Selected poems

Poem, revised draft

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

I had to write this poem again.
I left the first draft on the train
and now it doesn’t look the same.

The original was a paean to Love,
to Truth, to Beauty. It soared above
the everyday and all that stuff.

It would have healed estranged lovers’ rifts,
stilled the sands on which time shifts
and stopped the world before it drifts

further into quagmired crisis,
ended famine, toppled ISIS.
Employed ingenious literary devices.

I tried my hardest to recall
its words and rhymes, the rise and fall
of the carefully cadenced crawl

through the English language.
But it caused me pain and anguish
for there was little I could salvage.

It certainly didn’t end with a line like this.

How’s Wally?

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

Paranoia stalks me
through the streets,
the park, the fairground,
the crowded beach.

I try to make myself
hard to see
because I think someone
is after me.

In a stripy shirt,
bobble hat, glasses,
I hide amongst
the unwashed masses.

Why they want me
I do not know
but I keep on moving;
I must not slow.

So I wander lonely
as a cloud,
choose the company
of the crowd.

I pray that there
will never be
a Malthusian
catastrophe.

Sing to me your songs of sweet, sweet love

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

Sing to me your songs of sweet, sweet love,
and set your music afloat on the breeze.
Or write me a sonnet straight from the heart
and carve your words upon on an oak tree.

Or proclaim to me a constitution of love
and make your rules and principles clear.
Or if you don’t have time to write such a thing,
then whisper soft, hushed words in my ear.

Or scrawl something down on a post-it note
so you don’t need to think too hard.
Or if you’ve got a spare postage stamp,
you could always send a postcard.

Or maybe leave a message with my mum
(07823 666 403)
as you’ve not been in touch for nearly six years
and I’m worried you might be avoiding me.

Awaydays

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

We have been here before;
we who slouch
at formica tables
and fish adeptly in sea-green bowls
for cellophaned sweets
to the music of fizzy water.

For

We who drowse
in powerpointed twilight,
as time slides slowly past,
we restless slumberers,
fearful of break-outs
and the tyranny of role play.

For we

We who doodle
on hotel-headed notepaper
whilst listening distractedly
to the distant hum
of the motorway
which leads to other places.

For we are

We who leave
money on the table
and grab at pendulous fruit
which hangs so low.

For we are the

We who wait
in expectation
of the fifteen minute respite
offered in the form
of plated custard creams.

For we are the awayday

We who nurse
feelings of jealousy
towards marker pens
that run out
before we can.

For we are the awayday boarders.
We are the onboarded.

And this is the way the day ends
This is the way the day ends
This is the way the day ends
Not with a bang but a flipchart.

Reach Out to Me

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

Reach out to me, reach out, reach out,
my calendar is up-to-date.
Let’s meet up and move the needle
(‘though I have a hard stop at eight).

Drill down with me, drill down, drill down,
under the spreadsheet we shall dive
to pluck at ripe, low hanging fruit
as we innovate and synergize.

Align with me, align, align,
explore our many moving parts.
Let us think outside of the box,
capture results on your flip charts.

Deploy with me, deploy, deploy,
assets not inconsiderable.
Leverage them along the way
to achieve our core deliverable.

Duffle Coat

Assorted Poems, Selected poems

Your band
was a one song wonder.
Don’t know whether
you made another.

Got made
NME single of the week.
It put the bubble
in my squeak

and the snap
and crackle in my pop.
Twelve weeks solid
I did not stop

playing it.
The jingle-jangles
softened
the awkward angles

of what it’s like
to be fifteen.
I kept the sleeve
pristine,

wore a duffle coat
all that summer.
I hear you became
a plumber.