Move like the black river
In the moonlight
Looked at by people on the bridge
silent, steady, courageous
Almost frightening

We made a line for you, mindful of our step
Up the perilous *****
While the sun made a line across the stone
And the lines of corn, like braids in the mountain, rustled under a blue sky
Moving slow against the compass

Desolation

I've got an obsession
The empty building
The empty room
Whistling a tuneless tune

A subterranean
Crying lonely tears
It's the only place I'm happy

Desolation

Grey skies make me smile
Silence is music
I could go a year without seeing anyone
Why is that so?


I'm so miserable
Those warm lights
And warm sounds thru the house
Make me feel strange

I have so many ideas
My brain could explode
I can hear the wind on the road
I can hear it when you smile

Turn off those lights
Turn down those sounds

Desolation

Life collects like dust in a cup
Slowly, day by day
Priceless
Earnings

Mystics
Readers
Tea Leaves
Interpreters of Life

Hot air balloons
Thru the doors
And halls of this house
Giant

I'll always have my eye on you
It's true
It'll never be thru
You're that character in my black book

I say I miss you
I'm already looking forward
To catching up with you

Is it crazed
Is it cool?
This eye I've got on you

I'm not going to say it
Neither are you
I'll always have my eye on you
You're that character in my black book


                    I don't know why you think of me that way
                    I thought I already said

                    That hangman puzzle has got you good
                    The lot of you standing there
                    Like firewood

                    I pray for you
                    I pray for good

                    I'm not going to say it
                    Neither are you
                    I'll always have my eye on you
                    You're that character in my black book

My imagination is aging
deteriorating

How I need a mountain view
A sea, salty and blue


I want to be a free spirit


Open the box
See it from the outside

Outer body, outer mind


I want to be a free spirit


I've been here for such a long time
Knowing what's behind

How I need a mountain view
A sea, salty and blue

I want to be a free spirit

I need to increase my imagination
With nature, road trips and hiking trails

Wonder is priceless

I'll always have my eye on you
It's true
It'll never be thru
You're that character in my book

I say I miss you
I'm already looking forward
To catching up with you

Is it crazed
Is it cool?
This eye I've got on you

I'm not going to say it
Neither are you
I'll always have my eye on you

I woke up and I was old
Swimming around like voices thru Barcelonas streets
I feel strange
Where is the world running to anyway?


An idiot gets up to yell
A priest sits nervously behind his eyelids
Dreams and the body work alternate shifts
I can't see the youth who shot straight and clean


C'mon comet
C'mon
If you're going to burn
Thru the sky and across the trees
Do it now

Black seeds at the bottom of the sea
Singing a B minor Melody
Where the black and blue meet
Draw your hand, the open rake
Make shapes like seaweed
A Tasmanian underwater forest

I'm from there, a part of me at least
From where a mother finds her son dead in his sleep
From where the sweetness of the world collects and meets
We make homes out of homelessness
All of us

You can try to keep me out
To organise me
Like a crack riddled Canadian Street
And push and bump into me
Like I was a girl minding her own business
Who happened to look Chinese

But those arrows that reach
Those arrows that seek
Thru the black and blue
You'll never stop those

They ridicule the soft white foam that sits lifeless and still, obsessed with death

We reek of love, life, dreams and eternity
We mingle and meet
We turn out the street

Come hang out with me
Watch the never ending shapes in this never ending sea
As they seek and reach
Rising like a sun under the sea

I want to do the taboo with you
The city would become a deserted island
If they knew what we were up to
I want to do the taboo with you

Even the gods, Muhammed and Jesus
Bhudda and the powers that be would take a day off work
Because of you and me

Let's wander thru the galaxies
That sing above us with their mathematics
Let's walk on clouds that tempt us with their peace
In our flesh
That moves with bone and blood
Its smells and re-growth
Its dying
Its strength
Its boundaries

I want to do the taboo with you
The city would become a deserted island
If they knew what we were up to
I want to do the taboo with you

2 birds of prey
Not crossing each others line
A robin beside me in the tree
One singing where I can't see
When will they meet?
And see this life how it's meant to be seen?

Love I'm looking up at you
Give me vision
Talk with all the wisdom of the ages
Let this humble being be
I'm on my feet

I'm working thru the days
That play out like cards
Ever watching, busier that those busy bird notes

Love give me inspiration
Give me new truths and insights
And I'll float on them
Like candles down a river
Like candles down a river

I don't know
I don't know
That original sin
That desperate heart
Those new babies and I can't see what it means

Love I'm looking up at you
Give me vision
Talk with all the wisdom of the ages
Let this humble being be
I'm on my feet

This is a "next time thing"
Said one river to the next
Rivulets of sun and paranoia
Playing on their surfaces

Parting with a hug
And so ran one with trust
As before, and not more,
In itself

2 is a good time to go to bed
3 is two late
And 4 you might as well stay up to see the sun

Only the poor still have a soul
Only the poor still know how to talk with it
I'll have to figure out a way to be a poor man with money

I'm off to **** a beast
I'm going on my own
I'm not taking my phone, don't wait up
When I'm back
I'll let you know
I'm off to **** a beast

I'm going on an idea
I had from long ago
The feeling has grown and grown
It would make me the first
In a long line
Off I go
I'm off to **** a beast

I'm happy on my own
My light is on for me to see

I'm off to **** a beast
There is rage, rage, rage
Sticks that easily break
And sounds that interrogate
But I have faith
Beasts beware
I'm off to **** a beast

I'm happy on my own
My light is on for me to see

I'm off to **** a beast
I'm going on my own
I'm not taking my phone, don't wait up
When I'm back
I'll let you know
I'm off to **** a beast

But really
It's this theory
I'd be the first to **** the beast in a long line
Now's my time
I'm disappearing into the woods for a while

Today is a write off
There must have been sand in the air
Because I could feel the rusty cogs squeaking stubbornly in my head
I didn't punch anything though
I've improved since childhood

Today is a write off
I raced home on the bike
Had a cold shower
Typed this
Now I'm going to turn off the computer and meditate

Leave a space for the unknown

Mark it out
With an X
With an altar
With a prayer
With respect

Leave a space for the unknown

Run to it
Walk with it
Dream about it
Enact and perform it
Be it

Leave a space for the unknown

Let it be
Call it what you like
Believe and re-believe
Learn and re-learn
Here's one for the unknown

Look after the unknown
Take care of it
Be understanding with it
Hold it
Set it free

Leave a space for the unknown

With a torchlight in her hand
She's coming to set fire to this land

The streets and shop signs
Are lying naked and cool tonight

The world is dancing
Moving slow
I just know

It's a parade
Wobbly heat waves
Children and colours
Canteen food
And the snapping sounds of foldable plastic chairs

Little athletics day
Here he comes
Handkerchief on his head, tucked into his sunglasses

Mum never came

He could be harsh
My sister cried once
There was pressure to win
I never did
I was afraid I'd be clotheslined by that finishing line
Be my guest Flash
I wasn't fast, but I wasn't slow


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)


I asked for your help
Speaking to that place in my mind that doesn't change

You gave me every weapon for this world
And I still don't know what to do

I wasn't at the funeral
I was far away, making myself out of sand at high tide

Thank you for everything
The way they remembered you, how you made peace come true, I never knew, or maybe I did


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)




It was really blooming when you left
The police man and his bunny were making fun of your emotions by then
Playing substitute friends
There was something biting that wouldn't stop

But you were appreciated by us
And still are
So many memories


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)

Sit by my lullaby
Before we have to go
Before the lights come on


You're brave and it makes me braver
A saviour
A clash waiting to happen



Saint Francis of Assisi was loved by all creatures
He retired two houses down from me
His Franciscan robe folded in two

Would you sit by my lullaby like you used to?



Forget that we have run out of time
I just arrived

Do me while I'm singing to you
Do me while I'm playing my guitar


And let me play you like you want to be played

Sit by my lullaby
Before we have to go
Before the lights come on

How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?

It’s the moment he realises his *** is not a weapon
He can feel it
It’s something to do with ****, again

Into it, is the humanity he understands
Some men reach it early, some never
Here’s a toast to manhood and its many forms

(p.s., ok here's a bit more:-
  I think it's to do with usefulness.
    Make yourself useful in this world)

It was my first week in the underground
I tapped the girl in the black dress on the shoulder
Pointing at my train booklet, I asked for directions
In the rush of people she quickly directed me
"Always from behind?"
She said boldly, sistering me
She could tell
I didn't look into her eyes
And I carried on my way

I was sitting in my room in the temple,
I was procrastinating
In a spiritual way
Hesse would understand

The world came to my door
The sound of footsteps made me want get back into bed
But I walked outside
Faced the world
Said hello
And started my day

We are shallow without her
We are shallow without her secret
That's all I know

We heard what he did to you
How he took you away from us
Your father's words were law at his trial
We pray for you and your family
Our blood is warm on this cold earth for you

I'll never forget those words
"What shoes will I have to wear in case I have to run"

We are shallow without her
We are shallow without her secret
May it forever be safe, and safer still
Our blood is warm on this cold earth for you

There was before and after
Before, there were only a few really going for it

But now almost everyone is
Especially the singers and musicians

There is no next time anymore
Waiting around is like writing letters on your tombstone

To break the spells, the heavy quicksand, the black clouds, the mud and dirt
That could **** a man, that has and will **** many more

We are a stampede
A stampede of need

Pushing ourselves ever more beyond our tiredness
Into energy and the unexpected

To not go out quietly in our sleep
And to be left with the weight of not having tried, with that headache from time immemorial

To be free to be free to be free, she sang

These are truthful days

Everytime I see her
While I'm working
She makes me angry
She triggers my rage

Her homeless hair
Crackhead eyes and skin
Her cracked teeth
That demand shout and beg

I saw her on a cold night
Walking about
It was something like 2 am
Most women, if not everyone
Wouldn't be out at that hour, alone
She must think she has nothing
Nothing to keep safe
Nothing to take
Nothing
Nothing

It was Cameron's 40th
He was the nicest guy
Never not smiling
If that guy wasn't love
Love didn't exist

I wanted to check if they were still together
And there they were
She'd posted photos, some going back 20years

Sally was always smiling too
She'd be there after school
Besides Cameron and his car

She had womanly secrets and figure too
But all thoughts you may have had,
She dispelled with her smile
They were unbeatable

I didn't come down on a cloud
Like Sally and Cameron
My egg cracked in stormy a sky
It's yolk tumbling to the mud and rainwater below

Mine has been a fight
Between the dark and light
Maybe for a time
I used to be beautiful

And I cried for that time
But maybe I was blowing it up in my mind

I don't cry for yesterday anymore
I've caught up with myself
You could say

Cameron would be happy to hear from me
I'm sure he is smiling at my birthday message
I'm working my way out
As each and every person has to

Lend me your eyes
So that I can see myself
And when it's me I'm seeing
I'll give them back

I've got the feeling something big is going to happen

I used to be beautiful,
Let's see
After the storm
The rain
And the sun that rolled across the trees in my dreams
Let the dust settle
Where it has to be

Your name means light
So lead the way with your smile tonight
We'll see what is true
We have to


Fumbling around for the keys
The diamonds in our dreams
The dead end streets



Where are all these people going?
What are they doing with their disappointment?
What am I doing with mine
I've been following the river
She's wrapped around me like a vine




Do some people know when they are to die?
Like the honourable who know it's the end of the night.
But not you and I




Let's do what we came here to do
I want to as much as you
Let's do what we came here to do
Separate the red green and blue

If you've come for songs named after you
And serenades in the moon
It aint me aint me babe

Your body is made of impulse
mine has a pulse
We were looking for the diamonds in our dreams
We were fumbling thru the underground, looking for keys, weren't we?


Let's do what we came here to do
In truth
It's something we have to


Sweaty *******
Fitted sheets
Let's get in the taxi
I don't have a clue

Even this frame and it's short exposure
Ends in some kind of disappointment
Does someone have an idea
Where to make an appointment?



Let's do what we came here to do
In truth
It's something we have to



I had her on my mind all the while
Trying to understand the language I speak
Starting deaf and mute
And you're bilingual
But we have little to say to each other


Let's do what we came here to do
In truth
It's something we have to

I woke up this morning feeling low down and *****
Like I don't deserve a thing

I woke up thinking about karma and love equations
And what would I deserve?

You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


I think about that beautiful smile
That exists just because

And I look at my hands that grab at the air
Like they always have

You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


In singing and songs and guitars with chords
I have a generosity

And I want everyone to know that I've always cared
That it's always there


You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


I once said I didn't want to come first
Because I was afraid I'd be clotheslined by the finishing line

If that's where the giving starts and the taking ends
I'll run around like a headless chicken


You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window

I think I get it now
I remember when I was so sad
Sitting up slowly in bed
And she saw me from the door
She ran over
And saddled me smiling

And I was sitting up slowly
Again
The same way
When I was watching
My workmate
And the way old Tom talked to her
And she was watching me
She was sitting up slowly in bed too

Thankyou Tom in a way
Thankyou for letting us see each other
We
Who sit up slowly in bed

My name translates to friend

I see the many ways in which you ridicule me

The ways you shake the walls of my good home

The poison you administer

I see it all

But one thing I have

Is this

I'll come out on top

In a peaceful way

My name translates to friend

You can call me Ray



It's hard to stay away from those thoughts

Of letting lose

Nothing to lose

But I have everything

I took the blame

I walked in shame

I felt the pain


But one thing I have

Is this

I'll come out on top

In a peaceful way

My name translates to friend

You can call me Ray



I may not say it everyday

But that is what I mean

In that way

I am free

Setting out

We met by the fireplace
I said I played guitar
So I went round for a jam

If all we did
was live and breath
It would be ok
But then there are dreams
And things we are good at
And that's where the trouble starts

Of asking what do you mean
And you must know!

How do you make something from nothing?
How do you make something work?

A new song?

I've run out of places to run
But the world is large
But it isn't the world I've come to see
It's me
Here's one for positivity though
You don't have to run
You can walk slow
I'm not going anywhere

How do you make something from nothing?
How do you make something work?

I'm sure you'll be there
When you need to be
You'll step up when it's time
Exactly when or how
I couldn't be sure
But take it easy
You've got this far

A new reassurance
One from the treasure chest
I heard an angel say, trust the timing of your life

How do you make something from nothing?
How do you make something work?

All saints day
One for the romantics too
Standing under a cherry tree
In the wrong spot
There's a beauty in a face covering
But you couldn't tell

The dog are doing laps around the track
At the Walthamstow Racecourse

Blind Spot.
Full Stop.
Steady walking
Like breathing
Quiet all the needing

Blind Spot.
Full Stop.
My pen tries to point out
What will be saved
What goes to the grave
I can't tell which is which

Blind Spot.
Full Stop.
Is it the preparation?
Is it the situation
Is it ripeness?
I want to write it down

Blind Spot.
Full Stop.
Get away from me
Let me breath
Let me breath
I'll be ok

I have a poisoned heart
It giggles it doesn't laugh
And it wants and wants

I want to put it into a song
Have it heard a million times over

What will the census
And the bureau of statistics say?

About the poison of a poisoned heart.


I want to make it
I want to make it better
I want to be selfless, not selfish
In the light, not it the dark
It's just an idea
For an antidote
Solvents into liquid


I have a poisoned heart
I saw it's shadow in the landing
My hair was clogging up the sink
My father was studying by candlelight
Younger than me, listening to the wind

I met a girl who reads poems
Maybe I can show her what I've written here

About the poison of a poisoned heart.


I want to make it
I want to make it better
I want to be selfless, not selfish
In the light, not it the dark
It's just an idea
For an antidote
Solvents into liquid

I've been spread thin over toast
Ready to eat
Will my mind and body ever meet?
Who is there to blame?
Will I see that smile again?
Show me the way
Open your gates

A flower is bright because it is
The morning sky says good morning in blue and orange because it does
The afternoon light slants thru the window because it does
The half moon rises above the roof because it does
The moonlight stretches across the floor because it does
And music sings because it does

I open my mouth wide
And there are things that are long finished
They are taking up space
They are taking up today

But the flower is still bright
Bright as a sailing flag
And the morning sky says good morning
The afternoon light slants thru the window
The half moon rises above the roof
The moonlight stretches across the floor
And music sings because it does

The water on the river shimmers because it does
The coral in ocean blooms because it does
The bird in the sky turns circles because he does
The trees stand and breath because they do
The rain falls because she does
And music sings because it does

The great wall diminishes
I can walk over it
With my head in the clouds
And the door stays wide open
Because it does

It's a mystery
Of who painted those elephants
In Technicolour
Young and old

Let the mystery live on
Alive as it is now

Who did it?
Asked the young lady
Whose painting tattoos my skin
Shining a light over my dying mind

Till death do us part
Let the mystery live on

We converse with complete strangers
To say the things we don't
To our families

I'm drawn to the music
It's New Year's Eve
I turn around and there is a row of girls
Now it's a circle
Going round
And bigger again

The ******* her dad's shoulders
Is maybe 3
Looks right at me
And so does the girl
With dark skin and headscarf
As she joins the circle
And so does the old lady
Maybe 93
Where I can't see
Looks at me

It's New Year's Eve
There is a circle of girls

You'll see
I'll carry the day
I'll carry it a long way

Out into my openness
That would never go away



All but one room
With its clean carpet
There I wrote songs
Until it got dark

They were true in their aim
Tears came and came
Sisters in the front row
Cried for change



You'll see
I'll carry the day
I'll carry it a long way

Out into my openness
That would never go away



I must have lost a man by now
A young one at least
But here I am
Still protected

My eye is on the moon
Her staircase still
Extending down
Waiting for me and you



You'll see
I'll carry the day
I'll carry it a long way

Out into my openness
That would never go away



Why do you struggle?
Why are you sensitive?
Why are you crying?

Your voice suddenly powerful
Continues thru the flood
No hell below us
No heaven above


You'll see
I'll carry the day
I'll carry it a long way

Out into my openness
That would never go away

May 1, 2020

Beelines and Relics, that's what I'll make.
The Devil makes use of idle hands...

Two days ago, this corona virus thing, looked like a good relaxing world reprieve. A much needed slowing down.
But just like the construction builders who have worked throughout, that come in for coffee in the mornings, I wouldn't just relax and let it all slide.

I was on the phone to my mother the other month. "It's *******," I said. "When have they ever cared so much?"
And in Tesco the other day, a growing disbelief, a cynicism. "They can just mark in a car accident as a corona death," I overheard a guy saying to the clerk. "It's true," I chirped in.

Walking along the street today, masks everywhere. Signs up, billboards, ATM machines, corona virus this, corona virus that. Social distancing. NHS heroes.

I think now we are heading into a new form of control. Biological control. I was talking to Stef the other month, and he had the notion that in the future, people would need to have the appropriate vaccinations before they could get on a plane. Totally forseeable.

We, the human populace, the animal, biological component. Easily docile, easily, easily controlled.

The big guns may hit us yet.

I can go anywhere
When Nancy is walking with me
I can walk thru any door
And my eyes don’t look at the floor

When we are dancing
Perfect beelines in the sunlight
We travel far
We travel time



She came from the sea of songs
And all the letters, that were birds with feathers
I was astonished
At how long they had been going


She walked barefoot on the beach
Before it got dark
And it never did
All these things she tells me with her heart




I can go anywhere
When Nancy is walking with me
I can walk thru any door
And my eyes don’t look at the floor

When we are dancing
Perfect beelines in the sunlight
We travel far
We travel time






She took my hand and said let’s go
All the smoke and mirrors
All my doubt
It disappeared

I said Nancy
Don’t be away from me
I’m no good when you’re not around

I played my guitar
My body lifted off the ground
And all these things I said to her with my heart

Everyone’s inside tonight
These chords make me remember that sad song

That fills me with longing


Reality set his mark
But I crossed the line


Don’t get me wrong
When I sing of a love
That always will be
And always was



We’ve gone looking
Our minds filling the empty streets

I was walking in the warm night
In a heavy dream


Reality set his mark
But I crossed the line

Don’t get me wrong
When I sing of a love
That always will be
And always was





Where will we go?
When there is nothing to give to?
No cup for our overflowing hearts?


Reality set his mark
But I crossed the line


Don’t get me wrong
When I sing of a love
That always will be
And always was

Dear Luna
Smiling Crescent
Don't let me touch your body
Because I'd just write my name on it
Never to return

But I pray for the day
When you look at me with both eyes
Full and bright
With a smile I can return

On that day
I'll never leave your side
It's my nature
It's my promise

Truth lived there
Making little noise
Speaking to few
“Just pretend I’m not here”

Where will we go
On ****** Snow?
Melting
Like a crying child

There are too many holes in the ground
And too many in the air
Where do we go
On ****** Snow?

There are too many things
I don't want to see
It ***** the life out of me

Where do we go
On ****** Snow?

During my salvation's work
I left you alone

If there's a tide in your heart, pull now
There's a love song I want to sing
To say I love you
I always have and always will

I can't hide anything from you
The words I've forgotten, I've found them now
And the air is still crisp, the moon still bright
Shining on the ****** Snow