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on neighbours
They moved in last weekShe’s complaining alreadyIt’s too quiet round hereI turned my music upI’ve heard nothing since~n.b. ‘“You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln said that.’ Bob Dylan sang that. CLP 24/11/2024 →
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on Ukraine
Before it’s too latePerhaps everyone needs tostop and take a breakThe ladder will endEach additional step upLeads us all nowhere~ CLP 22/11/2024 →
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on a winter morning
it might be mid-Juneclean sky, orange horizonbut for skeletal oaksopaque car windscreensfrustrate mechanical routinesfrosted bodyworklone cyclist slips pastcocooned commuters’ vehiclessteaming traffic jamtreading out to schooltrio of teenage girls thrilledby icy puddles~n.b. The intricacy of Jack Frost’s work on a neighbour’s car demanded my attention. CLP 21/11/2024 →
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on Ukraine
Cracks in a ceilingStretch along lines of weaknessUntil there is no strength~ CLP 18/11/2024 →
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on time
I realise that I have passedFrom talking of people I knowTo recalling those I knewI draw from a well of storiesDrawing up memories of memoriesFrom a war-time Hampshire farmOf the Canadians in SussexOf majestic sea linersFrom the Black CountryA cricketer who faced TysonFunnelling through generationsA woman who watched Blériot landMy mother’s tales, a song sungAdding →
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on Ukraine
distance no objectinnocent civiliansunder the flight paththe war still drones onbeneath a newsprint mountainabout democracyforeign volunteerstravel to fight the bullylost in confusionRussian troops fallingeach different, each the sameas leaves in autumn~ CLP 10/011/2024 →
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on Ukraine
Moscow’s criminalsReleased if they fight like dogsOn Ukraine’s bloody soilNorth Korean menEmerge but die in numbersBrief lives beyond the wireLike gladiatorsEntertainment for CaesarNew Russian rouletteWar is a cruel gamePlayed out by politiciansWith the lives of others~ CLP 06/11/2024 →
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on clichés
she walked into the roomand my heart nearly burstso happy to see her smileso happyfunny how that happensevery timeevery goddam time~ CLP 01/11/2023 →
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on the driveway
neatly aligned carstwo garages full of junklives of consumption~ n.b. Time is limited for us all, a sudden excision from the daily whirl always a possibility, so what is it with garages full of the stale fruits harvested from sixty years, or so, of shopping? I put my hands up for an excess of books →
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on cocaine
on Northern Trains’ trainservice from Leeds to Blackpoolit was everywherethe stag party ladsCity fans going westwardBlackburn blokes’ day outclothed in fancy dressFreddy Flintstone is off his rocksCinderella’s stonedbutch ballerinatights, arms like a lock forwardgruff giggles, twitchythey’re sniffing it upin the disabled toiletoff the seat-back trayhere, there everywherethrough the Pennines, down the trackat each stop more →
Journey of Words 