Birmingham


the 12:50 to Birmingham International 
and a tiny women with two huge pink suitcases on wheels - boards at "New Street"
then confidently
and without any fuss
finds herself a seat
for her and her pink entourage.

Birmingham 
relentless Birmingham
bustling 
alive
busy with people being busy
busy being busy
through cuttings and tunnels we glide
and nothing changes
the view is of criss-crossing railway lines
tower blocks
chimneys 
factories 
building sites are everywhere
the cranes more prevalent than the hundreds of church spires  - which,
somewhere,
somewhere largely unseen - prick it's open skies
the scaffolding dotted with men in high viz
going about their work
as if Birmingham has yet to be built 
sites of industry
sites of dereliction
industrial units offering products of all kinds
services like industrial laundries
railway maintenance vehicles in a line
building supply firms offering "everything for the trade"
and dotted about the chaos 
like tiny islands in the midst of a vast ocean
are the residential streets
near abandoned gardens which won't win any prizes
with views into the backs of houses which aren't going to win any either 
some; trying to keep up appearances
some; not so
the places where the good folk of Birmingham return to after a hard day's work
cars parked
lawns cut and gardens tended
corner shops for that forgotten pint of milk
houses
houses in streets
streets amidst the industry
streets amidst the history
a place to call home
a place to be and work and live and to be proud to come from.
Birmingham 





And The Begin Days

The begin days
the spin worlds
the shine suns 
and trees the lights
the fuel fills up with woman
the coffee dispenses a machine
surfaces reflect off sunshine 
and the road speeds along the cars
causing the wave to trees
coins hand from a sleepy man's fall
money moves computers around
as the pay comes into woman
a complete is transactioned
and the day begins 

And the day begins
and the world spins
the sun shines 
and lights the trees
the woman fills up with fuel
the machine dispenses coffee
sunshine reflects off surfaces
and the cars speed along the road
causing the trees to wave
coins fall from a sleepy man's hand
computers move money around
as the woman comes into pay
a transaction is completed
and the begin days


A 61 Year Old Man With Four Children

If I were to meet a 'grizzly' end in some way or other
grizzly enough to make the national news
the news reader would say I was;
"A 61 year old man with 4 children".
They wouldn't mention I was a loving and caring husband and father.
Nor that I was a West Ham fan - but we all had our problems!
Nor that I was a happy soul
and that I loved Paris and used to live there.
They wouldn't talk about me being a messy so-and-so
and a vegetarian 
with a beard and crazy hair
nor that I gave up smoking when I was eleven - ten minutes after I started!
Me being an artist and photographer wouldn't get a look in
and they wouldn't mention that I liked my coffee black and strong
and that I disliked broccoli.
They wouldn't indicate that I was a bit of a hippy 
and loved wearing brightly colored clothes
and that; if I had ruled the world
everyone would have been happy and safe!
They wouldn't alude to a liking for wine gumsn either 
and that I loved radio Caroline and the 'pirate radio stations' from the 1960's
nor that my favourite film was 'Shawshank Redemption'.
They wouldn't mention that I was liked by many and that I preferred Burger King to McDonald's.
Nothing would be said about me seeing the world in a different way from others
nor that I loved 'Time Team'
and that I was an awfully good poet
...and published one!

I'd simply be a 61 year old man with 4 children
...but I was more than that!





(haiku)

Cardboard on a pole.
Harmless enough. Its written 
words will cause the pain.

The Coronation Ceremony

Welcome to the great day!
The stage is set,
we are here at the Horncastle community hall,
beautifully bedecked with "take away wrappers" and disgarded bottles of "Diamond White".
The front door has been screwed back on for the occasion.
The broken window covered especially with the cardboard from a walkers crisp box.
The "druggies" normally found 'round
the back of the building have been given a wrap each to stay away for the day or the police will be called - not that they'll do anything!
The carpark at the front of the centre still contains the burnt out Vauxhall Corsa,
present when the community centre was last used for its planned intention, ie: a centre for the community.
The council houses which surround the centre have their windows wide open with loud music playing - exhaulting the event!
Wayne and Tracy at number 13 play some "Dubstep" which they like to share with their neighbours from the half discarded sofa dumped in their front garden - whether they like it or not!

At 45 minutes past the arranged start time - Daz had been out on a bender the night before and didn't hear the alarm clock go off because he had the mother of all hang-overs!
The couple arrive in the Ford Sierra Mk II, 
stolen the night before especially for the day!
Both participants are carrying the traditional large "Red Bull" in hand,
in an attempt to wake up in time for the ceremony - that being,
the crowning of Daz  "the razor" Tucker and Marlene Davis-Ramsbottom,
drug King and drug Queen of this particular patch.

The crowds have gathered - well they are mostly users trying to buy a fix despite having been bought off for the day!
They push and jossle trying to buy a wrap or two from Daz
The sacred couple brush past the users and enter the inner sanctum of the community centre
The "god awful" smell of urine has been bleached away especially for today by "Tommy the dip" who pinched a couple of bottles of Domestos from the local corner shop and sprinkled it around the place in the ancient ceremony of "the vanishing of the stench"

The invited guests, 
who were also as late as Daz and Tracy, 
stand around,
some still in their pajamas and slippers as is traditional,
many with young children barely dressed at all,
children with the cheese of "Babybel" and the most exhalted "peperami firestick" firmly in hand - commonly their only meal of the day,
on this great day!
These are the offspring who will continue the tradition to pledge their benefit money to their lord and master - and supplier
whilst the parents desperate for a fix
call out the long-established "chant of desire"
"Have you got my next fix Daz? Here's twenty quid!"
and Daz slips the lucky few a small wrap for free which is traditional in the crowning ceremony!

The bent copper, 
bought off by Daz who presides over the ceremony,
holds out his hand to receive the "bung of this manor" - a traditional offering, 
given by drug dealers stretching back many generations,
to appease the bent copper and to keep the "filth' off their patch.
Daz hands this particular "bent copper" a large wad of "twenties" which again in tradition,
the copper not trusting the drug dealer
even though they are as bent as each other - the copper counts in front of the congregation,
folds it,
then sticks it in the inside pocket of his ceremonial jacket.
In so secreting the large wad of cash
this signals to the drug dealer and the to the congregation,
the confirmation of his freedom to continue his naferious drug pedaling activities - for now!
One of the congregation fires up a popular tune from a "Spotify play-list" and hooks it up via "Bluetooth" to a "wireless speaker" in the corner.
A member of the congregation then offers a reading from the third line of the graffiti scrawled on an adjacent wall
"...is a tosser!"

The bent copper performs the classical "quick exit" as the music plays.
The congregation follows.
One, as is traditional, 
slips the wifi speaker under his coat thinking it'll make a few quid in the pub later,
and as if by magic, 
the congregation disappear, 
quicker than a "tenner" in a pub just in case the "filth" are in the area.

The classical music can be heard around the estate as this timeless ceremony closes.


Rain

A single drop
heralds rain
drop upon drop upon drop again
Ribbons down windows
a relentless sea
puddles where puddles just shouldn't be
ripples across
the puddles made
spash upon spash a watery cascade 
and cascades join
rivules create
stream upon stream never to abate
the howling wind
the rain it blows
rain upon rain sideways goes
streams make rivers
rivers flow
water upon water where does it all go?
Rivers to floods
floods all around
water upon water soaking the ground!

The butterfly's wing
can a great storm awake
as drop upon drop a great flood can make