Journey of Words

Category: Poetry

  • Misunderstanding Blues

    The mortician stood by the slabRed-eyed from working lateThe mortician looked so wearyShe had been called up from her bedIt was the witching hourWhen she was called out by the sergeant on the caseI drove until first light in my VolkswagenI’d had a call from the local policeThrough icy fog I drove that vehicleWithout stopping →

  • First Bus Out of St Louis

    I am the passengerAnd I cry and I cryI cry through the day’s black sideI see the last bars pour out at fiveYeah, when neon lights the skyYou know when nothing looks rightI am the passengerI’ve emptied my last glassI look into your soul, absence of lightI see the bars kick out at fiveI see →

  • rock, paper

    friendshipcan come from many placesa teacher’s seating plana workplacea regular bus queuea space on a football terraceit outlaststhe jobeducationthe commutethe matchthe seasonnothing will lastso longas friendshipdo not ever confuseyour friendshipwith other thingslike businessor lustor alcoholnothing will lastso wellas friendship~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 17 prompt: friendship CLP 17/04/2025 →

  • “After hearing another fantastic story from a parallel universe…”

    I zoned outLet’s be honestGames and breadBread and gamesThe streets emptyBar mopeds delivering readied mealsTo houses where TVs fill wallsFill front roomsFill the headsOf green-eyed sofa fansWith logos, slogansAimed at men(don’t give me that…but women like it too…you know its mostly menJust look at the adverts)Watching the laceless orbChased back and forthFrom one night to →

  • blessing in disguise

    I dropped some books off at a charity shop, came out with two CDs, one being the Johnny Cash album American V, A Hundred Highways. Inside that CD case was also American IV, The Man Comes Around. Worth it for the first number alone. CLP 15/04/2025 →

  • Prayer

    Oh perpetually pugnacious people of this planetPrepare to make the supposedly impossible possiblePurge all pandering to past prejudicesPurge all previously held political positionsSimply place your person in the predicament of your purported opponentPrepare for peace~n.b. To dream the impossible might just make it possible. This poem is prompted by NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 15 CLP 15/04/2025 →

  • Music of The Christmas Tree Monoculture

    There is no birdsong hereThe only light comesIn the precious minutesAt dawn and again at duskWhen the planet’s rotationBrings the Sun to the horizonAnd its beams splay outBeneath the dense conifer spreadWhere the wind orchestratesAn arrhythmic swish and hissOf Norwegian Spruce needlesBroken only by swathes of silenceThis mournful brushingIs relentless as the wavesOn the eastern →

  • Gernika: Wiederholungszeichen

    Somewhere a Palestinian Picasso daubs a canvasOr chisels stoneNeedles coloured thread through linenScribbles out a poemScratches notes onto stavesAs fragments of shells are pickedFrom the hands and feetThe crown and sideOf the freshly crucified~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 combining art and music in poetry. Gernika April 1937, twinned with Gaza, April 2025. CLP 13/04/2025 →

  • Symphony of Apasmara / Ignorance

    AllegroAll is newSparklesColours brightThe goldfinches’ chitteringFills my headI dance, runLeap like a lambLife’s a gambolOh! Joy of birthPerpetual SpringSuch happinessInnocenceBlissAndanteNow?No!I’m happyDo not want toGrowKeep that awayI’ll growlBarkHide in shadowsFrom your knowledgeWhy tie me downTo learning?When I can playUnencumberedBy understandingScherzoCome then, “Teacher”Yahboo!Sucks!Catch meIf you canI’ll miss the busTurn up late for classBunk from schoolListen to cricketOn →

  • on Ukraine

    Palm Sunday, SumyHoly Week preparationThe Devil rides in~n.b. Moscow moves from supposed ‘military operation’ to full-blown terrorism. Churchgoers and a full public bus, guilty of getting in the way of a double missile strike on an ordinary street in Sumy, this very morning. CLP 13/04/2025 →