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

Stay at home!
Protect the NHS!
Save Lives!

These are the utterances
The soundbites and verbal strategy
Etched into our heads
By our Prime Minister
Who now lies in intensive care
Struggling for his life

No matter who they be
Or what they stand for
I would not wish this on anyone

Our lives unpredictable, fragile
Turn from one path to another
In a tiny slice of time

Shifting from presence
To absence
Here to…
Gone

We are all in this together
Some will live
Some will not

And as a human being
We all feel the sword of Damocles
Suspended
Above our heads

Perhaps it is only written in the stars
Who will endure
Who will not

Who is able to say
What will become of any of us?
Or how we will meet our end

I pray for humanity,
For hope
For a future in which people treat each other
Differently

All human pursuits should be turned
Towards helping others
And the perseveration
Of our natural world

This is simply how it should be

The world
Is still a beautiful place
Even though we inhabit
The darkest caves
Of the human soul
In the depths of our lives
Sway cool turquoise lagoons of joy
Pierced by golden sunbeams of hope
Fresh running streams of laughter
Nourish bodies vibrant with health
There are unending riches
And there is peace

The world is still a beautiful place
Seeking spirits
Will in the end
Take us beyond the shadows
Of our foolish existence
And will lead us finally
To the light

Being who we are
Regardless of what we are
Dancing
Playing
Unaware of anything but ourselves

Hair scraped into shapes by elders
Shoelaces half tied
Faces stained with tears and sweat
Resisting the mould
Until the mould
Creates…us

Society
Built
Fixed
Strong
Surrounds us

We are stones
Thrown repeatedly at walls
Shaped by them
Wishing one day to break through

There’s a full moon in the morning sky
Giant, pale, rising

I stare
Then turn my head
Noticing
The sun
Gleaming opposite

Am I dreaming?
Am I awake?

The moon is pulling me towards it
As if it were home
And yet the sun, urges me to awaken
To live
To venture

I am pulled
By the forces
Of the universe
And I wonder
How many times
Have I cycled
Through birth and death?

Why is it that I feel  
That this is my first most important revolution
My first life?
When I am surely as ancient as the galaxies
As original as the stars

Shouldn’t I know life by now?
Shouldn’t I understand
The ways things go?

We are born
We grow
We age
We die
And
Then

We are born
Again

A voice in my head
Calls to me

'Rest!  Sleep!  Close your eyes!
Stop trying to make sense of everything!
It is all too great and powerful
For you to control.
Instead enjoy the offerings of the planet
Wonder at the magnificence of the greenery
The flocks of birds
The blue skies
And the white clouds

For the universe is much more powerful than you

Though you are its child
You are not its master

Let it protect you
Let is nourish you
Let it love you
Let it carry you
Safely home'

I think I’ll take a stroll
Just to take the air 
And look upon the crescent moon
Glowing way up there

I think I’ll take a stroll
Because it’s fine to do
To feel cold air upon my face
And watch the flowers standing true

I think I’ll take a stroll
And let my thoughts emerge
As I walk along the evening streets
And contemplate the earth

I think I’ll take a stroll
Let my feet go where they will
Give my worries time to breathe
And let all else be still

Like roots pushing deep through solid earth
Like branches fighting to reach the sun
Like an infant determined to take a first step
Like a butterfly longing to hatch
Like a brilliant rainbow, shimmering through the rain

Never give up
For without struggle
There is no true growth

I'm stuck
Here
With
Myself

And no matter
How hard
I try
To escape

I will
Still
Be
With
Myself
When
I return
To my senses

What
Did I expect
To Find
In
Such
A place?

What
Strange monsters
Have
I been
Running
From?

Were they
Even
Real?

This
Protracted
Solitude
Leaves me
No choice
But to experience
My life
Just as it is

And
Yes
There
Are questions

And
No
I
Don't
Have
Answers

So,
I'm stuck
Here
With
Myself

And
No matter
What comes
To Pass

I will
Remain
Stuck
Here
With
Myself
Forever

For
This
I imagine
Is
The eternity
Of my life

Eternally
Individual
Eternally
Me

So

If
I can
Make peace
With myself

Then
Maybe
Everything
Will be
Ok

And
The journey
Of my life
Will feel
Beautiful

And
That
I suppose
Is
How
It should be

And
So
Now
Is
The time
To make
Peace

A great artist once said
Art is when someone’s subconscious
Talks to another person’s subconscious
Through art
I believe this to be true

We live together
We die together

The idea of keeping everyone separate
Isolated, locked down
Fills me with dread

We are all born
So some day we will all die
Perhaps it will be sooner
Than we all think

And yet the magnolia trees are flowering
The blossom shines on the cherry trees
The sun shines strongly
And the sky is a clear blue

And I become light as a feather
Floating on warm breezes, dancing freely
Joyous, happy, alive

Perhaps today will be a beautiful day
Filled with laughter, happiness, connectedness – hope and life

Or perhaps it will be filled with dread and fear
Such are the complexities of human life
Such
Is
Life

Summer is here
I recognise it in my bones
And in memories
Of muscles
Which have carried me
Through forty eight summers past

Summer is here
And I feel the length of the hours
The lazy feeling of sand, sea and warmth
The quiet longing
For things to stay the same forever
Almost suppressing the urge for new challenges,
Difference and growth

Summer is here
And the flowers shine
Brighter than ever
And bees **** nectar lustily
As birds chat noisily, talking more
Or perhaps our skies have just grown quieter

Summer is here
And it pulls us all along
Like dreamers
Dozing
Atop a floating barge

Like a teenager, feeling bored
I sit in the too hot sun
And I can’t think what
Whatever should be done

It’s a Sunday feeling
Through and through
My soul reflecting
The sky of blue

I keep looking for things
Outside myself
To remove this feeling
And feel something else

Perhaps I can chase off
The hungry flies
That buzz around
Disturbing the quiet

But I don’t want peace
Or even quiet
I want an adventure
Something to try out

I want strange things
Never seen before
I want to escape
Break down some doors

I want to
I want
I want
I…think

I need
To stop
And…rest
I think

Perhaps I'm ill?
I'm not myself
Becoming instead
Like someone else?

It’s Sunday
I’m too hot
And that's what
I've got

I will wait
It will pass
If I lie
On the grass

What am I supposed to do
When things I rely on don’t work
When I encounter the sadness of other human beings
When I am confronted with dazzling grace and beauty
When I am offered friendship
When I am seeing yellow dots joined by red lines

What am I supposed to do?

What am I supposed to do
When the connections I form are severed
When I notice changes all around me
Yet I feel unchanged
When I see two people very much in love
Building a life together
And yet I feel unloved
What am I supposed to do?

What am I supposed to do?

On the freezing hillsides
Of the Brecon beacons
Welsh mountain ponies
And highland cattle graze
Unconcerned by the storm
They rub their itchy backs
Against barbed wire wrapped around wooden posts

Clear water drips from the tips of icicles
Into shimmering mountain streams

And I ask myself
What am I supposed to do?

The surface
Like a skin
Remains
Unbroken

Beneath
Limbs are thrusting
Powerfully
Lungs are straining
Burning
Bursting
With effort

Above
Eyes are watching
Waiting
As sunlight ripples
Innocently
Across patterns
Of liquid fabric

Two separate worlds
Joined
Without seems
Lie side by side
A shift in one
Swallowed
By the other

Nervous
Minutes pass
As weight
Pushes down
Pressing
Air into water
Longer
Longer
Until

Life
Breaks through
Every fibre
Stretched
Expressing
The miracle of transcendence
The ability
Of existence
In two worlds

People watching people
Gazing at screens
Crouching behind veneers
Of interconnected
Digital
Fibre optic
Cabling

Safely connected
Safely disconnected
To their
Subjects
Objects

Judging them
Demanding cosmesis
Ordering alteration
Controlling behaviours
Controlling people
In an out of control world

The watched
Conforming
Naively
Desperately
Daily
To gross
Aesthetic stereotypes

Pandering
To the hits

Prostituting
For numbers

Disordered society
In which watchers
Hold power

Are you asked
How many views do you have?

Is it enough?

Are you popular
Enough?

Are you worth
Enough?

Are you ever
Enough?

We couldn’t resist
Taking a dip
When we went to the coast

High tide sea was still and pure
Lapping the sandy beach
Beckoning softly

Cursing we had no swimmers
We looked at each other
And made up our minds in an instant

In we would go
Just to feel the glow
That comes from a swim
In the icy floe.

Jeans and jumpers
Were left stranded on the beach
And bewildered walkers
Watched us shiver

As we waded into the silvery blue
One step, another, another
No chance to change our minds
In we go
Wow, woop, weee, hieee
Its’ cold but oh so…

I swim to warm myself
You float and smile
And we are in the glorious sea
Whilst the walkers watch on in curiosity
And children play with the sand
And then, the treat
Of hot coffee on the beach
To warm us up
It was such a lovely day

I swim up and down
The pool of my life
Longing for the weekend

And when I surface for air
I realise that I'm in the same pool
As I was before

I duck back under the water
And swim backwards and forwards
Wondering...

Is it possible to be kinder
Than ever before?

Is there a limit to the compassion
Of a single human being?

People
Rush around
Other people
Who rush around
Other people
To create a swirl
Of activity

It seems
As if

Nothing stands still

And I
Worry
That
I am not doing enough

Take care of every word you say
Each syllable
Creates the future
That you will inhabit

Breathe in quickly
Gather more oxygen
To encourage the thought

Widen the eyes
To take it all in

Keep still
Do not talk
Or dare interrupt the moment

But give the thought space
To materialise

And then
Suddenly
There it is

Truth

Apparent
Present
Realised
Understood

Adrenaline surges
Joy flows
And there is peace with oneself
Connection to the universe

A new dawn has broken
Rich with possibilities
Changing everything

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

The rain fell and fell today
As if to wash away
The dirt from this world

The rain will fall again and again
Tomorrow

Until there are enough trees
To drink up the rainfall
Water will gather
In great floods and torrents
Laying waste to all in their path

The rain it falls
Like tears of the Gods
Weeping at what they see before them

Raindrops are messengers
Sent from the heavens
To remind us
Of what we must do

Young woman
Your heart is growing
From that of a girl
Protected by a bubble  
Of family, play and beauty

To that of a woman
Faced with the brutal realities
Of society and all its misogyny
And it is no wonder
That you suffer
With anxiety and depression

I wish that the world
Was a better place
For you
And all young women

Now is the time
When the blue of day
Melts into the grey of night
And a single black bat flutters
Back and forth

Now is the time
When the first stars twinkle
And the great trees turn black
As sirens wail and the drunken woman screams

Now is the time when the hour of the dog
Gives way to the pig
When grey moths flutter against half open windows
And the woman screams again

Now is the time
When the safety of the day
Gives way to the uncertainty of night
And somewhere a steel guitar strums

Now is the time
When the thoughts that pass through my mind
Turn to the fragments of the day
And the uncertainty of the future

Now is the time for naked embrace
For music, and heavy eyelids
For the shields of our armour
To drop as we slide towards sleep

And with the doors to our souls left ajar
The dreams of the universe approach
And soak into our consciousness
Only to disappear
At dawn

I’ve got it

And I must isolate by law

How will the next few weeks go?
Only time will tell

I pray for my family’s health

This winter
Might be tougher
Than I had predicted

How will l find
Loosing my mind

Thank you for this day
For the air that we breathed
For the conversations we have had
For the hug that we shared

Thank you for this day
For the purring of my cats
For the blowing of the wind
For the wildness of the sea

Thank you for this day
For the beating of our hearts
For the smiles that we shared
And the love that we felt

Thank you for this day
For the work that was done
For the food that was cooked
And the wine that was shared

Thank you for this day
For the night is pressing in
And the stars start to shimmer
And we settle down to sleep

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

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

The beauty of creation
Is that you bring something
From the world of latency
Into the world of existence

And then it is there
For all to see
To wonder at and admire

Creation is not possible
Without the person
Nor is it possible
Without the latent energy
Nor the manifest world
In which we live

When we align our lives
With the energy of the universe
We create

When we pit our lives against
Universal energy
We destroy

To lead a creative life
Is to live a life
Most meaningful

Today our street partied
Although we kept two metres apart

We danced and sung
And played music

And met each other
With open hearts

This would never have happened
Were it not for the time
We are all living through

Adversity has brought us together
And our street
Is a stronger community for it

Thank you Rochford Avenue
For the best ever street party

Let me make you feel like this

Let me make you feel like that

Let me guide you into the unknown

Let me give you this experience

And then

I will present you

With my bill

Yes, I will

Present you with my bill

Did you not know

That feeling

Costs?

We have monetised it
Wrapped it up
Processed it
And valued it

And now if you want it
We will deliver it to you
In packages to suit your needs

Just, don't ask for it
For free
Don't demean yourself
And don't insult me

After all
Feelings cost

And costs add up
And everything must have its price

If this world is going to balance its books

We need to make it pay
Don't we?

I signed up
To join the war
Offering myself
To the front lines

I feel the dance
Of inside butterflies
And wonder when
I’ll get my call

Who knows what
The future holds
If I will fight
A courageous battle

Will I live
To tell the tales
Of how we
Fought and won

Or will I falter
Get it wrong
And end up
In defeat

I must take care
Along this road
And use my life
As best I can

A tired fly
Flew past my nose
Its buzz was low
Its speed was slow
It drifted through the heavy air
I know, I saw it go
On by

The cat was sleeping
On a chair
Just lying there
Without a care

Until the fly flew past her nose
To end her doze
The cat she froze

Her green eyes widened
And turned all cold
As cold as gold
If truth be told

The tired fly
Went buzzing by
The cat’s white nose
And I suppose
The cats intention
Was to try
And catch that fly
As it went by

Her paws ****** out
In desperate throttle
To try and ****
The winged bluebottle

The fly escaped
Its hum got higher
Its flight got faster
The cat chased after

Round and round the room they went
The cats neck bent
And furiously sent
The fly on high
Above sharp claws
As she flipped and pawed
The clever fly soared

Until at last
The cat did stop
And off did trot
Like she cared not

To catch a much less mobile snack
Her cat food sat
Upon her mat

The fly is drifting overhead
Its buzz all low
It’s flying slow
And watching out for battle two
When cat is through
With chewing food

And so it goes on every day
Some get away
Some like to play

The cat and fly
They both still try
To take their chance
In life's great dance

The allure of power and status
Is so attractive to the ordinary human
That it will often lead one
To say and do things
One would not otherwise say or do

Our inner lives are immortal
And to betray our true essence
In pursuit of such goals
Will create a legacy
Borne heavily
Like the chains
Of Jacob Marley

15 days of my life
Are spent on these trains

Spent on these trains
15 days in each year

Up to London
And back to Prittlewell

Up to London
And back again

This time is sacred
Quiet, relaxing

Reliable, predictable
Beautiful, clear

For I cannot be disturbed
I cannot be elsewhere

I can't stop the momentum
I cannot turn back

All I can do
Is sit and roll with it

Sit and think
Write and sit

And in this time that I sit
I am most alone

With my thoughts and my pen
My pen and my thoughts

For I am The Commuter Poet
And I owe every word

To the train engineers
The drivers and signallers

The ticket officers, the cleaners
The electricians, the clerks

The people that work
Each night, each day

So that I can ride trains
Back and forth

And it is only to them
That I leave this legacy

This memory, this account
Of an ordinary man

Who travels to work
As a poet commuter

A travelling man
A commuter poet

To be left behind
Alone
On the shores of one’s life

Deserted
Lost
As the ships of fortune
Roll away beyond reach

To perceive
Even the smallest things
As a source of terror

To shrink
From the very light of day
Yearning for the escapology
Of black night hours

To let roll
Tears of desperation
As one recognises
One is nothing
But a broken being

How strange to be
So isolated
So alone
In this whirlpool
Of *******
Black
Tar

If only describing
The sentiment of inadequacy
Could disable its grip
And free one
From its power

The cold winter months  
Take hold
Of my entire being
As I stare at emptiness within me
Longing for escape

Bruised words spill
Over my page
In tribute to
The crisis hours

The Ghosts of Christmas Past
Haunt the hearts
Of teenagers and parents
As the clock counts down
To Christmas Day

The hopes and fears
Of those we hold dear
Bubble
And Steam
And
Burst

My head is pounding
My legs are aching
I’m a down with something
I don’t know what

So I take some air
Walk the streets
Slower than usual
Sipping the evening air

The good people of this town
Are inside their houses
Watching TV
Playing with their children

I walk down the street
And wonder at the myriad stories
That lie behind every window
In every house

The great sea
Never rests

Undulating
Swelling
Churning
Purifying

Changing
Colours
Turquoise
Blue
Black
Grey

I am with you
In you
Surrounded by you
And I know
The great swell
Of your fervour

You
Untameable
Home
To more
Than I
Could imagine
Roll and sway

And I
Depart
Distanced
From your ***** energy
With each step
I take inland

But I return to you
Awed by your majesty
My earthly pursuits
Reconciled
And levelled
By your greatness

The hand I was dealt
Was the hand that I chose
I came here to fix
Things that nobody knows

My hair may grow greyer
My muscles fall weak
But my heart, it grows stronger
With every beat

The journey internal
Is far greater than
The hundreds of miles
Of a marathon man

To learn how to care for
This thing they call life
Means fighting to break through
All troubles and strife

Through joyful connections
With friends dear and true
We become what we wanted
Unique me and you

The holidays
Are over
And I must
Go back to work

I’ve had the time
To question
Everything
But
I haven’t really
Got any fresh answers to
Why we must work
To make ‘money’
To pay bills
To keep things...
...going

So
I will go back to work
And make the most of it

And put my Peter Pan thoughts
To bed once again

Until my next holiday
When I will sit in a field
Watching the campfire burn
Setting my eyes on the horizon
And watching for shooting stars

The human heart is good
Though too often shrouded by delusion

The human heart is kind
But only serves others when the spirit is strong

The human heart is wise
Yet the mind is often too persuasive

The human heart is unlimited
Though our lifetimes are short

The human heart is unfathomable

No matter how one tries to know it
It can never be fully understood

The politics of hatred
Are at play in our nation
A drama of conflict
Marching in, rolling out

Aggressors jeer drunkenly
Assailing integrity
Opponents lash out
Tottering, unbalanced

Our children are dragged
Deep into the fray
Positioned by gladiators
Engaged as arbiters

Small lives lie shaking
And torn asunder
Forced to take sides
In a war of monsters

We are pushed to believe
In a dichotomous world
A heaven and hell
A right and wrong

A world of extremes
Where people divide
A dog eat dog world
Where the dogs are raging

Rabid with rage at the love
That's denied them
Furious at loss
Of a life never lived

Incensed at the dreams
They birthed and destroyed
Withered and brittle
Encased in concrete

While one is left standing
Another's defeated
Crumpled and wheezing
Ribs shattered, skulls cracked

An ill gotten prize
Grows intolerable to bear
The chains weighing heavily
On the winners and losers

The instruments of power
Work ******* the people
Wearing away
At self belief

We are told to think thoughts
That the state has invented
Daily demands  
To expose our weakness

Crushing humanity
Beneath tabloid mountains
Hatred and jealousy
Abound in this time

In this age of quarrels
And vicious reprisals
The people stand desolate
With eyes red and bleary

Hands reach out trembling
With broken fingernails
Yearning for hope
That has slipped from the Earth

If I was the last tree left in the world
I would allow any creature to inhabit me
I would push my roots down so far
That I would never topple

I would stand strongly
Whilst bees buzz around my branches
And make honey in my chinks

I would let children climb me
And throw ropes over my branches
To make a swing

If I were the last tree in the world
I would try to stand for a thousand years
Hoping that the world would change

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

Take pride
In who you are

Embrace the palette
Of your life

You have earned
The right to stand tall

The right to walk with confidence

How could this day
Be anything other
Than transformative?

The door is open to you
And fresh breezes of change
Enter in

Today you celebrate
Your great victory
And dance with others

What else is there for you
But to win

Today you take ownership
Of your destiny

Remembering
The lion that roared this morning
Was you

The monster has wild eyes and crazy hair
The monster spits angry shouts and beats violent fists
The monster tears up books and smashes houses
The monster runs through the streets howling obscenities

But

Underneath
There is a child who wants to learn
A child who wants to grow
A child who values peace and friendship
A child who values love

None can compare
To an artist

They know
Who they truly are

They have to make their work
Striving
Often in desperation
To share
What is in their hearts

An artist will endure poverty
For their art
Rejecting the security and comfort
Of mainstream living

An artist experiences people
Just as they are
And sees the world for what it is
And what it has become

Artists are fearless
Shapers and commentators
Of the now

They will not seek refuge
In what is past
But are only comfortable
When creating the future

It is a painful destiny
To be an artist

But there is no such life
To compare

Freed from the steep walls of karma
I contemplate

Have I disappointed you child
By failing to reverse the hands of fate?

I can only watch
As you shed sincere tears
Asking me
Can things can change?

And I wonder

Sometimes
I do not even know
The names of trees