I could get an NVQ in what to do and how.

in training for the rain that's to come
well I would be but it's sunny
and it's Monday
which is not funny but a fact.

My dreams have departed
I'm already done and the day
hasn't yet started

sometimes
I wish it was
'that time already'
but I'll just have a coffee
and get on with things.

London ends up in a chop shop
and
that's it
split up
and sold
but there's a half naked figure on Facebook
London can 'sling its hook'

I scroll
She rolls her eyes

as they hack off bits of Hackney
She says to me,
is it raining?
take a look,

I'm still looking for that figure on Facebook

Does it feel like it's ***
and I only ask
because I'm sweating

she says,
something lost in the translation
which is probably
for the best.

and now it might be the night
but my eyes remain open
my sight
uncompromised

anyhow
wow  is overrated
when in this life
you've been liberated,

but we've all been separated
from what little truth there is

She has given me my orders for the day
and that's the way the day will go,

I'm still figuring out
which is my best foot to go forward with,

give her her due
she knows
that I like to do
next to nothing

and likes to give me something
to keep me from under her feet.

She may be sleeping
but
I am still keeping my hopes up

faint voice and fair maiden
air heavy laden
on a bed that says made in
Kashmir.

Earlier it was early
and it's still early
even though
it's later now

how does that happen?

it might be a bit close to home
but I'm watching Breaking Bad,
and the sad thing is
it's nearer the truth than I am.

She saved me
took me from
that slavery
and yet
I'm just a slave to her

swings and roundabouts.

You're looking for a mirror
because you're running in a wheel
and you think that you're a
hamster,
can that be true or is it real?
and you're dog-tired
getting wound up
going round and round
you want to throw up
but
they haven't fed you anything
resembling egg and beans
or ham and chips
just
some stuff that's dry and tasteless
and they say,
run more we'll waste less
be happy with what you get.

but you get sod all except for
a ****** plastic ball and they
expect you to play.

It's about half past dark o-clock
even the cockerel's asleep

what is it that keeps on spinning
the Earth or is it my head
or could it be the old house spider
that uses its web for a bed.

Running around in circles
following the hands on the clock
and guess who picked the second hand?
yep.
it was me the bleedin' old crock,

they said,
put him out of his misery
or at least put him out to grass

I told them to kiss my ***
whose name is Neddy, by the way.

Thus ends another
which is one way to call it a day.

Thirty eight minutes to focus my eyes,
the disguise that I use
the blurring of times
the way that the lines on my face
are unread
and
all this going on while I'm still
in my bed

if I see at all
I see nothing at all.

Thursday nearly Friday
soon be on the way
to work away
at being
me.

I blinked
she winked
thinking that
I'd winked
instead
of blinked

games
and
sometimes
we
win.

Jesus must have gone out of his way today to save me,
I wonder what that'll cost me.

but the labour is done
and not even a baby
to show for it,
( that's a joke )

Loyalty points would help me
but
nothing's for free,
and
why should it be?

so
I'll go and do it all again tomorrow
there is no in-between
it's the Devil or the deep,
and
knowing them both
doesn't help me either.

feels like I've euthanised a smile,
to bring on some misery
but that doesn't help me either.

Happiness is not brewed in Warrington
you're thinking of temporary amnesia.

If Tuesday came with a fast-forward
and the weekend came with a rewind
I'm quite sure that we'd still find
something to complain about,

all those,
Hi-tech, break your neck
Silicone valley implants
don't work
they're just for show to put in
windows, switch them on to give
a glow, self satisfaction if you didn't know
is illegal in twenty-seven states
ha
I made that bit up
but I bet it made you zip up.

if
if and when
if and when I do
I won't
I will,

another hill to climb
churn out one more
line to rhyme
take a little time
and make a cup of
coffee.

Ah
if beauty was in the eye of I told you
and you cast the spell that held me.

What times these are
better by far than
Dickensian
and if it's you that I see
yet again
I'll go blind
in the want of wanting.

Yesterday I was at a poetry class, and just for a change, I wrote these two pieces which were inspired by Kenyan Poet, Jared Angira, from two of his poems.

The second coming
or the words of a madman or a Shaman,
but he says,
Poetry does not move me
for mine are the walls of Jericho
and yet
as the dreams expand
both empires and walls will fall.
...........................................................­................................


Why the clouds
why a monitor lizard
why not a butterfly
forgive me for asking,
but why?
I can understand the eagle
but why the roots of a fig tree?

Am I this innocent of life and death
that the breath of nature
still excites me?

After the news
if you've not been thrilled by it
we can review it
yes
we can do it
because we are the architects.

Those clouds
don't even look like clouds
they're more like
smudges,

he
nudges himself awake
sits up
to watch the daybreak
only to see it
disintegrate,

inside of his own programme
man
switches channels
midstream
to dream
of an alternative ending.

Well
I'm doing the early night thing
which is the right thing to do
but you know
that I'll be thinking of you,
I always do.

D'ya think you can work it
go solo
become closed circuit?

I gotta tell ya
it isn't gonna be

the seeing eye
not always in the sky
but watching you
and you cannot hide

they put cameras on the inside of you
to watch you do the things that you do
which is a 'fine how d'ya do
as they say up North.

Leaves underfoot
leaves overhead
getting used to the feeling
that Summer is dead
and
here comes Autumn,
solemn
begrudging you the joy
you felt
as you knelt and worshipped
at the altar of the Sun

Do you remember
what they were saying about the heatwave?
well
it's just waved goodbye,
the sky looks like it's threatening rain
I'm sat up in the bed ( again ) and why not?
so far Saturday's not got a lot going for it.

Put the blame on your employer
they can't allow you to enjoy a
weekend off
because you might never go back.

Friday and the sirens are wailing
when they catch them, if they catch them, they'll be getting bailed out by the do-gooders and nothing good will come of it.

I don't care
I'm not there in the spotlight
nor am I dodging the cops in
the moonlight,

subliminally insane
playing their game
and still getting
weighed off
but that's a weight off
free board
free food
colour TV
and a private room
for me,
a solarium
a gymnasium
free classes in business
management
courtesy
of her...
..oops..
His Majesty's Government
and then they wanna give me parole
*** em
they can kiss my old king cole.

it could be any time really
the daylight is not yet here
and
the night steals a bit more
of me.

are those fireflies
or neurons misfiring?

it's too early for me to switch on
but the kettle doesn't seem to mind.

It could have been in the mind's eye
or the minutiae, but either way
it was in that eye that beheld you
and you
pretended that it wasn't you
that I was looking at.

A
Kit Kat,
but I knew that
and I couldn't
take a break.

When you get to the door that says 'no entry' if there's no sentry just go through it,
*** it, life's too short, live dangerously, don't look before you leap,
we are not sheep.
smash the locks on your stocks and break free,

the ******* in the back row
shouts,
they don't use stocks anymore,
but what the hell does he know
as I throw
a rotten cabbage at him.

When you think it's the stairs creaking
and your bones come out in symphony
or should that be sympathy?

it's too early for all this
and soon enough
it'll be too late

Wednesday comes around again
as
regular as clockwork
I
have to work too.

Because the light's there
in the night there
and the reels
are spinning.

But we only double up
in pain
seems like we like it
otherwise
why do it again
and again?
and the reels never stop.

I see it from the outside
never want to be on the inside
but those on the inside
think they can hide
from
the outside.

and when the light dims
the reels still spin
you never win
never.

I know that it's Tuesday and it'll soon be Friday which will feel like Thursday because I didn't work Monday
jeez
doesn't this guy ever quit?

When I get my gold watch for putting fifty years in
it's going straight into the bin
who needs to know the time when the clock is ticking?

getting nearly almost ready to make a coffee
and again the day begins with a jolt.

Back to that theme,
I was growing old
but now
I grow mushrooms,
there’s a lot more scope
in that endeavour,

If I keep it up
ha
has nothing to do with
******,
more to do with the weather
and that’s always
changeable.

In me sound
echoes around,
empty vessels
and all of that,

and I am used to it
when someone hits
reverberate
sometimes I cannot wait
and get to it myself.

and when I'm home
I moan and groan
ghosts do that
or don't you know?

Autumn will take
the bough will break
and the council will make
a charge for dragging it away.

Some get to sparkle
I got a Spangle
the last of a dying breed.

feed me more grapes
fill my lungs full of vapes
let me hang off the drapes
but
some get to sparkle
while I'm
still ******* on a Spangle.

Oh yeah,
they'll tell you that
it's macular degeneration
and blame it on your age

but we from the year dot
know
that's not what we;ve got
it's more of a selective viewing
and
*** what's new in
we see what we want to see.

You think you can hide from what is burning inside
but the fire brigade is coming and
not to put out the flames but to fan that desire,

and your Autumn is rising
still lighting the fires in
your eyes.

The supermercado
made from Meccano
set back in the meadow
where it’s easy to miss,
but look out for the bargains
between the primrose
and lavender
they’re things that will grab you
and make you glad that you came

You never get a poltergeist that'll tidy up the house for you
it's always one that moves things and never puts them back in the right place.

I take it then that all poltergeists are men?

well
that's an epiphany,
but She
says
I knew it all along.

As Sunday begins
the wind blows empty cider tins along the street
quite musical if somewhat fanciful.

I don't expect that the coffee is going to make itself
so I suppose that I'd better put on some clothes and
toddle off to the kitchen,

there's always something to do
time allows for that.

It's going to rain or maybe not
I hope not but it might if the
weather forecast is right.

okay coffee time
and
time allows me that.

...then came the lightning
and I don't need Mr Mercury
to tell me
that it's very very frightening,

roll on the rain
which is suspiciously absent
a bit like me really
and eerily so

aha
and here it comes
running down the windows
as if it's in a race

I press my face to the pane
and feel its pain once again
because we're all running
aren't we?

A solitary angler underneath the Roman bridge
reeling in his line to cast it out again
nothing’s biting
except for the midgies,

I’m guessing his perseverance will be rewarded
eventually.

this rush of humanity
over the river
back and forth
pays no heed to him
nor he to them,
I’m guessing that fishermen
are used to it.

A place of parables and Paradillas
a paradise in which
to eat and to be fed
and to be
led eagerly into the next
tale.

I am almost certain that Summer
lasted for longer when I was younger,

Einstein and relativity
or a touch of senility?

I have noticed
and quite frequently
that the Sun only comes out after tea which is usually at about
3pm
which makes me believe that the Earth is tilting a bit more to the left or to the right and what used to be the day has now become a part of the night,

It's probably senility.

There's a meme for everything and
someone to make a scene over nothing,
We're just the onlookers,
the
dozy planks
ha
and you thought I was going to say
dozy *******
but no thanks
I don't swear anymore
I do tell lies though.

She says,
I'd make a good statue
but I'm not so sure about that
I have ironing to do
and the dishes won't wash
themselves.

still
which I am not
I've got lots of movements
I just need winding up.

Acorns
fall frequently,
forests of oak
throwing caution
to the wind.

I throw a towel around me
and head to the bathroom,

the owl arrived
about four this morning
hooting out its warning
to the things that scurry.

Full steam ahead
isn’t that what they say?

I meander into the coming day.

I'm still trying to decide
whether to get up, shave,
shower and glide out the door
or to
stay in bed and hide from the day.

I made no provisions for these
important decisions
therefore I'm wingin' it.

Friday and come what may
may very well come
except for the Sun which
follows no rules except for
its own.

Humming and Harring
won't get me far in
the choice that I make

*** it
I'll take the day off.

Don't believe them
they're telling you lies
making you think that
you're on the way up
when
in actual fact
you're being marginalised.

Ow,
suppose I'd better grow up
get up and get on with the day
but
if I could find a way to delay
doing it
would I take it?

and if I won cash in
the lottery
which always seems to
have forgotten me,
must be they had a lobotomy
or it could be that they don't
like me,
I'd take it for certain and
hide it under the mattress

but
then I'd probably worry more
and sleep less,

*** it
I'll just get up
and
get on with it.

Making out the outline and as time goes on it becomes a bit clearer,
it’s now not what I thought it was because what I thought it was it’s not,
there’s a lot to learn about mostly lots but mainly about the dancing spots
that waltz across my eyes.

Monday must feel the same to everyone everywhere
nudging its way in to begin the week.

I've been where you are
that first step is by far the hardest
but you'll get no rest until you take it.
and when you do
everything opens up for you
the whole world seems brand new
when you take that first step.

The comfort zone
is not covered by your oyster card
but you can stay there
not care and not dare
to make a move
and
that's where you'll remain,

one step,
that's all
the ball's in your court.

Still bound by those chains on the steps to the Vatican
and I know it's just that again
the wait for a blessing which comes in disguise from
the sad eyes of a stranger,

Every chapel, church, cathedral or mission that I sit in
and wish in comes with a disclaimer,
You know who it is but I dare not name her.

I always recognise the eyes of the forsaken, the taken, the witch and the woken,

This is on me and the weight of my destiny kills me.

Until when
and then the ink runs dry
the pen seizes up and
teacher starts to cry

but
it's still only Wednesday
as if wishing it away
would change things.

the bell rings
recess
progress of a sort
until you're caught
smoking
and you get what they call
'a talking to'

anyhow
I'm touching base
somewhere
on the North face
seeya
at the top.

There was that time
I should have said
what
was on my mind
but remained silent
for fear of rejection

What games we play
in whose name do we say
‘ help me ‘ ?

beyond it all it’s easier to forget
and to fall
and to forget and to fall,

on a loop.

Pulling myself together
because sometimes
I forget who I am
and fall apart.