Journey of Words

Tag: Life

  • Winners

    In this postcode people don’t need to enterThe National LotteryThe Euromillions drawEl GrossoThey’ve already won enoughIn life’s bingo, They have ticked off the numbers on the cardWealthy parentsPrivate educationIntroductions and referencesInherited propertyLand in trustTips and winks on sharesThey started off a few rungs up the ladderSo take great careTo avoid treading on snakesPrevent snakes getting →

  • What Brought Us Here

    We sit hereOn a memorial benchBeneath the line of ancient beechThat stands strong along the ridgeWhat brought us hereChoices? Fate?Buzzards spiral high aboveFinding lift upon a thermalOne, then two, a third appearsTheir cries pierce April’s shocking blueWhile they scour the farm belowFor rabbit, toad, mouse, small fowlWe sit and watchWithout a wordKnowing nothingOf the life →

  • Misunderstanding Blues

    The mortician stood by the slabRed-eyed from working lateThe mortician looked so wearyShe had been called up from her bedIt was the witching hourWhen she was called out by the sergeant on the caseI drove until first light in my VolkswagenI’d had a call from the local policeThrough icy fog I drove that vehicleWithout stopping →

  • First Bus Out of St Louis

    I am the passengerAnd I cry and I cryI cry through the day’s black sideI see the last bars pour out at fiveYeah, when neon lights the skyYou know when nothing looks rightI am the passengerI’ve emptied my last glassI look into your soul, absence of lightI see the bars kick out at fiveI see →

  • rock, paper

    friendshipcan come from many placesa teacher’s seating plana workplacea regular bus queuea space on a football terraceit outlaststhe jobeducationthe commutethe matchthe seasonnothing will lastso longas friendshipdo not ever confuseyour friendshipwith other thingslike businessor lustor alcoholnothing will lastso wellas friendship~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 17 prompt: friendship CLP 17/04/2025 →

  • blessing in disguise

    I dropped some books off at a charity shop, came out with two CDs, one being the Johnny Cash album American V, A Hundred Highways. Inside that CD case was also American IV, The Man Comes Around. Worth it for the first number alone. CLP 15/04/2025 →

  • Gernika: Wiederholungszeichen

    Somewhere a Palestinian Picasso daubs a canvasOr chisels stoneNeedles coloured thread through linenScribbles out a poemScratches notes onto stavesAs fragments of shells are pickedFrom the hands and feetThe crown and sideOf the freshly crucified~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 combining art and music in poetry. Gernika April 1937, twinned with Gaza, April 2025. CLP 13/04/2025 →

  • Symphony of Apasmara / Ignorance

    AllegroAll is newSparklesColours brightThe goldfinches’ chitteringFills my headI dance, runLeap like a lambLife’s a gambolOh! Joy of birthPerpetual SpringSuch happinessInnocenceBlissAndanteNow?No!I’m happyDo not want toGrowKeep that awayI’ll growlBarkHide in shadowsFrom your knowledgeWhy tie me downTo learning?When I can playUnencumberedBy understandingScherzoCome then, “Teacher”Yahboo!Sucks!Catch meIf you canI’ll miss the busTurn up late for classBunk from schoolListen to cricketOn →

  • on reconciliation

    to wipe the slate cleanopen your eyes to their painwash their wounds with your tears~n.b. Coventry cathedral, blitzed and rebuilt with this sculpture ‘Reconciliation’ (Reunion), by Josefinaq de Vasconcellos (1977). It imagines a couple embracing over a line of barbed wire. CLP 11/04/2024 →

  • Mud

    They found a pictureFrom before the callMe in football kitArms crossedA scowlI left that shirtSpotlessCleanAnd dryI’ll soon be backMy hollow lieI lovedMudOn my knees and handsIn earsHairWith bumpsA little bloodPromise of a scarColours wonIn sportNowI restUnder some foreign fieldMud’s filledMy throatLungsNose and eyesNaught was sportThat July dayAs my platoonReturnedTo clay~n.b. The simple detail of the →