caught a fish in the pond
although it later transpired
it had every right to be there

the second hand bookshop has gone
and whilst I may have mislaid the odd
book or two, an whole shopful?

this was the very street
choc a bloc full of tightly pressed covers on
the shelves

wherein sad old men with aching feet
would often find ourselves

apparently thought
is out of fashion is all
about how you feel

met her
  in the gents of the red lion
didn’t say

anything of course
        I mean
   you don’t in the gents    ..

want to break this lap
top and just pick up a pen
and start writing again
ah, those were the days  ..

your dress
like waterfalls

the older she gets the more
beautiful she looks at me growing
older too and gives a most
conspiratorial wink

write poems on beer mats in the pub
they’re not particularly good
but it passes an afternoon

used to hit the keys
on that old type writer
until it eventually gave in
and said what I wanted

first read about *** in orwell’s
keep the aspidistra flying
it didn’t sound any good     ..

the city grows bigger every year
I think maybe there are
too many restaurants

out walking
this evening
is grey

grey buildings
grey rain
bows

drained rows
of veins
flow

with
grey    ..  

out walking
this evening
is grey

grey clouds
in our eyes

and I smoke

telling lies
and you choke -
and the flies  ..!

out walking
this evening
is grey

read a biography of herrick
it was pretty dull
whereas his poetry was
pretty beautiful

the best thing I ever wrote
down your phone number

as chaucer’s pilgrims passed through south
east london into kent I like to think
they’d have passed close to our house but then
they told such tales       ..

she says this relationship isn’t going
anywhere
yeah he says
I guess we’re stuck with it          ..

want to tell the world your truth?
truth doesn’t belong to anyone
it’s about facts
how you feel is something else

picked up the phone
there was nobody there
so I took it

think you have right
on your side, try spending time with
a few of the
wrong people entirely, darling      ..

I want to hear your voice
above all else, so shout, my
love, shout my love !

chap in the pub says
are you going on anywhere after?
I don’t know

turns out he wasn’t talking about death
but a party he’d heard about

cue embarrassed laughter

do conspiracy theorists get out
of bed of a morning thinking
what if that’s
what they wanted me to do     ..

my wife has done wonders with
the garden
it looks more beautiful than ever
just by her being there

but if nigel farage is a
national treasure I
think we should bury him

never did much good with my life
except reading and writing and loving
where this poem
might be going    ..

the silence
    creaks
  with barrows
and feet
   depositing crates
  on the pavement

dried mushrooms
   black beans
           and chinese tea
  
inside the shop
     
  I smile at
the attractive 
     assistant       ..

they wore trilbys and overcoats
smoked all the time
and always voted labour
it was nineteen sixty nine

they were children in the second world war
they were my uncles
in woolwich south east london by then
in their thirties

they were worn, tired, always smiling,
great blokes

flicking his ash on the floor, fairly
certain
that nobody saw

and the more that he flicked, the more
he was gripped
by the urge to flick a bit more     ..

berwick street market
watching with my son
as a pigeon
pecked at and dropped a grape
on the kerb
over and over again

I called him
sisyphus
but my son said dad you’re so
****** pretentious   ..

she said you’re a
bit of a cold fish
I said which bit  ..

you dislike
refugees in this country
is full of
****** racists       ..

I have a wife
a child and possibly a friend
although I’m not too sure this morning I’ve
one hell of a hangover

rather write a recipe book
than another love poem after
love poem after love poem, but I’m
afraid I’m a rather poor cook

under threat of the bomb
we all sit at home, some thinking trump will
save the world, the rest of us thinking
he’s blown it     ..

you’re not the man I married
          
        all those years ago, she said

we only met last night! he

    cried

        and clambered out of bed

they arranged to meet up later
on they wished they hadn’t   ..