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on the train
Stratford Town to Clapham JunctionTwenty-three stations from end to endShopping centre, Olympic parkFactories, flatsBack-to-backsCanals, parks and hospitalsWaste ground, heath landAbandoned buildings, scrapRail yards, football groundsAllotments, gardensEmbankments, chestnut treesFences, railings, hedgerowsTunnels, bridgesUnder, overSeats, signsStreet art, graffitiTags and advertsAnnouncements, adviceAre all the peopleTapping in, tapping outPoems on their phones?~ CLP 05/05/2025 →
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This Charming Man
Life on the roadNobody quite seems to knowWhere he exactly came fromNor where next he planned to goHappy to moveFrom town to townJust travelling onLiving’ the bluesClarksdale, ChicagoMemphis, TennesseeCatching The CrescentTo New OrleansUp and down the riverAlways welcomed into bedNight was never lonelyWhere Robert Johnson sleptHe traded his gospel singing talentsTo oil his way through →
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on gratitude
After the eulogyNo music, thank youLet silence fill the roomIts clamour echo from the raftersIts cacophony fill our headsIts weight press on our earsLet us hear the beating of hearts~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 28 The picture is from St Peter’s, Hoveton, Norfolk, built in 1624. CLP 28/04/2025 →
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Herd Mentality
Be warned, don’t runLook at them charge down the hillWhen the farmer releases the gateThey leap and kick, gallopYou can feel their thunderous hoovesDrumming through the turfSee how they clear fresh pastureWordless, effortless, immediateTwo or three in leagueCorral the sheepButt the tardy lambs under the electric wireStake their claimCurious they’ll approach youEnquire of your businessLick, →
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Love Sonnet
Photographs of daughters and grand-daughtersLine the hallway, a bright halo of smilesSurrounds her as she opens the front doorGingerly she settles down in the chairWith some bags methodically arrangedPrintout of her grocery order to handGood morning! greets the delivery manHer husband shuffles into view behindAnxious, trying to grasp what’s happeningHis eyes asking, Who’s this man →
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South Main Street, Memphis TN
531 South Main StreetPineapple cider and a burgerCome back tomorrowWe don’t close ‘til after twoI had been to the Lorraine MotelRead the storiesSeen the roomSuch injustice when all MLK wantedWas justice for people of colour tooI left that place tearful angryAt what had gone beforeStumbled into Ernestine + Hazel’sNeeding some foodCame out filled with hopeErnestine →
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Two Sides to Every Scoreline
Football in the libraryA concept so ridiculous it’s ridiculous. You imply the atmosphere today is subdued, but who thinks football in a library would be possible without uproar?You’re supposed to be at homeReally? Not here on the terrace?That would leave us open to a charge of being fickle.Where were you when you were (rubbish)?Do you →
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Blue Mountain Bells
Have you heard the bell bird sing?It fills the forest with its ringWhere the lyre bird scrapes and bowsThe bell bird’s chiming fills the airMaking music for courting pairs~n.b. If you look closely, you can see a male lyre bird, with its long tail feathers bowed, in the centre of this picture, from my only →
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Along the Spit
Windblown twine hangs from rusting stakesMarking stretches of shingleand sea kaleAround al fresco nesting groundsRinged plovers, curlews, ternsPipers all, greet dusk and dawnPlaintive whistling cutting throughThe worst the North Sea hurls ashoreBut there’s nothing sweetTo be heardNot breakersNot ascending larksWhen jet fighters’ shadows are cast~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2025 Day 23. The RAF base at Marsham sends →
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on Ukraine
the killer declares “Truce”(for it is EasterOrthodox or not)while re-loading every last guna python tightens its gripat every exhalation of its prey~ CLP 22/04/2025 →
Journey of Words 