Post me a letter bomb to ******* up.
Reduce me to pieces for I've had enough.
The biggest bit of me, my thumb.
Look at it just sitting there, on the floor.
I’m like strawberry jam, all over the walls.
Best way to be in this selfish money grabbing world, dead.
Blown up like those stuck in Aleppo.
Blitzed by Putin's bombs in the world's weapon proving ground.
I want no part of it or the world.
Tell them I'm from Aleppo and that I too write.
What will you write about us all, when we’re gone?
Then gather my ****** remains and put them in a hole.
For then I'm home and finally free.
Like all of the others, killed my Putin and the rest.
Worse than the Devil at his worst.
All for power, weapons sales and pride.

Eventful War Part 2
It is simply ongoing
The war as you all call it
Continues and will never end
For those who control the world
And all of us are pulling the strings
To make more cash and power
From the war acts which don't stop
A new year a new war in a new place
Or an old place dusting off an old war
It's doesn't matter why who how when
What matters is power and a bit of cash
They lust for power have it all want more
Many will die nations will be wrecked
Weapons used in anger or for fun
You name it they'll use it and do it
Conflict is the normal for them
There is no profit in peace
The Eventful War Part 2 continues
Part 1 never actually stopped…

Events and Time

I guess my feelings don’t really matter, that I don’t need anyone by my side when I’m down or upset or depressed. Don’t you know I’m just like anyone else? Though I’m different I’m just the same inside don’t you see? Do you know how hard it is to live alone and not have anyone to care for you? And when I meet someone who I thought was special, to let her in and trust her and slowly show her my world, bit by awkward bit.

Like when I met Anya in the pub we got on so well, she wore the same religious symbol as me, a pentagram, carried the same ink on her skin, tattoos and likes the same music, alternative. We had two weeks of fun, ending my 13months of being alone. Too fast she said, Nick, you’re moving way too fast, now it’s over. In the gulf of her silence I was so affected but I knew the truth.

When I heard the gunshots and saw a man dying I wanted Anya to be there for me, I was alone. Saw evil on my own streets, not wanting to be there and a witness to such random horrific events. Silly little boys armed with 9mm pistols thinking they’re something selling drugs and being in gangs, will they ever learn? They should have heard the widow’s screams. Oh that would teach them.

My life will move on, very different now. Anya taught me to not let anyone in though I’m still her friend and don’t hate her. After seeing the ****** I promised never to hate again or to carry a weapon, not even defensive. Sometimes events happen and come together, that week for me was like no other. It was all an awful fairytale with wicked people and tragedy beyond belief. And still I wrote and did my open mic readings; life must go on even in darkness, an illusion smoke and mirrors.

Still I ask who will be there for me when silent screams wake me in the deep of night. Will I forget what I saw? Will anyone ever find me, my soulmate does she exist??

Events Besides
We went to a place where hundreds died
Soldiers in a battle far from home
300 Japanese soldiers
100 American troops
And many more besides
Killed in many ways

Death by bullets
Death by bombs
Death by bayonet
Death by by blast
Death by by besides

The place was Storm King Mountain
The battle happened long ago
Are we the only ones to remember?

the hills look so serene/i wanna be there/feel the wind in my hair/hill fog on my face/be one with mother nature/this is freedom/even when not here/except in our minds/the hills save us/from ourselves and time/we exist eternal

fade
one of those with the lines on the end/there's always a divider/between us and them/and between me and them/it's best this way/for they can't get too close/i don't class them as friends/don't want them helping me/when things are bad burning blasted/don't want them celebrating/my son's graduation or my new tattoo/i want them distant/edge of my radar scope/nothing but blips/over there not here/leave me alone don't stress me/we are this way for a reason/i'll add more reasons/for i endure even when i fade

Failed Pills
I took pills all my **** life to cure this and that
None of them ever ******* work
So I write about my ailments instead
The way only I can words on the page
Putting my ills into them to free me
Who am I blooody kidding eh?
Myself to give me some backbone
And MAN IT UP NICK!
But that doesn't change how I feel
Nor take way the illnesses that rest inside
Waiting to get me like a manman with a saw
I'd love to meet such a crazy
At least he could chop me up
Thus reducing my ailments by number
Till then I suffer the world of this
My reality not in pain but something else
The thing called life enduring sensation
A word to replace pain multiple blows
I feel them all and till I finally rest...

Fake Believe

I walk these majestic corridors of the huge tower block

Skyscraper clawing down the sky into the earth

Thirty two floors above ground

And ten below where anything goes

Tell me, what’s down there?

Ornate toilets fit for a king

That I use three times a night

When I have a right big ****

And wash my armpits, tonsils and ******* on the bidet

Enjoying being tickled by the water

Then dry them on the air jet blower

Followed by a job off the toilet attendant

Male or female it doesn’t matter

Just close your eyes and tap twice

She/he/ladyboy will soon be there

Part of the joy of working in the city

Call centre vampires enjoying their work

We only come out at night

When I prowl the corridors of my structure

I’m the CEO of my own company

And own this building and all of you

In my murky make believe world

Of office tower block fake worldery

I always needed something to rebel against
From my school peers who I ******* hated
To my overly dominant mother who was the boss

And the neighbours who were stuffy ******
The controlling school rules I loathed so much

I was always had to rebel against something
It was me against the world and still is?
What amazes me is I made it thru

Physically in one piece but inside...
There was a little bit of chop along the way

But I escaped the crap of life
That ensnared many of my fellow teens
Was this because certain family rules ruled me?

I feel the King of my world
Alone as on a glacier
With only Nature as my friend
The rest of them ignore me
For this is what they do
When one is different
And a King all powerful
It’s fine though I ignore them

There's a way and will to this world
No matter how twisted or slow or fast
There's a finite intelligence there
Guiding me to places known or unknown
Here or there it doesn't matter
The result is the same  
A journey some place else
We are here just now and future
We will be taken to new places
For further experiences in this life
They will be good or bad or indifferent

Boom! goes the dynamite as we fish for fish
No line, net or hook needed
Just a few sticks of dynamite and a Zippo
Light the stick and toss it in
Wait a few seconds and Boom!
There’s a dozen fish ready for the ***
Try not to use fast burn sticks
You’ll end up in heaven or hell
And make sure you throw it far
You don’t want splash backs
Or to sink your boat if afloat
I’ve caught sticklebacks and great whales
And a U-boat and dozen other types besides
Ate my fill in twenty nations
While dynamite fishing
It’s no good for the reefs
But we pay off the officials
No permits needed
You know how it is cash talks
So I’m allowed to fish where I want
And am off to France soon
Followed by Spain and Italy
To do some illegal Boom! fishing...

gimme a flaming pumpkin seed
for i wanna do some trouble
create havoc down below me
hypseronic devil craft
created by man to ****
thermonuclear detonations
wherever i wish
got 122 nuclear warheads
snug in my belly
each one a city killer
or able to destroy an army
kicked out by springs
easy as having a beer
nobody or nothing
can touch me
unlike me upon high
easily the most evil weapon
riding my own shckwave
skipping the atmsophere
into space where i reign
the winner of all wars
before they begin
but winning without mercy
if they start
soviet russia my target
and any one else
who wants to dance
my flaming pumpkin seed
power beyond god
created by america
to rule you all

FLY
Forever high in the sky
Living up in the ether
Yearning for my freedom

They let me loose, fly/Upside down in that aircraft/Rewind to that time

Follow That
The Fake God casts his spell
He holds the reps in his gaze
They know he has something
A certain type of quality
An ability to do things
To get results and sales
Nobody managed to emulate this
Not his lapdog with a higher position than chair
There’s something about the Fake God
He said his boss and another manager
All with backgrounds in sales
Had different energy are just different
That’s what two decades in sales does
How many of the reps will equal that?

'I don't want to burn...'

Otto flew onwards.
It was a joyous flight.
Then trouble hit again.
His other worst fear.
Engine failure!

Must land.
Where where where?
Altitude has gone.

Trees are so close.
Wrong place to crash!
Touching close.

Want to close my eyes.
But I must to see my end.
Drop the ***** to glide longer.

There!
A field.
Thank God!

I can make that.
Keep the nose down.
Don't want to stall.

I can do this!
Dead stick landing.
I was trained for this.
Here we go!
Bump!

Bump and slide.
**** that's rough.
My warplane is sliding.
Come on now, stop!

Oh crap!
A ditch, right across the...

Mama save me again!
I don't want to die.
Mutti!

Otto came too and shook his head.
His vision was blurred and pained him.
A sweet smell wafted towards him.
The drip of petrol was audible.

He panicked and dug at the brown earth.
It was mixed with broken Perspex, above him.
Undoing his straps, Otto tried to escape.
The broken canopy trapped him.

Drip drip drip went the gas.
Then... just out of his vision.
A boy, aged about eleven.

Help! Help me! Hurry. Please!

The boy ran over.
Looked at the inverted plane.
And saw the trapped pilot.
Did he know that Otto was the enemy?
And had killed his father?

Otto flung off his flying goggles.
They made eye contact.

Help me! Hurry now.

The boy found a steel bar.
With the intelligence of the young,
he levered against the wing.
It leant against the ditch edge.
Moved with a sickening jolt.

There was a gap.
It was enough.

Otto dug at the earth and cut his hand.
Bending double, he crawled out.

Drunkenly standing, he looked at his plane.
He shook his head and felt his broken ****** nose.
Then fell to his knees and vomited.
Fractured ribs knifed him.

Otto passed out.
When he looked up, the boy was gone.
Without him, I'd be dead...

For How Long?
It is what it is so they both say
They came together more than once
How long this will be both can

Or cannot say for they fight
He can immediately block her
She can do this to him
Check mate here nobody wins

Why should it be a fight?
She pushes him to his limits
Seems to enjoy it while he

Would rather be grinding her
Using her wicked moods
For something he benefits from
Like in the barracks block

When the office has gone
Then she is tamed not mad
Till the next time next fight
For how long a day week month?

Frag
The same old feeling
The same old issues
By the same old feeling

Why do you still take it?
I ask myself each day
Better the Satan you know

The **** beasts me
Each and every day
I should’ve been a Marine

Than an army soldier
Day in day out
Same old ******* ****

I think I’ll frag my officer
When we are alone
Out in the bush

Say it was an accident
All the **** he gave me
Join the army

See the world
That **** is my world
Tonight I’ll frag him

Then take off cross county
The border is fifty clicks away
Join the cartel

Or go independent
**** the army
And their rules

Freebies
Look how happy the reps are
Eating the free pizza
Given by the client
Some reps have 1 piece
Another ate 16 pieces
Talk about greedy!
Free coffee was given
As only coffee went with pizza
On a call centre night shift
Plus Pepsi cold 2 litres
Wish it was drink all you can
Don’t be selfish now!
Think of your team mates
You're on the account together
Nobody will be left behind
Or so they say in training
When nesting is passed
And production starts
It's obvious who makes it
Right now enjoy the free pizza
Given by the client
The new reps are happy
Will it soon change?

Freedom Not
The days move on
New ways made to ****
Older weapons tweaked
Any advantage is good
No matter how big or small
Defeat your opponent
Pretend to be his friend
Fire the first shot
Endure the last shot
Or fire none at all
Winning the war

By intelligence and stealth
Either way you keep ahead
Becoming more powerful
With your contracts and cash
Made on the backs of the dead
Shame on you and your kind
For all that you do is wrong
I do not care for you

You don’t for me
You’ve slug with my name on it
There’s a million with yours on
But even if you die
You’ll be replaced by another
With the same twisted morals
This is why I always win
And freedom will endure
Replacing your tyranny
If you **** us all
We still win
For we are free
We are immortal

Fried Turtles
The little dog chews on the blue wire
His sharp teeth need blunting
So he picked this bomb wire to gnaw
He likes biting and such like
One of his main interests
His master’s fingers and boots
Car tires on parked cars
And his Holy toys
The gold cross from the church
That’s totally ******
Just like the blue wire he has
Look it’s now severed
And the bomb will explode
Killing ten million Chinese
Flattening central Shanghai
Good job the dog and wire
Are ten miles away
He’ll still get a tan
And ten million turtles
Will be totally ******* fried
It was a Taiwanese bomb…

Dial dial lost in time
Call up all the lost sailors
On their sunken ship
Give Earhart a call
Way out past the atoll
Contact the ghosts
From all the wars
Contact all the evil dictators
And ask them this:
Were all their ****** wars worth it?
The financial cost, the blood and destruction
But we cannot call them
For the dead remain dead
And new wars erupt
By generals and leaders
Who want their golden glory
Five minutes of fame
And a new war
And a new battle
And a thousand new deaths
Call them and ask them:
Why?

Fuzzzy
I love you in a warm and fuzzy way inside
You've c*m inside me I feel it inside haha

49…
He went by bus to see the football game. The bus was a Fiat just like his one off Fiat Panda2002. He sat there and read his book in the bar room. All the trophies were on display and the home team was there. He ignored them but they didn't him. Giving him a load of lads stuff. He observed them and joined them. It became confused. He was escaping his hometown. They tolerated him. He loved his car. He had to hide in the garden from the bus driver. Go by car! Then back in the football room he had a run in with the **** driver. It was later and confused. He hit the driver with his car bus tank machine to silence him or was it a biplane? Just be ******* quiet! Drive by Fiat Panda next time to see the Scots top teams. For I am cool and my dream rocks...

garage tools
orbital sander sanding away
big it up for the orbital sander
getting sand on now now now
hear the orbital sander sand away

orbital sander
orbital sander
orbital sander
sand sand sand!

like his mate the orbital grinder
give it a good grind
grind away on the go
watch that baby grind away

orbital grinder
orbital grinder
orbital grinder
grind grind grind!

hydraulic ramp going up and down
no car is too heavy
fantastic hydraulics
touch of a button up down up down

hydraulic ramp
hydraulic ramp
hydraulic ramp
lift lift lift!

laser gig perfectly aligned
laser beam on target
crash damage repair perfection
laser accuracy beyond compare

laser gig
laser gig
laser gig
laser laser laser!

boss is doing a ******* eppy
the tech is too reliable
he bosses and bullies
his young apprentices about

sweep the floor
male the brews
fetch the butties
you ****** slaves
boss boss boss!

garnets and emeralds
the pretty girl
puts on some blusher
from her compact case
on it is an image

just like her

a pre-raphaelite print
this girl scans the sky
her eyes always above
she watches the planes
go out and come back
for she counts them all

one by one

is her guy up there?
or is he missing?
she remembers him
and cares for his comrades
the girl who counts the planes
for she loves all the crew

not just pilots

as much as she loves her land
the girl who counts planes
how many failed to return?
there's a ring on her finger...

Alba Girl drank her Gin and Tonic
It was such a lovely drink
But an acquired taste
Only certain cultured people liked it

People like her with different ‘tastes’
Alba Girl liked to travel and draw
She was an artist and a thinker
Always thinking the reason why

And what made a picture better
If it was a landscape pencil sketch
Or portrait of an important person
There were ways to make it better
Changing the perception of the art

A deeper use of shadows
Or more intense colour
Gave vivid impressions

Like on her new series of paintings
Which she would continue
When she returned from her trip to Italy

Till then she deeply thought
And enjoyed her tip
Including her G and T

Future Craft
Once the Gryphons flew in a mighty air fleet.
Now there are only twelve left.
Each with a poetical name like Kesef.
Let us fly aboard such a craft.
A 9th generation biotic craft.
Sentient and aware looking like a big dragonfly.
They subdued entire continents
Armed with unbelievable weapons.
Flown by reborn pilots.
Each totally committed to his task.
Connected to his machine.
Pilot and war plane as one.
Unbeatable in battle.
God and Goddess like in power.
With their names and legacy.
Utterly beautiful in flight.
One family of advanced flying machines.
All created by a young pretty woman.
Her mind was a gift…

The cat sat
On the mat
Kissing a bat
Kicking a rat
In the frat
Bending a slat
While getting fat
Wearing a hat
Getting a tat
Swatting a gnat
Starting the chat
You Looking at?
You spoilt brat!
Rat-at-atat!

Goth Fall
What a cool gothic chick I hooked up with online.

We shared the same interests.

A pretty, kind, intelligent, funny woman.

I thought this is it.

I've met my soulmate.

No more loneliness or being misunderstood by the wrong gals.

What a catch.

Something stopped us being together.

She sensed it.

Bad news got in the way of us.

Half a bottle of ***** engulfed my oblivion.

It's cancer.

I don't know how bad.

I'm gutted.

She sent me this message:



Heya nick lovely lad...im so sorry for not txtin u....ive had bad news n i need to deal wiv it.i wud love to have met you but now i fear we cannot...u see it wouldn't b fair on u. Ur txts and books and pics av been lovely to get each day and have helped(are helping)but i have dark times ahead...i knew i was being kept from you for a reason. Ur far too lovely for me crash into ur life only to leave you brokenhearted one day. I am sad beyond words not for my battle ahead but for my chance of meeting you being ruined in the cruelest way...you are an amazing man and an amazing spirit... Im sorry for toutching your life and being so unavailable...that was never fair of me and not my intention...bless you gorgeous man,you will find good love,its in ur future.love Katie xxxxx



I was on a real downer.

I deleted her number, my awfully capable defensive mechanisms kicking in.

Later she emailed me, in response to my flurry of skyfall emails.

Why didn’t I reply to her text about my gig?

I’ve no recollection of getting that text.

She would have gone.

Imagine her being there, after I was outa my ******* face on *****.

Due to her.

My wounds healed.

But no.

We’re apart.

And darkness engulfs me again.

Welcome back old friend...

Gothic Black
What will tomorrow be like?
We have to get thru today first
Then we can see what it’ll be like
The same old crap or different?
A perfect utopia of happiness
Or a black ash filled world
We will see as the days die
Night becoming the new normal
Some think tomorrow is now
And only darkness will reign
Like some scifi horror story
With us as the characters
All soon to perish in the night
I look forward to that world
More gothic than black

GOTHIC STORM
Gothic storm across the heavens, splitting
the sky in two creating a rip in the fabric
of the sky into which the earth will fall,
doomed and dead into the abyss of time
forever more. We are the generation of the ******,
condemned to be this for the rest of our lives
until we die, by our own hand
or that of Old Father Time or of our enemies,
stalking us across the chapters of the universe,
never ending. The seas of time used to be on our side
but now the hour glass has tilted and we slide
effortlessly downwards, to our end
and that of all that meant something to us,
now nothing but ashes and dust,
not even a folk memory remains as we cease
to exist, become nothing but a storm in the rift
of time that is the world, an idea of what might have been,
ending now…

he had someone special
he loved her so
she meant the world to him
he questioned why
they never met before
it would've been possible
for they lived on the same planet
they just never knew
that the other existed
but they know now
and will not ever part
not even when they fight
like crazy gunfighters
in some mad way

Hades 12
Grrrr! I am the Nemosaur!
Nemosaur *******.
Gonna eat you alive and **** the marrow from your bones.
I'll bight off your toes like munching sweets.
**** your brain outa your skull, slowly.
Bit by bit you cease to exist.
Eaten alive by the Nemosaur.
What bit next?
Vertebrae squash time till your two feet tall, a ****** dwarf meal.
All mine!
Nemosaur is hungry.
Slowly I cut into your fat belly and drink milky white fat.
Then I uncoil your intestines bit by bit, I can taste your last meal.
Yum!
Now the insides.

hagley
i remember back in 06 i worked in a warehouse
it was for a store that sold varied things
there were varied staff there in several departments
we had a boss who was a real hag and she ruled us
like adolf ****** ruled occupied europe
iron fist and no carrot
so you can imagine what i thought
as i got to know her ways
i eventually left as did a dozen other staff
leaving the store with a skeleton crew
head office did an investigation into this
it was due to the manager who was a real *****
she was both my manager and area manager
so if i had a problem and reported her
it was the bizarre situation of reporting her to herself!
a surreal investigation into herself
i wonder where she is now my old manager
still giving her staff absolute hell?
i've never met a hag like her...

Always this way fact/one team other team best way/do you want to change?

Ship sails normally/million ton bulk carrier/aliens steal ship

Decide the world's fate/nothing changes but the year/so who made YOU God?

Six call centre years/what will the next six be like?/career made for fools

Hence I like you dear/do you like my older bro?/I am an ice cream

It all happens there/work in a call centre job/go do what you want

Small but terrible/looking lovely open shirt/my darling bright wraith

hail thee sky gods
for the power of the sky is here
up in the blue miles aloft
destroying democracy's enemies
with explosive eggs
dropped from big metal birds
but not all made it home
for the enemy was strong
and cunning with a will to fight
one yankee boy sat on the edge
buffeted by a wind like none
two hundred miles an hour
threatened to rip the boy apart
he sat there on the edge
an edge four or five miles high
behind him his airplane burned
and was doomed like its crew
did he actually jump
and use his 'chute?
ten men in an alloy coffin
full of gas and ammo and bombs
ready for was and will for use
who hit them?
**** shells from who?
it doesn't matter for they were named
on the devil's list
off to hades
would they be able to pay?
the ferryman needed payment
his was an arduous job...

Hate Time Now
I love the world as it is now.
It's how I created it in my dream,
thus unleashing your nightmare.
It bothers everyone who is no one or someone.
England leaving the EU and their laws,
Neo Soviet Russia bled white in her many wars,
America being led by a new ******, Trump,
Red China is his international target of hate,
Mexico too for it needs a wall,
Daesh and other Muslim terrorists blow things up for hate,
Germany is fed up of millions of refugees,
Far Right hate groups spring up everywhere.
All this adds to my script, is my script, for you all.
The only people who benefit are haters, undertakers and weapon makers.
Choose your side, boil up your hate and prepare for war.
The battle will be long, ******, to the end and fun.
Written by me, Old Nick, in the depths of Hell.
Pop on down and keep me company.

You're all in my story.

Headstrong Tornado

I feel like I failed myself for not joining the Royal Air Force

I wanted to join for years ever since I was a kid

But my teenage moods got in the way

Like they did with most other things

And still do but I see them for what they are, moods

Which stopped me from being elite

And serving my country and deterring the enemy

Be it Soviet Russia or anyone else

Looking back I realise things were as bad as they were

My moods were a hurricane of what?

Teenage angst about not having a girl?

Pressure cooker emotions caused by my dominant mum?

Peer pressure rivalry to be normal and one of them?

Being bullied and having to fight for my existence?

Simply living and being me in my head and world

A world where I want to fly and dream of the sky

Like I have every day since I was born

The fact that it could of been different

Nick the Tornado F3 pilot intercepting Soviet Bear bombers

But my eyesight went bad and i never got full grades

So it was my unfulfilled dream up in the clouds

Yet it wasn't all doom and gloom

I did re-arm IX SquadronTornado planes with practise bombs

This was in 1986 at RAF Honington with Sgt Edwards

That made up for my career failure

Even if it was just for a day

In my memory that day never ends...

Heal Me
The spiritual workshop will heal me
The gal has the curves
In all the right places

Make me feel better baby
Does your husband approve
Of you seeing me being with you

You say he wouldn't then would
Which is it baby yes or no
He wants you to fuckelstine me

Or not take me out on a date
Just you or the three of us
Spice life up a bit here we go

We only live once and hey
I like the sound of you
Like the look of you

Like the feel of you
I like so let's rock n roll
All the things about you

Including your husband
He can **** my cockpit
Then watch as I ***** driver you

We make our own party
As we go along
See you soon baby
Let's get spiritual

HEARTBREAK
Young French woman is very pregnant and about to give birth to a baby. She lives in a remote area so the air ambulance helicopter is called, a state of the art Eurocopter with a highly trained crew. Modern helicopter and trained crew, they know what they’re doing. Pick up the girl to take her to hospital, arrive in style in a cool chopper. Time moves on exceedingly fast, medic aboard the Eurocopter tends the girl. She’s soon plus one when she gives birth to a baby. That bit is over. Young mum did her bit, now the pilot must fly them safely to hospital so all can be well. It’s not to be, helicopter flies through a snow blizzard. Something isn’t right, should they be allowed to fly in atrocious weather? Is it an all weather helicopter with a crew trained to fly in the snow? Was it at night? They baby graced God’s earth for two minutes, bringing the mother happiness. Then the helicopter flew into an Alpine mountainside killing all aboard. What an unreal heartbreaking story. I read about this in the Attrition Section in Air Forces Monthly magazine. I’m still incredulous and sad that this ever happened. A smashed helicopter with dead flight crew and dead family who never had the chance to see any of life’s potential in any way. I wonder what God thinks about this? Never mind the grieving father. Think of what could have been?

Hidden
Call me The Baron. My full name is Nicholas Arthur Armbrister. I ****** hate that name! Do you know how I feel? My first name used when I’m naughty. “Nicholas, you’ve had a new tattoo!”

You must be part German with a name like that. Say it slowly out loud:

A-R-M-B-R-I-S-T-E-R.

They got images of ******’s panzers and Blitzkreig, Stukas and goose steps. No denying my heritage, I’m part German, on my dad’s side. Armbrister.

He was in the British Army in World War 2, a Tommie. None of his mates guessed he was part German. Doing his bit for King and Country. His name is Arthur. The middle name I don’t tell anyone. Even today, I’m unsure why? Makes me eccentric – Nicholas Arthur Atmbrister – The Baron!

My dad is my best mate. His stories of seeing Manchester in flames, December 1940, when he was in his dad’s car going from Ashton to Oldham, fascinated me. When he was conscripted, I knew he was no German. He saw his army mates die and became a man. How can I compare? Arthur, the name I never use. Known only to me and my family.

Some things are hidden, for hidden reasons. Others are an open book, for me to decide. What would you think if I told you my middle name is Arthur? After my dad. He saw **** bombers high over Coppice. A silver speck against the blue. Our gunfire missed by miles. If these same planes had bombed my dad, I’d never be born or called Arthur.

He told me how he collected warm bomb shrapnel, when the Germans did bomb. Memories of an old man, passed down to me. When I’m in Manchester tonight with her, I’ll think, What is it like to see a city burn at night while under enemy air attack?

I will escape to the hills and mountains when I can
My escape every Sunday if I could do so
I’d do this forever if I was immortal
Spending my time on the high ground
Climbing the hills and looking into the valleys
Slowly venturing into caves and the abyss
Collecting rocks and minerals from the ground
Finding old lost aeroplane crashes and their stories
Swimming in cool clear mountain pools
It simply cannot be better than this
If it was possible I’d climb every mountain
On every planet in the ******* galaxy
If only it was possible...