The Aire in Flood
Pell-mell the promiscuous pregnant Aire Surges through the spreading banks scouring Its bed of bicycles, trolleys and the dead Hurling them at the ancient bridg...
Category: Poetry
The Punishment of The Gods
Walking past the brick arches from the station to the Midland Hotel That monument to Victorian engineering and optimism I saw its antithesis, a ragged human sat...
Reacquaintance
A 2020 lock-down poem. You thought you were alone at home Away from prying eyes But everywhere indoors you roam You feel the eyes of spies. The biggest threat t...
Rule Britannia – The Leavers’ Lament
This was an exercise for a writing group I’m a member of. We were asked to write a poem as if we were the Poet Laureate. Their job is to mark major nation...
Revolution is in the air – a pantoum
A pantoum is a poem form where the 2nd and 3rd lines of each verse become the 1st and 3rd lines of the next verse. The exception is the last verse where 1st an...
Nightmares
A wisteria branch taps on the window A distant dog howls at the moon A cracked church bell tolls Below the cloud scudding skies The sound of dragging fee...
Boyhood Memories of Shopping
Sainsburys – long marble counters with men in crisp white aprons To measure and wrap the tea and butter, To weigh the broken biscuits and Cut the bacon with the...
The Garden of Rest
The long hot days lead me to go and view the garden long unkept, the uncut grass, the bushes grow unpruned, unshaped, where weeds have crept. I sit beside the s...
Turning Points
Moments of motion Changes of direction. Some turning points are obvious, Immediate. But many go unobserved, Disregarded minor deviations, small shifts That accu...
I’m Done (reflections on a dissolute life)
I think I’m done here. I’ve seen the things I wanted to see I’ve done the things I wanted to do. At least, I am reconciled to Not seeing or doing more. I’ve bro...