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


Clouds


Hanging around like kids on street corners
lumbering giants shuffling across the sky
motion - imperceptible
silent and gossamer like
vapour and ice
whispy fingers
shaped by currents of winds on high
some forboding
black and angry 
threatening rain
some light and fluffy
all stitched together by the trails of aeroplanes
held up on the wings of gliders
look up and see their shapes 
copy and pasted
over and over and over
familiar shapes
recognisable but transient 
ephemeral
fleeting.

There...
...then gone


 

Love

Understanding foibles 
feeling right
distance no object
pain when not together 
someone thinking about me
someone to think about
an irreplaceable history 
no words needed
our things and our places
she knows me 
...and I her