
Brings recollections of
School, its classrooms, its corridors

Somehow the pattern pulls
Me into a journey through
Time; conjuring images

Of art and assemblies,
Of laughter and lateness,
Of parents and pupils and plans:

For a future unknown;
For escaping the lessons
And the chill of those changing rooms.

A mishmash of memories,
But...

Read and leave comments (1)

Read and leave comments (1)

The Office Waits

The office waits after
A quiet night,
Lulled to sleep by
The hum of the air con
And the tinnitus of the transformers.

The stillness and silence
Of the morning is broken
By the ping of the lifts
And their electronic voices;
By the clattering of keyboards and
The muttering of memory failures:
Another forgotten password.

Then the photocopier yawns -
Its plastic bo...

Read and leave comments (1)

Mare's Tail

(By Paul A M Palmer)

"There's only one way to kill it:
You have to dig it out."

It's what they recommend,
The locals: they have the knowledge.

Scrape and scrape the top, spade against 
The turf and tufts of lichen and moss.

“You have to deepen the trench and then
Scrabble and search for the roots.”

Black and brown in the soily ground
Its fibrous tubes and tendril...

Read and leave comments (3)