Aha,
they mention the 'general situation'
nothing about another ****** war
just the weather forecast
on BBC Radio 4

If we are not the currency
then we're the shrapnel
a bit late, but
well worth considering.

Legs bent
back bowed
too many secrets
kept and stowed.

Old is the new Sixteen Fifty
and it's
death for adultery?

well
no fukin' chance of that
She'd **** me.

Cromwell on his rampage
The Civil War is in full swing,
the interregnum was going on
and we didn't know a thing,

because it's burn the witches
and war with the Scots
the New Model Army
called all the shots.

I fill the void
with my Samsung Android
pictures on the move,

and aren't we all just
pixels in the groove.

Deadlines
lifelines
your time's coming.

You can't make this **** up
unless you make it up.

I
Take five?
and wonder if I'm a part of
the Brubeck Quartet.

Don't know where the night went
but went it friggin' did
and here am I
one eye open
hoping
that I'm still dreaming.

*******
I'm sweating as well
it's as hot as Hades
and
only half past five.

and cold showers do not suit old men
there's nothing left to shrivel up

I'm throwing in a woe or two
or three to make it thrice
getting out the deodorant
and
splashing on 'Old Spice'

So
this is me
at five thirty three
how's your day going?

Unexpected item
improvised explosive device

well that's not ******' nice, is it Cheryl?
put our boys in peril
at risk of their lives
and what about their wives?
oh
they'd be screaming mad.

Well, and not the wishing one
the wars go on
there's profit in them for the grey men
the men we don't see
the men that could be you and me
but they're not
because we ain't got that kind of ****
going on in our heads.

A quick reset
get
the tracks laid
pay off any debt
get more tracks laid

go loco
or build a loco'

Get steam up
pull away
and steam off.

I watched the 'Flying Scotsman'
back in sixty eight
pulling the mail train
and it never seemed to be late,
but the postman always was.

There is no weekend
when you're down to work again
them ******* have no shame and
think the weekend's one big game.

The stoker keeps on stoking
probably thinks he's woke in
some Utopian ideal.

Went to sleep hot
woke up hotter
probably got a spot o'
heatstroke.

Baking is not taking no
for an answer

they said it'd be cooler
but it's just
them fukers trying to fool ya.

So
it'll be a glass of cold water then?

Kitchen temperature
roasting
mercury rising
quicker than the Yorkshire pud'

not good enough.

The radio presenter asks:
how are you dealing with the heat?

I'd say
if you're not beat
not a dead beat
don't have swollen feet
you're doing ok.

Where the hell did that go?
yesterday,
work went so slow
but the night whizzed past so fast
I only had time for fifteen winks
and I need at least forty,

The universe is shafting me
don't laugh because after me
it'll be
shafting you too.

Well,
I've ploughed the fields and scattered
and now I'm flippin' shattered
it is I that should be fed and watered
not the good seed on the ground,

nothing worse than a bible verse
when you want a pint of beer
and when the barman shouts,
The Salvation Army's here
you want another pint of beer.

If there is a Green Hill Far Away
why put up a City Wall?

but City Hall with their backhanders
sell off sites to all newcomers

Land
green or brown
they'll build a town
and
call it Bethlehem or Babylon,
Croydon or New Addington

Still Biblical
call me
John The Cynical
and
throw me from the pinnacle
of my hopes and all desires,

I will become the Martyr
more famous than
Paul Sartre
or end in an asylum
locked and padded
Number Five.

They haven't quite got the message
because management is still stuck in
the stone age,

we are not only not on the same page
we're in different ******* libraries,

they take their liberties
I take my leave

adieu.

My emolument has been spent
wasted on niknaks or lost
playing blackjack,
lent 'til tomorrow by those who
would borrow my dreams,

and now
I must work again for the man
and plan what to do
plan how to get through the Month.

I would have been interested
had it been interesting
but it wasn't
and I wasn't

Daybreak is always something flat.

Not that it worries me
it'll be what it wants to be
and obviously
it wants to be flat.

but that's just my opinion.

She says that I'm a sourpuss and
there is no light behind my eyes
but
I surprise her by shining anyway.

Ok
passing by the gloom
into the bathroom
splash a bit of cold over
this face that's too old
and
facing the day that
faces my way
I go on.

Summer is here and
She says
I've got nothing to wear

I suggest going bare
She growls

not that kind of bear
I add.

Flashbacks.


I walked into her breakdown and all broken up she said,
"You've got to help me stamp out all the demons in my head"
I couldn't help myself, and so I knew my use to her was similar to a drowning man grasping at thin air.

She screamed and then went silent as I opened up my eyes.
I waded through her temperament and shovelled up her sighs.
I watched as she exploded into frothy, foaming seas, and then I knew that I could do just exactly as I pleased.

The night fell out from its sunken lie
The seas ran red with ruby wine and then they all ran dry
I swear I saw Emmanuel breakdancing in the sky.
But all I heard was the howling wind and her pleading, plaintive cry.

The day tripped up as we all tripped on
The morning came and then was gone
We never knew when or just how long
We'd have to wait for the evensong.

So when we packed the cases and we sped out in the rain
The falling sun crashed down to earth, causing us some pain
We had to lay in the sandy bay, prisoners on the Spanish Main
But that's the way we did it, and we'd do it all again.

I wrote to myself
a note to myself
but forgot where
I put it.

Monday done gone
and now
on to Tuesday.

it never stops
wailing sirens
the cops
a doughnut
but
I don't listen
anymore

got used to it
like I once got used
to the crash of waves on the shore
it's just background
and
if you really hear it
you can hear silence
in the sound.

I am ready
She says
steady on John
and
I wonder
where the time has
gone.

If that wasn't a goose then it was certainly geese
and sheesh
flew underneath the window sill,
they're likely to **** someone
with that attitude or altitude
and the dude next door said,
geese are what dinners are for.

I'm going to make my wish
upon a chicken's bone
which is not the funny bone,
well
not for the chicken.

I was
thinking of doing a Marathon
but
they changed the flamin' name
will do a Mars Bar instead.

no snickers.

They deliver to us
breakfast burgers on bikes
but take their meals with
fresh tax hikes
to fund a war
that
no ones for
but it's
peace and desist
that's getting everyone ******
wondering why the hell
are people dying.

On every page
there's a new pill to pop
big Pharma's
got
the upper hand
and
why the hell are we
still trying.

buy one
get one
move on
while they're starving.

Enlightenment
is just another stent
to keep the heart
pumping.

This industry
don't mean **** to me.

Work and you'll be rewarded
by being shafted.

Mental hospitality?
serving those above you
those who say
we love the work you do
lying *******

they use
discard
re-use
abuse
expect
reject
but when you've had enough
of their **** and stuff
time to call it a day
time to say adios
and get on your way.

no regrets
no void
no need to feel annoyed
it's just another learning
somewhere else I put my time in.

..and now to sit on the riverbank
watch the world
say hi
to people who may or may not pass by
feed the ducks
give no more *****
read the daily news,
that book by Zola
J'Accuse

muse on.

The evening light leads only to the morning when it's nice and rightly so, another day to go on my way, crisp, not even snow and if you know, you know.

Time for more?
She says,
there always will be,

notes float on the afternoon
the tune
familiar
can't quite place it though
so I let the wondering go
and wander off
into a distance
only I can see.

'turned out nice again'
a catchphrase back in the days when catchphrases made you laugh.

George Formby
he with the ukelele
or to be more accurate
the banjolele
was a daily tonic
and much better for you
than going back to the quack
to pay your five shillings
for some useless pills.

I'm guessing he's still leaning on a lamppost
somewhere
outside a Chinese Laundry
chatting with Mr Wu.

Slippers, a pair of socks, and a fukin KitKat for gawds sake.

Happy Father's Day to me.
haha

Hoping you have better luck when out shoplifting.

Note: This is not an invitation to break the law; we leave that up to the politicians.

Sunday flies in on a broomstick
ready to pick a fight
and I'm in the thick of it
getting pig sick of it
what the hell happened
last night?

There's mail for the present incumbent
known to be rather a dumb gent
he just sent for security
and they aim to get rid of me

they'll probably hit my ear

hah.

Hey you,
Yeah you,
corkscrew,

you don't need missiles
to go ballistic.

I think those boys just like the noise
when things go bang.

It's the Devil and his designs
a sign of the times
and of things to come
and Kingdom Come has been and gone to a planet far away and seen it all before anyway,

on our ownsome
like dogs with a bone
and some
with a glacial stare

we wanted a peace pipe
they sent us a standpipe

it's the Devil and his designs
turns a war into rhymes
and sets fire to the night.

I might not sleep
but I think that I'll live.

There's a lot to be said
about
not saying a lot.

Oxymoron
washes whiter
makes loose tongues
a little tighter.

Keeping your own counsel
is far better than keeping
that lazy lot in the  local
council.

Can't smash a burger
or an egg
because
that's considered violent
behaviour,
so now
we must stroke the yolk
and pat the burger

and is hair conditioner
only conditioning your hair
or is your mind at risk?

Jeezus
very soon
we won't be able to ****
without first
sending out a weather warning
and then
they'll tax us for adding to
global warming.

We are done for
but the lunatics will
always run for
Prime Minister or
President

I guess it's meant to be.

Bed at ten
woke at two
wondering who
was tapping on the window
luckily for them
it was only the rain
again,

welcome to the Summer.

Feeling a bit ropey
some may say *****
but no
definitely ropey
and
I didn't even have a drink
unless H2O counts

She says,
it does,
look at your bank balance
at the end of the month
Thames Water takes a healthy chunk.

At times, it could be cheaper to get
drunk,

the tap
is but another trap from which there is
no escape.

Not being negative and only being positive
I crackle with electricity,

Saturday may drain me
working
oh poor me
but surely
tomorrow
I'll be off?

not a chance.

Ten hour shifts
not for the faint-hearted
and definitely not for me,
but She says,
baby
faint heart never won fair lady,
so
I win, I think,

One-nil to me.

She puzzles over this
I blow her a kiss
and slip back into the
dream.

breaking your neck to see
what's behind you
knowing that they'll find you
wherever you hide.

but you've got thick skin
don't let them grind you down
don't let the ******* win.

if we're already sunk
there's no more damage
can be done
by going out
and getting ****-faced drunk.

The morning
seltzer dissolving
and the bubbles
echoing
in the chambers of your heart
when your head is a canyon
long since abandoned

there is no more gold
to be found.

I asked
are we finished yet
and was told by myself,
you've not even started yet.

*** this for a lark
which, by the way
is still asleep.

and it's not chocolates, Forrest,
life is a box of tiredness
where you're so sleepy
you put your socks
on the wrong feet.

I thought it was a plus sign
but it's a cross,
something else to hang around
my neck and weigh me down,

the sky
rock salmon pink
I think,
pretty.

always the to and fro
to stay or to go,
I think
that's the real question
William.

Cream in my coffee
because the
milk went sour
which we all do
at times.

I could be writing
something about second sight in
the third person,

but I'm eating crisps and drinking
Guinness
and Guinness they tell me or they used to
is good for you

and not only but also
it's Nigerian Guinness.

But I could be writing and
not getting tight in
this fine Summer evening.

*** it
I'll have one more
and that may be better
for me.

What about when we're not
together,

do you care
anyway?

Little Bo-Peep had sold all the sheep
and concocted a tale to tell.

I'd like to sleep too,
but I bought all those sheep
and now I have to count them.

so much for nursery
the shepherd is cursing me
and Bo-Peep's dad looks mad.

What has that got to do with anything other than a brain wave and that'd be the brain waving me goodbye,

the sky looks promising
promising what you ask?

tasks:

puts on a shirt
***** collar
wonders who he should follow
on social media
gets needier
needs feeding
has a shave
shaking hands
face bleeding
and someone in the audience shouts
bleeding ugly.

Paracetomol
wears slippers
harder drugs are not ok
so
the pills
shuffle in instead of kicking in

life *****
Henry says
so do I

even the hoover has something to say.

They wine us on minus and tell us
it's Chablis and we
lap it up.

nothing new there
we're back where we began
swimming in the swamp
trying to find a ladder
trying hard to not get cramp.

and why is it us that are minus
when that lot put nowt in the ***
why are we swimming
never ever winning
it's only those who have already got.

whine
whine
whine
we do it all of the time
and that's what makes
my swampmates
very good friends of mine.

Let's boil this down
burn the pan
a show of hands
the total ban.

Truths will be
as they often are
few and far
and further still
where the will of man
lies on the
shifting tide of sands.

They call if gentrification
but it's more like
desertification
giving us no notification
of those things
that are likely to change.

hierarchy?
there is a part of me
that stays apart from me
peek a flamin' boo
because I can see you.

Jekyll and Hyde
one's just a quack and
the other I can't bide.

and when we arrive in
thinking that we survived in
we'll find we were blind to the
truth.

This is about as random as the lottery
and there's a lot of me that agrees.

I saw Margery on the seashore
where Margery sat and saw me.

Later in the day, when we'd walked ourselves into the early hours of evening, we sat together on a dune and watched the tide come in,

a bit late for a Ploughman's lunch, she remarked, so we had a fish and chip supper at a local hostelry which charged me an arm and a leg for it.

Lovely beside the seaside, but so expensive,
it doesn't surprise anyone that the seagulls
are all thieves.

Dinner?
posted on Instagram!

life becomes the sham
and I'd love a Babycham.

Britain formerly great
hasn't posted of late
but
it's alive and kicking
although somewhat sick in
someone's Facebook feed.

I need the Captain or the Comrade
Morgan or Smirnoff and then I'll
get off to sleep.

There was time to relax
to take off the yoke
and ease our aching backs
but not much at all.

The pit pony was the only one
younger than me, and he could see
better than I.

The Spedding steel mill  was a light that could ****
progress gave us the Davy Lamp
I thank Humphry for that innovation
and they made him a Knight
good job he invented that new kind of light
haha.

fukin' back's still aching
they're still taking
and we ain't making
much at all.

she says,
what man is
not full of
**** man

she
uses the word
man
a lot

it used to be the thing
when she was young
and full of
that thing
they call gullible.

Sun baked
skin caked
with the salt
from
oceans of tears
she
wonders where
the years
have gone

and says
**** man.

Somebody talks
my ears are on fire
my eyes out on stalks
my skin starts to itch
wish I was rich?
oh
and one more oh to go
I'll use that oh later

You can never have enough 'ohs.'

Sunday
did you want a blessing
to get dressed up in
and go down praying?

and Jesus on the tambourine?

my dream is my instrument
of torture.

Drop me a line
with a hook
on the end
go on
let's pretend
when we both know
that
you don't give a..
..shucks
I didn't mean to write
shucks
but
you knew that
didn't you.

If you didn't get to where you got to
it's not you.

Someone out there is pretending to be you,
and has arrived at where you should have got to

it's true
but you won't believe it.

I should have got to a lot of places
but ended up in Benidorm
with the expats and pensioners
and those who were prisoners
back in the day.

I'm just rattling on here
battling against and not with
the fears that engulf you or
someone who pretends to be you

and me here
beside the sea
in chains.

Those who have never been real in their lives
want to talk to you about real life.

cloud cuckoo springs to mind
signed on the dotted and sealed with wax,

lacking facts
they whitter on
regurgitating,
gouging out their right from the wrong

another song played out at 78RPM
crackles from the shellac
raising hackles on the broad back

but everything's bent
the wind doesn't have to blow
to sway us and we
know.

what happened to the narrative?
what happened to the give and take?
well
the greedy ******* took it all
for Christ's sake.

Life is one big fairy tale
in that
it sets you up to fail
but
not to fret
you'll get there yet
you just have to roll
with the punches.

it could be much worse
you could be like me
writing rhyming verse,

Curses, shouts Long John
a relative of Kim Jong?
or was that a
slip in the fabric of time?

In conclusion
everyone needs to rein it in
and get off their high horses,

and again
while the management play
I am again scheduled to work
Saturday and Sunday.

lazy *******.

Some
may wonder why
they even bother to
put themselves out
and try
to do
the right thing
when everything
seems to be against them.

I also wonder why
and when I do
I can understand
what you
are going through.

There is a light
however dim
that makes the road
a little less grim

but
the batteries are failing.

Because you cannot spot the difference
does not mean we're all the same
and sometimes what you're trying to spot
is yourself by a different name.

differently
describes you and me
those and them
and yet
we're still all flowers
from a single stem.

For the same old new
we got lamps for you.

no genie?
how mean we become,
a few shillings in the bank
and suddenly
we're all Frank Bruno
although
defending what's yours is
the thing to do,
ask Frank
he knew,

one of the good guys.