NaPoWriMo 2018 Day 6
06 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
Fog
The white cliffs had no end,
edges eaten by cloud,
an invisible sea below.
I think it was New Year
- or was that another place,
another time, another life?
We inched along the path,
lost amongst the static,
all context erased.
I know as we turned back
it grew thick around us,
Speech swallowed into silence.
I think it was two years ago.
Details have become indistinct,
blurred by the inevitable fog.
NaPoWriMo 2018 Day 5
05 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
Boundary
I am mostly empty,
Ninety-nine percent space.
A rough carbon frame
held up by electricity.
There is no border between
my body and the world.
Dreams bleed out into
the air, leaping sparks
carried by electrons
into continual near nothing
I touch a table and
almost fall through.
In that last fraction
lies everything.
NaPoWriMo 2018 Day 4
04 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
Discovery
After crossing the vast nothingness,
months trapped in a steel coffin
with inches between us and death,
we crashed into the red dust.
After scrambling out of the air lock,
still protected from the dubious air,
each in our own plastic cocoon,
we crept along the hostile surface.
After setting up our insignificant camp,
the awe set in. We were the first
to cross the darkness, to stand
on a different planet and see the same sun.
After conducting initial experiments,
we walked the perimeter of the crater
NaPoWriMo 2018 Day 3
03 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
Apologise
Fine, I’m sorry I punched you
hard in the eye just now.
But you walked in front of my fist-
What did you expect?
I’m also sorry for pouring gallons of oil,
and hectares of plastic into the oceans,
transforming the water into poison.
But, really, the fish were too stupid
to protest or even walk on land.
So in a way it’s their fault.
And yes, I’m sorry for setting up
a national surveillance network of
cameras, motion sensors, microphones
thermal imagers, informants and secret police.
Napowrimo 2018 Day 2
02 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
Grey
He lived his days in monochrome;
grey suit, white shirt, grey tie,
bought in bulk to avoid choice.
At home he watched silent films,
ate powdered mash and white bread,
nothing with too much flavour.
He always yearned for cloudy days,
when detail was muted. Those times
his heart soared, but not too high.
He watched the days disappear,
passing him by like raindrops
sliding down a car window.
They found him on his grey sheets.
A smile, for the first time, on his face
which had turned...
napowrimo 2018 Day 1
01 Apr 2018 Category: poetry
I’m doing this again. Last year I quite enjoyed the process of creating a brand new poem every day in April so have decided to do it again.
Here’s my rules for this year
- Use a generator to get a random word.
- Write the poem, using the random word as a title.
- Post it here and on social media.
Last year I didn’t post all the poems I wrote. This year I’m going all in. It’s going to be interesting as one day isn’t much time to edit.
Here’s the first:
Habitat
We have hibernated in woollen...
Creative Anxieties: Fear of not writing enough
25 Mar 2018 Category: writing
30 things I don't know at 30
28 Feb 2018 Category: advice
There’s a certain kind of article you stumble across now and then which consists of important things people have learnt about life. Usually these are linked to a milestone age, like 50, or 10,000 days on Earth. Lists of advice that seems wise and sage and the accumulation of years of study. This is not one of those articles.
Making it up as you go: Twin Peaks and Welcome to Nightvale
08 Feb 2018 Category: television
Spoilers ahead
I spent a highly enjoyable few months last year watching Twin Peaks, both the original seasons and the revival. Even now, twenty-seven years after the original series debuted, it remains a strange mix of police procedural and occult mysticism. The revival plunges even further into the mysticism and dream elements of the show. It’s not always entirely clear what the story is, but as an experience it is incomparable. Many parts of the show work on a dream logic, with images and moments that only seem to make sense in a subconscious way. The last episode, in particular,...
Advice to Myself: Writing and Resolutions
24 Jan 2018 Category: writing
At the start of the year, we tend to set goals and resolutions. This year is going to be the year I start eating healthy, the year I finally learn guitar or the year I start running. Then, inevitably, around this time every year, most of the resolutions are discarded or broken. Maybe they never even started.
I’m by no means immune to this. I tell myself I’m going to Do Things Better. I might even do the thing for a week or two. But by the third week in, its often forgotten about until I decide to Do Things...
Best of 2017
26 Dec 2017 Category: year in review
Much like I did last year, I thought I’d take some time to linger on what I enjoyed this year. I’ve already written up my thoughts on the terrible events in politics. This will be much more positive.
2017 in Review: Laughing at the Naked Emperor
12 Dec 2017 Category: year in review
So the year isn’t technically over yet. There’s still a good couple of weeks for things to go completely south. I’m travelling first thing next year so I thought I’d get my year in review in early.
In many ways, I feel this has been the year where those in power have revealed their true nature: incompetent, greedy and self-interested. It feels like many more people are waking up to the fact that the power structures do not serve them. There are no excuses left for the behaviour of the ruling representatives. The emperor has no clothes and everyone is...
Flash Fiction: The Problems of Renting
27 Nov 2017 Category: stories
Hello? This is Frank. I came in yesterday to pick up the keys for flat 65. OK? I don’t see why you have to look it up on the computer, it was only yesterday. I didn’t speak to one of your colleagues, no, I spoke to you. I remember you. Blonde hair. You were doing your nails. I came by about 3 pm?
Anyway, it’s about the flat. Flat 65. Eagle Court. I just said. Flat 65. That’s it. No, you don’t need the file I just need to- Ok fine, I’ll hold.
This music is terrible. Come on, haven’t...
What I learned on my break
13 Nov 2017 Category: creativity
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How are you? Are you still doing that thing with them and everything else? Oh really? Good to hear.
I put this blog on a hiatus in the middle of July, which seems like a lifetime ago. A lot has happened in the world and in my life in the meantime. I said I would be back ‘soonish’ but didn’t expect it to be almost four months. A third of a year vanished, just like that. Although, if you look at it from another perspective, four months is a tiny blink in the vastness of...
Lies, Dreaming
22 Aug 2017 Category: publications
I’m delighted to feature again on the latest Lies, Dreaming podcast from the brilliant people at Poetry as Fuck. It’s a small little story about lost treasure. I hope you like it, let me know what you think! Find the podcast at the link below.
https://liesdreamingpodcast.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/11-treasure/
Categories
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