Pencil, rubber, ruler and pen
Across the grass
And we’re here again

Teachers, preachers and crazy creatures
Ageing buildings
With crooked features

Gym, showers and trampoline
The smell of coffee
And nicotine

Ties, blazers, bags and shoes
A gas explosion
Making the news

Smart, dumb, bully or fool
Mushed together
Make a school

Pitter-a-patter
I hear it scatter
Rain in my brain
Poured down from a cloud
Revealing its presence
Nice and loud
I toss in my bed
Thinking about tomorrow
About it hitting my head
When will it stop
And will I eventually hear
The final rain drop
Pitter-a-patter
The liquid matter
As rain comes down again

I watch my wife swim
As she cuts through water like a knife
And remember my privets need a trim
She’s done breast stroke all her life
A champion in the blue
But a disaster in the household
I guess it’s something Ive always knew
If truth be told
Watching her frolic in the water
Doing length after length after length
I realise family ignorance
Is possibly her biggest strength
She smiles at the young men
Don’t recall her smiling at me
I just take her at nine thirty in the morning
And pick up her up at twenty past three
Today it’s all going to change
Cause today I’m going for broke
Whilst I arrange our divorce
She’ll carry on doing the breast stroke

What shall I write
What shall I say
My minds gone blank
Just walked away

Maybe it’s tiredness
Maybe I’m bored
I’ll just hang around
Till my head is cured

Let’s start with A
Let’s start with The
The magic might start
Between P and B

What shall I write
What shall I say
My words have left me
They’ve just walked away

Just a quick puff
And I don’t know why
I know it can **** me
I know I can die
The thin slender stick
Burning in my fingers
Creates an odour
That sticks and lingers
I watch its orange glow
Smouldering in my hand
It’s give a buzz like nothing else
Im like Columbus finding land
I know it a filthy habit
Addiction unforeseen
But god it gives me something
This thing called nicotine

Finally he opens the window
After hours of sun
I’m perspiring for fun
My clothes feel like my skin
We’re sardines in a tin
On this coach heading for Rome

Finally he opens the window
Under a sunroof closed on top
Our souls will possibly drop
On this hottest day of the year
Our suits it would appear
Have become blankets

Finally he opens the window
I think he’s having fun
As he’s killing us in the sun
Wearing his shirt and shorts
To a female he cavorts
While us mortals in seats do perish

Finally he opens the window
Now comes the disgrace
When his mouth on his moustached face
Puffs on a large cigar
It’s a punishment gone too far
A deed which is clearly illegal

Finally he opens the window
As our luggage slams on the floor
When he casually closes the door
And he’s choked us half to death
Leaving our bodies pretty much bereft
Of any life

Strong so strong
They go where they belong
They howl in the night
Like wolves in the fight
They’re world unpinned
By minds that sinned
Not what they appear
Silent with the fear
Unbalanced from the womb
One foot in a tomb
Disturbing a nation
Like a Lovecraft creation
Adore what the world hates
Those loathsome reprobates

Whilst drinking
I wasn’t thinking
And I pulled out a rocket
Made of anger and self loathing
Wrapped up in childish clothing
Then just released it into the room

It flew into the faces
Of the innocents in their places
Which was wrong
I felt instant twinges of regret
But I wasn’t finished yet
As I swore and hit and cursed

A fool resides in here
His guilt is all too clear
The wallowing never stops
A conscience he must regain
That is floating in the rain
Before it gets washed away

We ran like soldiers in combat
And laughed like hippies smoking dope
We swung on rope swings like monkeys
And questioned how we’d all cope
When we finally entered adulthood

We swam in hidden lakes of water
And set fires underneath the trees
We rode bikes down steep inclines
And discussed the stormy seas
When we finally began adulthood

We wandered over well trodden grass
And hid from the local nutters
We watched a girl doing acrobatics
And listened what each of us mutters
About slowly descending into adulthood

We slid on the ice in winter
And watched cars float down the river
We did all the childhood emotions
And pondered what fate would deliver
As we all entered the start of adulthood

Like a trumpet in full song
The noise she roared
Floating in the air
From the nostril to my door
I don’t blame the vessel
All tucked up asleep
I blame the creator
Whoever that may be
A tip for the unlucky listener
Try to fall asleep first
Otherwise suffer the fate
Of the sleep depriving snore

Walking along
In a daze
I felt the sun and all his rays
A little thing that life had stole
Started returning
My precious soul
Spirits lifted through my skin
As beautiful thoughts
Drifted in
I wanted to live amongst the crowd
My new found strength
Made me proud
What lay in store I didn’t know
But I made a promise
To give it a go
Walking along
In vibrant sways
I thank the sun and all his rays

Next to the white painted fence
Underneath the old apple tree
My love of many years
Has promised to wait for me

Don’t be late was her message
Get here as fast as you can
A million leaves blew from the trees
When through the streets I ran and I ran

I got there and saw her smiling
Our arms embraced the day
But the problem with beautiful dreaming
Is that reality gets in the way

Then I remembered the daylight
And the birds were singing then
Please god do the impossible
And make this my dream again

Kisses are like bliss
Spellbinding and hard to resist
Be it lover, mother, father or brother
Sister, cat, secret person or other

Kisses are like bliss
The kind of thing you don’t want to miss
Different meanings from happiness to pain
Warm or cold like droplets of rain

Kisses are like bliss
You try to decide if you want to enlist
Cherish them like gold dust
They don’t die they don’t rust

Kisses are like bliss
Slamming down like an iron fist
Just have them there and then
Cause they may not come again

Hoot she goes
The watcher in the night
Nestled on a roof top
Expertly out of sight
Eyes like saucers
Seeking out prey
A little mouse in the grass
Is lunch for this one today
Wingspan opens like a flytrap
As she stealthy sets sail
Swooping down onto the victim
Who runs but to no avail
Talons grip like vices
The poor squealing foe
Up up and away she soars
Out of sight she will go
A mission done so successful
An assassination in cold blood
Nobody knows of this killer
Lying shadowed in the wood

There you go
My busy little one
Fluttering those wings
Under the sun

On slate on bark
And all manner of things
Chewing on samples
That nature aways brings

Consuming worms and seeds
Through soil and heather
Release those feathers
Whatever the weather

They say poetry is dead
Like a pencil without any lead
They say nobody writes
Like a holiday without the sights
They say written verse is dying
My friends they are all just lying
They say the books have dried up
Like tea leaves at the bottom of a cup
They say that interest has ceased
Like a chalet no longer leased
They say we’re running out of verses
Like hospitals without nurses
They say the day will come fast
When poetry becomes a thing of the past
They say this but its not what I believe
It’s just what society wants us all to perceive

I sometimes wish I could be visited
By three ghosts like in the dickens tale
Showing me the good, the bad and the ugly
Pushed against the wall by a rusting nail

A ghost of Christmas past
Reminding of my early years gone by
Showing me days that made me happy
And the days that made me cry

A ghost of Christmas present
Where my troubles are all laid bare
But in between all the hardship and mess
My heart is always there

A ghost of Christmas future
And this the one I fear most
Because I don’t know what it brings
This spirit this drifting host

But it shows me things are good
It shows me happiness in the heat
And I feel comfort in the knowledge
That it will kind it will be sweet

My children will grow up healthy
And become the people I hope they will
Strong with a sense of goodness
As they love me when I’m over the hill

Lastly my dearest will always love me
She will stay right by my side
Our flames will never wilt or diminish
We will never run we will never hide

So thank you spirits for your reassurance
When you come on the hour chime
I sleep in a peaceful sleep now
And thank you for you precious time

It has brought us together
Like birds of a feather
The adhesive stuff
Very very clever
They call it the glue of love

It so subtly applies
In a world full of flies
Working through the lies
Very very clever
They call it the glue of love

Hidden behind faces
Finding all the spaces
Hitting tender places
Very very clever
They call it the glue of love

It’s finds you
Cause it needs to
Firming as it flows through
Very very clever
They call it the glue of love

It swings, it dings, happiness it brings
None of us like it...really

Made of metal like a rusting kettle
None of us like it...really

It lifts me up like a winning cup
None of us like it...really

I’m hoist, I’m raised which isn’t my choice
None of us like it...really

A harness to aid, not afraid or paid
None of us like it...really

My dog is lovely
I love my dog
Until it did a mess
On top of my bog
It didn’t say sorry
Which made me mad
So I did something
I know was bad
I took its *****
Not literally mind
And threw them out
Which wasn’t kind
That day I felt guilty
From my head to my feet
Maybe he didn’t mean to
Do a mess on my seat
So I went to the pet shop
And bought my dog a bone
Afterwards I shown him photos
On my iPhone
We were friends for a short time
Then he became a pest
But the final straw came last night
When he did a mess all over my chest

I knew a man who had no ears
He’d often have me in fits of tears
When walking round in his clothes
Like a model he’d pull a pose

I knew a man who had no arms
In his mouth were lucky charms
One for me and one for him
The chance of two was very slim

I knew a man who had no feet
Who would ride around in a seat
Telling the world to move away
Revealing a trumpet he would play

I knew a man with half a head
I’d often find him in my bed
He made my life bright and sunny
My unique brother was devilishly funny

We danced amongst the daffodils
And mingled with the scents
Our nostrils were strangely ambushed
By the flower garden through the fence
A timeless little treasure trove
All hidden behind the house
And then we played hide and seek
Using our cunning and all our nouse
I hid down on the river bank
Behind a large crooked tree
Listening to your heavy footsteps
As you playfully tried to find me
And then all became eerily silent
The smell of burning hung in the air
You had gone and completely disappeared
To a place I still don’t know where
Thirty years on from that day
I sit in my own wandering mind
Wondering who took you from me
To face the loneliness and hurt left behind
I never give up hope
A kindred spirit doesn't really leave
I’ll just keep my fingers crossed
And not allow myself to stop or believe

Vinyl oh vinyl
Where did you go
Replaced by shiny round things
Made of what
I just don’t know

Vinyl oh vinyl
The joyous wonderful sound
Of crackling and scratching
As the needle drops down
And you slowly spin around

Vinyl oh vinyl
My beautiful childhood dream
Looking for words
Etched into the black
Really was a scream

Vinyl oh vinyl
A nostalgic thing of the past
I need to hear you
Play a song
For minutes first till last

New York as a state
Ain’t so great
Big cars big food
So ****** rude
Billy Joel
He’s swell
High serendipity
Statue of Liberty
Broadway success
Cats is the best
Helicopter ride
Long Island tide
Manhattan subway
Taxis giveaway
Become a star
With a cigar
Apple that’s big
Central Park dig
Broad walk creeps
City doesn’t sleep
Razzmatazz
Alcatraz
Christopher Street
Gay retreat
New York Jets
Giants like nets
Studio 54
Not there no more
An addict dies
Skyscrapers rise
New York New York
All just talk

This ambling shambling
Trouble sampling man
Enters

Blows through you
And you family too
Now

To feed greed
Like a demon seed
Forever

Oh hells bells
This man smells
Bad

Mind says run son
Or he’s won
Quick

Wrapped up in winter
They all found her dead
Death came so peacefully
As it crept through her bed
Face as white as ivory
Her eyes as wide as chasms
Thankfully no more pain
And those dreaded morning spasms
A life that created many
The legacy left behind
Courtesy of this wonderful woman
Forever warm and kind

Isn’t it random
The bike called a tandem

It’s hot it’s hot
What have you got
Tatty old books
And a flower ***

It’s hot it’s hot
What are you selling
A table of clothes
All dusty and smelling

It’s hot it’s hot
What can I buy
A bouquet of flowers
From a cemetery near by

It’s hot it’s hot
What can I see
Folded out chairs
And couples drinking tea

Meet my neighbours
All wild and fiery
He’s intermittent
She’s just wiry
None of us speak
Not that I’m sad
Those habitual nutters
Have drove us mad
We’re decent people
I like to think
But even the sanest
Get pushed to the brink
I dream of waking
On a sunny day
And watching them slowly
Driving away
No words needed
I can read the sign
House for sale
That would do fine

In the gutters stir the rats
Black as the night and fat as cats
Running through gardens
With no beg your pardons

Feeding on the debris folk leave behind
Like half eaten chicken legs and bacon rind
Vermin that camouflage in with the night
Aimless minds with no plan in sight

Through tunnels all dark and over flowing
With excrement that’s shows no signs of slowing
Long noses and curling whip like tails
Who is it who puts the wind in your sails

Misunderstood? A nasty creation
Is it true your the devils relation
In the shadows the rats like to roam
Through the grime and filth they believe to be home

Like ghosts in the night
Sailing through the wind
Roaming and moaning
About the times when we sinned
Never quite at peace
Searching for the shore
Desperate to leave the water
To sleep for ever more
Why do we never find sanctuary
Our souls waiting to maroon
We crossed into dangerous waters
Hastily and much to soon
Let’s sing our song together
Holding hands in the dimming light
A sweet smile we give to each other
As we tip toe along in the night
A kiss from now and the past
Blessed but never forgotten
I remember how things once were
Before the troubled became the rotten

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
It has graceful charm
And bears no harm
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
The joy it brings
When it lifts its wings
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
Whilst watching migration
From across the nation
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
And the world flows by
Like a lullaby
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
Not a single care
For people who stare
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

A pigeon sings in Trafalgar Square
Then it flys up high
Without a goodbye
As it sings in Trafalgar Square

Open your mail
Open your heart
The contents inside
Are sad from the start
Read the words
Read the truth
Jotted down lines
Reveal the prove
Cry from your eyes
Cry from your soul
Oh how this letter
Has taken its toll
It’s the end of the beginning
It’s the beginning of the end
You’ve lost your love
My dear old friend
I know you’ll yearn
I know you’ll miss
That needed last letter
Sealed with a kiss
He died as a hero
He died strong and tall
But the kind words you say
In truth mean nothing at all

Take me if you must
I won’t create a fuss
Let me breath out my chest
Cause since a baby on the breast
You’ve always been taking me anyway

Lead me along those jagged lines
Of empty fields and emotional climbs
As the clocks all chime
Ive known with time
You’ve always been taking me anyway

Let me rest in a place
As you end the chase
Then I listen to the cry’s
When they say their goodbyes
You’ve always been taking me anyway

Poetry has to rhyme
No it doesn’t
That lie is just a crime
It’s meant to fixate
To inflate
The curious mind
The literate kind
Words in a verse
The gold in the purse
Of a creative person

Poetry has to rhyme
No it doesn’t
Your wrong this time
Its meant to uplift
To drift
Into a person thoughts
A charm of sorts
Letters in a line
All beautiful and fine
To read everyday

On a burning staircase stood Judy
Her skin blistering in the relentless heat
‘Come down Miss’!, cried the fireman
But Judy didn’t understand the world
As we do

As the flames rose higher
Judy’s clothes began to smoke away
‘Please, please, trust me’!, shouted the fireman
And then Judy began to sing a hymn
In her beautiful voice

Black smoke flooded her lungs
Judy tried hard to keep up the tempo
‘I have to go, I have to go’!, sobbed the fireman
Judy coughed between note and glorious note
How she was endearing

The house melted like butter
Judy was a memory in the past
‘She wouldn’t come down’, sorrowed the fireman
The song echoed in his ears
Then he wiped his eyes

A lady wears glasses to hide her eyelashes
The man in a coat seems to float
A girl is wearing a dress made to impress
The boy with a toy is acting all coy
A Jewish mans beard is treble tiered
The teenagers joke through cloudy smoke
A delivery man in shorts and a million thoughts
The polish store sells beer and more
A boarded shop is a graffiti stop
The Jamaican gent is counting his rent
A man wearing shoes reads the news
The Asians wear a frown as the meat falls down
A post box sits as the mail hits
The cars stream along like notes in a song
A dozen boxes are attracting the foxes
The ***** gives a sigh as the world drifts by

Why are you here?
Cried the man in the night
What do you seek?
Shrieked the lady in fright

So dark and so empowering
Stammered the man in the hat
Please go back to hell
Whispered the lady who strokes the cat

Like a cloak of darkness
Chirped the man on the bed
A blanket of blackness
Sang the lady to the dead

Come forward to the flame
Spoke the man wearing a tie
Cross over my darling spirit
Prayed the lady to the sky

I feel a quietness enter the room
Said the man with the shirt opened wide
Yes his sins are now forgiven
Listened the lady to her spirit guide

In the dark of the visual glare
You slowly squeezed my hand
As the images flickered on celluloid
My resistance ebbs like sand

Mother will you ever really like
My painting of a man riding a bike
Through disappointment, heavy sighs and cruel lies
See the life that I often capture through my eyes
Workers all flowing out of a factory gate
An image that your mind just loves to hate
People that are short but also tall
Or the man lying horizontal on top of a wall
See the children all wild and full of mood
Like ants all collective on decaying food
Mother won’t you just stop and see
I’m a painter an artist that’s just me
White paint stroked over fabric sheets
Under reflections showing desolation on
Salford streets
I am a man who paints what he sees
Like children running around with funny knees
Matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs
To children on the ***** streets with sparkling clogs
I know I seem a disappointment to you
But when your gone my images the world will finally view
Those funny people, animals and smoke
Were done by me, L S Lowry, the maternal joke

Head hidden in his hood
He’s in there somewhere
Underneath the skin and blood
Awaiting learning and special care
Lies a brain full of thoughts
A mind crammed with dreams
But with more crosses than noughts
All bursting at the seams

Head hidden in his hood
He’s in there somewhere
Operating differently than he should
The ignoramus persons nightmare
A boy of few words
Whose actions speak a bit more
Like buffalos running in a herd
He brings destruction to the floor

Head hidden in his hood
He’s in there somewhere
The eyes work like a spy’s would
Impossible hearing behind the stare
Don’t be fooled by his quiet
He’s smarter than you and me
Capable of a mini riot
My boy little Master C

Watch the man worry
Observe his pain
Watch the man wander
In the cold poring rain

Watch the man falter
Listen to his woes
Watch the man duck
Avoiding the blows

Watch the man crawl
Into a hole and die
Watch the man crumble
In the blink of an eye

Watch the man fall
Flat onto the floor
Watch the man roll
Into a ball and nothing more

Watch the man pray
Seeking divine love
Watch the man lift
With help from above

Watch the man stand
Slowly onto his feet
Watch the man grow
Like a flower in the heat

Watch the man reconnect
Steadily in the crowd
Watch the mans voice
Begin to talk nice and loud

Watch the man soar
Upwards strong and high
Watch the man recover
And smile to the sky

I’m blissfully aware of the beauty
That tumbles from the sky
Heavy drops of liquid rain
Make me want to cry
I’m fully in tune with nature
From the trees to a buzzing bee
As a wave crashes across a rock
A chrysalis sets a butterfly free
I absorb the heat from the sun
As it’s rays unravel my skin
Making the pale to red
On the vessel that my bones are in
And lastly I ponder the stars
That sparkle and burn in the night
Shooting and fizzing through the dark
They leave my head in wonder and delight

Darling I’ve left you
My little note reads
That’s a shocker to stumble across
As you place down the keys

Darling I’ve left you
And gone to parts very much unknown
Please don’t bother trying to ring me
I’ve snipped the linecord on the phone

Darling I’ve left you
Your dinners in the dog
The jeans wore for your fancy piece
Are floating in the bog

Darling I’ve left you
Are the crocodile tears coming out
You really thought you’d keep it a secret
Just how much you were putting it about

Darling I’ve left you
The savings account is bone dry
And as for my life insurance
You’ll get f’all when I finally die

Darling I’ve left you
For a woman who doesn’t make me sick
Caring, loving and sexually active
Not like you you arrogant p*k!

Way down deep
In the lower regions of earth
Lies a very ancient monster
Awaiting its rebirth
It’s skin all jagged and cracked
With teeth all withered and redundant
The lair it’s resides in is disturbed
Making its uprising more abundant
The drills are digging deeper
Smashing through water and ice
Anger is raging inside it
It’s revenge will not be nice
Banished by gods own hands
A demon that polluted the waves
Killing anything put before him
Destruction is the vice that he craves
Boats shake upon the water
Scientific minds with puzzled stares
Fear strikes all the crew men
As it’s them that the beast ensnares
Leave alone my beautiful ocean
Your curiosity has now set me free
Gigantic is it’s form as it rises
Surging out of the deep blue sea
Beware the angry serpent
Stay away from the waters so deep
Turn back while time allows you
And just hope that the monster falls back to sleep