• on leadership

    Heroic burghersSaved Calais from slaughterDuty to people~n.b. Their lives were eventually spared, but the actions of the six burghers of Calais are an outstanding example of commitment to public duty. Rodin’s sculpture is a testament to their selfless leadership and a reminder that the English are just 35km away. CLP 10/11/2025

  • on space

    social mediadecrees blanks are not allowedwhilst wiping the mind~n.b. It is tiring. The war on Ukraine continues. The people of Gaza struggle desperately for breath. Sudan turns in on itself. The whirlpools of our slowly boiling oceans spin on. Will love truly be the answer? Is love all we need? CLP 30/10/2025

  • on time

    to thinkall we have talked of todayeverything we have shared this afternoonwill by tonight be gone for youperhaps you will retain the warmthof emotion stirred by my visitwithout the inconvenience of detailwhile I grieve at memoryof your loss~ CLP 28/10/2025

  • on work

    like swans, we swallowour dignitystrain for reeds in the murkget our heads downarses in the airour most beautiful characteristicssubmergedour personalitiesdrowned in a breathless world~ CLP 24/10/2025

  • on Ukraine

    There are those still at homeThere are those a long way from homeThere are those fighting for their homesThere are those dying in their homesThere are those who are grieving for their homesThere are those making new homesThere are those longing to return home~ CLP 20/10/2025

  • On the slots

    Afterwards, our hands felt dirtyThe tuppenny pieces had rattled from our handsChinged bells, clattered into the piles of coinsTo little noticeable effectThe five pound note still clung to the shelfDangling a worthwhile returnPutting a cap on how many coins we rolled through the slotsMost of what went in fell outWent back inNot free tuppences, just

  • on Ukraine

    We can hear them cheeringThrough the chaosIn this cacophony of sirens, drones, bombs, rocketsWe fight on with their tears pooling around our feetWe shake with their griefWe understand their anxietyTheir fear of failureIs it really happening?If they can stop in Gazawhen will we?~ CLP 11/10/2025

  • on time

    I’ve pondered the matter of lifeLimited as it must beIs there life on Saturn’s moons?How would we know?Evidence of life this far outComes not from twitching organismsNot from a pulseNo morse like messageG, A, F (low), F (high), CIt comes from the decaying remainsA trail of decompositionEmitted from the arse of EnceladusA constant outpouring of

  • on memory

    you can’t hold everything in your headbit by bit it fadesleaving flint-like fragmentssharp, shiny, hardwhich are sparked by placessongs, photographs, othersa cricket ground by a churcha roadsignthe name of a villagea street namea pub now turned to flatsa make of cara turn of phrasea nicknamea make of cheesea punk band formed by a pair of

  • on time

    we’re saying good-bye todaya friend made through cricketknown for how he bowledbent back, arm whipped roundlike a butterfly swimming strokethick mop of black hairswinging across his faceduring the unusual nature of his deliveryoff the wrong foot, it’s saidface looking down at the pitchas the ball left his handfrom his flurry of arms and legsall too