Saturday, 27 June 2026

here’s a prompt reply

 here’s a prompt reply 

you offer me a prompt 

when 

to a poet 

the whole world is a prompt

forever is an instant 

#hashtag 

isn’t that the mutton cloth

that an engineer uses

to clean the oil from hands

that have been beneath

the engine of life

resuscitation is in reverse

now there’s a prompt for you

a-systole is a long line

in stanza of lines

queuing to form a circle

to watch the children skip over it

kids ~ well they asked you

 kids ~ well they asked you

kids!

we lined up the snails

and waited for a bus

to squash death

onto a steep learning curve 

as we hung upside down

from the railings of don’t you dare

what we talked about 

was turning life on its head 

but we didn’t understand 

why blood seeping

through grassed knees

was memory’s long smile


Friday, 26 June 2026

Thursday, 25 June 2026

STRAIN spotting


STRAIN spotting 


STRAIN spotting

tearing the underlined pages

from the kama sutra 

sidling the steam train

as electric arrives with its

lubricated driveshafts

vibrating off the rails

of a change of track

what is the point

of the red signals


the menu 

in the dining car

is awesome

but the plates are cold

euphemisms slither

as the lights flicker

and our steward walks past

with the drinks we ordered

empty glasses

the sparkling water is still still

but never mind the strain

the destination is unchanged 

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

hot jotting

 hot jotting

the writing

has melted from the wall

it is the end of us all


at the end of the dance 

of the seven veiled shenanigans 

it is plain for all to see


the last old tree

flowers like you’ve never seen

or will ever again


put the kettle on

i am hot and dry and

i crave just one more sip

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

treatwave

 treatwave

there were hot days

days that were so hot

we wore our bathers 

outside in the street of look

no sea 

not even a hose pipe

not one grownup 

not knowing what to do

we waited until it cooled

then we dressed it up

as a childhood treat

and put it in the box called

remember the hot days

Monday, 22 June 2026

the longest night

 the longest night

summer’s window opens wide on

a motorbike forever going nowhere 

uphill a dog is barking antiquity and

all the gargoyles of nuisance are 

spouting of blather’s growling 


long pink clouds on a powderpuff blue

are shredding in captain scarlet

in the heat of reentry

rehearsing is failing to sleep

again rings again and again


the window is shuttered

has spluttered its last say on

a breath drawn of sorrow for

here’s a watery moon of no abode

arrested of time’s insouciance