a bad lady's fallen down,

I bend to tender succour,

lean, quite ravaged now,

she used to be a looker

rheumy eye meets mine

sees me for an old lover

I ring for an ambulance

my raincoat for a cover

beyond speech, staring,

I stroke her grimy hand,

crowd standing apart, a

motley but curious band

she tries to speak, but

uttering merely tears,

tho...

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it began in some dank cave,

rich the reach of human wit,

artefacts to make life easier,

from reservoirs to cess-pit

wombs warm, mostly safe,

then cots and stately prams,

family pews to plastic bags,

bottles of warming drams

harvest rain in your butts,

insurance of prison cells,

cracks in daddy's egg-cup,

minds like burning hells

walnut coffins and...

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how we scrambled for seconds

treacle puddings creamy trifles,

tables bespattered with bread

pellets like bullets from rifles

we seemed always hungry then

the playground burned it away,

we dreaded chemistry, wanted

fried SPAM and chips each day

in here we don't eat so much

seconds not much in demand,

less boisterous too, for silence

usually gains the upper...

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what shall I tell her?

she's all but a teen

discretion's better

I rarely come clean

too much baggage

better in the dark

so, keep it simple

just a bit of a lark

divorces and drink

a few spells inside

restraining orders

the one that died

kids and custody

domestics on file

should I tell half

she'd run a mile

Hi! come right over,

I...

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bragging about them is natural

my main bedroom is enormous

or, you should see our kitchen

you've never heard such a fuss

the living-room where gran died

private places for lovers' trysts,

modern caves instead of holes

in hill-sides wreathed in mists

civilised now, flock wall-papered

aertexed ceilings, marble floors,

don't omit that prerequisite, an

exquis...

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photos she left and a hoard of pills

for she wont need them anymore,

sedatives, pain-killers, lotions, not

prescribed upon that farther shore

arks of chemical power designed

for every ailment under the sun,

yet none will cure bereavement,

guilt and grief at what I've done

in later times she suffered plenty

her end was an unmixed blessing

how best to mix her ...

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it will be good to see Maltese Tony

my long-standing barber of choice

in his salon reeking of peppermint,

a sharp scissors and guttural voice

a noted martyr to his ageing bowels

herbal remedies kept them in check

but Tony's flatulence accompanied

every snip at the hairs of your neck

bravo that regular peppermint peep

sweet breath on your greying locks

the th...

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it makes me sweat even now

such sheer terror left its mark

there's nothing worse than a

child imprisoned in the dark

she'd blame me for being bad

I'd struggle but to little avail,

hoisted in the black cupboard

dusty, warm, beyond the pale

bent in two and scared of mice

heard her laughter downstairs

something tickling my shoulder

the silk touch of spider's...

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they walk amid us like ghosts

looking not unlike you or me

wraiths without any identity

pursuing what can never be

lives spent seeking a quarry

elusive as a mountain puma

at the mercy of the elements

where joy is a mere rumour

should you subsist as they do

you'll not find peace or hope

never knowing who you are

means a mortal fight to cope

for if ...

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there's that distance in her

something remote and far

like the canals of Mars, an

ice monolith atop a star

her soul of cosmic mystery

went to places I cannot ken

sheathed in armoured silk

none knew where or when

in those blue eyes is infinity

windows on time and space

blinking before shutters up

in a cryptic chain-mail face

enigmatic were her ridd...

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I'm a believer in change

variety the spice of life

sex a classic example

my contortions are rife

dog-eared my manual

illustrations now faded

after years of practice

I'm still not too jaded

girls get the benefits

novelties they enjoy

nocturnal gymnastics

with an original boy

yet some do quibble

my antics not enough

not eager to trapeze

in ...

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no ruin can come to me

my status is fully secure

parameters are normal

air-supply made secure

warm feelings suffusing

my body and its pain

voices echo far away

fever roasts my brain

images memories of old

before me life's flashing

re-living old times amid

a future thats crashing

all I have is in thoughts

vegetable activity level

limbs still ...

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its all there, writ on vellum

engrossed by time and fate

scrolled as wayward history

marks each and every date

familiar names and their sins

revenants of thirsts unslaked

wild love that soon withered

or cakes that never got baked

scars and might have beens

guilts and nameless shame

glories and fleeting trophies

won from life's hectic game

of late,...

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he went home for the weekend

on a trial run before his release

wife, welcome with open arms

love and tenderness and peace

soon she changed acted strange

face turned to bones and wrath

body sank into itself, a shadow,

clothes turned to stinking cloth

she taunted him and sniggered

old issues raised painful heads

conflict in his mind, confusion,

they ended i...

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how to escape this maze?

its fiendish endless turns

daylight fades into night

each star shining yearns

she led me by the nose

foxed my clueless radar

adrift on a pond of doubt

no hint of the North star

abets my rush then turn

laughs at each blind sally

sneers at my geography

each old dead-end alley

how did it come to this?

no escaping the sorro...

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