the jams came on
that ringing cymbal
the driving bass
my buzz came alive
my foot started thumping
my fingers strummed
I mouthed the lyrics
I was part
of AC/DC
made me leave my seat
and dance
all three kittens ran and hid
Missy just laid there
like , oh this is usual for
a Saturday, you *******,
you should have been
here two years ago
when he could move
without limping

At least you're happily married.
Maybe it's all just a test.
Have you thought about changing your diet?
You'll just have to have lots of ***.
At least you can still go on dates.
Remember you're both very young.
Make the most of it while you still can.
Pregnancy isn't much fun.
Sometimes parenting *****.
You've got enough on your plate.
Weekends are ruined by kids.
Perhaps it's a good thing to wait.
I've heard there are pills that can help.
At least you can sleep through the night.
Perhaps it's not the right time.
It looks like you're coping alright.
It took us a year to conceive.
I can see why you feel so depressed.
I know you've been trying for longer.
The main thing is not to get stressed.
Your condition is really quite common;
I've got it and so does my friend.
God blessed me with two healthy children -
It'll all work out in the end.

This is the place I’m supposed to call home
Then why do I feel so foreign here?
Like a first time tourist lost within a country where no one speaks English


Yet, at the same time
I see the same faces
the same places
The menu at the diner around the corner never changes
The streetlights come on at the same time each day without fail,
except for that one down the street that’s been out since before I can remember
Never changing, always stagnant
Like an iPod stuck repeating the same bubblegum,
boy band
pop song from 2004


And I feel my stomach turn
my face turns green
my temperature rises
I am sick
of this place
I am tired
of this place
I am sick and tired of whitewashed, backwards thinking of “I’ll take care of myself -
***** anybody else.”
Because this might be a town
but it is anything but a community


And one day
hopefully soon
I will escape the invisible bars that trace the outline of this town
that are continually getting smaller and smaller
as my dreams become bigger and bigger


I can no longer breathe

gifs can be an issue

when i contentrate

on work.



memes are impossible

to pronounce.



denounce the pass it forward,

copy and paste. why write verse

when



you can talk to me.



sbm.

In the night somewhere
A baby cries
And somewhere else
Lovers sigh
And as time passes
An old man dies

Somewhere out in space
A planet turns
And light years away
A star sun burns
Making us merely dust
And no-one learns

                                 By Phil Roberts

Here the coldness of space enters our bones
-the night open to the far distant flung Universe.
How fragile and puny our bodies and minds grasp
-on the distances that reach down across the vastness.
Tipped away from the Sun here in the north
-our days few hours of light swallowed by the dark.
We shiver huddled around our hearths meagre warmth
-deep into the ancient blackness cold as centuries old dead stars.

Caution?
I never quite got the hang of that
Never a gambler as such
I have been a creature of impulse and instinct
Of uncertain intent
Unknowing and unmeaning
I have created crackling static
Out of consequence and recrimination
Trying not to hurt anyone
I do right by none
But I cannot change my gypsy way
I have always said and will always say
I won't die wondering
I hope to die laughing
But not today

                                             By Phil Roberts