
Season’s greetings 2022
lights camera he looks into the lens pictures his waiting subjects a nation barely held together by customs just like this it’s … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2022
lights camera he looks into the lens pictures his waiting subjects a nation barely held together by customs just like this it’s … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2022
I’ve never issued a Second Life challenge before, largely because I suspect my status in the SL-sphere isn’t impactful enough … Continue reading A Second Life challenge: create a video poem
Look what you made me do.Now there’s blood on my cuffs and this shirt is new.Look what you made me … Continue reading Look what you made me do
I’ve been meaning for a while to put some of my poems up on YouTube, and finally got around to … Continue reading Hope is a four letter word (video)
Never mind the body count. The true crisisis the assault on our freedom to gather and consume.To shop, goddammit. To … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2021
They say you were a harmless thing, a little bit of fun.Yet the times that I enjoyed you can be … Continue reading Ode to gacha
Santa, My parents have assured me of your ongoing existenceso I’m asking that this year you try to keep a … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2020
Hope is a four letter word that we learned as children meant our dreams just might be heard. That the … Continue reading Hope is a four letter word (2020 revision)
(for GJH) 12B arrives at midnight and marches from his ride; salutes the guard, hi-5s the drivers, and rubs his … Continue reading stock picker
He landed his sleigh in the car park of Big Data UK HQ and trudged with his sack across freshly … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2019
This is the place where avatars die. A white-edged limbo, lost in the sky, where the empties slump in suspended … Continue reading Where avatars die
I started to type something funny, but then I saw that she was typing something. So I stopped to wait … Continue reading Texture
hair clips hair brushes toothbrushes toothpicks lipstick bleach a tray of bottles of nail polish bottles of correction fluid plastic … Continue reading Behind the counter
Click. One thought breaks free, seeking minds, to be absorbed; a stray neutron, fat and heavy: it penetrates; it infuriates; … Continue reading Viral
the absence of time the absence of self the absence of feeling I know what to say I know how … Continue reading flat
another log on the fire another tin for the shed the newsreader drones on on Drones a sudden silence as … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2018
In an explosion of red and orange sparkles, I was visited last night by my fourteen-year-old self. He appeared right … Continue reading Beware of nostalgia: you weren’t the same person back then
One of the depressingly large number of items on my book management ‘to do’ list is to create a new … Continue reading Old friend, reformatted
Born-again bachelor, quite the surprise; his new boots and waistcoat a labelled disguise. He gives his account of a decade … Continue reading Born-again bachelor
The door bursts open and a new guy appears, ushers me into the workshop and hands me a sweat-coated phone, … Continue reading Eggshell
In the final three minutes the sun still casts shadows, right up to the moment the button gets clicked. Close … Continue reading ‘No North’ exhibition @ DiXmiX gallery
I saw a girl get shot. I knew her for maybe six, seven years. She was in my class in … Continue reading I saw a girl get shot
I’m ok with people laughing at my fondness for straight lines and right-angled corners set in concrete designs. I acknowledge … Continue reading concrete
it will make not a bit of difference but one day you too will see this the boy staring at … Continue reading chasm
Fifty years into the future, she asked if I had a 39-20 she could upload herself into. I told her … Continue reading Real
A frost-covered igloo between parked cars. A blinkered personal space. And Christmas tidings falter as silenced shoppers pass. On their … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2017
Continuing my look back over ten years of blogging (and on a day when snow is falling over large parts … Continue reading Snow Day
Another poem from my 2011 poetry collection, “Old friend, learn to look behind you in the coffee queue.” Thanks to … Continue reading Why I should always sleep on stuff
December is also a month during which I remember one of my very first friends in SL, Nancy Redgrave. Nancy … Continue reading Nancy Redgrave
In my look back over ten years of blogging, I thought I’d publish a few of my favourites from the … Continue reading Old friend, learn to look behind you in the coffee queue
My reign as Paper Crown King comes to an end on Sunday at 3pm SLT, when the crown will be … Continue reading The crown shall
Get the ticker crawling, we need three connected headlines: The Thing that happened, a quote from the Prime Minister and … Continue reading Emergency response
A trudge across the dirt yard in the lit night, our warm breath billowing like wood smoke. I know there … Continue reading the exchange
‘lacrimioare’ is my first ever exhibition of SL photography. It will be shown at Berg by Nordan Art, with the opening … Continue reading lacrimioare
Somehow it just isn’t the same as when you couldn’t sleep and you lay listening for bells and you dreamt … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2016
Here, in the vacuum she smiles brightly, she attends to his needs, she busies herself with his wellbeing: odd jobs … Continue reading squat
I’ve had a number of poems accepted by SL publications over the last few months, with ‘City Boy‘ the latest … Continue reading Poetry issues
bring back the seventies bring back smoke filled pubs and non-PC levities bring back sixty watt light bulbs and zinc … Continue reading bring back the seventies
We drove to the used car dealer, parked up just outside of a thirty second radius in the shared forecourt … Continue reading Extra time
The things that make you cry don’t make me cry. The things that make you cry don’t make me cry. … Continue reading The things that make you cry don’t make me cry
The most profound revelation is something you feared all along: that any promise of connection is at best only temporarily … Continue reading So turn towards the sun
she crouches he barks she sprints he chases she leaps he skids she hides he follows her scent she tears … Continue reading cat and dog
she wobbles at the edge of the drop crouched, reaching she takes a fistful of dirt from the box kisses … Continue reading lily
Didn’t you die yet? Didn’t you die yet? You said your goodbyes, we had tears in our eyes; everyone’s moved … Continue reading Didn’t you die yet?
You have hours left to live. You will never go home. Your intestine is ruptured. Say your goodbyes. Say your … Continue reading Slow subtraction
A twilight gathering of four. Birthday salutations and years wished many more. Perhaps forced frivolity has become too much a … Continue reading 16
Happy 16th birthday, son. I’m sorry I can’t be there. This card is just to let you know I will … Continue reading Birthday preparations
Beautiful. Really beautiful. Heart touching. Perfect. Perfectly melancholy. Inspiring. Beautiful. Awesome. Cool. Fascinating and gorgeous. Beautiful and mind blowing. Wonderful. … Continue reading Fifteen minutes
That word used to be a huge place, a soot-darkened, glass-paneled ceiling, a marble-floored arena of crossing paths, of newspaper … Continue reading That word
I will steal your pain. I will market it. I will brand it. I will stand on platforms and shout … Continue reading I will steal your pain
Farewell, my beautiful Sounds of Poems co-host. Big event. Lots of other poets. This poet enters. This poet chuckles. Other … Continue reading Stosh
A fine, sunny day. The leaves look good on the trees. I’ve waited through the winter to see just that. … Continue reading Liquidator
Hope is a four letter word that we learned as children meant our dreams could be heard. That the world … Continue reading Hope is a four letter word
It’s with enormous pleasure that I can reveal I’ve accepted an invitation to join the team of editors who will … Continue reading Blue Angel Landing to return
Last night I attended Sounds of Poems at the 2016 Fantasy Faire, a fantasy-themed event you’ve probably already heard about … Continue reading Sounds of Poems at Fantasy Faire
1. Make some people redundant. Because you still have to meet your statutory responsibilities and now have less people to … Continue reading Why cutting costs costs
Stephen Fry made a joke about someone on the telly. According to the BBC, lots of people complained on Twitter. … Continue reading The 25th tweet
You do whatever weird, convoluted shit that you’re legally entitled, I suppose, to do. Meantime, I’ll thank you to stop … Continue reading Season’s greetings 2015
If snow could only fall this year, take care of tidings spread, we wouldn’t have to work to make it … Continue reading Last Christmas
It’s hard, but it isn’t. All you have to do is stop remembering, close the logs, pack away the pictures; … Continue reading Fade
When you can’t cry, squeeze your eyes tight and cover them; wail; beat the table blindly. If it helps, think … Continue reading Forced tears
Water falls. Trees grow. The day is full of names. Cut. Illuminated. Read aloud. And touched with fingers and foreheads. … Continue reading 9/11/11
Me: I’m off! I’ll be back in a couple of weeks! Can’t wait to get away from it all! Boy, … Continue reading Have a great time
Billy sits on the floor to my right whilst I eat, looking up at me, longingly, putting his chin on … Continue reading Billy
City boy with his hardworking wife with his hands in his pockets never worked in his life watching others toil … Continue reading City Boy