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Wish You Were Here
It’s April. Birdsong can be heard during air-raids. Bright flowers sprout through debris. Oh that the spring sunshine would revive the cold skin of our sons and daughters. ~ n.b. Conscription age has just been lowered in Ukraine to 25 years and disability waivers are under review. CLP 07/04/2024 →
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Postcard From Kyiv
Just a quick line thanking youfor not forgetting us.We have no choice but to stay.This is our home.Until the day comes when you can visit again!In peace, with love xxx ~ CLP 07/04/2024 →
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Forget All That’s Gone Before
All players are gatheredFor the initial briefingInside some are cheering As others are grievingThe old king is deadLong live the kingWhen the old one is shotA new gaffer walks inDon’t imagine it is trueBecause of course it’s notThere’s no fresh startNo slates wiped cleanIts not a new dawn whenMonarchs still rule ~ n.b. NaPoWriMo 2024 →
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Deeply, Madly, Platonically
In truth, at firstYou were not the main attractionAlthough your bright green dressWith those sharp white seamsWas and always is immaculateRegardless of the time of dayOr eveningOr cast of weatherIt was that part of you that initially caught my eyeAnd breathIn wonder at the prospect of such magicYou might conjure upFrom that simple piece of →
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on the wall
Confident as an evangelista at the chapel doorbold as brass a governmentn posterproclaiming ‘Levelling up is here’as if Christ had risen in FY1where marked-down stickered stocknot quite stale bread and bruised fruitsells quicker than hot cakeswhere houses are boarded up with metal sheetsrows of homes compulsory purchasedabandoned police station and courtsCCTV on every cornercollecting evidence →
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on Ukraine
We are too busyDrones directed from laptopsAlt+Ctrl+Delete ~ n.b. Two years into this war, which was years in the making, is a boon for the drone manufacturers in Iran, the UK and everywhere, eventually it will be about manpower that cannot be re-booted. “For now we are too busy to suffer from traumatic feelings. We →
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on Ukraine
come on, man, own upIt’s not really about Ukraine is it?you’ve got issuesMother Russia not loving you enough?is she too demanding?What does she ask of you?respect and peace?instead you choke off her voiceyou throw body bags at herfilled with the remains of her boysseize the land of othersthreaten her neighboursdirty the washing they’ve put out →
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on the bus
words that make your heart sinkBus Replacement Servicewords that make you think twiceabout taking a train somewhere niceseating could be bettersuspension might be worsethey tried but they only managedto lower expectations of what it meansto provide a mass transit systemso we’re just grateful to get homebefore a day’s fresh lightbreaks through the gloom ~ CLP →
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on problem solving
there had been a few recentlyone fell from the skyanother found slave labourin Arctic conditions too muchfor his indefatigable heartthen, a callous shootingin an Alicante car parkled to a burnt out carsome singularly preciseothers incurred the dismissive useof the dreadful termcollateral damage, for example, aircrewor members of the Salisbury publican English police officera public cinemathe →
Journey of Words 