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Dissonance
Ukraine needs much more than moneyHer boys are being buriedBack in Kyiv More men have been mobilisedYounger men to replace older menSend more munitionsAmmunitionBy any meansBut who could re-stock the armsOf mothers missing sons?~n.b. NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 26 prompt: Alliteration, consonance, assonance. CLP 26/04/2024 →
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If Music is the Answer, What Is the Question?
The troubadour rode inGuitar strapped to his backPosters pasted around townWelcomed his returnAs did those who knewOf him from long beforeA never-ending tourThrough city, town and villageAcross the countryAnd around againHe was mostly happyMostly all the timePerhaps he was happiestWhen he first left homePlaying in new placesMeeting the new peopleLearning of their storiesHe found to →
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One Frosty Night…
…when the guns were stillI dreamt of trees with leavesYoung men playing cricketChatter and laughter at a picnicLying face-up beside youWatching the swifts’ chaseAcross vast white pillowsThat dwarfed The MendipsYou squirming with delightGrass tickling your pale thighs~ n.b. NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 24 prompt: One poem from a line from another. This is from ‘Living Sepulchres’ →
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Supineheroes
Superman Perpetuating the mythOne person can save the worldThe American FantasyDream on Superwoman You too think you can competePound for pound?Why do you think women’s superpowerIs language? Hulk Anger is an energyThat needs talking outLove is allYou need Catwoman Put food in a bowlFind a spot in the sunLet her sleepWe’ve lives to lead Batman →
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No Contest
Do you recall the house spider we watched?The one that devoured the crane flyWhose bodyWas steadily subsumedInto the tiny bead of the spiderImpossible though it seemed at the timeI have thought of it sincePondered the mechanicsOf how that bulk of flyAnd its panicked buzzy wingsWere compressedInto digestible essenceOnce the fly had been nettedIts attempts to →
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Listening
It wasn’t the light that woke meIt was the absence of trafficSo used had I become to the lorriesClattering acrossThe misfitting manhole coverOn that arterial routeLinking warehouses to motorwayIt seemed rhythmicMetal machine musicNow mutedThen the lightScouring every cornerOf the ill-curtained hotel roomSpinning its short wavelength beamsRound the wallsStretching and pulling shadowsIn rapid rotationBlueBlueBlueBlueThen the heavy →
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Charlton Away
Saturday morning in FebruaryAn Azerbaijani barberWoolwich Road, SE10Student of Anglo-SaxonBemoans the errorsAnd ill-fortuneOf Edward GodwinsonAt HastingsThe military dictatorshipOf William bastardusThe carve-up of the old kingdomsEnslavement of the peopleThe castles casting shadowsOver those who built themLessons learntTaken abroadBy Royal NavyAnd Redcoats armyUntil America stood upWelcomed the exiled PaineThe Rights of ManApplied Common SenseBroke freeUnlike the English →
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Grateful
Bluebells rang around the groundsDancing in the West WindWhile we sat insideListening in blackTo his grief-bent sonBoth arms locked stiffTight-knuckled at the lecternThat shookHe read as best he couldOf his dad, his friend Who had done his bestWhere demons huntThat broken voiceMatched his heartCaused him to pauseTo catch his breathHis daughter thanked usWho’d come this →
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House Martin
Flipped from side to sideBy bursts of east windYou looped above the broadTaking an uncertain pathLike a notebook pageTorn out, discardedCaught by a stormy gustOn a Chicago street ~ n.b. First house martin of the year seen on Wednesday, 17th April, South Walsham Broad, Norfolk. CLP 18/04/2024 →
Journey of Words 