Tis the Season
20 Dec 2019 Category: poetry
Come sip the festive juice.
It tastes of cinnamon, cloves,
something strange you can’t discern.
Join us in the circle as we chant,
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Feel your head expand and contract,
like a blinking light on a tree.
Watch as the world is delayed
by half a second, maybe more.
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Hear the chant continue like
a runaway train, your mouth moving
without thought, unstoppable now.
Try to clench your jaw shut. Fail.
Tis the Season, Tis the Season
Two poems of hope
14 Dec 2019 Category: publications
Both taken from my debut chapbook Our Voices in the Chaos.
Brace brace brace
13 Dec 2019 Category: poetry
-and the clouds gather above your head, darker than you thought possible, bringing sudden night and you are now aware this field is too exposed and how you stick out like an antenna over the-
-and the airhostesses are telling passengers to sit down and adopt the position, hands behind the neck, back bent forward and they are trying to remain professional but two of them have tears running down their faces even as they try to-
-and they are gathering in the streets, emboldened by political events you only have the dimmest understanding of, some new leader maybe, and...
Inside my commonplace book
10 Dec 2019 Category: creativity
Recently on Twitter, I replied to this tweet about keeping a private anthology.
I got into a discussion about my commonplace book and why I keep one. I thought I’d follow that up with a larger discussion of why I find it useful and some examples from the book.
A commonplace book is an old tradition, with bits of knowledge stacked on top of each other. Ryan Holiday has a great explanation if you want to know further. I use it to note down quotes, photos I like and poems that speak to me.
Christmas in Bemmie
01 Dec 2019 Category: photos
I really love these festive walls in Bedminster. They are all over the street, shop windows and shutters. It makes it feel like a unified community.
This election
28 Nov 2019 Category: politics
I’ve been avoiding the election cycle because its just so depressing. Lies after misinformation after racist dogwhistles after lies. It’s disheartening to see people support the Tories, who have messed everything up over the last ten years. At this point it feels more like Stockholm syndrome.
Move fast and break things
25 Nov 2019 Category: poetry
We’ve found a way to monetize breath.
It’s simply a game changer. Can you feel
the paradigms shifting under your feet?
We are shaking up the world like a snowglobe
and breaking traditions. Each inhale a cent,
each exhale is free. Thats it! Simple!
After all, we are providing a service.
We could flood the atmosphere with
deadly chlorine gas, killing everyone
painlessly and quickly, but we don’t.
We allow seven billion humans to live.
So we are providing a service.
The market has responded favourably.
All hail the market! Praise stock tickers!
We’ve revolutionised food and water,
turned the...
Unreal sunrise
17 Nov 2019 Category: photos
Taken accidentally on my phone in the middle of the day, probably generated by my fingers covering the lens.
Accidental plagarism
16 Nov 2019 Category: creativity
I read a poem at an open mic a couple of months back. I was quite pleased with it. Only recently did I realise the central image was almost the same as another poet’s work who I had seen a couple of months before. Without realising it, I had completely ripped them off.
So I looked back at my writing, only to find the problem was more widespread than I thought. Other poems were similar to existing pieces from other poets. One had the same subject matter and even style as a poem I heard months ago. In each case,...
Reflections
13 Nov 2019 Category: photos
… Even under winter’s
tightest fist some light still slips through
to you, and isn’t that a miracle?
From I Know You Love Manhattan But You Should Look Up More Often by Ariel Francisco
Songs for November
12 Nov 2019 Category: music
Pauline Seawards shared this and I just had to share it as well.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7HJZPlJn_U
David Byrne sings Heroes with a choir who had practiced for just an hour beforehand. It’s utterly beautiful and hypnotizing.
I also love what David Byrne said about the performance:
here is a transcendent feeling in being subsumed and surrendering to a group. This applies to sports, military drills, dancing… and group singing. One becomes a part of something larger than oneself, and something in our makeup rewards us when that happens. We cling to our individuality, but we experience true ecstasy when we give...
November
07 Nov 2019 Category: poetry
The cold makes a home
deep inside your weary bones.
Frost glimmers and grins.
New poem at Highland Park Poetry
05 Nov 2019 Category: publications
Hello, I’m really pleased to have a new poem at Highland Park Poetry called Fluvial Dreams. All the poems are water themed. Check it out here.
I also really like Storm After Drought by Donna Pucciani. Have a look at all the poems.
Categories
advice 1 art 2 book review 12 books 1 creativity 13 erasure poetry 38 films 5 link round up 11 music 5 photos 28 plague notes 4 podcasts 1 poetry 124 politics 17 publications 18 red ink 5 stories 15 television 3 theatre 1 this was meant to be the future 13 update 2 writing 11 year in review 10 zines 2