• on work

    Lucky, or what? Who knows?But reach out, feel your way andJust keep turning up ~ n.b. Brain fog today, (tired), but I saw this vine tendril at work, doing what comes naturally. So less poetry today, more like a mantra. CLP 18/05/2024

  • Clearing

    Weather reportOf fog and mistLifting, revealingBetter days ahead ~ n.b. Chin up. Maintain sunny disposition. CLP 17/05/2024

  • On Yer Bike, Son

    While I sleep you pushYour pedals up and downRound and roundJoining memory’s dotsStory lines, itinerary stopsBooth without an agendaWouldn’t miss the chanceTo hit a bar on his wandersWhile Wake takes an aesthete’s routeAlert to bears, earthquakes, carsLorries, buses, ferries, trainsPainfully aware, at fiftyHe’s living again ~ n.b. Follow Matt Wake’s epic pedal-pushing ride through Japan’s

  • On Ukraine

    I thought if you played acoustic guitarthat meant you were a protest singerMorrissey sangHow wrong could one be?Did Blinken learn to playDylan, Lennon or Pete SeegerSongs at university? ~ n.b. The most bizarre dead cat story. At a critical point in the Ukraine War, correspondents devote time to the US Secretary of State strumming an

  • Calling

    Five-thirty-two AMShe flew throughDeserted streetsAs bold as GodivaCareless of who knewHer dastardly workSuch shameless brassThe brazen passOf the city cuckoo ~ n.b. I was half asleep when she flew by calling at full volume, ensuring I sat up wide awake, not quite believing my ears. I suppose the late arrival of cuckoos this year has

  • Tapestry

    Martins, swallows, swiftsWeaving through the reedsDecorate the marshesWith their magical threadsStitching broad river to big skyHemming summer~ CLP 13/05/2024

  • on Ukraine

    There is a game calledDiplomacy in which theBiggest army wins ~ n.b. Piece by piece, village by village, it seems that Ukraine cannot cover all its bases alone. Into the third year of conflict, where will a line be drawn? Where is the wall that stops Russia? CLP 12/05/2024

  • on strings

    Epitome of EnglandA wickermanHollowManipulated by a few in the knowLeading a bemused populaceFrom troubled retailerPast abandonedCharity shopsStreet homelessFast fashionCoffee shops and cafésA building site promising what?The ancient market that inexorably evolves from trading hotspot into a foci for foodie emporiaWhere sourdough bread is sold at soaring pricesJust feet from where the food bankHands out hand

  • on horseback

    can you imaginehorses brought, bought and sold herefor centuriesnow, no moreno memoryjust the name in the lokethe plaque on the wallwhere cars back-upfrom the junctionby the railway station ~ CLP 09/05/2024

  • on time

    more years ago thanI care to count, but now Iknow that I do count ~ n.b. You and me and you and I, we count. I don’t think I descend into the depths of trite too often (I hope). This isn’t meant to be so, but…WE DON’T CARE!!!! No points for getting the ‘joke’. CLP