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62 · Apr 2020
i love you sweetheart
Michael John Apr 2020
i love you sweetheart
a good start
long and short
love´s merciless caught

experience has taught
naught..
still a ****** net
of cheer and upset..

a nice start
what bottomless shout
gosh,live and let
what a trusted out-

i witch
a charm sort of loved
beguiled and such
by love circled!?

the start touched
a manic dove
to always be
youth

!
62 · Sep 2024
Untitled
Michael John Sep 2024
i

´do scientists´ have feelings
fish still have no idea-!'
can´t see where you´re going
with this one

lily says, it is the continuing saga
of man´s suppossed
superiorty and his inabillity
to ask pertinent questions-

let´s assume they do-will we stop
doing all the awful things
we do to them..?
chemical weapons etc..

ii

it read-do fish have feelings?
scientists are getting closer..etc
they attach electrodes-
can you feel that..

how do you feel about pollution?
what do think,harris over trump?
will you flourish long after we
have destroyed ourselves..?

iii

(your glib attitude wins you
no friends)-hey,i am only a
fish..a fish in a bowl..
all alone...

a small circle what i
want in mind
not much future and
a ****-trail behind..

iv

in search of treasure
and happy times
back to the fore
shiny bubbles..

what was or were
just demented dreams
to the very core
deprogrammed fish..
Michael John Feb 25
times are hard when they
nick your toilet, lily..
if you expect people to be kind

then go live on mars..exodus..
where there once was rivers..
they will be happy when

we eat grass-(not smoke it)-
like clare..as he walked home..
wipe away transgression..

ii

time for dance
time is dance
too many laws

for instance-
none suffer hunger
in four four..

iii

i said to the councillor
instead of build roudabout
we open a cafe for hungry
(espec. children..)

i may have been speaking
martian..silence pervaded
like red canal..i thought of
mathmatics-

i can make a bowl of soup
for a dollar..or less-vegetarian..
do you know what that would cost?
no,no, we like building roundabouts..

you can go round and round
we do have some nice ones
true that..
there is this sweet little one..

iii

food is getting harder
and harder-famine shimmers
on the horizon

and not where it has traditionally
been but closer
year by year..
62 · Feb 1
lily is in a tiff
Michael John Feb 1
lily is in a tiff
she says i am
like that ancient greek poet
that stood beneath the iced water falls
for hours at a time-mad?
sensitive..

sleightly telepathic?
would nt do if i was thick
as two-short-planks
would it?
and with that rather archaic expression
i am transported back..


to an algerbraic equation
if x times y is a negative then..
my father sits with a red face
i don´t know what you are
going to do-i don´t..
neither did i..
Michael John Mar 28
when young and idealistict i
joined the communists
(and forgot all about it)
then,i come to believe all revolution
betrayed..

now,i refuse to think about it
and read and play music, instead
what might have been as tears
trickle from the eyes and
drip from the innocent chin..
62 · Sep 2021
do i set store by
Michael John Sep 2021
do i set store by
more
or is it a closed
door?

is excess a way
to less..
(the stars blow
to bless-)

wisdom or dying
worth
the coin
for birth..?
62 · May 21
dear crow
Michael John May 21
dear crow

a sad alien does´nt bare
thinking on
(they´ve been watching us on
spanish afternoon television..)
surely, they are not real
how would they be..

swollen and ghostly
to feel nothing
no see-no line or something
bijou tears and no gravity
with little spaced hankie
no love to take off..

post card from a blue alien:
arrived by the stone
some sort of gathering

we blended in-everyone
was friendly..tried e..
there was poetry

the sun rose and there
was splendour so
young and old..

met a black crow
he said hello..
missin home o..a..
sad alien swollen and ghostly..
62 · May 3
a
Michael John May 3
***
a single line is everything
sapphire and cracked emerald
a trifle used and hotter
our muse-local hotty-

lily..!thanks steve-******..
i got a few things to say-
they may not rhyme and
i do not pray

but to look and crave
my hearts tranquillity
some times i moon
of latent crime

sooner live in a cave-
than live guilty..!
they who said i never
make it..

when i could not say
before back then..
but in my stupid way
was clever..

and today i write
not all i cannot remember
and amen to that..
so teachers..

bar room fannies
bus drivers and who else
-reduced to state of idiocy
by this cruel world

a little child..who could not
think or speak..could not
spell my name-that was the
guiness-lol..

pulled my self out..
not with a shout of not i
but who cares and read
some sacred lines..

began way way!and today
well,hard to believe
easy to laugh but easier to cry
hey just easy..thankyou..
sapphire and cracked emerald taken from diamond dogs  by bowie and legend
Michael John May 2020
time goes slow when i got eczema
on my paw
i smoke marijuana
so the itch like straw

depart here and the howling fire
that burns my finger so
replaced from red planet
by soft meadow

and clear water..(in four
minutes or less..)
anyone else concur..?
62 · Jan 17
i
Michael John Jan 17
i
i

do not fear the reaper!peripatetic
we have fame and fortune
on line one-
ask me a question, lily..

ok-wisdom in a matchbox?
ok..
what happens when an unstopable
force hits an immovable object..

ok..
that´s right-something to consider-
on line one
can i play my violin..it´s a poem..
(go on..)

ii

peripatetic-to wander upon
one
to find one

d has come and gone
we will miss him
so grounded in dream..

he said,all is what it seems
love and beauty, a whim-
look and find..

iii

well,this hour has sped
are we not the dead
this is lily saying sayanora-
hope you enjoy as much as

i..
yours forever
cross eyed and painless
over to you steve..
much love and thanks..
61 · Feb 2
i
Michael John Feb 2
i
i

i say to lily
(without the power of speech-)
it is funny
what i think is mediocre

is genius and vice-verse
i intimate my poetry
that is why we share
says she-

that is why we have critics..
it does nt really matter
what of silence
do we feel better?

ii

what is this creation
is it god left over
a thingm-jig of the brain..

is it money or boredom
what is funny?
nothing..
61 · Apr 8
dear crow
Michael John Apr 8
dear crow,
¨when a well packaged web
of lies has been sold gradually
to the masses over generations,
the truth will seem utterly pre-
posterous and it´s speaker a raving
lunatic¨-(i refer of course, to love..lily)

he thinks of himself:
crows are clever
crows mate for life
they can remember faces
and have regional dialects
we mourn..
generously endowed in
the cranium
they can use a black and
decker and hoard..but does
she love me..?
when a well packaged web...dresden james..
61 · Apr 28
dear crow
Michael John Apr 28
dear crow

on saturday..
prey for a sunny
day..

there will be fun
aplenty!
steve from radio

ding-**** is comparing
good to see old amigo
already crow..

i have a kaleidoscope
of butterflies in me belly!
all nerve ends

in the brain
thank bachus for the
cider tent..?!

love sent-lily..
Michael John Apr 2020
i would write a testament to my uncle ron
who only allowed to play the guitar upon
the toilet then

rendered forth with frankie and johhny

a song i love to play
got his revenge by leaving the
door open


i remember going to school
with satchel over my shoulder
stumbling by the door

a tyrant his wife aunt mary


a classical pianist
though a lovely lady
class..

i grabbed some breakfast
uncle ron came downstairs
in his silken dressing gown

and burning the cheroot!

and headed for the bar..

i love that song..
sunday morning..
61 · Mar 12
stan the diceman
Michael John Mar 12
relationships are difficult
baggage being an operative
word

time, is another for you young
-it is only a question of
time-before you see them

and say mother father brother
distant cousin-
stan the diceman..
61 · Mar 5
Untitled
Michael John Mar 5
it was a criticism
so i drank instead
kind of lost the thread

i only understood
my pain
when i was drinking
61 · Mar 30
i
Michael John Mar 30
i
i

there is inate flaw in words
but black and white apart
awesome hotdog..man

why bother writing?
and time, when we loose
and gain at a whim..

her eggs  have stuck
to the pan..
sunday morning..

ii

postcard from berlin
i met a man who saved
his *****-easily done..

he worked on the stock exchange
his brother a murderer
close to pneumonia

i returned to the slaughter
house
we had run out of co-co and cream..

the keys to three houses
a cat and an egg
i said au revoir..
61 · May 2024
when young i talked
Michael John May 2024
when young i talked
to anyone who might
come along as mad
as i or straight
i did not ask why
and tried not to be
afeared for some howled
and laughed
and talked of hell
as if it was normal-
(i thought this way i
might learn something..)
and some talked of normal
like heaven and they left
me wondering-some did not
like me and some loved me but
i always listened and mostly said
nothing-so after a while they would
go..

ii

the voice will tell
and the heart will wonder
the given glory of now

now, i like animals more
for in the words of hunter
they don´t hire lawyers..
Michael John Apr 5
thatcher was a green grocers daughter
she married a millionaire
(but i don´t hold that against her..)

she had twins while studying law or
something..she was the minister for education
we called her thatcher the milk snatcher..

as juniors we were given a free quarter
every morning-a glass bottle with silver
top..that sometimes in the winter
the birds pilfered-we had a straw..

i recall that contented hush and the poorer
kids that had had no breakfast had two or
sometimes more-(i never made milk monitor..)
but they had to balance the books or

the chieftan tank called for..
why, i would wonder would we soldier
for such a mean spirited pile of *****
and that god forsaken life..?
61 · Aug 2021
i awake to yesterday
Michael John Aug 2021
i awake to yesterday
which is say
today

without but with
plenty
pray..
61 · Sep 2023
she re-enters like a
Michael John Sep 2023
i

she re-enters like a
clumsy sentence
in one lily hand

some picked daisies
-do we not share happiness?
my soul cast upon the rocks

from the sea of ingrate
to the last grain
a boulder in my brain..

ii

she puts them in water
(not unlike my soul)
and on the table-

reconciled by the tide
i say,there´s some marijuana
in my pocket-

(no,she smoked it..)
they are her favourite
-yellow for happiness..
61 · May 2
lily says,
Michael John May 2
lily says, the stage
is the loneliest place
of all..

here madness blooms!
here,love and hate like
identical

twins of sin cavort like
bored angels-
alone..

the merciless bone
the choke bread
no shaded..!

all alone..
and for my next poem
o..
61 · Nov 2024
indecision
Michael John Nov 2024
indecision and doubt
agonising about the trivial
nothing or nowt
another planet-full

or empty, a glass..
or mirror-reflections
choice..
life can be dull..
61 · Jun 7
they
Michael John Jun 7
they tell him to shut it
now,he´s silent-
can you believe it..?!
61 · Oct 2021
you listen to me
Michael John Oct 2021
i)

you listen to me
but fail to comprehend
when you say we
deserve what we get-

i see..
when you say then
nothing for nothing
we have to pay..

ok-
and-render unto caesar
that which is casears´
(me?)

the concept of possession
i grasp
and a piece of poison
a laugh

yeah,yeah..
everything costs!
whether it be
brilliant or mediocre..

(bad = good
good=?
sick=good
good=?)

crystal clear..
(and supply equals
demand and vice-
versa..)

undeniable
irrefutable
what else
(as mrs thatcher said,

you can not buck
the market!
(but she married a
millionaire?!)

ii)

and if you´re
disliked may as
well go dig a
hole..

the popular
were mostly
psychos
as i recall-

they said
well,
he´s not a
bad old

boy
but don´t get
on his wrong
side

(or yon side)
i wondered..
i wonder
as you get

older..
the ******* and
lies
accrue

higher and higher
(and you say
surely that is
the cherry)

it is easy to retreat
into a world of
fantasy-
we clutch at

words like reality
and even destiny
and the bird´s
will not quit

it..
listen to what i
say..
tt..
61 · May 11
i
Michael John May 11
i
i

if a tree falls
are we not witness
do we have a duty

some have the *****
courage comes in divers
form..

ii

a blank is a domino too..

iii

if man was as silent
as the animals say
we would be happy..

iv

if, we stopped and thought
for a sweet moment-
but we don´t..

if,we stopped asking fool questions
and accepted..
but we can´t..

we would habit this planets
in love and hate
but we arn´t..

v

couldwelisten..
61 · Aug 2021
we have jar and jars
Michael John Aug 2021
we have jar and jars,
and have no idea,
what is there?

filling in idle moments,
i stand and stare,
brush sundry tears,

far..
(is n´t the heart
fair metaphor?)

i tap it,
and unscrew,
a corroded lid,

sniff and wonder..
once,so new
and loving-

kind of grey,
mad,
and rancid..
60 · May 28
if
Michael John May 28
if
if i never go to ikea
then i will die happier..
60 · Jan 20
a
Michael John Jan 20
***
a house was a home
but now speculation
the billionaires made 2

trillion last year-i
would do too-
no good denying human

nature..i would buy a new guitar
but would that make me any better
it any more fun..
60 · Jan 2024
lily
Michael John Jan 2024
i

when i read another
i realized how different
we are

lily, i had something
to say but
now i have forgot

well, how did the reading
go?
how was the radio?

what shall we do?
what of fame and fortune?
what about the stars?!


ii

sometimes i wonder
why bother
the difference will

linger-
memories will die or
dither

all endeavour
i am
you are

here and there
and every effing
where..

nothing to be done or
see before
but the stars?

iii

the fading star?
is very very hard
what is now

compared to that
which has been
no blue whats-it..

a dream
a lost one
to boot..
60 · Sep 2024
i
Michael John Sep 2024
i
i

she has a stalker?
i don´t know when does
romantic interest become

alighting a passing tree
cawing and writing love
epistles..

for a court to decide?
we live in a litigious society-
half the world is mad

and wants to be called mad
so they can sue..
what to do..

ii

words lily-life
or death
simple or not..

the first put to the sword
and replace by the
same again..
Michael John Feb 2020
this morning there was
a Kestrel in the agave
it looked in through my
window-
i don´t know why..

but i played it a tune on
my pipe
and then a chord on
the i st third and
fifth..

three blind mice
and an e major
on the guitar..
in semblance
of flamenco music..

ii

this after breakfast
i shared my daily egg
with tom-cat..
whilst reading a note
off a post card-essay-
page 353-the chymical
wedding by lindsay
clarke-from a possible 1264-
an attempt-a trial..
in the style of my poetry diary..
60 · Nov 2024
isn´t it odd..
Michael John Nov 2024
isn't it odd how lives become inexplicably
entwined, says lily,
eyeing me balefully..

there is a strangeness and beauty
meant to be and sundry cliche
and how sometimes i absolutely

hate and detest you but see
the love,the duality,
how could nothing else be..
60 · Jul 2021
you,
Michael John Jul 2021
you,
are
what is known
in common parlance
as a
thief..

you,
began with my hands
and teeth
and ended with
my heart..

you,
as the sun
demonstrates a complete
absence of
contrition..

you,
have honed
your intuition
and try not
to laugh

at my pain..
o you!
bathe my bones
run on empty
and wait..

you, who
are so nice
sometimes
to be ice
and chill me

with hate..
take,you,
take that
hot
you think why

not..
i think why
gad about
may fly
mad in july..
60 · Jun 2021
life´s rough-
Michael John Jun 2021
life´s rough-
but golly is
it not how we
make

it!?
eg, i was
thick as pig
****
but

i read, crime and
punishment
(and this
changed mine..)

(thankyou jane
for hitting me
with it-
it hurt)

dostoyevski
and the russians
game changers
i thought..
60 · Sep 2021
doctor,it pays not
Michael John Sep 2021
doctor,it pays not
to be sensitive
(if we wish to live)
for like the flower
our soul requires
water-like
pills nor  babble
may quibble
nor nothing neither
is love unrequited
or guitar-
where there is
melancholia may
occur
madness or else
pay we must
aint life quaint
hear the neighbours
cry and holler..
Michael John May 2021
my vanity is intrinsically
linked to
artistic endeavor!
without one..
life is a b..?!

i am like a gold fish
where ever i look there
is me?!
(in the trees)
sometime, hopelessly
contorted in creation
and sometime real-
the search for
perfection
(other than
a mirror)
round and round
gill rot?!

surrounded by
treasure
and feces
(to tell one
from the
other..)
the curious
waters-change
come from else
where!?
my mouth goes
plop-plop!
and there!
60 · Sep 2023
which?
Michael John Sep 2023
which?
not to be confused with
witch-
children younger than five
were witness-
the reasoning was their
innocence
-did you see the old woman
fly with devils?
yess..

more than this:
a conspiracy of the
pharmaceutics
and the state
(jealousy..never underestimate
jealousy..)

for some had land
(which the state inherited)
and some had  knowledge
the doctors feared so
they were tortured
and burned..and of course
there was god..

and today lily
today..
60 · Jan 2022
to be a clown
Michael John Jan 2022
to be a clown
to fall down
with love

like a dream
then risen
as seen..
60 · Dec 2023
you think to cheat me
Michael John Dec 2023
you think to cheat me
this is your way
you say it is normal
but you don´t know why..

you say you are lonely
-long is the day
but i see a selfish ah
til the day we die..
60 · Jun 2024
feathers
Michael John Jun 2024
feathers-
a nom de plume
light and sweet
a mystery

heavy or less..
look close
read the signs
are we not blessed..
60 · Aug 2021
this morning he had
Michael John Aug 2021
this morning he had
taken up an opposite
window

cried if i want
a heart unknown
as my own

and  be
some distant joyful
land

called wild
(even a crispy bit?)
he would not be

tempted..not
an oat-
separated seas


by vast civilization
cry uncle
but in the jungle

he steadfastly
remains
lays tomorrow..
60 · May 25
this marble is supreme
Michael John May 25
this marble is supreme
distraction
there is no light or
anything  but some hue
we call blue..and a background of
***** yellow-i see we have no future
i don´t care..
60 · Aug 2021
thunder and washing up
Michael John Aug 2021
i)


thunder and washing up
some mundane noises
-god plays with toys

the heat has had enough
of asking why not
it is hot-

the rain falls like a dashed
crystal cup
and has slowed

doors slam and the cat in
the window
washes herself...

ii

-there is more wet
we go
is that it

just like life
o we wait-
expectation be

a cruel mistress!?
the first fleeting
drops

hopes
and
dreams

onto the greasy pave-
ment
of sad senility

wondering
what
happened

left with little
positive way
and cliches..

iii)

though my father
would say to me
you think

life gets better
well it doesn´t..
he was wrong

on three counts-
one,i had no idea
two,i did nt care

and three-
it did..
god bless,dad

it was a realizing
of effort
look at the flowers

growing from
the ****
i tried to suggest

this by patting
his knee
there is rain

and thunders
in the singular
instance of our

existence
pain and washing up
but don´t expect

nothing..
(misquoting an old adage)
only death and taxes

are sure..!
60 · Oct 2021
what become of memory
Michael John Oct 2021
what become of memory
some die raving
over triviality

while others say
mass murdering
that´s the way!

go happy
smiling
and care free..
60 · Dec 2023
i
Michael John Dec 2023
i
i

seeking meaning through sorrows
we look in the wrong places
sit round the wrong corners

turn over the wrong stones
get the wrong ideas
wrong wrongs..

ii

that´s MY poem says monkey
it is about human folly
did nt take long..

kind of wrote itself..
a lack of belief
a rather sad song..

don´t think i will bother
again
pain comes from pain..

iii

tell us about your life
lily?
cheer us!
interest us!
rework an old memory-!
ok-
what about time and
what have you?-(**** on
that..)
well, i was about eight
or nine and would ride my bike
up and down dale-big-something-
little-something and one day my friend
ian  turns into the path of an over-
taking car and splats him on the windscreen
and on the bonnet and finally onto the road-
the wind had done it ..
or anyway, i would ride that
way there after..it took me to a hole in a fence
and through a wood to a quarry and that gate or gap
or lack of anything solid to a rise in terrain and a gentle
***** to the waters edge..i liked it here and i did not. once
some evil gathering settled not far away and i wondered in my
little head-how can this  be..but it was sandy and white and the
water perfectly reflected the sky..the water was only three inches deep and the lime or chalk was as white as can be. there was a small cliff not far away which it  was possible to traverse to the top where there was a bush. i wondered about exploring but even in this rash and exciting and curious place, i was cautious.so, i stood by the waters edge having armed myself with the longest stick in christendom for as to gauge depths. this of course was of the utmost importance. (you know, quicksand and tarzan etc..!)i should say it was perfectly silent and this was another strangeness-no birds sang and no breeze to sigh. just nothing.
  i pushed the stick as far as i could into the silt without releasing my grip and without falling forward. without losing a shoe. i shudder now to picture myself. how dangerous was this. i don´t know..but then after a while something strange occurred. i can´t remember how it began. i stood and wondered at this phenomena-
from out of the water came an apparition-like a film across a screen.
just a gossamer covering rising in the air.it did n´t get very high and was about fifty feet or less away.it held me transfixed! for from the air came voices singing! harmonies, i did not know this concept. but
that is what it was..mans voices and women´s voices sang..and here is a detail that i remember clearly. i listened to them and formulated distinctions and comparisons-(do u like young sheldon?!)between the men and women. I preferred the females. (was this blossoming sexuality?) but the longer i thought and listened and thought: they must be very beautiful!?the quieter became the male and stronger became the female..there were no words and it was more like a humming or a prolonged laaaaaaaa..(some comparison might be made with the scene in 2001 a space odyssey on the approach to saturn, is it..?can ´t remember,) . this sound was far more gentle and relaxing..i wonder if it was all in my mind because of the alacrity of their responses..i thought how beautiful the women must be and straight away their voices became dominant. how it ended i don´t recall. i just thought better be getting home and went away with many a wary glance over my shoulder i suppose...tbc..

lily takes a sip of water and turns the page-
60 · Dec 2024
i
Michael John Dec 2024
i
i

i have understood
the secret of writing
poetry..

make it short and snappy
forget the world
imagine you re somebody..

ii

looking forward to christmas
lily..?
a new pair of docs

on the horizon?
well,the materialism
of the greatest anti-materialist

seems a bit of a contradiction-
i think i will fast..
and what of the magi

bearing gifts..?
i will stick with the sermon
on the mount..

some of the greatest poetry
ever conceived..
in jesus i live..

iii

or just go to the pub
and dance
hard to say..

probably a bit of
each
hope is snow..
59 · Sep 2024
i and ii etc
Michael John Sep 2024
i and ii etc

mandible, i like
some words just
fiddle in the  brain

like too much mead-
a stranger in from the cold-
a penny a pint..

ii

(just so someone is
beautiful
means not i want

to put my
appendage in
their orifice..)

iii

two more words that
resonate like lover´s
first glance..

-their beauty may bore
them like a closing time
on a saturday..

iv

are you going to write
a poem, lily..?
i don´t know..

i have to clear my
mind-i am bogged
in the raw..
59 · Jul 2024
grumpy..
Michael John Jul 2024
grumpy looks askance,
but doc, what of love,
beauty and giving-
romance..

what of faith and generous
ity..?
-a  brotherhood of man!?
(use the tissue box,please..)

happy´s laugh circles
like starving vulture-
loving betrayal-
boy,what a maroon..
59 · Apr 30
i
Michael John Apr 30
i
i

how does one captivate
by a word, say it-
love or hate
repeated-

a chorus of tat..
the hush of the cider tent..
honest or the mask paint-
a spell hexed..

an observation or thought
some veiled threat or
mystical twaddle-
lily loses it..pressured..

ii

i think i will just
go on and say what-ever
comes to mind..

and should it all go
wrong-and i die..
shrug and say, that is life..
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