Aw *****
everyone's looking fukin' ancient tonight.

I suppose it could be my eyesight
my foresight
or
these bifocals that are fukin with me

I've been invited out by the crew
She said
I can do what I want to do
which means
I'm staying in.

getting old is like being in Spandau
***
ballet twice a week
what a flamin treat
But
She looks out for me
and after me
I suppose that it could be
more than
love.

Are we at war
is that what the church bells
are ringing out for?
or it could just be Sunday
and they're going like the clappers
waking up the old nappers
so even they can pray.

I'm using Vicks
I haven't told him yet
haha

nose blocked
like I'll be
when I tell you all
that this is poetry.

.and what if I won the lottery
the taxman would take the lot off me,
fukin skanks.

he rants on unaware
that the boys in blue
are waiting out there
to catch him unawares
fukin skanks.

aw
shoot me from a cannon
straight down to the demon
who at least is upfront
about
what you get.

My local council
posting asinine polls
which I have to pay for
through my council tax.

for instance:
how many wild animals
are killed
by litter on the streets?

not as you might expect,
how can we make street cleaning
more effective?

just
join the council collective
rake the money in
spread the manure out
and hope
nobody notices.

ICU.
I had to stop and dab my quill
into the *** of what will happen next,

to break the mood
She texts me:
LOL

She's testing me
even as I'm going through the dictionary
to find what LOL means
She's laughing at me.

Current entertainment?
wait
let me think
current entertainment
blink
and yes it was
but
the lights went out


I'm waiting again.
for the lights
to begin
and I know that the
only e n d is to win

If it's lunacy and
you're wanting me
why don't you
set yourself free
from desire?
Resonate
on a higher
frequency

take your selfie
and
be a Rockstar

There is a pulse
an EM one
everything being lost
but
they've already gone
and now they're on
the stage.

Those were happier times,
when I was sleeping
apart from the nightmares
and the monsters
and the clock that alarmed me
and yet
the coffee that calmed me
sent me off racing to stand
somewhere facing a firing squad.

Perhaps looking before I leapt
might have kept me awake
and
allowed me to make more,
of those days.

I'm
starting to believe that
' April  is the cruelest month '

tired with a hacking cough
as if sputtering and spitting
wasn't enough
time to call the Doc

He'll give me pills
She always does
they always do
her and him
they and them
fukin pronouns
beat me again.

Still no Michaelangelo
so
where do I go now?

I think it must be obvious
that I must be hallucinating
but
considering the awful state
we're in
it's
probably par for the course.

Up at the crack
looking back on the night
Dawn looks so bright
in comparison.

In the right light
I look bright too.

She looks
but is not fooled
nor taken in
by how I begin
each day,

To be or not to become
inspired by some
and
ignored by the rest

but we're all a bit yesterday
all fading away
until only
memories remain.

More words spoken
promises broken
it
must be election time.

we get one vote for free
but buy two
and then you get three,
oh!
that might be cynical
of me.

I never trust a politician.

They're calling the Mayor of London's election
a two-horse race,
all I can say is this,
they must be thoroughbreds
well housed
and
well fed.

I'd rather stay in bed
but I will vote
instead
for a steward's enquiry
because
whatever the outcome
it'll have been fixed.

The train slides slowly
out from the sidings,
sliding because of the leaves
on the line,

that'll be delayed then

when will they bring out the canoes
it's a river out there.

I'm feeling better
although
you might disagree

the 'flu that floored me
has flown.

If it's true
then work
is the best way
out of poverty
for you,

but they'd tell that
to anyone
who was on
the breadline

I got no time
to waste on
soundbites
from those
fuckall governments

I'm signing on
and at the same time
signing out
of the system.

looking back at the younger me
but that's history and it will
be rewritten,

in generations to come
when I've been discovered
they'll make me a saint
and
someone will paint me
in a flattering light.

She looks at the older me
and says,
oh dear me
they'll have to use a thick paint
to cover all the
cracks,

then She kisses me
and
the rest is history

When you start a sentence
with the word
Technically
I switch off.

If I ever knew
I never really knew
why a swallow
never made a summer
or
why bluebells were so
blue.

.
I never knew.

What sense our senses make
of a still and cold high mountain lake,
or
a spiralling eagle rising on a thermal,

is it that it
is not for me to know but to see the glory
to hear the story in a whisper.

I trail the desert fox
and
meet scorpions
basking in the heat,

I never knew
that
scorpions do
that.

Taking its toll
leaving a great gaping hole
and who repairs the soul?

well you can say Jesus
I won't disagree
but to be honest
that doesn't do it for me.

I come to terms
conditions apply
I get on with this life,
and never ask why.
me?

Music and song
and with poetry thrown in
how can you go wrong?

it's still taking a toll
but
I try to roll with the
punches
all it takes
is a lifetime
of training.

It's not often that I get a cold
quite infrequently really
but when I do
it's a corker.

My eyes are running
my nose is running
feels like
someone's gunning
for me.

A few prayers
and there's no harm in
reading a psalm or two,

A man gotta do
what all men do
cry for their momma
and
she'll make it better.

On occasion
Captain Morgan
helps too.

Nobody's talking to me
it's because
I've been ostrich sized
what?
does my *** look big in these feathers?

oh
ostracised
why didn't they say that

der
because nobody's talking to me.

Are you expecting this
the Judas kiss?

I was expecting an Easter egg
and I got *** all so I'll have to beg
for my supper.

Jeez
I'm getting through this
I'll sort out the things I miss
and the Judas kiss can
*******.

I
should join the movement and become part of the establishment
Oh!
wait
that can't be right
or can it?

If you don't think that you're being manipulated
you don't think at all.

March?
but we've moved on
and the time has come
to acknowledge it.

In for the long haul
and
aren't we all?

Easter and eggs
not the same as
bacon and eggs.

They're hymning it
on the radio,
are you listening in?

The sand is running out quickly,
these are the times we thought would never arrive.

And yet here we are and better by far that we are.

There's talk of everlasting life and as long
as it’s just talk that’s good
because living forever would get very boring.


I sometimes wonder if light is travelling faster
than the universe is expanding,
the thought is a fleeting one
and I’m still standing in the dark.

When carnivores turn vegan
do they dream of lamb chops
pork bellies and
Lancashire hotpots?
they should.

The mind is a peculiar old cove,
cove as in
Blind Pew.

I’m hoping to spin this out
making believe that it’s Irish lace
and let’s face it fair and square
it’s nowhere near it.

I’d better end this
and the man in the back row
pipes up and has another go
and tells me to poke off,

I’m going to call him Edna because
he has a croaky voice and is
quite possibly ******.

Everywhere
in this town
is closed
jeez
you'd think
that Jesus
was
being crucified
what's
Good Friday for?
well
not for shopping
and
that's a fact.

As I live and believe I try my hardest to breathe it all in, each day seems much sweeter than some days I remember and those days I would rather forget.

It's monsoon in Maside I am so glad that I'm a reader and have lots of books here at hand,

Later as the crow flies
I'll probably put on my galoshes
go outside and splash in
those puddles I see,
it depends on the time as most things do and not on the things that we would like to do.

But for now a coffee suffices with hot buttered toast ( two doorstep slices) and Mozart on the radio.

She sleeps on.

Making preparations for the Easter celebrations but 'Harvey' insists on being one hop ahead.

I tried to put a stop to it
saw a top psychiatrist
he told me that the rabbit
was a figment of my
imagination.

I
wonder if this is a wonderland and why I am wondering so, because it feels like a bear trap in a woodland and why don't I just frickin go? but the edge is the thing that enthralls me and the drop that I know's far below so I'm staying here until it is Christmas and the right time for me to go.

They'll be put in charge of us and that'll be the end of..let's face it the human race it will be a memory, robots yes robots will be the end of me, artificial and chips will be the order of the day.

We could put a stop to it, but those with the money won't allow it and still some of you don't believe it
but some of us know that it's true.

I heard the owl earlier
probably not the same owl
that I heard years ago
although
if its aged as well as me
it very well might be.

Everything changes with time
sometimes too with a couple of
bottles of local wine
but the trick is to
reinvent oneself on a daily basis
whilst preserving ones identity.

I'm off soon, out exploring,
getting my steps in
not trying to be wafer thin
but shedding a few pounds
would be good,
steak, chips and peas would
be good too
alas
that's not on today's menu.

Maside 24 1

Back to my roots
put on my wellington boots
and start off in the garden.

it's hard when you're getting on
and by getting on I mean in age and
not by getting on the donkey
which is stood by the fence
laughing or braying
not saying that's wrong but it's
definitely off-putting.

Sharpen the scythe and then decide on
the strimmer, I'm not designed to be
slimmer I'm just making things easier.

Nearly breakfast time or it was when
I was writing this but by now it may have
passed,
so I'll get on with the garden,
but first I
have to size things up, decide on a plan of action, have a cup of tea and see how things look.

I'm sending it to the landfill
so it can reflect,

I know all too well that
I am not perfect
but the mirror insists on
giving to me a version of me
that couldn't possibly be
me,

see,
give a mirror an inch and
it'll add fifty years.

Think I'll buy a digital one to
digitise me,
She eyes me
somewhat more than curiously
and asks
if I'm feeling alright.

No money?
but
they can find it to spend on the engineering of the end,

fails on grand scales,
but
Anubis is hiring
so
not all is lost.

Tightening your belt
is the new enlightenment

That is the matter
we're getting thinner
and they're getting fatter

sticks and stones
will break your bones
you have to learn how
to dodge them.

She said,
be home by ten
but
She didn't say by ten tonight
She might have meant by ten
tomorrow.

good to know
good to go
good for nothing
pick a good,
any good.

Games to play when on holiday,
or on any day when you're feeling
lucky.

I'm falling into
the nearer to you
that I get.

I came
I saw
I concurred.

What it comes down to
is
did anyone know you?

Debatable
but
relatable
it sounds incredible
it could be true.

I never knew
neither me
nor you
and I tried
to
but
failure comes at
the price
we pay.

'Shake hands and come out fighting'
it does my fukin head in
and I'm talking about wrestling

I wrestle
with my darkside
trying to keep on the rightside
by keeping on the nightlight
sometimes it even works.

The merry-go-round
not so flamin' merry when
it never comes around,
it's like the gravy train
and you know what?
that never came.

I'm not fussed anymore
they can cuss all they like
I've been cussed before
ha
cussed is a quaint word.

I'm going on
and not the rollercoaster
or the Waltzer,
I am just going on.

and fairgrounds aren't really fair anymore
are they?
*** me,
a days pay for one ride
jeez
you'd think you were on the dark side.

Today is
World Poetry Day
it's also
Thursday
which has no bearing
on what I do or say.

People:
I thought there were a few million billion of them
or a couple of billion million but I didn't have the time
to count them all so I rounded them up into a giant
basketball and someone called time-out, but you cannot
call time-out on the March of it, not even stop for the time
when it doesn't care who you are.

So
here's the thing,
bring to the table what you can
a hungry person will always be grateful.

What friggin' program
and why do I need
to get with it?

I was almost with it in
the sixties
I
was definitely
with it in
the seventies
but
I never once thought
I
was in a program.

So
I'm asking again
what friggin' program
and
why do I need to
to get with it?

Yesterday,
bread and drippin;
cod liver oil
boiled sweet for a treat
we
didn't know we were born.

Today,
almond milk latte
fer **** sake
frappé,
can someone out there
shoot me

I really wanna go home.

In the unlikely event
which however unlikely
it seems
occurs,
She swears
that I'll be taken care of

oh
shades of Jimmy Hoffa
and the meat processor

but I tell her, that
our union is not the teamsters
just the joining of two stars

She settles down
and googles hit men for hire

From years in the making
to
I don't know what I'm doing

all in the blink of an eye.

There are many such moments in a minute and a moment there are many more, not to mention seconds which are secondary to the moments that have gone before.

Ask me the time and all it can be
is but for a droplet within the great sea.

She says,
'spit spot'
and the chalk drawing opens up for me.

I will never forget the sound of that foghorn
that cut a path through the fog
of those long ago nights,
or the
stars like the whites of my eyes
twinkling as they danced across
those Morecambe Bay skies.

I must go to visit the lighthouse
I might even give it a hug
for making my childhood
so special.

A semi-pro
improving though
but
still a way to go.

But Facebook folk
know most things
about everything,
they are the
scientists
dramatists
professional escapologists
and
they're all here,
in someone's Face..

the ...book becomes incidental
to the plot..

I liked her but she's
gone
barking mad
which is sad
because
she used to be such
a ***** cat
but
enough of that,
lock the loony up

tough love is tough

global something
is doing something
and they're blaming it
on cows farting.

And now
they're telling me that the results
came back negative,
I hate to say this
but
what did they expect?
it's a fuking X-Ray,

But things are never straightforward
that's why I take a step back
and ask for a second opinion.

Haha
Facebook is fun,
I've just been looking at a game
and it says,
it's harder than it looks

I don't give two flying ducks
I'm not playing it anyway