Looking back

Hanging around on the pavement
The tarmac, the weeds in the road
Walking up the lane to meet my old friends
Playing games riding skateboards
Chasing about in the estate park
The boy Matthew Bennette telling tales about his bike
That it had special balance handle bars
So that when he tipped his bike
We could hear something rolling down the metal tube
But we all knew that he was a liar
And he had rolled up mud balls to put inside
So it sounded like he had some inbuilt technology
When all he had were his lies
It was funny anyway to hear him say it

There were hawthorn trees with black sloe berries
That grew in late summer and autumn
And elderberries that grew on Tom's farm
When you squashed them they looked like blood
And sometimes we fought the high stinging nettles like soldiers
Cutting them down with bamboo canes
And sometimes we climbed inside haybarns
And made dens inside the bales
Until they all tumbled down on Tom one day and a scaffold pole
Hit him on the head
And he ran out to his mum and dad with blood running down
And he never cried

Then in the fields around Meare out past Down house
We went walking for miles with Matthew wood
And we came back and watched western movies
And stayed over night in his outhouse
And he ate pork pies with so much ketchup
I could never believe or understand why
We played for hours on computer games, pinball wizards
Or Samurai
Cannon fodder and his brother Ben Wood
Was the best at many things
And he had a really good bike

And Stephen who lived on the levels
We used to get on in school
We laughed so hard about vampires
When we had to make a haunted house game
Then when I visited his house
It was full of Star Wars toys
I'd never seen so many in my entire life
And we played with them for hours
But really I never liked Star Wars
But the funniest thing about Stephen were his lies
We used to tell eachother stories
So many that we made up
Each more fantastic than the one before
So that when we told of what we saw
Neither could have believed their eyes
It ended one time with a story of what animals we had seen
Recently, maybe a deer he said
Maybe I had seen a hedgehog
He had seen a badger
And then suddenly he told me
He had seen a Gorilla in the ditch nearby his house
And possibly a vampire as well

Then there was Millbatch where nobody went
From Downs Orchard - the better class estate
Millbatch was the rough end
Where the older kids lived
And Matthew Lambert who was very tough
And his brother Roger who used to pull the legs
Off Daddy Long Legs in School
And now he is carer for Somerset County Council
Working with people with Learning Disabilities
Go figure

Then down on church road, where the water reservoir was
The plastic coated chicken wire mesh that you could reach inside
And that lane was were the bully kids played and made
Their dens there
And we watched out for them while making our own
But there were rumours and whispers around
That she blew somebody somewhere
That he beat someone else up
And little pieces of knowledge fill your brain
Like into a water cup
and it makes up your world as a child
It tells of the big towns out there
And of the boys and girls you thought were so wild
Who now all have grey in their hair

Blow, blow

Sunday afternoon blow job
In the park
She knelt down
In her white dressing gown
And the wind it blew
And the dogs they did bark

The train rattled past
And I was there
I'd never seen that kind of thing before
Maybe in a movie
Or by the library door
But this was Sunday afternoon
In the park

Oh the birds they sang
The cows did fart
The window cleaners
have finished their part
And as they rubbed them clean
The rain did start
It was Sunday afternoon
Blow job in the park

Blow, blow, the trees did go
The leaves did seem to say
Blow my way
Like a railway whistle
Like a thistle
On a long highway
And she blew, blew, blew
Til her face went so red
And I thought I'd
Never seen such green
Giving head
It was blue as the sky
And after they lay
The park bench was drenched
In their words unsaid

Little pearls of wisdom
It could have been that
The love anyway
In that afternoon park
Was soon like the bark
Blown away
I saw her cry
That fell from her mouth

Truth 2

 It was hidden behind a facade 

It was the tree lost in the wood of lies

I was blind to it, didn't want to hear it

Even closed my ears and eyes

I didn't want to even understand

So I stuck my head in the sand

 

But it was ferreted out, it was winkled out

And prized apart like an oyster to reveal its pearl

It was weighed in the hand, on the scales of justice

It has been weighed against the purest gold in the world

And found to be of perfect carat, 

It is better than the finest wine of the best clarit

It has the clarity of a diamond

It shines a light, but not through a prism,

It is harder than the hardest criminal in the toughest prison

It does not dance like an ephemeral rainbow

When it stands, it stands tall, casts a long shadow

And people run from it in fear, other's hide in its shade

Still some would give their dying tear, for a drop of it to be made

  

It is hard to pin down, like a pin ball

weighs heavy as a crown, when it from the King's head it falls

It changes shape like a wraith, or a ghost coming through a wall

But in reality it never changes, like time itself or nothing at all

It is fact incarnate, it is the living flesh of an idea of man

But then women know it, as too a child can

It requires, like the pearl, grit to make it stick

Courage to tell it, the skill to make it disappear as if a magic trick

But like a weight-lifter's load, it is a relief to get it off your chest

It is the long and lonely road, where your belief in it is put to the test

And often involves fits of tears, and smeared make-up and tissues

In hospital waiting rooms, or beside beds

It is easy to fake it, vanity imitates it, but then the mirror breaks

The axe falls, and it is reflected in the splinters, a hologram, a whole

As the narcissus must crawl back inside his hole

It is pure, it is the most valuable treasure we own

Yet it cannot truly be sold

Because when this is tried it disappears

Below the fold

And isn't seen for days

It is on the run

Like a snow abll rolling down a hill

In the end creates an avalanche

Then all the dominoes fall in its wake

Like match stick trees after a volcanic blast

To others it is a tradable commodity

Because someone will pay top dollar for it

But when they have it, they only wish to hide it again

And cover ups are cheaper when they are smoked

With a pack of lies

It is like a ticking bomb then, liable to explode

In their hands

Or like a burning match it will burn the fingers

Of the one holding it, yes, it is sometimes fire

And sometimes ice, because they die with it.

They take it to their graves.

And then the trail runs cold, 

But if we let ourselves sell it so cheaply

We sell with it our souls.

It comes out in the wash

With the dirty linen

It is the skeleton in the closet

To be discovered by the bin men

It is told in halves, in pieces of a puzzle

It is hinted at by clues or by fingerprints on a muzzle

It sometimes can seem dark, though often loud as a dog's bark

And like a dog with bone at play, it too must have its day

 

It is free to everyone whether a king or a slave,

Yet it can cost the earth, or it can cost a close shave,

It can slip from your hands when you don't watch it

You must keep your eye on the ball, you must be brave

It is the writing on the wall, it is the writing on your grave

Most of all if you speak it then a life you might save

Mysterious ways

 Yes you work in mysterious ways

Yes you work in mysterious ways

From the smell of celeriac cooking

To the midsummer's haze

Yes you work in mysterious ways

There are paths where I walk

Reminds me of younger days

Seemed so much better than the present

Wrapped up in rosen glaze

And there are times when I talk

Or I see a woman's face

And I think you must work

In mysterious ways

Yes it's all a mystery I can't read your play

What I guess is behind the scenes

You are moving backstage

But I wish for you to be back

With me some days

You just say read my back pages

He works in mysterious ways

And there are some fruit trees

That in the breeze do sway

And I know the ghost of your electricity

Hovers above the haze

And I say with my earnesty

That I wish your ghost could stay

But you say in your own honesty

He works in mysterious ways

Searchin' for water on Mars

 I look out my window

At the shining stars

And think why is it

I can't get a job

Even parking cars

When somebody closer to God

Has a job that's raised the bars

Yes you might say it's a divining rod

But they're searching for water on Mars

Searching for water on Mars boys

Yes searching or a lurching

It's creeping and a seeping

Lookin in the nooks and crannies

Searchin' for water on Mars

Well what did you know

When there's a drought down here

And they can't get a drop from the tap

And some poor fellow in Africa

Has to walk half the continent's map

Searchin' for water on Earth should come first

Let's save the kids from starvin'

And try at least halvin' their thirst

But we can't they say we're savin our farthins

While we're raising the bars

Searchin' for water

Leavin' none for the urchin' daughter

But only so we can drive more Tesla cars

Yes we're searchin' for water on Mars

There's a foot print I hear that's on the moon

And they've written poems about it

Like Seigfreid Sassoon

And many men did die in the attempt

Just like the first world war

Many lives got spent

Searchin for the man in the moon

Well back then they felt robbed

Of the best men 

Yes football stadiums were mobbed

By protests then

But this time it could be Joe Bloggs

Or another movie star

But the climated change is logged

By how many trees have fallen so far

to pave their way on their road to Mars

And there's already not enough air

And too much of it is hot

And it's floating up there

Into what can never be and what is not

Well sometime we're gonna have to face it

We all must die sometime

But why must we ruin the planet 

In the process, it's hightime

I can't stand it

Let's accept death and life are one gambit

And just get on and play the game

It's not poker 

And we needn't hide our hands

Let's lay our cards on the table

And learn from the fable

Of Narcissus

Not to fall in love with our own reflection

Nor find glory and self gratification

In the stars

And so let's stop searchin' for water

Oh the lurchin's never what it oughta

Just ask Icarus who was a lamb to slaughter

Let's stop searchin' for water on Mars

Moon in the window

 We're like chalk and cheese you and me

You are the calcium cabonate crayon

Drawing lines on the

Blackboard night sky

Teaching me my times tables

Tide times

Hand writing

The moon stroke

With the magic i

Magic finger glowing

Pointing the way

I trace your lunar digit with my own

And learn to write

In moon language

To speak in moon words

And mirror tongue

Reflections

From behind the mirror of the sun

I am the soft cheese that lies soaking in a bath

Or the hard cheese I feel when things do not

Follow my chosen path

I am holy cheese

With holes in my faith

Tell God your plans they say

And you will know he acts in mysterious ways

Weeping willow

 Weeping willow canopying the water

Silk assassins daughter

Shorter than a pine

Taller than I thought her

Filigree pedigree

Dogs bark acid tongues

And Ringing out the headaches

Thumbs through leaves

Of countless words

Whispered in the shushing eves

Hushing wind

Rushing, rushing then quiet mind

Meditative tree

Spindles, spider thread

The yarn droops

Like stiffened drool

Hardened into tools

The searching stalactites hand down

Divining rods detecting water sources

Sniffing out the wet stuff

Thirsty suckers thread

Weeping its drooping head

Sad maybe, or only inexhaustibly thirsty

Like it's been wandering in a desert for days

It will try any mirage, or true Oasis

Plumb any well

Where there's a weeping willow

There's a watery will

Weeping beech

 lolloping giant

Sheep dog shaggy

Elephant trunk and arches

benches bunk branches skunk

tail waving laughing, laughing

Trumping and dancing a shaggy hippy stomp

Shaking the shady chandeliers

Swaying all baying in 70s flares

To the age of Aquarius praying

Leaves like feathers ruffled chicken fella

Born out of shape and time

A little too heavy in the arms

Dragging knuckles on the ground

Chimp-charrooing like a monkey aping an ape

Gorilla tree, Green man

Jolly green giant

Acer Red

 Acer Acer dancing like a geisha

Star leaves cherry red

Dancing in the summer wind

Catch the current star fish seas

Like a carpet to the Oscars tread

Acer, Acer lipstick chaser

Kissing the sun with smacking lips

flashing and slashing, whip-lashing

red sashing

Bull ring matador

evading horns of the wind's thrashing

bloodied eyes bled

Through the aquarium of the conservatory

underwater, under wind

birds are fishes swimming

Geisha red Acer sea weed tree

Treblecleft textures

 What do you say to the twigs that fall?

The whispering Starlings shush shushing

The air and all

Hushing the reeds like a lullaby

The level's baby to sleep

Moses drifts up in a basket

Somewhere down the Euphrates

And the crocodiles all drown

In their own tears

The borrowed frowns of bucaneers

Postpone the hate of conquering years

In which enemies fall at their gate

But No speck of blood falls

In their spotless cities

No nagging horse neighs

Without the controlled rumble

Of cannon fire

And I am the tear

That rolls down the knoll

The fear in the belfry

When I hear the bell toll

Another and another soul

Yet elsewhere the sky is yellow and bold

And the bright blue sea shines like gold

And a penny is tossed splashes and ripples

The cats and dogs dash, the priest has his tipple

The hum and roll, the ebb and flow

Of cavorting children

And parents extoll the virtues of being virtuous

And how sadness lies like misty veil

Over the memory of this town

But some professors write

That all things come around

Again, as they sweep through cloistered halls

In black and white gowns

Marathon Man

 Hello, is that the marathons?

Yes,

Oh great, I'd like to join you

Well we'd be very pleased to have you. But you've phoned up our help line, so how can we help?

Oh a while ago now I tried to start running

That's great, but are you having suicidal thoughts?

Well sometimes when I'm running

I want to run in front of a truck

Well, you are doing the right thing by phoning us up 

and trying to get some exercise

Yes well, for a long time I didn't know you

had a telephone number?

Oh how did you hear about us?

Well I was feeling depressed one day

And someone said I should talk to the 'Marathons'

Uhhuh!

Yes, I figured I better get fit and join the local running team

So you did?

Yes I used to do the Park run every Saturday and then I built

myself up until I could manage a half marathon

Wow, well done you!

Thanks...so when I was there I would really try to talk to the Marathons

about how I was feeling.. you know telling them I was depressed

And what happened?

Well they kept running even faster to try to get away from me!

Amazing

Yes, and so then I would run even faster to try to keep up...I actually broke my own personal best

as did many other runners on that day

I was feeling so good about myself, but still I had this niggling thought

This wasn't quite the full marathon

So Anyway then I joined the London marathon, then New York, Sydney, Nepal

Each time I trying to speak with the marathons, and they really helped me

You know I'velost  pounds of weight, I am fitter than I've ever been

I keep to a strict exercise regime

Well what a fantastic story

So what I wanted to do was thank you personally Mr Marathon for helping me so much

Well, that is really very kind of you as you see we are the Samaritans

Not the marathons?

No the Samaritans, but I'm sure some us are Samaritan runners 

Caveman

 My mama said son, what you gonna be?

For you're nearly 9 and it's 45000 BC

I said now mama, why don't you know

I don't wanna lay bricks and I don't wanna build

I Don't wanna join the stone mason guild

I just wanna lie around all day

In your cave? She said

I said Uhhuh ugh hey

I'm a cave man, don't you see

I'm a cave man from 45 k BC

I wanna go out and gather and hunt

While my woman stays home 

Takes care of the little runts

I'm a cave man ,I got no colour TV

I'm a cave man, I can count 1 2 3

I'm a cave man and I'm on the prowl

For a mammoth to kill

While I hear the wild cat growl

So son, she said, the world is changing fast

You can't be a cave man and live in past

Your father he managed but was killed by a rock

That fell from a height while he was building a dock

Now what you should be is a sailor out to sea

Build a boat or invent the wheel

I depends how you feel 

But whatever you do, don't stay in the cave, 

for life's out there to be lived

And you've got to be brave

Oh mama dear mama, I wanna run free in the wood

And chase after bears and antelopes

She said that won't do you no good

You gotta use your brain, and think with your head

We invented fire last week otherwise we'd be dead

Sometimes it's cold and sometimes it's hot

But you gotta be bold make the most of what you've got

Why not start a jewellery business selling necklaces of bone

I said, I don't have fine motor skills and anyway I'd need a loan

She said why don't you get off your ass and go to the bank

The manager there is a customer of mine named Hank 

He can surely give you all the bones you'd want

Well I don't have chisel I said, she said What?

I said I'm a caveman, why can't you see,

I never learnt to write, only abc

That's why you called me Abel

And my brother you named Cain

And I think he's hiding under the table

playing some wicked game

Mother:

Now pretty soon Neanderthals like us will be extinct

Don't you see son you can't just follow your instinct

What you need is a role model like Cro Magnon man

He's over there looking so sophicated in his new clan

Why don't you go up to him and ask to be his apprentice?

Oh Mama, I would, but he looks like a dentist

Well a little bit more brushing wouldn't do your gums any harm

Oh Mum, I said, but she was having none of it and grabbed me by the arm

Hey there Mr Cro-Mo can you teach my son to think?

He needs a good role model, 

and Cro-Mo just blinked

And then he looked me up and down, 

and gave a wink then a frown

Then in his eyes I saw a twinkle

Like the stars had come out

He said sure I can take him on, but he'll work night and day

And when his time is over he won't receive any pay

Except life experience and that's worth more than fine bones

So my mother signed a contract that was written in stone

You come here everyday he said, at the hour of four

And you fetch all the tools, and leave them at my door

As I'm building something marvellous

It's big and round and rolls

But it's looking pretty cumbersome

So I am filling it with holes

Just to make it lighter? I said with a laugh

He said, yeah, you got it kid

Then he trundled down his path

I never will forget the day I left the cave behind

And I opened up a new door that opened up my mind

Smart Thinking

 So I thought

I'd be sophisticated and buy myself

Some Smart Water

The plastic bottle

seemed more intelligent

and more environmentally friendly

Because it was labelled Smart

And so I thought

I was both helping to save the

Environment

While at the same time

Rehydrating

When in fact, I could have just gone home and turned on the tap

Now that is Smart

Chessebel

 She was a real chessebel

Ready for the quick bishop

To knight resell

In the virtues of a court of pawns

The jester danced upon the lawns

Of Apricot Sundays

And White frog spawn

That grew in Lily of the Valley pools

And the Lady of the lake rose up

Beknighted by the Chalice cup

The Knight of Vespers sure did sup

Upon the poisoned arrows of Archers

Which lined the City walls

Of the Citadels

But it was the move of the Chessebel

She turned his towers and her rook did sweep

Down upon the city's keep

And Castles fall, and knaves and fools

Balance on the Sword of Damocles

But the Black knights rose and mounted a defence

In the forked tongued attack of a vipers offense

Striking in spikes, and spurs and spines

That daggered the white lady's sunshines

Yet dazzled as she was, she never lost her crown

Only in the balance of what goes up must come down

And sallied forth her armies

To justify her ken

As in the dawn light rallies

The army of brave men

Fire on the barrow

 Do you remember when the fire came ?

The burning bushes, grass tufts in flame

And so long sang the thrushes, the dew berry the same

I remember said the rabbit of the barrow

The fire lighter's shame

We ran scrambled, all the animals

The little snails in their houses succumbed 

Somehow said the sparrow, things now

Seem so different, just a passing dream of tragedy

Commented the hedgehog of the hedgerow

Simple like a melody, but a chorus of fiery tongues

Licking and singeing the branches of the oak

The elders and the brambles soon went up in smoke

The fell was swept, the dale dealt a terrible blow

Dancing in the twigs and lifting peat sods

Where we trod with hopping tip toe

The hawks circle above, no meal of mouse or shrew

They were but cremated martyrs on the altar of an autumn dew

Only a little farther the survivors had to trudge into adjacent treelines

Foliage to shelter in and watch the holocaust of barrow down

Extinction Rebellion

 Welcome to the Climate change activists ball

Entry requirements:

First you must have previously spent the majority of your working life

Working for either an oil company or

alternatively an airline

From this you must have earnt enough money to

afford a safe and secure home

And a safe and secure pension

Then you need to retire

And then feel guilty enough about

Your nice comfortable home

And the world's poor

And the whole inequality of life

That leaves you in the Haves

and the rest of humanity in the have nots

That you then protest about what got you into that 

position in the first place

But about which

You are doing nothing 

such as selling your home and giving the proceeds to 

Some poor folk

Instead stay strong and secure and wear the mask of Rebellion

Without really living your working life as one

River dive

 By the bed of the river I lie, boys

By the beds of the river I lie

By the bed of the river,

when my soul is all a quiver

By the bed of the river I lie

Oh why has the river run dry, boys?

Why has the river run dry

The mountain was a giver

And the tall pines shiver

Tell me why has the river run dry?

I hold my breath and go under

I hold my breath and then I dive

Down in the river, 

when my soul is all a quiver

Down in the river I dive