to gather nourishing rays
of morning sunshine
None of us are really sure
We drink tea - some with the teaspoon still in it
and we live in strange places with kitchens
kitchens with wooden doors and ice-cream
and we go out to markets
with hats
to buy bananas - who knew hats liked bananas
some close their curtains at night
not hats that is - bananas
mostly on Tuesdays
when tyres of cars squeal on wet roads
they have brothers who don't smoke
some have sisters who did
some people raise good points
others have guns and need help
they run launderettes instead
and trains go past these launderettes
they don't need to wash their clothes - because they're trains
trains don't ever want to stop
although stop and start is what trains are supposed to do
I guess carrying your home on your back is very tiring - you ask a snail
some get bread from bakeries to play tennis with I think - did you know snails played tennis?
None of us are really sure
Telling you the truth
We walk around,
our heads like sealed rooms,
wondering what's behind all those locked doors and shuttered windows.
We think we know someone.
We think we really know someone - but we never really know anybody.
We barely know ourselves!
We say we want understanding,
that we want to get inside other peoples heads.
Would we really want to do that?
Would we want to prise open those sealed doors and windows?
For to enter those rooms could be a curse.
Imagine discovering the truth,
those hidden secrets
along with all that noise from the strangers we meet.
You'd be able to put a thought
to a fleeting glance,
but,
a simple walk down a crowded street
would become a deafening roar
of a thousand minds all telling you the truth.
I need a Twix
Stomach to brain: I need a Twix
Brain to stomach: No you don't!
Stomach to brain: I do!
Brain to stomach: I'm in charge here!
Stomach to brain: But I do!
Brain to stomach: You're behaving like a child!
Stomach to brain: I need a Twix!
Brain to stomach: No you don't!
Stomach to brain: Do, do do!
Brain to stomach: Oh very well! But you're only having a small one!
Stomach to brain: I want a big one!
Brain to stomach: I said I'm in charge here!
Stomach to brain: Big one, big one, big one!
Brain to stomach: Oh very well, there you go!
(Short pause)
...Stomach to brain: I want another one!
Two Generations
Listen as two generations speak - not with words,
but with looks and gestures.
The older woman glaring at a younger woman - forgetting it was she who grew up in the 'sixties',
the decade of free love,
the burning of bras,
mini-skirts,
drugs and rock 'n' roll.
The younger woman mirrors those exact footsteps
many years later,
flaunting her beauty across a hot supermarket carpark
dressed only in a revealing bikini and beach shoes.
Perhaps the older woman looks on,
knowing the consequences of such a life - a life the younger woman cannot yet see.
Unaware that this walk will lead her to the very same place,
where she will find herself years from now
dressed modestly,
with her memories untold,
slowly unpacking her shopping
into the boot of her unassuming old car.
Tennis
In the heat of a Parisian spring
deep in the trees of the 16th arrondissement
under the 'concertina like' roof
fluttering amongst enthralled spectators
fans flap like butterfly wings
flitting amidst a sea of panama hats
parasols
and fingers wrapped 'round long cooling drinks - all trying to cool the moment
Working Day
The smell of a summers day
and the shadows of a late afternoon
merge towards the evening.
A sweet wrapper gently takes to the air
as a bus passes
full of those
off home
to join that calm which comes
only at the end of a working day
The Understanding Politician
The opinionless shock-jock
The chain smoking paramedicThe builder without a home
The doubting vicar
The uncaring nurse
The teacher; unwilling to learn
The mute broadcaster
The heartless surgeon
The sea-sick fisherman
The blind pilot
The vertigo suffering mountaineer
The understanding politician...
The chain smoking politician
The politician without a home
The doubting politician
The uncaring politician
The politician; unwilling to learn
The mute politician
The opinionless politician
The heartless politician
The sea-sick politician
The blind politician
The vertigo suffering politician
The understanding politician?
Antisemitism
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it in the circles you move in?
What did you do about it?
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it at your place of work,
in your local supermarket?
What did you do about it?
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it on your school bus,
in the playground?
Did you do anything about it?
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it at your college,
at your University?
Why didn't you do something about it?
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it in your high street,
or down at the pub?
Why didn't you call it out?
Have you heard it?
Have you heard it in your head,
Have you heard it coming out of your mouth!
...when are you going to do something about that?
The Ultimate Sin
My truth is a fortress where time's left its mark
I born into light; you languish in dark.
My history is holy; my path has been paved,
only the souls of my clan can be saved.
You are the "Them" - we are the "Us."
no compromise - no need to discuss.
The laws of my land must be written in prayer,
to silence any doubt that hangs in the air.
If your gods are different; your gods are a lie,
a shadow that grows as the ages pass by.
We don’t seek to bridge - take the middle of the road,
for how can the truth; share its sacred abode?
We weaponize faith for the sake of our fold,
to guard the traditions our ancestors hold.
Colonization was just a crusade,
to fix the mistakes that the faithless had made.
There can be no peace when the "wrong" still exists,
so we tighten our grip and we harden our fists.
For the zealot; the world is a battle to win
...letting you be right
...is the ultimate sin.
If I Were Unplugged
The washing machine's telling tales on the smart fridge
she said it was it who wet the floor.
The video doorbell said she didn't see anything
and the smart TV wasn't sure.
The security cameras; who's job it was
to note what went on and recall
said "not my patch - I don't cover that bit,
I have no intel at all!"
The smart phone - who should know better
said he was up by the bed
face down on the old bedside table
and couldn't see; and couldn't hear what was said.
The heating controller turned up the heat
by implying the washing machine was lying.
"You're constantly creating a puddle or two"
a fact; there was no denying!
"I am a girl of a certain age;
and when a girl gets old,
these leaks do happen now and then
'tho I'm pretty good all told"
A tear could be seen
from the old washing machine,
but the smart fridge chipped in with a smile
"You've so much to wash; day in day out,
and you'll do much more
for a while!"
The fridge opened its doors and reassured; as it hugged...
"I'd do the very same if I where unplugged"
Snot
Snotty noses meant a day off school
and time passed terribly slowly.
Snot poured from your nose
covering all of your bed-clothes
like an slick of green guacamole.
This green sticky stuff which ran from your nose
was the fascination of many a child.
A discovery; once found
was then 'mined' by the pound
driving your poor parents wild.
from where it occasionally leaks
if you sneeze too hard
it can cover your yard
you'll be wiping it up for weeks!
Your nose can make it by the ton
leaving you feeling like death!
You can't properly speak
you'll be bunged up for a week
almost taking your very last breath!
You could try to blow a snot bubble
and break the world record for size
As a snot bubble grows
from the end of your nose
take a snap; and go claim your prize!
(Oh and have a tissue ready for when it bursts!)
Totally unaware
Totally unaware,
two young lovers
sat in the front seats of a brightly coloured
sky blue Volkswagen,
discover each others lips.
Sat on a petrol forecourt
under the canopy
a petrol station on a street
down the main carriageway
totally unaware
off the seafront
past the railway station
up the hill
past the Co-op
all on a Tuesday evening in a seaside town.
Fish and chips
seagulls and parking wardens
in the watery sun of a late April evening
an evening like any other - yet totally unique.
Humans debating which carwash program to choose,
tapping on screens,
totally unaware
buying chocolate
listening to radios
all of us balanced on a rock
in a solar system
totally unaware we are spinning in the nothingness of space
round a huge illuminating street lamp - our sun
all tucked up in the milky way
itself contained in a single bubble
trapped in a bottle of washing up liquid
placed on the side of a vast 'cosmic sink'
awaiting the next dirty plates
around which
flow the electrons in the circuitry of a cheap 'street light' powered calculator
the one that was used to work out
how much 'the totally unaware young lovers' bill added up to,
the calculator
totally unaware
wanted to know who it was that was pushing it's buttons
performing those calculations
and why it too was at this petrol station
but not in a sky blue Volkswagen
and why traffic wardens were eating fish and chips
whilst the washing up liquid was totally unaware
as to who agitated it to make the bubbles in the first place -
was it a higher being?
Maybe this higher being lives outside our milky way
maybe it's a traffic warden
would they like some fish and chips too?
...it seems we're all just - totally unaware!
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