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on the rails
There was once a race out westBetween the canal diggersAnd the railway buildersCutting the way through fieldsHedges and ancient woodsThe blades of spades cutting turfBuilding embankments from the spoilsPicks hollowed out the hills for tunnelsTunnels that would be threaded throughBy steel rails, laid on sleepersThat woke sleepy west country folkGave them dreams of somewhere elseTowns →
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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 →
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on autumn
a grey pallblankets the fieldsthe rough work of the plough has been broken downthe shallow tines of the field harrow have left a lined tilthacres of dry, dun soil home to a harean anxious family of deerstooped crows pockmark the earthplucking leather-jackets from the crumbsstaggering left then rightthe oaks watching from the margindiscard an occasional →
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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 →
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on the wind
A southerly brings warm airA wild stuttering windCrows and jackdaws are loving itLaunching themselves into itRising from the oaks on itLifted by gustsWheeling round the rain stained crown for moreA ragged flock in black tumbleBelow the scudding grey stream of cloudAbove the autumnal pallet of the lane’s arboreal borderThey fly a broken line across the →
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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 →
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on the wing
autumn’s nights shortenhirondelles departedRAF patrol~n.b. There is a noticeable increase in air force activity, by day and night. CLP 30/09/2025 →
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on Ukraine
while shepherds watched their flocks by nightmothers slept by their childrenfathers fought out in the fields holding back the Orcsthe vile and cowardlylaunched missiles and dronesat slumbering urban homesdistractions abound broadbordering on the insanedistractiondisruptiondestructionmore sleeping children slain~ CLP 29/09/2025 →
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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 →
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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 →
Journey of Words 