Irony

A filthy car drives by the carwash

A lady buys a disposable "vape" and 20 cigarettes

Sat on the ice-cream freezer 

are wooly hats, gloves and scarves 

for sale at the petrol station

Man wearing camouflage trousers and a hi-viz jacket walks by - I think

I can only see his top half

A man in shorts and a T-Shirt 

wrapped 'round his neck is a thick wooly scarf - well it is cold!

There's a house with patio heaters outside next to two air-conditioning units up on the back wall

In the 6pm December gloom, 

a woman in sunglasses pressing the button on the pedestrian crossing, 

not waiting

crosses despite the 'red man' still showing

maybe the crossing's broken!

They Made Two Children

They'd made two children - together 

but at the station; both in their own car

they swapped the turns with child care

the routine was working so far

He was to have them overnight Tuesday

then every other weekend 

her solicitor having won the case

so the hours he couldn't extend

These meetings like KGB "Dead Drops"

a "hand-over" where nothing was said

"no arguing in front of the children!"

it all had to go via the solicitor instead

She said he'd been having an affair

which he said was totally untrue

her brief said that he had some photos 

with which he could tighten the screw

So sat in their cars; the fairy tale ends

on this "once-upon-a-time" love affair

in a station carpark the final page turned

no "happily ever after" for this pair

...that 

made two children togther

now living separate lives elsewhere 

Click this link to hear me read this piece

I Believe In Poetry

I believe in poetry 

I want to be on an island and be compelled to write it

to simply have to write what I feel and

what I see!

I want to be on an island where the sea is everything 

our passage

our food

our soul

our inspiration 

...and possibly our distruction

I want to chase seagulls along the beach it formed

splash in its shallows 

feel it's cold against my skin

breath it in

feel it I my soul

...and then write

write poetry

write poetry because of it!

The sea is all around us

it is everything 

it is who I am 

it made us

there are words that haven't yet been put together in a poem

I have words in my soul that will fit together

I want to banish all and be a prisoner to it

on an island

on an island with the sea to hand

with a fire and warm clothes

with a stocked up larder

and to close the door on a world that doesn't understand 

on an island surrounded by a sea that does

looking within myself

and staring into the jaws of my own death 

that is the sea

to feel the wind and spray on my face

to write about what I feel

to express my soul on an island

to write poetry

and to explore 

...and to share 

All that I feel - in poetry 

Click to hear me read this piece

(Haiku)

Mind the gap between 

what's going on in your head 

and reality!

Quiet

I'm only aware of the washing machine in the kitchen - because it briefly stops

and

for a second

everything goes quiet

and 

the quiet is deafening

then it starts again

turning slowly this time

slowly tumbling the wet clothes inside itself

then

building up speed

the noise slowly builds up to a loud gurgle as it empties out the dirty water

yet 

above all that noise

outside the lounge window

a car door slams

and a car starts it's engine 

but it doesn't drive away

the washing machine pauses again  briefly allowing me to hear the dog snoring on her bed in the window 

but it's gone as the washing machine starts it's cycle again

the car still hasn't driven off

as another door slams

this time it's a front door 

I think someone's forgotten something

        ...a train passes

once again the car door slams 

this time

as if like a starting pistol 

the washing machine starts

and the alarm on my phone goes off

simultaneously 

I'd forgotten it was running so it makes me jump

I turn it off 

then reset it 

my phone emits several loud beeps as I do

then pausing to catch my breath

I hear the page of a book being turned

as the washing machine pauses

and I hear that the dog is still snoring 

...as the washing machine revs up and goes into its final spin

and in anticipation of it finishing

I rise from my chair 

and as if

not "switched off"

but only on "stand-by"

...the dog wakes

I think the washing machine has finished

...it's all quiet once more

I go and check!

I have faith in AI

I have faith in AI

so I shall ask it to write me a poem

I will give it some subject matter round which it can work

feed in some emotions I wanted it to include 

mention some observations I'd recently made 

some content that I think would nicely fit in

and all in a style that I know that I like!

I have faith in AI

I have faith in AI

a poem won't take it long given all that it knows

as long as it likes the ideas that I have

and if my ideas don't fit into what it has planned 

that will be fine - it'll know what to do

it'll probably chip in - some ideas of it's own 

I have faith in AI

I have faith in AI

We're getting along just fine everything's in place

I think I can press send and wait for the results...

although - what if I don't like the piece

that I've made?

that we made together - the AI and me

but - we're certain to agree my new friend and me

I have faith in AI!

I have faith in AI

It has sent me an email - I hope it's our poem!

...it says it won't write my stupid poem

It says I'm too interfering and that my material is poor

It says my ideas are poor too

and that I should write it myself

...that there are bigger things 

      and better things

         it has to do!

...I'm not sure I have faith in AI anymore!