life with a politically astute collie-cross. “I had a strange dream last night,” says the dog, stretching and shaking himself. “Very strange. And yet…” “Go on, then,” I yawn. “What happened?” “I was working in a department store, in charge…
Every poet has quiet times. Or do they? I don’t know. I do, I’m sure of that. Times where life is so busy I can’t find time to collect my thoughts, or the news so depressing I can’t find the…
It’s great being a poet. But without the hard work of people who organise and put on poetry and spoken word nights, and who put in all the hours of graft to make sure they get bums on seats, we’ve…
As I take five minutes to scribble this blog down and piece something coherent together, it looks as though a piece of my work is going viral. For the second time. Last time round, it was the letter to Caffè…
(with apologies to Lewis Carroll) ‘Twas Brexit, and the slithy Gove did frottercrutch in dwarfish glee; he snicker-snacked the Camerove, Machiavelliadastardly. Beware the stabberjock, my son! The empty eyes, the robo-glint! who fellobrates the Murdocrone the Ruperturtle übergimp! He pallerised…
Love, and coats. The tables outside the station are packed with people eating and smoking and killing time while they wait for their trains, doing their best to enjoy the early spring sunshine despite the bitter, unseasonal wind. Being out…
There’s always a risk for poets in writing about current affairs. All too quickly, today’s burning issue becomes tomorrow’s chip paper, and all that hard work you put into knocking rhythm and rhyme together counts for nothing. And who wants…
There are always people out there who make a life and a career out of winding up liberals, portraying themselves as daring renegades who dare to stand up against the tyranny of political correctness. They say something callous about the…
Biker. It’s a beautiful day, and I’ve been riding the mountain bike up over hills and escarpments, along tracks and minor roads, climbing and falling, climbing and falling. By mid-afternoon I’m in a small seaside town, resting on a covered…
We live in a crazy world. Doubt it? Here’s an example. This weekend the news has been full of stories from the ‘snowmageddon’ on the east coast of the USA (because just calling it ‘very heavy snowfall’ isn’t anything like…
It’s become increasingly fashionable to sneer at art. Philistines on the right dismiss it as not being a proper job, while their counterparts on the left say how it fails to liberate the masses, and virtually all of us roll…
The ghost of the Xmas turkey* is already dead and gone, and the horror of the New Year hangover is still just a twinkle in an ill-judged cocktail’s eye, so what better time to let my fingers do the walking…