If you see Terry Larkin
1946...If you see Terry Larkin, tell him to whistle,When he gets to the end of our street.Like a shot, I’ll be out through the...
Hooked on Big H
On a bench, in a clearing, downriver, Heaven knows I’m in need of a fix. Will you show through the trees and deliver? For...
Stormbird
Hardship…where the voyage began,Hard times, hard to cope.Then from a fallen, veteran, oakThe clouds gave way to hope.We could have made a rocking horse,Dining...
Way to go
If I died without seeing it coming,Rejoice - there's no need to be sad.I've been lucky to die in the blink of an eye,A...
Over The Top
(ODE TO THE KEYBOARD WARRIORS)
Dug deep in dark trenches, with the worms and the rats,Waiting to run through the storm in tin hats.A prayer...
Slagged off
Slagen,Slagge,Slaggy Isle.Precipitous piles of rubble, reviledBy those who lived miles from our Slaggy Isle.Though for anyone born there, with nowhere to compare,They were mountains...
She gave us grass
Even snow turned quickly grey,Like sheets hung limp on a washed-out day,As charcoal clouds went floating past.Winter birds were never fed,Bone-hard gardens, left for...
So many shells
Breakwater walking, searching for the air,In the seagull kingdom: Paddy's Hole, South Gare.A time for prayer.Through the rapier grass, then down the dunes I...
From Saltburn Pier
The skyline of a warm embrace,That's reaching out to say,Take shelter with me here.While a rock-face, like a passing whale,Is rising, boldly, from the...
Growing old
The dandelion heads that sway,While hoping for a gentle breeze,To whisper 'one more day'.A generation, hair turned grey,Still holding on to memories,Until they blow...
Irreplaceable
You were quite irreplaceable,Second to none.We’ll play you a love song,Now you’re dead, now you’re gone.
We’ll put on a Big Show,Even though it’s too...
Washed up
How did you come to be here, my friend?One wrong turnAnd you’ve reached this dead end.Abandoned, alone,Beached far from home,Bluebottles on blubber and bones.
A...
A Most Ingenious Place
In a most ingenious place we live,A town that had the wit to giveMomentum to a dream.Yes, a most ingenious town, with brainsTo pioneer...
In the queue
Queue is quite a quirky word,Quintessentially defined.It starts with QWhile all the restWait quietly behind.
Mad rush
Never hurry winter,Or wish away the cold.Treasure every jewel of ice,Or you’re rushing to be old.
Never curse a raincloud,Or regret you’re getting wet.Soak up...
Awake
Is anybody out there,Not sleeping just like me?Suspended in a nightmare,On the prowl for cups of tea.Morbid thoughts, my spirits fall,Nocturnal demons lurk.Impatient birds...
Scavengers
Beaky old girls,Hunched in headscarves and frowns,Queueing in silence, they've flocked into town.But once the doors open, they scratch, screech and flap, There are bargains...
Life goes on
Poor Chloedropped her magic unicorn,It fell with quite a force.Oh no! Helost his little plastic horn,Now she says: "He's just a horse."
Upside-down squirrel
Grandma hates him with a passion,For stealing all the nuts.The birds don’t get a look-in,She calls him ‘greedy-guts’.
He can hop across the rooftops,He can...
In praise of the Parkrun
I’ll never be Mo Farah, Brendan Foster, or Steve Cram,A flabby, wheezy grandad,I know that’s all I am.But at nine on Sat’day mornings,I line...
With me dad
I sat on the slagheaps for hours,When I was a slip of a lad.Never leaving, whatever the weather,Til I could walk home with me...
Confession
Forgive me father, for I have sinned,It’s so long since we met.My fear of you remains undimmed,Though you’re just a silhouette.
For fifty years, I’ve...
A wing and a prayer
Like a high priest in church,Looking down from my perch,In this old silver birch,With its dark, hollow shrine,Where I wait for a sign,Just biding...
The pig in the shed
How I love the sweet explosion, of the crocuses in Spring.Bursting out of roundabouts, they make me want to singWith joy that winter's given...
Time flies
Perched on telephone wires, above fresh linen snow,Knots in black cotton, sparrows waiting to go.It’s time to wake up, Dad, it’s here – Christmas...
Burning ambition
You can never be a writer,Bolt those dreams inside your head.Put a flame to aspiration,Be a welder, son, instead.Kids from round here can’t be...
Wedding vows
Do you love me more than ever before?
Do you wake with a warmth deep inside?
Do you look in my eyes and feel yourself sigh?
Do...
Injustice
I'm eight and you're going to cane me,For what? I don't understand.You're in charge and you're going to hurt me,For I turned when you...
High coo
Wooing his true love,
From a treetop way above,
The sound of a dove.
Worry lines
Worry enoughAbout what others think,That way you stay down to earth.But don’t worry so much,You don’t take any risks,And fail to do something of...
Reflections
When you’re young with black hair,Every window’s a mirror,Where you stand proud and stare,At your glory projected.When you’re old with grey hair,Any glass sends...
The Good, The Bad, and The Bug-Ugly
Good old Clint,Rode his horse through the prairie,In search of a few dollars more.We were skint,Riding bikes through the slagheaps,Cast aside when they fired...
The greatest round
On the first, a long par four,Slight dog-leg to the right.Tricky drive, just watch the ball.Imagine it in flight.Easy swing, it’s in the sky,Towards...
The art of weeing in the sink
As the sun shines through the window,My kaleidoscope of gold,Is lighting up the liquid, as it swirls around the bowl.Dancing clockwise, in slow-motion,The magic’s...
The magic stream
An avenue of silver trees,Like the colour of your hair,Where a trickling stream danced on its way,We all had a log for a chair.And...