He typed on the Mugbook Z
I miss the old days
when we could go to a pub
and laugh or smile
or listen to music or read
Now we just lol and like
not much of a life is it?
He reeled in pain
as his headform sent a violent shock
through his brain
He heard the robotic voice
R67451  Insubordination Insubordination
Withdrawal of device priveleges
You will watch paint dry ha ha ha ha

I hate them, they’re  everywhere
    with their painted on smiles
             Behind your back,
they probably stab and despise
knowing how to stir up  hate and lies
Apparently they make good bosses
but if you know one,  avoid, cut your losses
They have no conscience or empathy,
their emotions are pantomimed not real
Remember, they don’t have to make
                    a bloodbath
         to be a psychopath

I was snorkeling in the Galapagos
surrounded by diving  *******
when some fun friendly angels
visited, they had  flippers not wings
and flapped and glided
  streamlined  through the ocean
  on their backs, sides and fronts
They were curious
about me, this goggled wide-eyed beast
and would come so close
I could see their bright eyes and whiskers
I thought they would collide
but at the last second they would downwards swoop
I was in heaven at this communion
Suddenly I saw from the corner of my eye
a massive grey giant crash into the water
I front crawled away like a man possessed
The bull was probably jealous of my dalliance

I've got the bare necessities
the simple bare necessities
Forgotten about my worries and my wife
I've got the bare necessities
the simple bare necessities
just strolling and swinging along with ease
enjoying the gentle sea breeze
I've got the bare necessities
the simple bare necessities
I know that life can be a tease
and sometimes brings you to your knees
but you know
just have faith and keep going
and see those troubles flee
and enjoy the naked truth
You can pull through
cos you've got the bare necessities
the bare necessities of life

Going  to the beach is fun
Ladies legs glistening in the sun
Laughing kids frolic in the surf
  and play with bat and ball
whilst happy families and lovers  pose
for photos on the low stone wall

Friends walk and talk away their cares
Teenagers always concocting watery dares
A young mum picks the choicest shells
and talks softly to her son
A stooped old man now has a twinkle in his eye
Me, I’m joyously jumping over the waves

Maybe you go insane
when you've taken too much
too many insults, knock backs,
let downs
Maybe there's a big  button
in your brain
that says emergency emergency
going gaga

I'm feeling black
I'm feeling blue
I'm angry at the world
and it's colouring everything I do

At the corner, a girl child from the UK
another soft drink she chugged
Whilst the girl woman in the Sudan,
the heavy *** on head she lugged
She walked eight miles, braving ****,
to fetch unclean water from the well
Whilst in the UK, the girl bought designer clothes
to make her feel just swell

God where are the waters of life?
To end their strife

At the mall, the boy child ate his third Hershey bar
In Malawi the boy man’s
stomach had extended too far
Malnutrition had sealed his fate


God where is the cereal?
To make their lives non-ephemeral

Down under, the son celebrated with family,
presents and cake
his father’s 100th milestone
Whilst in war torn Syria, a son, now orphan
buried his young murdered father,
in ground without a gravestone


God when will the fighting cease?
To give them a chance of peace


Is this God’s confusion?
That though we are all made the same,
some people their innocence shattered
are headed for a terrifying fate
whilst others fully satiated and secure,
sip their drinks, polish off and request another plate
Or does God if he exists
not love the weak and oppressed?

I’m lying  beneath a rowan tree,
relaxing, reading my book
Sometimes distracted by spiralling down leaves
which remind  me of our passing thoughts
only some of which do we give life to
A spider alights on top of my book
perhaps attracted by the white
Two money spider  sized spiders
fight the folds on my trousers and win
A  bright yellow aphid gets lost in the labyrinth
of my arm hair
Then just when I think it is stranded
It jumps on my blue  t-shirt
What I don’t understand
Is that these creatures are not scared
of an animal a million times larger than them,
Surely they must feel the life in my body
it is like if we climbed up on a dinosaur
a hundred times bigger than a Brontosaurus

You know if you only had half a brain
you could make something of yourself
**** she did rattle on and on
Well he smiled, she had half a brain now
the other half was sizzling in a pan

I saw the drunken shrunken old man
slumped at the bar
Do you wanna a drink? He asked me
with a whisky soaked stammer
I nodded and noticed then his alcohol-ravaged face
but it’s his eyes I won’t forget
They rained sorrow
For him, there would be no happy tomorrow

I knew there was no free lunch
And I’d have to listen to his litany of despair
Of the love he’d had for the girl with the golden hair
and how he’d left her up in the air
Of how he’d chance of adventure abroad
but never the time could he afford
Of how he had lost touch with his brother
and didn’t see his mother
before she’d died
 And oh how his life was so full of strife

Then he droned on and on
Follow your heart not your head young man
I beseech you
confront your issues and find some peace
and never forget
there will be plenty of time for regret

I went to leave I’d had my fill
It hit me then, a sharp tingle down my spine
Those eyes looked like mine
My name in his hat confirmed my worst fears
The terror came, overwhelming

When I'm in a funk
I don't listen to punk
Only rock n roll
cures my soul
Can't help my foot tapping
and trying new moves
to the simple grooves
So c'mon everybody
you cats and chicks
don't let your hearts drop
Lets go to the hop
shake it all over
do the twist
the jailhouse rock
Rock around the clock
Rock n roll brings your smiles back

They heard the whistle,
necked their ration of ***,
put away photographs, letters and bibles
and wished good luck,
then over the top the lads went
They heard the deafening rat a tat tat of the machine guns,
the shells exploding
and saw their friends knees bend and fall
Onwards they ploughed
towards that deathly sound
Heart hammering,
Keep going son,  move
Many also died , bloodied in the wire,
They had gained a hundred yards
and thought that posters
in the towns never showed this
with Come lads slip across and help
and Hold up your end
and Kitchener's famous point
What had they said?
Be over by Christmas
No ****** way
The toffs comfortable in their billets
had sent them all to die, forgotten, cannon fodder
that's all and
God has his slippers on an all

That dullard Percival Crane
he's boring into my brain
he's talking train
timetables and grain
sizes and portfolios
and shares
**** he's assaulting my ears
Next time  when I spy his magnified eyes
I'll say, see you Percy, my how time flies

Why do biopics
have to dramatise and
sensationalise?
What is wrong with the unvarnished truth
Do they think that our brains can't handle it?
Harry Houdini the famous escapologist
never hated his father
met Rasputin and never was a spy
He did escape whilst tied to a cannon
with it's fuse lit
and don't ask people to punch
you in the stomach
because that is how he died

Would  you swap all your poems
for those of  the finest poet in the land?
Never, because in your eyes
your work wins every prize
because they are you

Don't classify us
or put us into boxes
or order us
We are not socks
There are infinite paths
we may choose
We have the wisdom of the ancients
and the universe
and can literally move mountains
We are meant for better things
because we are made of stardust

You can die from their tears
I check the board to find out
who has passed away the previous night
  and then don my personal protective equipment
  Everything has been rigorously sterilised
 I have forty five minutes to treat and care
  as we sometimes collapse from heat exhaustion      
  I care for the weakest
  first  those who cannot move from their  blood
   **** and *****
  They look at me with such pleading sorrowful eyes
  babies, children, adults, , some have the courage to smile
  I smile back with my eyes
Care is compressing and feeding
to keep up their strength
They must fight this devastating disease alone
  I disrobe and painfully flick my elastic band
  every time I touch my face
We sterilise and sterilise but you can never be sure
  Rarely there is a ray of sunshine
  I have been singing and dancing with little Kaita for days
  behind the yellow fence
  and now she is free to go home
We celebrate any little victories to carry on
  Dear God, I beg you, please make terrifying Ebola gone


  This poem is a tribute to those with Ebola and the thousands of workers who  help them. In January cases are set to rise to a staggeringly sad 1.4 million.