Postmarked from a Café

This greeting comes cold from the residue of morning, 3rd October. Last draff of coffee in the cup on a saucer that would rather be the stippled salver that serves red to passersby and those who scan the street for things to watch and then behold anthuriums for sale at the florist. “Paris” 2014 —

he growls today and shakes his whole self

“Look At“, a poem posted this time last year, is a combination of a journal poem and a pavement poem. Derived from mental notes taken during a walk along East Finchley High Road, it documents the comings and goings of an ordinary morning. Observing the ordinary and everyday is a recurring theme. “Look – really look”

Diversions for Gentlemen of our Modern Age

Buzz. Ping. Hit. Aaah! ‘Phone Coffee Cigarettes Skin High Dependency Units — Another quick read poem/ non-poem, which uses a list format. See, gentlemen, poetry isn’t such an effort to read. And there’s so much more left of your day to do other things such as check your ‘phone, drink coffee, smoke and check some skin. — (The

Things a poet needs: laptop, coffee, soya milk, oats

This poem is based on the day in 2012 when I finally took the plunge and bought a laptop in London. The incessant “£299 on Strand” echoes my personal obsession with the cost of things, which I really am trying to transcend in 2014 (…both the cost of things and the obsession). This close attention to price

How do you make a dream come true?

1. Wake up. Work hard. Plan and strategise. Talk to someone who has done it before. Find a mentor. 2. Protect its pollen from the wind. Blow on the quills when they erupt. Wrap it in this moment and suspend it from but what if? It might rest its weary hope in a chest of

High-end Liquids

A quality beverage enhances your life and social opportunities. Consider, coffee, wine and clean drinking water. Of a high end luxury brand might be the water as it flows from a crevice in a rock on a mountain in the sacred hills of a dew-studded place. — This is a companion poem to yesterday’s “the

At the moment: £2

Oh, good. For now sultanas are back at 84p. (Bizarrely, they were 92p for a while.) Coffee, my favourite blend, now ONLY £2! That’s a 28p saving but coffee’s not on my list for today… Kiwi fruit – Enjoying those at the moment (since “basic apples” – I know they’re the windfall ones – have

Today

Today was the Friday I ate only toast. 7 slices. 4 with honey; 3 with peanut butter a few broccoli florets raw and an anchovy from the tin. I drank green tea, black tea and one cup of coffee poured from the cafetiere. I set out to typeset a book – and now it’s worse

Half-a-dozen, a wildcard plus one

A few recent poems have orbited around summer. 29°C captures some moments from the July heatwave. Another Summer’s Day explores more delights of the warmer season. Summer food and outdoor eating, which we enjoy at such times with childlike relish, are enacted by the child characters who feature in Packed Lunches and Summermelon. Tightly Sealed and Look At draw on observations of ordinary

Look At

Today the sour faces coming out of front doors of those who must go to work the pinched looks of those shuffling with shopping trolleys; those who must buy groceries Look at Grey Mullet laid on ice at the fishmonger’s Look at whole others who smile weakly and wave that magazine for the homeless/unemployed outside