New Poem Out Now!

Delighted to have a New poem out in Edinburgh’s Little Living Room. With a theme close to my heart, Role Play, it’s lovingly illustrated throughout and full of high quality poetry and prose on the theme.

New Poem on BBC Upload

I’ve got a new poem on the BBC, Different Planets! This was created for performance at Tonic with a prompt in their Scratch.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07klmzn

 

I Sing the Body Acrostic

My latest collaboration as part of the Clockhouse London Writers is out now!

I Sing the Body Acrostic, linked attached below is part of another fine issue of Sein und Werden!

http://www.kissthewitch.co.uk/seinundwerden/spring16/index.html

In other news I’ve had a short ‘Interference’ accepted for the October issue of Morpheus Tales, watch this space!

Passengers 13

Blue Notebook

Red leather bag rests on her thighs;
she takes out a burgundy leather notebook.
Tears out a black page, rests it on the cover,
scribbles on it with a silver calligraphy pen.

What mysteries? What thoughts, what hopes?
What dreams?

Milk
Potatoes
Carrots
Tetley Tea Bags
Water Filter
Crisps (Salt & Vinegar)

Passengers 11

More notes on commuting, in the bygone pre-credit crunch age.  That summer it seemed like the apocalypse even before the financial crisis kicked in, with towns in the Midlands and Wales under water.

Flood

Red Tie, a blossoming of pink butterflies;
Smart Black Suit
Legs crossed,
Shining black shoes,
Raised blonde-dark hair.
Red face (sunburn).
He talks to a colleague
In a deep gray suit,
Psychedelic tie,
Peering at the Times,
Reading about submerged Tewkesbury.

They talk:
About the flood, the roof not even leaking,
30,000 gallons of rain per second
And drought
And how financial services is doing well
But retail and IT are slow.

British Fantasy Society Journal WInter 2012/ 2013

I was pleased to see this drop through my letter box this morning, featuring 6 word stories by the London Clockhouse Writers (including me!) plus a new poem by me, called ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’!

Passengers 8

A topical one for the snowy weather we’re experiencing.

Snow Day

A thin covering of snow at Didcot:
sparkling carpet;
footprints of men and cats
lead to the train station.

Trains cancelled or delayed.
The 7:28 sits idle.
“Hello Joe”,
Passenger with grey suit, no tie,
“What do you mean
you’re not going in?
you’re crazy
it’s the credit crunch.
Things to do
We’ve got a meeting
Hold on-“
(He gets off the stationary train)
Whistle blows
Doors beep their warning
Train goes.
Through the window,
deserted white roads,
a smattering of stoic drivers.

Change at Reading,
a deeper pile carpet
snow spiralling down.
“All trains to Waterloo delayed
Indefinitely
We apologise for the delay
this may cause.
to your journey.”

The warmth of the coffee shop;
melting commuters
decide one by one:
Go home.

Passengers 7

I have to come clean with you.  This collection of commuter poems is not angst.  It is not about the grind of commuting, although of course it is a grind, in a way.  But to me, commuting is something to celebrate.  Its a patch of calm between home and work.  Of course, I exclude the brutality of the Underground from these comments.

To me, a train commute is a beautiful time.  I can read.  I can write poems.  I can surf the net, and if not in the quiet carriage, listen to music.  I can observe the commuters around me.  Which brings me to this latest part of the Passengers Project, Didcot to Bracknell Reading Survey 1.  This is a list of its time (2008), hence how frequently Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows appears.  Such a reading survey, which was basically covered by getting sneaky looks at what people are reading on the train would be much more difficult now, in this age of Kindles and tablets, although I suspect there would be a lot of copies of Fifty Shades of Grey.

So, here we go, this is what people were reading in the morning, in 2008, in those trains running between Didcot and Reading Berkshire, and Reading and Bracknell.

Didcot to Bracknell Book Reading Survey, 1.

Panic by Jeff Abbott
The Grey Area by Will Self
The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden
You Drive Me Crazy by Carole Matthews
A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling (Children’s cover) x 2
The History of Britain Revealed by M J Harper
Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
Marshmallows for Breakfast by Dorothy Adamson
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling (‘Grown-up’ cover) x 4
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Stephen D Levnitt and Stephen J Dubner
The Reef by Nick Roberts
Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin
The Ship Avenged (Brainship) by S M Stirling

Passengers 6

Blue Notebook

Red leather bag rests on thighs.
She takes out a blue notebook
Tears out a page and rests in on the cover,
Scribbles on it with a chunky silver pen.

What mysteries? What thoughts, what hopes?
What dreams?

Milk
Potatoes
Carrots
Tetley Tea Bags
Water Filter
Crisps (Salt & Vinegar)