• The Joy Has Gone / Muzak / Bones

    Spare me this muzakThis rolling newsfeed24 hours – no codaOstinatoA builder’s skip fullOf disposable nappiesAt dawn, with ratsAt noon, in full sunAt dusk, with fliesThe witching hour passesMore disposable nappiesAre piled onOn the hour, every hourOstinatoHuman interest storiesWho writes this stuff?¡Ay!One could not make it upThe stench buildsOstinatoThe chorus of bluebottlesDrown the choirsOf widowedOrphaned, the

  • on Ukraine

    just gone out to playHigh-precision missile strikenine children murdered~n.b. While Washington clowns around with money, Moscow targets the innocent. What’s wrong with these people. Money comes and goes, life is precious. CLP 05/04/2025

  • on time

    As I a child I wonderedWhat life was like beforeWar broke out in EuropeCricket played on village greensActors shining from silver screensTube trains, trams, omnibusesFull of people reading newsheetsEditorials and commentariesOn threat and riskThe rights and wrongsThe unlikelihood of something worseNo-one would be mad enoughTo fire the shot, to call a bluffTo cross the line,

  • on Ukraine

    sunrise dulls night’s starsunder lunar indifferenceresistance is allthree years have spunwith nothing to celebrateexcept life itselfthis fight not overembattled Kyiv’s trams will runthere is still a pulsehospitals and schoolsbakeries and street marketsprecious exchangesmoney greases handsmerchants of war grow fatterUkraine their foir grasyellow and blue bandswheat sent by sea feeds the worldtherein grains of truthone man

  • on Ukraine

    The Art of The Dealis to treat all as a gameto exploit weaknessThe Art of The Dealis about acquisitionbluster and bullyThe Art of The Dealis to get all that you wantignoring othersThe Art of The Dealis for gangsters and mobsterswith no legal boundsThe Art of The Dealis about winners and losersfighters not loversThe Art of

  • 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

  • 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

  • on sleep

    with you beside memy heart settles, breathing steadiesbrain rests, but for dreamsand what dreams!and when I wakethe veil between night and daybecomes confusedare you really hereor am I still dreaming?~ CLP 18/01/2025

  • on peace

    don’t say you’re surprisedhow many will be murderedcelebrating peace~ CLP 16/01/2025

  • on peace

    ceasefire brings weepingcould this be the end of it?four days to stay safe~ n.b. Let us pray that everyone can stay out of the line of fire until 19th January. As the ceasefire is agreed, why not stop the shooting and bombing immediately? CLP 15/01/2025