If you think it's an emergency
make a call to the surgery
they can make that decision

they can make an incision
and cut out the worry.

oh yes,
we have a health service
second to none
they make cuts every day
and it all goes away

except
for those on the slow burn
then it's
twist cap, push down
and turn

child friendly?
it maybe
but it'll be the end of me

nobody wins

My physique
is one of a kind.
some say
antique.

me,
I say
unique.

In the eye of this beholder
I don't look a day older
than
I did the last time I looked.

It's not the blue that I once knew
It has turned a misty grey.

Macular degeneration
or so they say,
but
it is still not the blue that I knew
only yesterday.

Flicks a switch
metallic eyes twitch
another
new day begins

The meeting place
face to face
a handshake to break
the spell.

Well
it's a load of old Hocus Potus

There is no magic in the tragic
which is in itself a tragedy.

We're being played
and
not knowing the game
we get played
again and again.

Status Quo is not just a rock band

Sat in a hot tube
wishing I had an ice cube
to **** on.

There is no get out clause
Santa Clause
just a small pause
at every station.

This underground
is not the Velvet one
although I can hear that song
playing
but it's not on the wild side
doors will open on the right hand side.

A woman sits next to me
slips into her seat
as if she's Mercury
and she might be
what do I know?

We might all be liquid
tidal
some become suicidal
I ruminate on this.

Almost there
I almost always am.

Dreams of Sarawak
knick-knack
bric a brac
my nightmares make no sense.

But on I go
I never know where
or what to wear
or is that Ware in Hertfordshire?

Unsettled
but not in Settle
because that's in Yorkshire.

Waking in an unmade bed
random thoughts
in a scrambled head
those things I dread
are gone along with sleep.

Coffee time at six-nineteen
a spoon of sugar
a tot of cream
scrolling up and down the screen
another dream of Sarawak.

Retracing steps
gets you back
to where you
once were
but
it's never the same
almost as if
they rebooted the game
using different rules.

I'm guessing that
it's life that schools you
and living it fools you
into thinking that you're
drinking from a full cup.

The enchanted became the disenchanted
when the wood was put on the fire,
but I'm sure the author saw that coming,

moving on past chapter one to a computer screen
because writing paper became passé
perhaps that was seen coming too.

There are aeroplanes and aquaplanes
neither one could plane a four by two
like my Father used to do.

The dinner ladies came on the bell
us as kids would run like hell to get
a chair and stuff our hungry faces
sitting there and although a room
there was no class,
we were all the same
waiting for the time to pass
until dinner time came around again.

In fact
everything we ever saw
was waiting for
something.

The olden days were not the golden days
we often think they were.

Writing between the fault lines
and how many times have we
been bitten
written on
washed off the sidewalks?

if the cracks in the sky are where the light gets in
then
we die in the cracks between paving stones.

no one calls you
you watch as you fall and you
feel lighter
the cracks start to close and your chest
becomes tighter
and you wake up in Bognor.

So
that wasn't a duck quacking
it was a little dog yapping
for hours
and
hours

fukin little
I'll give it little,
the
little ****.

Some long for the morning
some wait for the night
some walk to the bus stop
some people take flight,
and for some
it's just a waiting game
watching what goes on
and giving free rein to
the thoughts that unfold.

I thought once,
but it's
a risky business thinking,
when
the eyes become fixed
people think that you're mad.

The struggle between
free rein and free reign
is real'

If only I had been
what I had seen in the mirror.

The reflection
misdirected me
the signpost was the journey
and not the destination.

Armageddon
is heading
this way,

but it could be a hoax
some folks on Facebook
know *** all.

It's raining
not pouring
and this old man
is not snoring,
he's wide awake
and thinking
for gawd's sake
what happened to
the Summer.

Something foreign
something sweet
something something
you'd want to meet,

and you'd never know
if
you don't want to know
oh
but something sweet
you would want to meet.

If I'd been up to no good
I really, really think I would
have told you,

but I've been very good
or so
I tell myself.

I scowl
I scowl
for I never heard the owl
what is going on?

there are fair beast and fowl
but no sign of the owl
what is going on?

That sign on the village green
'keep off the grass'
I haven't smoked that in years
what is going on?

You might be saying it has been a long day
I'm here thinking it could have been longer

Twenty four seven might be your idea of heaven but
I'm thinking it should have been longer.

Plenty of time to be tired
when you're wired up to the grid
and they only want to be rid of you
and
plenty of time to save yourself

ah
to hell with them

you gotta get out there and yell at them
and tell them
it should have been longer.

Of course
when you've killed all the demons that bedevilled you
what is there left to do but to find more demons.

And this human condition is just one more tradition to keep,
those monsters we make to take the place of the monsters we **** are the same.

We're all connected by indeterminate fears
we fall together in the circles of our tears
and rise to do it again.

The safest place that one can be
is
where sharks can't see me,

mind you,
there's not much to do
and you don't get much fun
unless you count
counting the pebbles
and
and
no! that's it
counting pebbles
waiting for the inevitable

the tide will come in
the sharks will grin
and we'll all be on the menu.

He
tramps off into the distance
waiting for a miracle
conversing with the Oracle
his hair is getting long.

Babylon not gone
it
comes on
in the second act.

They try to tell the truth here
give or take a year
drop another tear
it doesn't matter.

We are complicit
we can't acknowledge it
but we're guilty all the same.

tired and I'm trying to tell you
that this
will never be behind you
you will always look out on
the things that you never did,

More **** on Facebook
don't believe me
take a look.

this happened
this would
do you think
that this could?

***
fake news
but you choose
to reel it in.

I'm right
they're right
we're all right
we might be.

makes me think
there's more truth in the drink
and I will drink to that.

They're putting out the lights
doing away with Human Rights
cockin' a deaf 'un
to the sound of the gun
and
turning a blind eye
to the bombs from the sky.

Wasn't it always so
that the men with the money
sit and watch it grow,
safe in the knowledge
that power and privilege
are protecting them.

Thinking, I fell off the edge of the lantern
wondering
did I even put my pants on

waking
is getting to be
a bit of a hindrance
and too much for me.

But
I do it on a daily basis
sometimes
more than once.

It's 6am on a Saturday
Billy Joel in my ears
telling me all about the
piano man
but I've already
known him for years.

Bags under your eyes?
if they're Gucci,
it's okay

You can put those wrinkles in them.

Rained off
Rained on
has the summer upped sticks and gone

well
that's not ******' cricket
isit?

However much time there is
it's never enough.

Swinging myself out of bed
thinking I'm Tarzan
but looking like Cheeta.

needs a shave, will travel.
not like
Will Shakespeare,

extraneous drivel?
but
it gets me through
and
makes me stronger
The doctor said,
I'll live much longer
if
I gave up smoking.

Shredded Wheat tastes like strawberries and cream
or they do in my dream,

anyhow
time to grow up now
become
Action Man
maybe
Superman
make that plan
and move on.

The twentieth century
was it good for you?
it wasn't for me.

I am to blame
I came
I saw
laid down on the floor
and
let it trample all over me.

no more for now.

Something in her voice
ethereal
more unreal than real,
it
makes me feel
kinda dizzy.

That seagull gave me the shock of my life
screaming as it flew past me,
I thought it was the wife.

That's a joke, dear,
gotta put that in
before
She reaches for the rolling pin.

England expects
so it did
and
it won,
the final
is going to be fun.

Politics on BBC Radio 4
what a bore
which is not a
wild pig
in case you were
wondering.

Although sleeping fitfully
I woke
lifted up my head twice,
and now I feel fit
finally.

jeez
I might be cracking up
feeling like that old teacup,
chipped,

one day
we'll all be
chipped
stripped
dipped in dye
and given
new clothes to wear.

The Emperor has already got his.

And you wait for another door to open,
to close
but that's the way you chose it.

too many doors,
too many floors
you've slept on
but
you kept on
looking.

It's a ******' carousel
step off at heaven
or
jump into hell,

you've been there
so have I
and we wonder on why
as
they wander on by
uncaring.

Not sharing because I want to
but because I have to.

It'll be another footnote for scholars to muse upon,
the world has gone mad but in the limitlessness of the universe no one notices.

We're dancing around a celestial maypole and the fire consumes us, we still howl at the moon but nothing can save us.

The clerics being clerical
hysterically laughing
the fisherman too
putting the gaff in
hauling the sinners in
and
doing it all again,

The just cause
is just because.

No judgements from parliaments that ought to be hung
no choirs to sing songs that should have been sung
and no bells to ring in the changes.

Farther than further
or.
further than farther?
but it doesn't matter
as long as you know
what you've seen.

There have been times
according to the clocks
and there will be more,

make this your mantra.

06:30

He flings off the bedsheet
dawn waits in the wings
off in the distance
an early bird sings.

It's always sweet.

You all know how it feels

when you're outside and you just want to swipe left and change the scenery.

Been in the there and then in and out of the Devil's den and I'm not the only one,

you'll be told of the monsters that hide under the bed but they're only ***** cats compared to the ones that run free in your head,

take my lead and pay no heed to them because in the there and then when in the Devil's den they'll quieten down.

I'm still swiping
and it's still not working
but to be fair
neither am I.

The evening glows with the late day light, the sun though nearly out of sight is most certainly not out of mind, its written kindly on this parchment skin and this ancient frame, but it has bleached my hair the colour of whalebone white so much so that I might have to dye it.

There's still a lot to do and hopefully time to do it in unless time does me in first.

Tomorrow
I'll do something different
be more confident
act with due diligence
or write using a Biro.

The Roman bridge.

Pollo
or Apollo
in Spain
you take your chances,

my butterflied chicken
looked more like the side of
a Triceratops
absolutely Mammoth in its majesty

I bowed my head and said Grace.

Breakfast
bohemian
eggs, cheese and salad
ballet on a plate.

Water from the wishing well
I made a wish
but I won't tell.

And the sun winds its warmth about my body.

cartwheels across the floor
She asks,
whatya doing those for
and I reply
why not.

Friday
so commonplace and with a common face too.

I'm homing in and the target is you
eyes locked
and then what do I do?
Father really should have given me
that talk.

Changed out of my dungarees
cleaned the spuds from my ears
and now wearing clean duds
I feel
like a new man

now
don't go getting ideas.

I do
I did
I'm done
and wasn't it fun?

That was quick
I feel a joke coming on
but I've heard it before.

The door opens on a new day
something for everyone
and everything to play for.

Coffee's hot in the ***
soon to be poured
in with the milk and it
feels like I've scored
one nil to me

She says,
pipe down
I'm trying to sleep
and so down I go

gotta keep her happy.

We make things up to suit our own circumstances.
Slightly weird but no more strange than believing all that we're told.

Fortunately for me I mostly believe in what I can see except of course when I'm dreaming and then I take things with a pinch of low sodium salt.

There is definitely a fault line that runs through the timeline, you can't tell me that this disaster we are in was planned by the hand of the almighty, unless we're in a movie and I'm dreaming again.

Anyway I see signs, portents,
monuments to my ancestors all around me,
ghosts of old ghosts that surround me,
bound by those chains which were forged by the pains they endured
but I am assured that they will bring no harm to me,

no harmony either.

No bats in this belfry
and there's not likely to be.

Aren't there enough fruitcakes about.without trying to make fountains out of moleskins?

The idiom or idiot will get you every time.

Waiting for the Sun
and I do believe it's on the way
arriving sometime today
but it's still 22 degrees so I'm not
likely to freeze.

Everything takes time
coffee breaks take longer
when you're not as agile as
you used to be.

She tells me
to pull myself together!

as if
I was falling apart.

She's probably right
and I might be.

We've all been down that road and through the mill,
turned upside down when your smile became a frown and hoping that the wind wouldn't change.
because
Mother said
that your face would be stuck like that forever if the wind did change,
which is strange but not necessarily untrue.

Many years from now
when I get old and
they put me out to grass
I will not pass a remark
I'll go quietly
but I'll also go annoyingly slowly
as one befitting his age.

As for the scars
you only see the ones on the outside
and that's only if you bother to look
and we're all scarred anyway from day one
so
I'm no different but different,

like you
I'll also come to the end
but while I can
I'll still pretend
it's just another nightmare.

Sunrise at 07:10
beautiful.
if I could go back to sleep
I'd wake up and watch it again.

No owl yet.

The bees are at it already
working steadfastly
they have no idea
that I'm having honey on my toast
and a cup of tea.

Yesterday evening
I watched the fire helicopters flying overhead
fires somewhere to the west
or so the builder said.

Wood still needs cutting but it's not going anywhere and so it can wait

She's at the gate
axe in hand

I suddenly wonder if the wedding band that I wear
plays music,

The day's already filling up with day
what more can I say
except
hasta luego.

She says
that She's going to take me out
and
not with a single shot to the head.

That's a relief.