Poetry

Sunday, 7 November 2021

The city of fire

 The city is on fire

From the city of fire

To the land of desire

To the cool waters of the dead

Where the living rise up from the bog beneath

Our feet

And the water is a home and a bed

But from the city of fire

Where the streets are aflame

And the people like matchsticks burn

And they cry out the name 

Of the city they claim

Oh the city, the city's on fire

To the land of the green trees

Where the water runs sweet

And it runs in the rivers

and quenches the flames and the heat

And I left the city of fire

To return to the land of the dead

Where the dead are living

And living dead walk

And they rise up from the bog

Oh the men of chalk

The men and the women of chalk


Flash, bang and then it was gone

 Flash, bang and then it was gone

Speeding round the corner

Along the tramlines

Past flashing glass windows

Leaving nothing behind

History is a shadow

A blast from the past

Then the burst fireworks

Explode above

Flash, bang and then it was gone


Manchester is full of history

From Peterloo to Pankhurst

They're throwing themselves

Across picket lines and into the arms

Of the law

Protesters standing their ground

Trampled by the hooves of progress

But the city is on fire tonight

As the celestial sky's process

Flash, bang and then it is gone


Manchester in flashes

In snatches and photographs

In the meaning behind the bronze statues

Still standing in memory of the past

And the streets of heat are burning

The people with their busy feet

The pages of history are turning

And the fires are raging in the building's heart

In flashes, and bangs, and then it is gone

(and smouldering lives on)


See the politicians talk

In the old railway station

In flashes and bangs and then he is gone

And the crowd rise up onto their feet

In applause

The explosion of clapping, thunderous roars

Of rockets and planes dropping bombs in the wars

In flashes and bangs and then it is gone


And still left standing the embers are smouldering

And handing the burning coals through members

who are shouldering the blame in parliament

And others who are naming the culprits in government

In finger pointing and wagging, staking claims

To ground that is burning, imperial empires slipping

Further into the fires of a funeral pyre

In flashes, in bangs and then it is gone

Monday, 1 November 2021

Billy the Bull rider

 Billy was a bull-riding rodeo star

Who worked at the Bath and West bar

He was a showman like a shogun who always gave his best

And he stood head and shoulders above the rest

Like a king proclaiming his crown

But it was all in vain for soon his reign

It came tumbling down


Oh Billy, poor Billy, why'd you have to ride that bull?

His eyes were red on something fed

You know you played the fool

When all your power and riches

They were in your hand

You threw them away on that fateful day

The day you crossed his land


You thought he was a dozing bull

Until you pulled his nose

And the ring that pierced it 

Meant to him

He knows more than you knows

He soon swung into action

His haunches large and looming

Like a colossus from a Greek statue

A Bull God loud and booming


A Minotaur was his father

And a red cow was his mother

Perhaps she was mad or simply bad

But the Minotaur he outgrew her

This Bull he was a quarter man

Perhaps just his Penis

Better known by his pseudonym

That of Prince Venus


He was a Major Taurus you should 

Have left him well alone

Oh you know his neck it was non- porous

Like getting blood out of a stone

You tried your hand at skewering him

As you rode upon his back

And your spurs they no more than knew you were in

For a full on bull attack

When he threw you too the ground

The moment you did mount

And it was there you lost your crown

Just like Jill lost her Jack


Don't go in the Bull field, you Billy

Oh Billy boy buck

No, you know you tried the easy way out

But it was just your hard luck

Always cross with a bulldog guard

And don't go flinging cow muck

For you know when that shit hits the fan hard

There's no extraction from the cluster fuck


All these things I taught you

Why'd you have to go your own way?

Why stray from the garden

Oh in Eden we only make hay

The balls in your head did harden

And your eggs they were hard boiled

But none can feel the schadenfreude

When you waste what you have worked at and toiled

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Bath and West Show ground

 Well I went to the Bath and West

It was high time and I felt blessed

The tents were divine

I was a child in my prime

With my friend we did climb

The stairs to the Army

As a sergeant Major barked

My friend leapt into the dark

But he couldn't grab a hold of the rope

And as he slid down

His hands burnt reddy brown

I turned around without hope

In hindsight it was perhaps a cowardly move

But we never know just how to improve

Anyway does pain do us good or is it vain

To try strength in place of self-love


We wandered on and bought the magic eye and it fascinated

And we saw the candy floss guy

And we past by girls who caught our eye

But oh Matthew was braver than I


And the streamers swam in the mid morning sun

And the bunting flew above everyone

And we came to the castle of the helterskelter

And it seemed so easy, like a river delta

Just flow from the mouth down to the sea

On a magic carpet of discovery

But reality proved a somewhat different experience

The long queue to the top

Was like following the herd

Of dumb cattle to the slaughtering chamber

Like sacrificing yourself for a penthouse view

And that was the nicest thing I remember

As I carried the doormat that was so heavy

Like december

And its black rubber sole and its brushed hair heart

That I should have slid on

But instead the mat from the slide didn't part

For I was too young, and too light of body

To give enough downward gravity

Instead the mat stayed still

And it would not slide

And then all the others began piling up behind

It was shame and embrassment

That I felt to the sound of the laughing,

The gaffaws

As I slowly pulled myself down the slide

By the bannisters and then followed

The descent of my pride for I shall never ride

The helterskelter no more

No I never rode no more 


Sunday, 31 October 2021

Time tree

 Lime tree, lime tree

Lime tree, lime tree

When it falls

In your lemon heart

Lime tree


Time tree

Time is a tree

With roots down to the past

And branches out to the future

Time tree


Time drops its leaves

And it grows new shoots

Time and time and time again

Time tree


Oh the squeeze of time

is a bitter fruit

But then the time, yours and mine

Is a time tree pursuit


Time tree

Time tree

Time is yours and mine

Time tree


Time tree

Through the forest park

Time's leaves fall on the path

Time's tree turns dark


Time tree, time tree

The tree of time is yours and mine

Time tree


Time tree sheds off its bark

Some will put their ears to its trunk

But they never hark


Time's tree through our lives

Time's tree in the park

Time tree ever shining on

Time tree is never dark



Saturday, 30 October 2021

Cities of gold

 Well I went to the city

The city of orphans

And I looked up to the heavens

And saw Angels of light

And they danced on the tower blocks

Like so many dolphins

Chasing

Fluorescent algae in the oceans of night


And I went to the city where love was a Dauphine

And he ruled like a despot The streets of might

And the colours of flags

Drained into the gutters

And the streamers of politics

Laid down by my side


And I saw without eyes

All the blind men were leading

And I drank from the well

With the horses of flight

And they ran down the rivers

The rivers of ancients

Inside the mouth of the mind

Of delight


And seasons of stones

They shrouded their faces

On the pavements alone

Where the crooked do fight

And the call of the country

It echoed down the empty street

And I called back the anarchy

To patrol the midnight


The town was so golden

So rich and so stolen

And it gleamed in the dazzling

Blood of the moon

And all the men lusted

After what they'd beholden

And all the women wept

And then they did swoon

And the city of gold

Stood above the horizon

Like in cloud castles

That roll down in the night

And though the people were hungry

And their bellies were swollen

They kept craving the gold

That was out of reach but not sight