Sunday, 22 March 2026

reading a writer writing about a writer

 reading a writer writing about a writer


now i am all wet again 

again soaked by his words again

again the hardback again

his reign 

it will never stop 

child stood

 child stood


a plaid mind 

where all five senses 

are intertwined 

in a time when time

itself ran wild 

bouncing 

hoop stick rolling

wings on heels

having spun spin some more

and laughter was a giddy delight

hanging upside down

the world at the end of your hair

grasses shivery shaking

oh by god we did

do you remember 

when i carried you 

mystery

 mystery


memory

as cloudy as a memory

lost around a looking

past the fences

around far misty ways 

around the outside of

looking for that memory

that as you recall 

was a true memory 

if only you could

recall how it was that

it slipped away from you

you left it somewhere 

you had it you did 

you know that 

now just think 

Wednesday, 18 March 2026

Digital poetry

 Digital poetry


I dictated this into my phone …


‘wheelie bins on coiffured verges’


and it came up with …


Really binge on Crawford virgins


so the transitory muse is binary

Tuesday, 17 March 2026

mr peltser

 mr peltser 

was a cross-dresser (in the photo)

went to live with his daughter

and hung himself

from the stair rail


i was about four

at the age when memories hang around

in the queue for deletion

but the grim reaper was busy


seventy three years later

i still remember

they thought they knew why he did it

whisper whisper


there he is

in the coronation photo

front bench far right

i am on my mam’s lap wearing a tam


damn 

i remember it like yesterday

in the row behind us

house on the far right


all gone now (of course)

the man (of course ~ i just told you didn’t i)

the houses (of course)

memory’s noose soon (maybe)


but i’ll not hang about


Monday, 16 March 2026

anywhere

 anywhere


a word that frightened him

was everywhere 

never to go there or 

anywhere 


was


a pity

but there it was

that’s how it was

that’s how it is

he’d say every time


it was

again is it

 again is it


my poem

(i think it’s my poem)

it speaks to me but i don’t understand 

(is it my poem)

what is it all about

(then i get it)

special delivery by airmail 

either the aether sent it or

i have imagined the whole thing

(surely not - voice off stage)

there it is again

long

 long


sunset and

the mind stops wandering

stops wondering if if if

for the day is over

and tomorrow who knows

where the sun goes

droops the eyelids of worry

ahhhhh

rides away upon the tides

enclosed in closure

all in clover

in clover

in …

Saturday, 14 March 2026

bloody tourists ~ well i ask you

 bloody tourists ~ well i ask you


where be ownership

when ubiquity be the norm

where do the blind 

the deaf

the dumb 

visit


did they visit

what didn’t they say

about what they didn’t hear

us say about all that they

cannot see


go on tell me

again and again

for my back is turned away


have good day

Friday, 13 March 2026

bin there seen that

 bin there seen that


the ash man 

the dust man


now no more dust

no more ash

consumerism is bagged

some recycled some not


remember the corrugated bin

with its clattering lid

the leather shoulders of the dust man

and his waistcoat


it’s gone out with the ashes

disposed of irretrievably

heavy bin that one


fox-torn bags

streets littered with uncaring

refuse operatives running high vis for leather


where has the back-breaking slog gone

that one could feel for


incinerated 

composted

recycled


must ‘buy more black bags’ on the shopping list

put the collection day in my diary

put the contact number for the council in my contacts 

for when they miss another collection

after the other missed collection


for there’s a queue at the council tip

where people avoid each other’s eyes

as their consumerism shames their day


better put a lid on it now

or the past will be blown away

and decycled