We all live in the gaps

I start work again in 2 days,
and I’m sitting here,
in the worst bar I could find,
writing a fucking poem.

Crawl

When my grandma crawled up the stairs
she explained it simply.
This bit’s tricky, she said,
I crawl up like a baby.

The words became wedged in my chest.
An uncomfortable lump
of christmas pudding and shortbread…

Ouroboros

A tiny man stands at a tiny lectern and looks out two tiny windows. On his platform atop a tight spiral staircase he waits for the fog to subside. It’s time.

He clears his throat and speaks into the oversized microphone suspended from the domed ceiling.

Whimsy Therapy

I was having a bad time.

I say bad,
not because I’m a rubbish poet 
(although I am)
but because when you’re really having
a bad time,
it’s easier to just say bad
than it is to explain whatever the chemical
slop inside your head 
is manifesting as today.

God’s Sweet Grapes

There is a secret church. It promises bliss, immortality, a voluptuous woman to feed you grapes from God’s personal stash — the usual religious nonsense — but only if you adhere to a single rule: Whenever you’re in a narrow alleyway, or on an escalator, or on a busy path you must walk slowly…

Abraham

You might say 
the joke about the banana
(he wasn’t peeling well)
was train station rhetoric.

You might think
that Bonnie the landlady
and the story of the misplaced pension
sounds like a B-grade movie
not worth…

Falling in love with chillies

Gardening is not for me, I thought,
Imagine being a servant to a plant -
Hungry, thirsty, dry, wet,
Boring.

Turbulence

Turbulence overcomes the plane,
And the children laugh.

As their parents grip the handrests,
They giggle.

The cabin crew look around reassuringly,
As one hundred sweaty fingers are linked,
And we all…