I am talking to a friend from school across the miles and over t’internet
Dis connect
We feel
Connection
Derwent Water
Upon the Derwent I shall row
You sit in stern, and I in bow
Let’s drift away then wave by wave,
Play hide and seek in high and low.
I whisper, things I dare not say,
You blush, you smile, and look away,
Our eyes meet in waves beneath,
And this is how we play, all day.
The White Privilege
A cherished childhood spent cocooned in my inward-looking community,
Protected me from the indoctrination of a white-privileged history.
But when I stepped into a world where brown was under-represented
My identity…Was molested.
My speech, skin, hair and dress, seemed to cause the white man stress.
And brown was a tan on the white man’s skin,
A Community Picnic
He’s my dad
He’s my son
I’m full of energy
I’m all done
There’s food to be had
True that be
I’ll walk it off
It’s Gaviscon for me!
Broken
I know broken,
where insanity nearly takes over,
life of torment & no one to ever hold you.
I know broken ,
when you cry yourself to sleep each night,
when eggshells is your life.
I know broken,
Paper Is A Good Listener
Paper is a good listener
With an eloquence serene
The scrawling nib that writes
The thoughts of what I mean
New Day
What will we wake up to, tomorrow?
Can the sun bear to shine on a new, fresh sorrow?
Where will be hurting?
Who will be crying?
What breed of hate will make sense of the dying?
The Running Bug
I lost my Parkrun newbie badge
At Oakwell Hall Parkrun in Birstall
It was the day before my birthday
So I was looking forward to cake
I Am Being Haunted By Cake
I am being haunted by cake.
In the morning when I wake,
I can taste it on the tip of my tongue
I’m woken to the smell of coffee and toffee cakes,
of lemon drizzle, chocolate puddings, red-velvet, ice-cream, battenberg…
A Letter To My Future Self
In Biblical terms three score and ten, is our allotted span.
Six decades gone already, so I have just one more to plan.
I often write to do lists, but this time perhaps I won’t.
Risking negativity, I think I’ll write a list of don’ts.