• on family

    there is safety in numbersthe joy at arrivalstravelling togetheruntil it is timeto go our separate wayswhich by necessityis a lonely businesswaving farewellto our loved onesas we step into departures~n.b. Just thoughts, not news. CLP 05/02/2025 Read more

  • on Rwanda

    at The Arsenalthe pitch-side adverts exhort“Visit Rwanda”If you do visitYou’ll discover its proxyIs visiting DRC~n.b. The Arsenal and Premier League ploughs on regardless. They’ll take anyone’s money, the more the merrier. CLP 03/02/2025 Read more

  • on Ukraine

    it’s still a dreamof some young men to followto fight in a waron the side of rightto leave their homesetting off in hopethat they’ll add weightto counter evil’s mightI met one such young manseeking purposeful lifealthough he had a childwith his teenage wifeold England’s dulland work’s a borethere’s nothing on TVand the winter’s coldlong dark Read more

  • on 80 years

    My mother was not yet tenWhen she first heard the words “Never again”She’d heard them then and sinceAgain and againI went to Krakow to visit a friendSaw the Katyn memorial to 22,000 murdered menBut chose not to visit AuschwitzWhere tourists go to see the truthTo see the place where a million and more were slainAfter Read more

  • on life

    Met an old friendWho told me about an old friendYounger than either of usAnd not very wellNot very well at allSo I called my younger old friendSaid I’d seen our old friendWho’d told meYou’re feeling a bit under the weatherYes, he said, cheerfullyAll the world’s a stageAnd I’m on Stage 4Under the lightsUnder the doctorCurrent Read more

  • on passing

    Cars, buses, trucksthe wheels rock as I pushthe pedals hardermy shoulders stiffenarms firmhands grip tighton top of the handle barto counter the rockingI focus on regaining balanceto direct my powerthrough the chain wheelas I am passingcars, buses, trucksa kid in Chelsea Tractorstaresthinkingman on bike goes faston cycle pathpassing plane treepassing plane treepassing plane treeacross junctionacross Read more