• on time

    I remember, fifty years agoBus ride home from schoolFull heat of glowering sunFace flat against cool windowAsleep between stopsKaleidoscopic dreams confusingConversations of passengersWith people bouncing around my headWhite collar grey with sweatSo hot, stumbling to the stepsDown to the platformWatching the stop approachingStepping off as the bus pausedFinding my feet for the first time ~

  • on the surface

    everything serenesky of bluesea of greenrelief of breezebarely a cloudhorizon cleartake my handclimb aboardwe’ll chart a coursetake the wheelhead out to seawhere it will bedown to usto navigate a wayfor you and me~ CLP 05/09/2023

  • on Ukraine

    War correspondentKharkiv at night as backcloth“Next year…” Autumn comes ~ n.b. Another describes Moscow as running “a forever war”. CLP 04/09/2023

  • on Ukraine

    one brick at a timewe will rebuild from rubblethey have created ~ n.b. Ukraine is looking to Warsaw to see what can be done to build something more than the disassembled sum of the parts. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/02/architects-warsaw-lessons-rebuilding-ukraine-rubble?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other CLP 02/09/2023

  • on Ukraine

    It’s day 5 5 3Numbers accumulatingLike ossuary bones~n.b. When the numbers of bombs, attack drones, battles, yards gained and lost is all we hear of, we know lives become worth less. The blood comes from somebody’s flesh, someone’s flesh and blood. CLP 30/08/2023

  • Overseas

    between heavy downpoursdespite the unwavering breezesheltered spots trapped the sunbutterflies spread out their wingssettled on the dripping nettlessoaked up each burst of heatwe walked the islandlooked to the mainlandthe cloud-streaked Downsacross The Solent’s white horsesfollowed the shadowed path of showersalong the coast from Portsmouth’s towerto Chichester’s spireand Selsey Billlooking back to Blightyremoved for a few

  • on Ukraine

    would it be a car?poison? bomb? No, a plane crash.who would have thought it?~n.b. Wagner’s last movement. Anyone surprised? When criminals fall out… CLP 23/08/2023

  • on August

    sweaty Friday nighttoo many layers chosenI’m loving the rainIt’s Saturday nowlarge droplets soft on my skinhome a distance yetI am in no rush~n.b. You only live once. CLP 18/08/2023

  • on time

    one hot august pasttoo warm to sleep too much drunkjust a diary notedays tick over fastwater spins down the plug-hole years, not quite so muchn.b. Yer learn, as Pete Wylie sang. CLP 17/08/2023

  • on Ukraine

    billions of dollarsflood country drowning in warwho’s counting the cost? ~ n.b. In the end the money talks, lives remain cheap, expendable, as long as the cash keeps coming and corporations profit. This war will end when accountants get involved. I heard on the BBC that the Russian Rouble is worth just 1% of a