Words
Cutting through
Still air
Express
The hearts
Of a people


Fluttering through
The portals of endless minds
Unifying
Through shared experience

Piping the marrow
Of deepest consciousness
Tapping a reservoir of
Human hope

While we live
We can be poets
In death
Our words and deeds
Remain

Precious, hopeful,
Unique, fragile
Growing, uncertain,
Peculiar, shy

Child
You are
Nothing short
Of universe
Encapsulated
In single form

Embodied spirit
Of greatest energy
All things loaded
In your youthful shell

Limitless possibilities
For your happiness
Lie inside
Awaiting
A cause

Mandela standing
Fist raised
Gandhi laughing
Malala smiling
Children playing
The buzz of nature
Growing unfettered
A roar of voices
Ripped free from constraint
Sunlight
Multicoloured
A rush of wind against my body

It seems we have perfected the art
Of creating machines
That damage the planet
And destroy humanity

The companies that create the machines
Have put so much effort into being efficient producers
That they cannot dream of stopping
So they make and they make
And they make and they make
And they sell and they sell
And they sell and they sell

And we buy because we are sold a false vision
That the object is good for us
Good for our happiness
Good for our lives
Which must be good for the planet
Mustn’t it?  
Because it drives the economy
And that’s good for everyone
…isn’t it?

Eventually the truth seeps through the cracks in our consciousness
That what we have been sold
Is not good for us
Not good for the creatures that we share the planet with
Not good for our health
Not good for our neighbours
Not good for our families

But then, it feels like it’s almost too late
Because everyone else has bought one
And we need to buy another newer one
To keep up with the race
And not be left behind
Because if our economies fail, then what will happen to the people?

Meanwhile the creatures are dying
And our desire to be ever more satisfied are growing
And the great catastrophe of profit driven capitalism
Marches on

If you do the things you love
It is hard to go wrong

If you return to the things you love
That makes you feel...good

It makes you feel
Alive

It is hard to cling to the belief
That I can be absolutely happy
When the reality of being partly happy
Is much more familiar
And attainable

Experiencing a partial life
A mix of frustrations
Groans and sighs
Half baked 'if onlys'
Is easier to achieve
Than a life of absolute happiness

‘…If you are feeling unwell during your journey
Please seek help at the next station…’

But what if you don’t know when the next station is?

What if you don’t believe that there even is a station up ahead?

What if you don’t know what help you need?

Sometimes I feel like I am hurtling down the wrong track
Towards the wrong destination
And I don’t know how to get off

Perhaps I need to pull the emergency brake
And sit still and think

Perhaps?

Those

Who give it all

Win

I should climb back on the tightrope
Find my way back to the mountain path
Because I lost my grip on the high wire
And crashed down to the earth

Now I’m lying amongst the dirt
Watching rain drops splash and jump
I keep myself down here for a while
And growl at those trying to pull me up

If I should stay here any longer
Would my desperation stop
Would I draw closer to nature’s mother
My heart beating against the sod

Who cares what people might say
If I’m scratched and bruised, vile and pungent
I’m a wild animal come from wild animals after all
And my trappings and rituals are just a veil

The ice
Around my heart
Protects me from
The piercings
Of your knife

The right wing
Is emerging
As an ugly force
In this country
Of ours

Those who talk with reason
Are shouted down
Those who wish to discuss
Are ejected
Those who have wriggled
Into positions of power
Remove those who disagree

Democracy is dying
This road only leads to destruction
And I do not want to travel it

You wonder why
I look to you
For love
Tenderness
Comfort
***

I want you
To make
My feelings
Disappear

Emptiness
Desolation
Hopelessness
Powerlessne­ss

Still they keep coming
Stronger than the wind
Stronger than the wind

And you wonder why
I look to you
For love

I want you
To make
My feelings
Disappear

Just for a moment
As I hold a bundle of washed clothes
I inhale the autumn air
Observe the blue skies
And feel the soft earth underfoot
The cares of adulthood evaporate
And I become an ageless creature
Wondering at the sun
Gasping at the breeze
Dazed by the dancing birds
Ignorant of anything but the moment
Unafraid of death

I see ghosts in the woods
They are everywhere

Standing in the trees
Bathing in the lakes

Embodied in the bricks of the priory
Everywhere

We have been born
Into the world created by these ghosts

And we are the ghosts
Creating the world out children will inherit

One day I will be a ghost
Standing in the trees
Bathing in the lakes
Embodied in the bricks of buildings

Will I terrify the children?
Or will I have made them smile?

I am writing the future
With my pen
Whether I like it
Or not

I am instructing the universe
With my voice
Whether I like it or not

I am building the world
With my actions
Whether I like it or not

In the world of stories
Right and wrong are clear
The good prevail
And the bad founder

In the world in which we live
Tyrants enjoy power and wealth
And the meek do not inherit anything

As it continues
The meek, wishing to escape their poverty
Follow the example of the leaders
And become tyrannous themselves
And society gradually rots

Those who do right
For themselves and others
Resisting the tyranny
Speaking the truth

Are society’s only hope

Am I over-stimulating myself
With my plans, hopes and dreams?

Is a life’s work nothing but endless torment and toil?

How much can one brain handle
How much effort can one person make

What is the destination for all this
Merely survival?  Collapse?

To what end have we set ourselves
On what course are we advancing?

Yesterday’s news
Was so important
Yesterday

Today’s news
Is so important
Today

Tomorrow’s news
Will be so important
Tomorrow

This is how it goes
With the news

Yesterday
Today
Tomorrow

We can travel
In endless circles
Of unnecessary suffering

If we fail to learn from the past
Fail to act in the present
And fail to plan for a better future

This body
Carries a soul
In the depths of which
Is purity
How to reveal that purity
Is one of life’s great challenges

If I can see the Andromeda Galaxy
2.5 million light years away
Why can’t I look you in the eye?

Every time the engine starts
Every time I run the bath
Every time I light the hob
Fuel to the fire

Buying clothes, buying food
Packed in plastic, to keep them ‘good’
Take out coffees, drinking straws
Mounting *******, more and more

Chemical cleaners, bleach and spray
Dyes and oils all flushed away
Airline travel, planet hopping
Don’t we see the earth is sobbing

Growing seeds, planting trees
Searching for clean energies
Help all living creatures breathe
Bring back our diversity

I see
The green of ivy and bindweed
Drenched by the
Flooding water

I hear
The cries of honest children playing
And dishonest men shouting

I feel the tired people
Travelling on the rat race commuter train

Whilst grey skies
Threaten
Overhead

And amongst
The chaos
Bestowed  
By the wild fantasies
Of the emboldened egomaniacs

I decide to hope
I decide to believe
To campaign
Fully

To use my life
For the sake of the future
To make a vow
For our children

To fight for the right
To battle for peace
To persist for our planet

There is an anger inside me
Burning
Like the crashing trees of the Amazon

There is rage inside me
Roaring
Like the hurricanes of the Atlantic

There is sadness inside me
Pouring
Like the torrents of the flood waters of Southern Spain

There is dis-ease inside me
Spreading
Like the epidemics of the Congo

You stand
Cracking jokes

The mischievous smirk
Of a naughty school boy on your face

On the day that our country’s highest court
Rules your shutdown of our parliament

Unlawful

You dismiss the very notion of law and order
Claiming the people want you to deliver Brexit

And that you should be allowed
To just get on with it

You bring shame upon yourself
Mocking the people and our democracy

We knew it all along
You are a liar

Obsessed with nothing
But your own interests

Shame on you Boris Johnson

Shame on you

Only your voice resonates
With truth
In a world
Of cynical soundbites

Your outrage
At the falsity
Of the so-called leaders

Penetrates our hearts
And changes us

You demonstrate more dignity
In five minutes

Than years of pathetic political hypocrisy

Two is
A number
Divided by itself
Is one
Add one
For a crowd
Take one away
For solitude
Multiply itself
To make a square

Two is
A pair
A couple
Company
Two
Means we
Us
Both

Two is
You and me
Together
We are free
I am only
Two is more
Than a number
Two is company
And that's
A gift

Your soft and tender voice
Has tipped me over

The emotions that I have held
Under my skin
Mist my eyes
And moisten
My cheeks

You share your heart in song
And move me from my place
I, your father, watch from the crowd
As you have become a flower
More beautiful than I could dream of

Precious, tender and sweet
Filled with greater courage
Than I could ever muster
You sing for the first time

Who cares?

Who cares for more than just themselves?
Who fights the desire to just worry about the self
And think of others?

Who devotes their lives to others?
Who devotes their lives to making the world…
Better?

Is there anybody out there, who really cares?

If you are there, can I reach you with my words
And make you understand
That you are truly noble?

Can I let you know, that your care for others
Makes you worthy of the greatest respect?

Can I let you know that your life
Is more precious than gold?

Would you be able to hear that?

Guardians of empathy
You are more important than Kings, Queens or Presidents
For everything that you do for others
Counts

What is it
That it is?

Can I put
It into words

Can I make you feel
How I feel?
If I said

Orange
Lilac
And
Black

Would that depict
This sunset
And the silhouetted trees?

If I said
I’ve had too much to drink
Would you understand?

If I stare at the trees for long enough
I see them glowing
And I forget all the things
That trouble my human brain

I think of all the years
That they have grown
Without complaining
Or yielding

I see their strength
And I wonder at their message
I am alive with them
And for a moment I feel like I am special

A special man
With a purpose
And a life to live
And I feel like I am glowing with the trees

I am one with the vibration of nature
Alive with the earth
Part of the universe
If I stare at the trees

Fires are burning
Ice is melting
Sea levels are rising
People are dying

But still
Around the world
Men are fighting
For power

Power!

Power?

Why?

What do they wish
To behold?
Their name in history?
As leaders
Who carried their people
To oblivion?

Is it for fame?
Fortune?
Recognition?
Love?
Immortality?

Fires are burning
Ice is melting
Sea levels are rising
People are dying

And still these men

Fight
For power

I had a thought of a thing
To write about
During the night
Deep in the night

But it escaped my mind
Just like that
Without a trace
An empty space

It was a great thought
Or so I thought
That came in the night
Like a fairy sprite

But now it’s gone
To who knows where
Behind the sofa?
Under the chair?

I wish I could know
What makes me remember
The idea was there?
Before it left

What makes me forget
It’s clever details
And leaves me stuck with
An empty page

What long ago passed
I can still recall
And that which is recent
Has slipped through my fingers

I guess that’s just age
And my great idea
Will land on a page
Of a brighter writer

‘…The mind determines everything…’

Calm
Cold
Deep
Glittering
Water

Currents
Pulling
Gulls
Boats
Sand

W­arm
Bodies
Shiver
Tingle
Glow

Towels
Rub
Sun
Warms
Home

It’s a new day
The earth is vibrant
The skies are blue
The air is fresh

The leaves are green
Mothers are smiling
Water is flowing
Tea is being made

Airplanes are gliding
Music is playing
Trees stand together
Birds play overhead

Human beings make their way
Ready to celebrate
A happy end
To the working week

Will someone explain to me
The benefit of

Food shortages
Lack of medicines
Lorries queuing for days at Dover and Kent
Price rises affecting the poorest in society
Ruined international relationships

Will someone explain to me
Why democracy should be abandoned
Parliament should be closed unlawfully
An unelected leader should have his own way
So that we can have

Food shortages
Lack of medicine
Lorries queuing for days at Dover and Kent
Price rises affecting the poorest in society
Ruined international relationships

Can somebody explain to me
Why we must obey
‘The will of the people’
Which apparently is crying out for

Food shortages
Lack of medicine
Lorries queuing for days at Dover and Kent
Price rises affecting the poorest in society
Damaged international relationships

For as it stands
I simply do not understand

I sit
In this moment
Of borrowed time
And think back
On the day

The interweaving busy-ness
The rushing from here to there
Without cease
Has tired me

And yet
I did see the sun
Setting
As I walked homewards

A brilliant decoration
Of gold
Amongst swathes of rippled clouds
And it made me stop
And wonder at
Everything

I rush to meet
My human priorities
A tiny dot
Buzzing around
In this great universal soup

And I know
That I do not wonder enough
At the very wonder
Of it all

Parliamentary protests are essential

The standing up for free speech
The need to protect democracy
The resolve to fight for it
The singing of songs and anthems
At 2am in the house of commons
Will in time
Be known
As acts of valour

The careless dismissals
Of our so-called ‘prime’ minister
Are shallow and dangerous

His admiration and imitations
Of a dangerous American ‘president’
Are base and transparent

Shutting down parliament
To deliver his own agenda
Leaves a foul stain on our history

No one is bigger than truth
No one is greater than justice

It is only those who follow
These great virtues
Come what may
Who will be remembered
As honourable

So, don’t call him
‘The right honourable gentleman’
Or ‘My right honourable friend’

Honour is a not to be bestowed flippantly
It only applies to those
Who deserve it.

The leaves are changing
And so are we

Summer is passed
And the things we have done
Have become
Memories

The trees
Stand quietly
Reminders of more abundant times

But the air has changed
And coats are being drawn from cupboards

It feels like now we should grieve
For the times when we were
Just relaxing together

Fresh challenges lie ahead
Who knows what they will be?
They must be tackled
Endured
Experienced
Overcome

But for just a moment
I will taste the nostalgia
Of all that has passed

Only the mystic law
Can transform a broken heart
And make it whole

The taste of this meal
Delivers me two decades back in time

I’m in that room again
Dining with those people

A wild youth

Care free

Uncaring

I suddenly remember
This twenty-five-year-old boy
Longing to escape the world
He found himself within

And I feel it -
The yearning
The surging tide of unfulfilled dreams
Bursting within my chest

The longing
To live
A life
Of fiery substance

And I can smell it
Once again
In this smoky, cool, autumn air

As the yearning rises up
Urging me
To rip myself out
From where I am

Today I swim
Further than I have ever gone before
To mark 25 years of an organisation’s creative work
Its perseverance
Endurance
Opportunity

I swim 25 kilometres
Over three days
Friday, Saturday, Sunday

I start, confident, quickly
Darting up and down the leafy waters
Of London Fields lido

I swim faster than normal
Deciding that I can break the back of it
On day one
Then, after four kilometres
Cramp strikes at my right calf
Like a poisoned dagger

Cramp?  Cramp!!  After only four kilometres?
And all those months of cramp-free training

Doubt clouds my mind in an instant and I wonder
Will I let everyone down?
All those who have donated to the cause
Encouraged my efforts
Applauded the challenge
And I can’t even complete 5 kilometres?

Despondently I decide to rest, eat,
Travel home, and eventually return to an indoor pool
The after shock of the cramp clawing at my leg as I walk
The muscles tight, unusual, threatened by the chemical imbalance
And I enter the water gloomily
And swim

One slow length, waiting for the dagger to return
Two lengths, waiting, waiting
Three, four and I find I am moving steadily
Minutes pass, then more minutes, then hours
Until a dazzling sun set illuminates the gathering of grey clouds
And I find I have met my target for the day
And all is not lost
After all

What is this country
Where ageing white men
Scream and shout
Forgetting all sense of decency and humility

What is this country
Where so called leaders
Refuse to take responsibility and apologise
For even their most base acts

What is this country
Where sincere mass demonstrations of the people
Are referred to as dithering mobs

What is this country where one unelected man
Wields the power to lead a nation
Down a poisonous path

What is this country
Where jokes and sniggers
Echo through the august chambers of parliament

What is this country?

I saw a drop
Land in a puddle
And a perfect ring raced
To the puddle’s edge

I saw another drop
And another and their rings raced out too
And then they joined together

I saw a thousand rain droplets
Stuck to my window
Until the rush of the wind
Joined one to another

I imagined the deepest depths of the ocean
Silent, swirling, black
Built of billions of drops and droplets
All working together
As one

And I pondered the secrets of the universe
The possibilities that arise
When one joins another
And another and another
To become many

It’s just me and my cat
Left sat on the chair
To ponder the last day of the summer holidays

Everyone else is getting ready
For the first day back to school

There are only the sounds of movements upstairs
The opening and closing of drawers
The search for train passes
The late evening footsteps up and down the stairs
And the hum of the dishwasher
Cleaning the dinner plates

Summer is over
A new autumn term is about to begin

Children will become young adults
And young adults will become adults
The old will get older
And the earth will continue to rotate on its axis
Revolving around the sun
Just as it should
Just as it always has done

The journey towards happiness
Is beset with twists and turns
Ups and downs
Highs and lows

It is a journey
Of struggles and challenge
Effort and toil

And not a destination

Remaining still and quiet
In even the most tranquil place
After a while can become hellish

Rejoicing wildly at the nearest peak
For too long
Becomes hollow

We need to move
Explore, contribute, take others with us
To change the world around us

And in doing so
We can move and change our inner world
Becoming happy
Together with others

What comes to me
Becomes part of me

What leaves me
Becomes part of my history

What shapes me
Surrounds me

As I shape
That which  surrounds me

My family is the soil from which I grow
And the earth to which I will return

If only the dawn air was free of pollution
If only earth’s paradise could once again breathe
If only each human built kind, honest legacies
Then each child would grow up
Free from all fear