So the temperature’s still rising

as the polar cap declines,

and it won’t be too much longer

till we’re drowning in the signs.

We’d been warned of global warming,

and eroding coastal lines,

but it’s strange how many people

say they never saw the signs.

With our factory emissions

and retreating timberlines,

you might think we would have noticed,

but we did...

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Row on serried row they sit,

graded banks of paleocene pillars,

parading from cliffs to sea.

Basalt, formed from cooled lava,

fractured into these iconic shapes.

A simple fact perhaps, yet

the charisma of legend

challenges cold science.

A tale of giants squabbling

across the savage sea,

the story that ever begets

smiles, a yearning for truth

in childho...

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In the evening, we walked the towpath.

Ducks rattled reeds, rippling stagnant

water in sundown’s amber light.

We braved brambles for blackberries,

tangled knots of purple succulence

shrouded in swarms of midges.

Scratched and bitten, our battle wounds allowed

only a taste of the spoils, the rest left, layered,

sugar and berries, draped with muslin.

In the ...

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A summer’s day ‘tis certain you are not.

Thy beauty is more stormy than serene,

and nothing calls my blood to run so hot

as when you fix those flashing eyes of green

upon mine own. And thus you pierce my heart,

to stir it in the tempest of thy gaze.

Not just a whim, no simple Cupid’s dart,

but certitude remaining all my days.

So nature’s course is changed by fickl...

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You’ve heard of policemen out walking their beat,

while wearing those shiny black boots on their feet,

a slow measured march as they come down your street,

but now what if that beat was a tango?

They’d shimmy and slide to a rhythm so hip,

while lookin’ so cool the kids wouldn’t give lip;

watch out for the sergeant and give him the slip,

because he’d want to switch to fand...

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Trapped in a car crash of

emotional turmoil,

no way out. Damned if you do,

doomed if you don’t.

Where, how,

who goes, who stays,

and who pays.

In the end, there’s

no option, no winners,

all losers,

and everybody pays.

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Mist. Unseen seagulls cry,

echoless. Steel ropes rattle,

masts bobbled by turning tide.

Grey figures on grey shore

shuffle through sand, strewn

with grey seaweed. Stray dog

snuffles for its salty secrets.

Far-off foghorn fractures

thoughts opaque as the day.

The strand still feels golden

between toes, washed

by opaline crystal waves.

Can you see, says she,

is...

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So here’s the thing kid,

you gotta pay a bit more attention,

think what you’re doing.

A simple game of rugby in the garden,

you might scratch a leg on the shed.

It may not look too bad, but it could

go septic, turn out real nasty.

I mean, two or three weeks in bed

in summer holidays would be bad enough,

but doctor visits every day

to poke and prod’s no fun. ...

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A greasy spoon breakfast for me

Washed down with a nice cup of tea

My taste buds are achin’

For sizzling bacon

And eggs over easy times three

Forget continental cuisines

And don’t even think about greens

A Full English, mate

Just pile up my plate

With sausages, mushrooms and beans

A bonus I hope you agree

Of course it’s all calorie-free

I safely can st...

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I walked round the house all morning,

expecting to see him at every turn,

touching places where he played.

People spoke, voices barely a whisper,

but the words were meaningless,

a language that was foreign to me.

The baby wailed in his pram,

shedding tears where I could find none,

my eyes dried by an intemperate rage.

Big Jim took Patrick outside, weeping

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Winter silence evaporates like

mist at rising of sun.

Skylarks and thrushes, robins

and blackbirds sing us awake,

tentative at first, then competing,

vying for attention in vernal melodies.

Wrens and warblers patiently

wait out their noisy neighbours.

Louder again they trill, in search

of a likely mate to swipe right,

join in preparing a new nest

for the ...

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It was the ass-end of a shitty Thursday.

Pale moonlight reflected in rain-puckered

puddles across the cracked pavement.

I hunched into my grey trench-coat, and wedged

the grey fedora against the sporadic gusts,

quickstepping across to the waiting cab.

Joe’s place I said, and the driver grunted in reply,

crunching gears as we splashed down the road.

It was a short ride,...

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The old stone dwelling, clad

in layered years of whitewash,

squats between farm track and field.

Against the winter-stained gable,

stacked turf leans, waiting.

Feathers of smoke wisp

from the chimney

fills the air with comfort,

and fiery flickers dapple

the open kitchen door.

The warm glow banishes

spring’s twilight chill,

the scent of turf mingling

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You heard me say I’ll do it, so I will,

a promise is a promise, after all;

no need to yell and put me through the mill,

I’ll do it when I’ve done the bedroom wall.

I know I haven’t started that just yet,

I’ve not had time to go and get the paint.

You want the hedgerow trimming, don’t forget,

my dear, you’d try the patience of a saint.

It does no good to you to wor...

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He had a love of wild places,

high places, open spaces,

where the sun would warm your back,

but the wind would skin you.

Mountain tops with no one there,

and air so fresh and free

you’d want to breathe it forever.

At first I fought the treks,

defiant, stubborn as he

until sights became landscapes

worthy of old masters,

outweighed the slog.

I went when he could n...

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Beloved husband

they scribed on the stone,

and it may be true.

There were days when

we bickered and

picked at the scabs

of our lives,

exposed raw wounds

and bled together.

But together, we

salved the hurts, healed

and cared for each other,

so there was the love

at the heart of it.

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What is your allure,

attracts poets and lovers

to worship in your light?

At best insipid

in full of day,

anonymous, sun-warmed,

then at evening’s fall

become a beacon

to passion’s progress,

a shining symbol

that sweeps the darkness

with cold, unearthly light.

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Lickety-splickety

Science has set us free

With such simplicity

Only two jabs

Pfizer came up with it

Pharmacologically

Overseas holidays

Now up for grabs

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The world still needs container ships

to travel down the shipping highways.

but when they make these trading trips

it’s better not to try it sideways.

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The world still needs container ships

to travel down the shipping highways.

But when they make these trading trips

it’s better not to try it sideways.

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I’m fed up now, believe you me,

it’s getting so I cannot see;

it seems to grow at such a speed,

my shaggy lockdown hair.

I know we have to isolate,

and though I squint to compensate,

a barber’s what I really need

to cut my lockdown hair.

It’s grown so long it’s in my eyes

and in the slightest wind it flies,

yet though I try to pay no heed;

I hate my lockd...

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This is a tale about a guy named Bill

who wrote a lot of sonnets years ago.

I read a few when I had time to kill,

through winter days when sheltering from snow.

It’s no surprise a lot of them are good;

the iambs really complement the rhyme.

I browse them sometimes when I’m in the mood

and marvel, ‘cause the writing is sublime.

There’s only one thing I don’t compre...

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Have you ever had that feeling that you’re living life in limbo,

that nothing much has happened since you finished work for Chrimbo?

The world has passed you by while everybody’s stuck in lockdown,

and waiting till these artificial barriers are knocked down.

Have you ever had that feeling that you’re living life in limbo,

while your aged mother’s watching, standing there with a...

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Aneurin Bevan, politician

Gave us his inspiring vision

Now if not for the NHS

We’d all be in a blooming mess

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Captain Tom Moore

Didn’t wait for the cure

He went and raised millions

To help save civilians.

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If I am correctly concluding

Today Caledonions are brooding

‘Cause there’s no party peeps

Getting tatties and neeps

With much-vaunted sheep’s offal pudding

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At last I have hope of salvation

I’ve now had my first vaccination

So I’ll wait in the queue

Till the second one’s due

While planning a Spanish vacation

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Well the world news of late has been crap

With disasters all over the map

Why can’t we call pax

And simply chillax

With a nice drop of something on tap

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They’ve extended the time between jabs

Though it’s never been tested in labs

So I guess it’s a guess

We must hope for success

And immunity’s still up for grabs

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In his own mind he cannot be a loser,

this is his city, his country, his fief;

those who say different must all be accused of

a plot to support an electoral thief.

His firm belief is that history beckons,

claiming there’s fraud but providing no proof;

tells his adherents to come with their weapons,

march on the Capitol, show their reproof.

Who knows who listened a...

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The forest glade all swathed in white

masked only by our misty breath.

That pristine floor now blemished by

the foreign footprints that we leave;

and now amid that perfect scene

the booming silence echoes.

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We almost whispered it this year,

the Happy New Year mantra,

for no one wanted to jinx it,

contaminate it with the year that’s gone.

And there’s no wild promises this year,

just a smattering of dry Januarys

and promissory diets

but with no great conviction.

And who would have confidence in this year

after the one that has battered our boundaries

and dented t...

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I hate the way we have to live today

in fact sometimes it simply makes me fume;

I wish this Covid crap would go away.

When even children can’t go out to play

and must resort to games in their own room;

I hate the way we have to live today.

When distancing requires that we must stay

at home, and only get to meet by Zoom.

I wish this Covid crap would go away.

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