I have counted a lot, and I don't know how,
but the days I counted, I do not count now.

I've taken up stargazing
lazing on the patio
watching comets come and go
it's easier when it's darker
not so in the daylight,
but
I might start counting them
then again, I might not.

dilly dallying
putting the time in
to make up my mind.

Winter comes in
silent, quickly,
taking off those
weak and sickly,
I hope that
Winter
doesn't pick me.

Putting on my thermals.

Diving into infinity
only to find
that it's a pool.

Dreams do to me
what
the sea does to the shore,

more information is available.

it's raining and
not because it's Wednesday
it would have rained anyway
on any day this was.

Getting sick of politics?
take an emetic and
become a critic.

There is a lot of good
it's just that sometimes
you can't see the wood
for the trees.

When we've seen it, we still don't believe it and so we shelve it.

New things and odd things are like loose cannons; they can blow your socks off or you can get your rocks off, but whatever floats your boat, no judgment from me.

We're unmade and undone, and we make out that it's fun,
I don't believe that and I've seen it.

and where do we go from here?
Christmas is soon and then the new year,
which will be like the old year,
but with a different number.

Plum duff is *** stuff; you can ask Cap' Morgan, he's more than willing to say it is so.

The Autumn evenings are drawing in
and it looks to me
like they're drawing in
wet paint,
but it's only rain.

My eyesight's not what it used to be
it's not that I can't see
it's just that I see things
the way that they are.

.
She told me to get my hair
cut,
I said,
it'll end up on the cutting room floor

but, I say
it
could be used as one of the outtakes,

She
shakes her head
in that tut tut kind of way
and
the haircut is on for today.

To be in the woods and to sit on a log
cigarette in hand and by my feet the
trusty dog, which is ancient in dog years,
bliss.

peace and why it is good for me
watching as leaves fall silently
from trees that grow so majestically,
bliss.

bugs that scurry as bigger bugs worry them
fights to the death and life for one of them
centipedes like armies marching in on them
and wood lice are nice to me as I sit on the log
that they're eating for tea.

We're all being continued in another episode, someone writing something until we're fit to explode, cliffhangers like coat hangers that hold us and I think that the good lord should have told us that this is where we're held in great esteem.

At the circus
under the big top
waiting for the drum roll to stop
and the flying trapeze to fly,

but that was a dream.

Nothing to do with poetry
just the endless routine
of knowing it's a dream
and dreaming it again.

No kicking
punching
scratching
biting
write in
if you think
these rules are harsh.

Well.
'I've been to Harlem
I've been to Dover'
but I never felt I'd
been ****'d over
until I saw that
these are the nightjars
the birds that haunt you.

Nature being full of wonder
and cowshit
makes one stop to think for a bit
on life's imponderables.

We look at the differences and wonder did we make one of those.

Who knows what the difference will be in the twenty second century ?
not me.

Thinking that the difference is what makes a difference is definitely different if only to the intransigent.
I feign indifference which is definitely different.

Trample down the outcast and
cast them out of the community
and at times isn't this what we see?

But whatever you think
there is a missing link
and tag
you're it.

what if the wind changed and your face never stayed the way it was? Is that a lie that your elders told to keep you smiling?
well,
I look at some people and figured it worked.

all those tales they told
like
keep looking in the mirror and you'll get old
well.
that one definitely worked,

so
there is some truth and I should have listened
potatoes now grow in my ears,
I should have washed them,
square eyes because I watched too much television,
monsters under the bed, and therein lies another tale.

The first day of the ninth month in the year of two thousand and twenty five and if you're alive and awake, take a moment to give thanks that you're here.

But remember
we're all installations in a gallery run by the big corporations, and they hang us when and where they can.

Good,
now that's out of the way, we can get on with the day, even though the day happens to be a Monday.

Another pest
friend request
your profile is so cool

oh yeah!

I do not believe in
those things she said that she sees in
me

scam?

and another thing
I have thoughts that are older than her.

block
shock
horror and tomorrow
another pest

my profile must be the best

haha
coffee time.

Ready and I'm waiting here
for you to whisper in my ear
those three words
that we both hold dear,
'time for coffee'

Ah!, but not the 'Bisto' one
who remembers that?
and now
I can't remember
where I was going
with this.

A bit like life
we
set off with good intentions
and get sidetracked.

Now I'm back
*** in hand
no!
not that kind of ***

the coffee ***.

She says,
Oh Sugar,
and I wonder
does
She mean me
or is She
swearing?

.. and then
She planted in me
the seeds of a thought
of where I could be
and then
I grew.

Did you ever do that thing
you never thought
that you would want to do?

it's not that important
it doesn't matter
it's not an Earth-shattering thing
not the church
nor the bells that ring
but
if you did
and it's everything to you
do it again.

Graffiti and secrets
long stay or short lets
love without regrets
we've all
had it all.

I wait for the axeman
heads up to the taxman
we're now
for the chop.

She said,
stop me and try one
I lingered on
her fingertips
kissed on her fragrant lips
and faded away.

There is a tale to tell
a
bell to ring
when an Angel starts to sing
the song you know well.

so
if you've got the ****
and
you think you're a camel
it should be easy
to fit through the eye of
a needle
and get into heaven
unless
you're also rich.

there's always a clause that
is left unread.

I wondered
did we ever see it the way we saw it?
see-saw, once now and once before,

what's a difference?
the rise
the fall
one final call
train departing platform nine
your Waterloo may not be mine.

Wasting time is a waste of time
and yet
time wastes us away.

Friday and not the Good one
no Easter eggs to feast upon
and we're all just getting on
the best way that we can.

give everyone a sedative
let them live without the pain
to
somnambulate occasionally
then
give them a sedative again.

ouch that hurts

Walked my legs off
up hill
down dale
and
I noticed that there
are by far
more up hills than down dales

nature's a bit of a cutey cat when
it pulls the mat from under your feet
then beats you with relentless heat
and then it rains.

But all's well that ends in a pint
at the pub in the town.

Up North it rains
sometimes a lot
and at other times
just a little bit
but you get used to it.

My knees ache
She says
Ibuprofen
when doesn't She?

They'll tell you that we're in the pink
and man's an island,
therefore, he cannot sink,
ah
if only that were true.

treading water for exercise
listening to the constant lies

in the pink?
I think not.

Make the best of it if you can't afford the rest of it,
and lower your expectations.

A bird in the hand will probably **** on your palm,
especially if it's a pigeon,
stick with the two in a bush.

Here we are
another Bank Holiday
playing Billie Holiday
on the phonograph
and
eating cornflakes before
I take a bath.

Coffee time.

Notting Hill
I might go chill there,
float like a butterfly
underneath a blue sky
alternatively
I might power up and
go to Battersea

oh yeah
it's all to play for when the day
stretches out in front of you
and there's a million and one things
that you could do.

those were two of them.

Times are hard
times are lean
opportunities
few and far between,
but
they always have been
so
what's new.

It always takes the time it takes,
and there's no escaping from that.

No one can show that the faster they go
they can go faster than the time that it takes.

The speed camera doesn't even move.

If we're hurtling into the future
and the past recedes into our wake
how long will that take?

Still here
alive
in the year
Twenty Twenty Five,

thinking of Zager and Evans
and the year
twenty five twenty five
don't think
I'll be alive then.

Films to keep you watching
pills to keep you in
alcohol to keep you doped up
where the hell do we begin?

Coshes are available

but self medication is the brute
that digs down to the root
and puts the cyanide deep inside
ain't that the frickin' truth.

Climbing out
what's that about?
when it's comforting to know
that down inside we're safe and warm
why the *** would we want to go?

easy come and get one set them free
no one understands what it is to be
someone just like you or me,

oh
sing that song
sad *******, but it won't be long
you
just got to wait a mile or two.

takes the statement
last testament
no win no fee
set me free
no one understands

and that
includes me.

They're still making it up
telling you
that your cup's half full.

Don't believe the
'we have a plan men'
it's probably a scam, man.

This day moves on a clockwork spider
the gap between us getting wider.

We're still relating to the state
where the union is killing men
and the
'we have a plan men'
are laughing all the way to the bank.

It'll all come crashing down
and when we drown
under the weight of the universe

some'll say,
never mind
it could have been worse.

Who told you that it's getting better?
on a global scale
it's no better than it ever was,
if it ever was.

Lots of cloud
said aloud
is still
lots of cloud

almost there
where the air
freezes your breath
looking
'half starved to death'

That northern expression
left a dark impression
on me
I  now hoard food.

I've sent my letter to Santa,

been a good boy
please send me the Summer
for Christmas.

..and just like that
Autumn

well
sod it
and
sod them
and sod 'em until the
Summer comes back again.

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.