the kids'
noisy lie-in
Father's Day

equaliser
the noise
from the pub

s u b w a y - everyonecrammedsofarapart


I was just pulling together a submission for a rigid three line journal when I pulled this one out to see if it worked with a different format.

I've literally just done this, so I'm currently pondering...

(original poem said 'underground' at the beginning, but I guess 'subway', while American, is more universal and specific, right?)

the bell tolls noon
every day twelve pigeons
circle their coop

drifting
from the five-a-side
floodlit swear words

leading deeper
into the woods
just birdsong

sick leave
her desk plants
slowly dying

crushed shell
in the morning light
the snail's last movements

spring or summer
a crow lands
on a distant field




on my way to work this morning, I momentarily took my eyes off the road and suddenly became aware of the amazing Derbyshire landscape I drive through daily and the only thing moving in it. It's a gorgeously sunny day and I was honestly unaware of the month we're in, hence the first line. When I did remember that it was May, I still had to ponder the season for a few seconds.

The middle line was originally "a crow comes in to land," which, when I dictated it into the voice recognition thing on my phone, was changed to "Microcomms in Thailand."

noone home - wind chimes sway

early hours...
a dog tells the urban fox
to shut up

not recognising me...
what's-her-name's
familiar face

office move
already unpacking
her gripes

MS Awareness week 2014

Apparently it's MS week here in the UK.

As many of my regular readers know, I have Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. You wouldn't necessarily know to look at me (unless I have a bad spasm or walk into a wall) as it's an invisible disease.

Symptoms I have include doublevision, fatigue, short term memory loss, bladder problems, pain, muscle spasms, vertigo and things that can loosely be termed as "weird shit" to name but a few. I work reduced hours so I can retain work-life balance and I inject myself with some pretty serious drugs three times a week, but I do try and keep myself as medication-free as possible to counteract the inevitable side-effects.

When I publish my e-chapbooks, you can download them for free, but I do give you the option to donate money to the MS Society in the UK.

I have written a haiku sequence: 'Limboland' inspired by my diagnosis in 2008. It was first published on the MS Society website and later in Lynx. I have a copy to download from my Issuu account.

I have also written one of my few long poems "Tulips and Roses" (which is cockney rhyming slang for MS).

I also keep a largely upbeat blog about MS: Dave's Magical Brain. I recommend you seek out my MS History posts to give you an idea of what it's like to be diagnosed with a chronic illness.

Anyway, that's all. As there are only 100,000 MSers in the UK, research into our disease doesn't get the government funding that other more high profile diseases do. At the moment, we don't know what causes MS and we don't have a cure. High profile MSers include Jack Osbourne, Montel Williams, Richard Pryor and a personal hero: Don van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart.

Thanks for your time.

So long Blighty!

I'm away to the USA for a fortnight.

I'll be checking into my usual social media channels while I'm away, but I'm using the trip to trial Instagram. If you're on Instagram, by all means follow me. One of the blessings of my name is that I'm easily searchable.

school trip
to the zoo -
mating season

the company of widowers allotment bench

elevator
an ex's scent
hanging

gardening done
a blackbird sets to work
around the beds

wiping
the slug
    ...the slug
from my finger
    ...from my
               finger