Sea temperature:
16 degrees

I felt it fully
With my whole body
As I took my October swim

For a while
The clouds parted
Allowing golden sunlight
To warm my face

I emerged
As if re-born
Tingling
With divine heat

All things come
From mud and earth

Left alone
Seeds will sprout
Shrubs and grasses will grow
Trees will ascend
And all life
Will flourish

Over managed
Hunted, mown
Cut, degraded
Life is stunted

Thousands of years ago
Life was here
And we moulded
Our dwellings
In to bountiful landscapes

And now with
Brick, tarmac, pavement
Steel and stone
We weigh it down

But beneath
The energy
Of the mud
Boils and bubbles
Waiting to burst forth
In profusions
Of mystical creativity

I pray that we will
Give our earth
The chance to decorate our planet once again
With a brilliant eruption of diversity
And this will become a golden age
Of nature

Today
I painted two pictures
Retrieved an empty sweet packet
And a football
Drifting in the sea
As I took
A cooling swim
I played cards with my daughter
Spoke to my sister
Finished my book
Made lunch and dinner
And wondered about my inner ambitions
My restless desires
And I let them go
A little

Ideas exist
There is no doubt about that
But without people
There can be no ideas

People without ideas
Do exist
And ideas cannot become active without people.
Although they can exist.

I have an idea that I exist
And that is real
And my existence, my ideas
Are my legacy
Even when I cease to exist

People and ideas
Interact
Without people, ideas are just ideas
With people they are life

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?

Tap tap tap
Drip drip drip
Slip slip slip
Drop drop drop

Rush rush rush
Trip trip trip
Hush hush hush
Flop flop flop

Flip flip flip
Bit bit bit
Flit flit flit
Scrap scrap scrap

Scrape scrape scrape
Late Late Late
Light light light
Night night night

I want
Happiness
To be
My default

I think we need more beauty in this world.
The sounds of singing in hospital wards
The caress of soft hands on tired faces
The offering of food to the poor and needy
The encouraging words of a gentle leader

I think we need more beauty in this world
More nurturing of all the plants and animals
With which we share the planet
More tender care to clean our waters and refresh the oceans
More time to observe the twinkling of the stars

I think we need more beauty in the world
More stories of truth, more poetry, more fables
More joining together of instruments in soothing sounds
More holding hands, more helping each other
More belief in each other

More hope

On this morning
So bright and fresh
Green grasses of spring
Dance peacefully in the quiet breeze
Wood pigeons sing softly
And buds on naked trees
Glisten as they present their fledgling leaves
To the world

On this morning
The sun dazzles
And warms me
Seagull chatter soothes my ears
And all else is quiet
The air has a natural freshness
As people sleep in their beds
And I feel free, like a child

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

How soft and comforting
To sit upon the beach
Clutching handfuls of warm sand
And gazing upon the glistening sea

The waves obey the to and fro
Swishing and swashing
As gulls surf the skies above
And children play at waters edge

Fresh briny air cools our faces
As we pick pebbles and stones
Until we decide to return home
Happy once more

There are days when I think
How wonderful it would be
To abandon myself to the great waves
Of the oceans
To be one with the sea
To roll in and out on the tides
Sighing with each breath
At the smallness of my worries
And the majesty of the world

Isn’t it easier to let go
Than to keep holding on
To things as they were

Isn’t it wiser
To be taken down the river
Than to fight the current of the times

Isn’t it braver
To say what you really think
Than to try and please the people you think you ought to?

Isn’t it certain
That the times are changing
And the best we can do is change with them?

Coffee makes me dance
It makes me sing
It makes me smile
It makes me zing

It makes me awake
When I should be asleep
It makes me happy
When things look bleak

It makes me wish
For an endless cup
So I could drink
And never stop

It makes me feel
That life is sweet
So here’s to a coffee
Next time we meet

I close my eyes
And wait for what may come

And then, I remember the man
With the sore skin and red face
Who passed me by today

In the blank spaces of my mind I recall
The woman praying
As a young child drops a penny in her cup
And then
The elderly man on his knees
Holding out his begging cap

I remember the light rain
Moistening the coats of thrifty shoppers
As an African lady pulls a one wheeled trolley
Noisily along the cobbled pavement

People with blunted expressions
Talk of how they will spend their Christmas
Now that we cannot be together
And I sense
The dim reflected light of despair
In their eyes

How much more
Do we have to take
Before we emerge from this storm?

And I ask myself
What is left
When everything else is taken away?

My body slumped today
My eyes puffed up and blurred
My legs began to ache
My mind got in a whirl

I tried some sleep
To burn it off
I tried to rest
But couldn’t
Perhaps a pill
Would **** my ills
Perhaps a pill
Wouldn’t


My head thumped through the day
My bones bumped and swayed
My neck swelled
My shoulders ached
Perhaps some wine would set me straight?
Perhaps some wine
Wouldn’t

The closer together we are

The stronger the attraction

The further apart

The weaker the pull

I'm waiting on the line
Passing the time
Feeling fine
This day

I watch the tides
People strolling by
In grey winter time
This day

Grannies hold the hands
Of children in their prams
Whilst blackbirds pick at sand
Across the bay

Christmas cheer
May be quieter this year
As we’ll remember
All that’s passed

In the New Year
Perhaps we will be freer
Kinder than ever before?

Our hope will rise
Each new sunrise
As Spring draws ever
Nearer

I’m entering
Another dimension

The transition
Will be painful

But I will adapt
And adjust

Finding joy
Wherever I go

For the pain
Of staying put

Outweighs
All discomforts

As I travel
To a new, more beautiful place

There are companies profiting  
From digging up grass lawns
And replacing them
With acres of  non-recyclable synthetic lawns

Landowners announce proudly
‘Oh yes, that looks much nicer
And so much easier to look after
And it really looks like a lovely green lawn now’

Do we humans not shudder
As we enjoy our new and clean synthetic lawn
Forgetting the suffocating earth beneath?

Do we not sleepwalk towards death?
Is this not plastic pollution
At its most base and senseless level?

And yet the 'market' is booming
Profits soaring 600% in just ten years

Well, that's something after all

It is important to know
That the hurt
That is caused
Injures the perpetrator most of all

It enters their life
And blends with their soul
Becoming part of who they are

Their legacy, their role on the stage of life
Becomes tarnished
Only redeemable by realisation, absolute apology
And commitment to work on reparations without ceasing
Until the wrongs that have been wrought
Are put to right

Time marches onwards
And is sometimes generous to wrongdoers
Although, sadly for others
Is less so, and redemption evades them

A mistake is made
And then it is repeated
Treated like an experiment

Wait a minute
This is not a mistake

It is a gift
So let it repeat

Let’s hear it again
And again

Give it energy until it becomes an engine

An engine that drives back the boundaries
Of what has ever been created before

And bring on the drums
Let them beat wildly as the new creation emerges
Experience the whole thing as it builds to an incredible peak
And then is surmounted by an even higher peak

Sounds and rhythms
Never even dreamed of
Are being played
And experienced
For the first time ever

And we are here witnessing it
Drawing it out of the musicians
By being open and willing to its creation
And somehow
Quite naturally

Anything becomes possible

Creating
A truly happy family
Can
Change the world

Goodbye friend
Life for you
Was troubled and dark
In the end
You felt too alone
To survive this world

Goodbye friend
Although you are gone too soon
Drowned in a sea of swallowed pills
I still feel your presence

Goodbye friend
I hope that our prayers
Will touch your life
As it journeys through the cosmos
And direct you towards
The happiness you deserve
In your next life

Goodbye friend
In the end
A darkness dominated your final days
But we know your natural state
Was one of light and life

Goodbye friend
We will miss you
And we regret that you weren’t able
To come through it all
To experience a different life

Ours is a time in which crazed youths leave their homes, weapons in hand
Ours is a time in which skin colour and place birth mean more than they should
Ours is a time in which the rich rule the poor and the poor long to be rich
Ours is a time in which the temperature is rising, but engines keep running
Ours is a time in which true hope is in short supply but anger abounds
Ours is a time in which security is longed for but denied to so many

Ours is a time in which everything must change

Because times like these cannot continue

I don’t cope well with uncertainty
It's exhausting living like this
I end up feeling so worn out
I can’t even sleep to cure my ills

Does it matter that I show you
A ***** in my armour?
Does it matter that you drink your nights away?
If I were a different man I guess I’d lead a different life
It's simple, some might say

If I could shrug off this heavy coat
Be sure, I’d take it off
But as it is, all I can do
Is wear it with some pride

And so like treacle, thick and dense
This year draws to an end
Its hard to think what to make of that
Which waits around the bend

I wish I could write a break through poem
I wish I wasn’t so tired
I wish I didn’t have to go to work
To keep the oven fired

I wish I woke up, full of beans
My head devoid of woes
I wish I wore the finest garments
From my head to my ageing toes

I wish I had endless amounts of cash
On which I’d spend and spree
And to keep me looking fit and flash
A spa and jacuzzi

I wish I could jump into Brad Pitt’s shoes
And live his life for a day
But then I’d hop back into mine to see
In which shoes I’d prefer to stay

I wish you could get the things that you want
And let me have my wishes too
If everyone got what everyone wanted
Then what would we all do?

We are nearly there
Nearly at the place we dreamed we would get to
Nearly at the place where our reality has changed
Nearly

It all started in our minds
And spread to our hearts

We took the action
That we believed was right
And now we can see the end point
Aswe stand together and observe
What has been created

And it is beautiful
Imperfect
Wonderful

And although we may look the same
Although the land looks just like it always did
Somehow
Inside
We have changed

Crisps
Chocolate
Doughnuts
Coffee
Salted Peanuts
Lemon cheesecake
Cappuccino
Cigarettes
Gin and Tonic
Pint of Cobra
Curry, rice
Poppadums
Onion bhaji
Squeeze of lemon
Fizzy coke
Lemonade
Ben and Jerry’s
Ice cream
Eggs Bacon
HP sauce
Mushrooms, hash browns
Fried Bread
Baked Beans
Butter, eggs
Marmalade
Just the best

Social Distancing
Face masks
Check your temperature
Persistent Cough
Stay at home
Keep your distance
Two metres apart
Stay Alert

Defeat the Virus
Protect the NHS
Save Lives
Wash your hands
Sing the National Anthem
Twice
Covid Secure workplace

Work from Home
Daily Death Rate
Keep the r
Below one
Exercise once a day
Jo Wicks
Zoom meetings

Stay safe
Care Homes
ICU
Furlough Scheme
Global Pandemic
Vaccine
Treatment
Wuhan

Viral Pneumonia
CPAP
BiPAP
Care workers
Delivery Drivers
Emergency Budget
Recession
Thursday Clap

Flatten the peak
Second Wave
Clean Air
Bird song
Binge Watch
Netflix
Daily Briefing
Never Ending

Do not panic
Breathe
You have
This moment
And that
Is all
You have

All other things
That have passed
Have passed

All things that will come
Will come

But for now
Breathe
Deeply

Be with yourself
Be with everything and everyone
That is with you
Be they living
Or non-living

Appreciate the beauty of our universe

For in time
All things around us
Alive or not
Will transform
Into some different entity

Nothing last forever
Be sure of this

Statues of tyrants
Forged from enduring materials
Will topple
As the voices of the ordinary
Surge forward
And demand
Truth and respect

Be your truth
Share it
Connect it to
Your environment

And be part of
Change

In the end
Everything
Is about art

How we live
How we love
How we speak
How we move

All
Art

Every choice
Every thought
Every wish
Every deed
Acts of creativity

Ours is the choice
To create a drama of great beauty
Or not

We hold the paintbrushes
Decorating our unique canvas
With the paints of life

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

Slowly
Inevitably
Unremittingly
We age

Second by second
Minute by minute
Hour by hour
Day by day
Week by week
Month by month
Season by season
Year by year

We grow
Older

We experience
Life
From
A
New
Perspective

Travellers
Journeying
Through each passing phase

The miracle
Of birth

The joy
Of childhood

The confusion
Of teenage-hood

The confidence
Of early adulthood

The wonder
Of parenthood

The realisation
Of middle age

The acceptance
Of physical decline

The blossoming
Of the incarnate spirit

The magnificent sunset
Of our final years

The adventure
Of our own death

The mystery
Of the after life

The rhythm
Of the universe

Birth
Ageing
Sickness
Death
Birth
and
Death

Day
And
Night

One
Always
Giving way
To
The other

A gift
To us all

A gift
That we embody

Tired Eyes
Long day
Fuzzy head
Short sleep
Up again
Off we go

I wish I could
Stop and stare
At the trees
For an hour

There’s nothing I can do
But lie here
Drenched in a 4am sweat
Worrying, worrying, worrying

This is my pattern
It has happened before
And will no doubt happen again

I'm woken from my sleep
At the darkest of hours
My inner fears
Roused from their slumber

And I can’t banish them
I cannot tame them
I cannot transform them
They simply circle and repeat

I lie, trying to breathe
Struggling to calm myself
Battling to silence their negative narrative

But the material is rich
And the worries are so hot
And the volume is turned up
To the max

Minutes go by
And then hours
And the battle is waged
On and on

Until at last
I accept it all
Accept the discomfort
And just let them
Happen

I change my position
Cool my body
And somehow
At some time
I achieve, just a little more sleep
Until the 6am alarm sounds
And I am up

And the day begins

And the day ends

And I go on

Surviving

If everything that I knew disappeared
What would be left?

Even the things that I despise and criticise
If they were gone,
What would there be?

Emptiness?

Nothing?

Space?

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’s happening

It’s happening
We can not deny
It IS happening

The country has left the EU
The drawbridge is coming up
Politics is racing to the right
Way too far
To the
Right

Priti Patel
Donning the armour of 'home secretary'
Is laying down her rules

"People will not be able to come here
Unless they score sufficient points
We only want people with the right skills
We only want people who speak English
We only want people
Who will contribute to our economy"

70 points and you qualify
Less than 70, no thanks

Points
Points?
Points!

These people...
This 'Government' is deciding
Who is to be deemed worthy
And who is not
And it stinks
It is inhumane
And rotten

Let us not dress this up as some important policy
This simply stinks

Great countries appreciate the inherent value of all people
They welcome each individual
Not just those
Who can make them money

Society needs
Carers, lovers, families, mothers, grandparents, uncles, aunties, diversity, difference, colour, movement, growth

We are not to be judged
By a number
Or an assessment of our economic output
By a pointless bureaucrat

Look at where this unregulated economic race has got us!
To the brink of environmental disaster
To a point in which the top ten percent
Own half of the country’s wealth
And the 90 per cent
Make do with the scraps

We must stop labelling people
As units of production

People are people
They are precious
Wonderful
Valuable
Beyond all measures of currency

Politicians
What score would you give yourself today?
What 'value' are you bringing to the country
Through this demeaning system?

What if you were to become ill tomorrow?
Or need to stop working to care for a loved one?
Will we then assess you on your usefulness to our economy?
How would you like that?
How would that feel...to you?

This country is becoming a place
Where the word welcome
Has no real meaning

It is being shaped
As a place for the 'me first' attitude
The 'greed first' country
The take what you can get attitude
The place of judgement
Where the economy is
The golden shrine
And the rich observe the poor from their ivory towers
With contempt

I fight this mess with my words
I will spread my belief
Without fear
For the beliefs of this right wing Government
Bring shame upon our country

Is it possible to feel
The summer of one’s life
Gently turn to Autumn?

Is it possible to perceive
The weakening of one’s body
The subtle shifting of the physical
Towards the ending

To embrace the turn and swish
Of time’s universal pendulum
Making one final arc

If this is so
Then, whatever I do from now
Must bring something good into the world

My sense of smell
Has departed
My sense of taste
Disappeared too
And now I know
What loss it is
To eat and drink
Without these things

Mealtimes lose their pleasure
Eating become purely functional
This Covid shows what is important
Through what it has taken from us

I need to be here
I need to be there
I have to do this
And mustn’t waste time

I rush from this
And jump to that
A hot tin roof
A sore paw cat

With this and that
My day bundles up
With parcels of time
That are no longer mine

A new time is coming
Say goodbye to the old
For the earth has been turning
New tales must be told

Our hunger for profit
Will no longer do
It's time for compassion
To carry us through
The clock has been ticking
In front of our face
The bell is tolling
The end of our race

A new time is coming
Say goodbye to the old
For the earth has been turning
New tales must be told

Our careless contempt
Of our life giving soil
Replaced by a yearning
For acquisition of oil
Our plunder of wildlife
And fish of the sea
Has created the dead zones
Where life cannot be

A new time is coming
Say goodbye to the old
For the earth has been turning
New tales must be told

We have all the science
We ever could need
We've seen the great suffering
Of millions in need
But wheels keep a-turning
To satisfy the greed
Of a tiny proportion
They call the elite

A new time is coming
Say goodbye to the old
For the earth has been turning
New tales must be told

If I could shout ‘stop’
And bring things to a halt
To take stock of the world
And show all we’ve wrought
Would it open our eyes
To the need for the change
Has Covid not shown us
What must be arranged?

A new time is coming
Say goodbye to the old
For the earth has been turning
New tales must be told

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?

Cut
Skin
Heals

Goodbye Mr Cummings
Your days in power are done
You’ve got a cardboard box with you
Departing looking somewhat glum

Goodbye Mr Cummings
Your Brexit work is done
It’s seems you are no longer known
As Bojo’s pal and bestest chum

Goodbye Mr Cummings
Where to will you go?
The military?  The media?
Who could possibly know?

Goodbye Mr Cummings
Enough words have been said
I wonder what strange thoughts and schemes
Are rushing through your head?

Goodbye Mr Cummings
Who’s next to fall I wonder?
Has your brand of toxic rhetoric
Cast your dreams asunder?

So take a pause you would be chaps
Who cuss with sharpened tongue
The clock will tick as you advance
To make sure you’re undone

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

It is a creature
That cannot be tamed

It is invisible
And cannot be photographed

It is energy
That pervades the cosmos

It is a force
That makes us move

It is visceral
But you can't taste or smell it

It forgets
But it's in our memories

It is

Music

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

Arbiter
Is idleness
A natural state
For humans?

The gaps in between ‘work’
Grow shorter
And the wheels of production
Keep turning
Faster and faster

When competition is fierce
Must we fight harder?
Is it better to have scarcity
Or abundance?

Is it better to have too much
Or too little..?

How should we fight?
Against others
Or ourselves?

Arbiter
What or who?
Drives the engines of our lives
Is it our own desire
Or the desires of others?

'I will pay you
If you do this for me'
I will be paid
If I toe the line

Arbiter
If you allow me to
I will peel off my outer layers
And expose what lies beneath
I will shamelessly stand before you
In my nakedness
And let you see what I am made of
I will allow your essence to absorb mine
And the space between us will melt into nothing

Arbiter
I will lie curled up on the floor
If I need to
Counting the beating seconds of time
Looking at the slow growing blades of grass
Allowing the rest of the world
To go wild in its craziness
For the dream that is being chased
Is to my mind
Never near enough

The dream is now
This moment is all I have
Right now this moment with you
Breathe in
Be with me
In this moment
Now
Please