Grand Mastery

  I’ve always wished to be expert at chess, but I overthink every move and lose my pawns and queen in the oldest, quickest thrashing in the book. — I have a knack for completely overthinking things. The reference in this short verse reminds me of a line from “Escucha.” During the dance, the poet/narrator

5 poems reworked

BBC Radio 3 is my station of choice. I listen to hours and hours of their programming, both on the clock radio that rests on my bedside chest-of-drawers and on iplayer on my laptop. Sometimes I schedule upcoming programmes or concerts into my diary, or mark catch-ups on my to do list. During these many

Restore order, with its low rumble

Today I present two poems from the archive – Now here is something to marvel at… (posted in 2012) and Is it worth it? (posted in 2013) Both poems tackle the theme of worldly aspirations and success. In “Now here…” the concerns of juggling a shoestring budget are interrupted by observations of life’s ordinary marvels

People ask questions they have no right to pose

November marks an anniversary month for this blog for it was in November 2012 that I started posting regularly. Looking back at the poems posted last year (Nov. 2013), I’m pleased to report that the month’s archive crop is a particularly good one. November seems to be a good month. Perhaps it’s an echo of

Highest Priority

Thank you for signing up for your HP daily updates. Each day we reveal your most important task. Before you had this service, words and deeds you left undone, passed over in your routine haste. Today’s commission is to assist a woman lost on Highgate Hill. She clutches a page with the address. These are

At the right age

People start to ask questions they really have no right to pose   At a point, they expect you to be studying. Let it be known: a non-graduate works shifts and packs plastic bags.   Since 2008, so do graduates with four degrees. But people will still ask, What do you do? They mean are

A definition, notably for the cloud-dwelling artists

Success is speaking to the people who matter, In networking when due. Waste no time on a satyr. Success is doing what you should for Work, for Security, for Good. It’s silence when your speech would rattle, And indifference to a pointless battle. Success is deafness to all that’s ugly, But sympathy if your deed’s