Mill Hill

I have walked these hills so many times

Slid, and jogged them too

Flown stunt kites in multi barrelling rolls

Snatched a kiss

Loosed dogs and ferrets

Above the windmill and St Mary’s

Smiled at streets I call home below

I have walked with people who walk no more

Yet with me they travel here still

On windy days beneath slated skies

Nature reigns noisy here

Roaring bellow on rose red ears

Whipping and tearing at tree and leaf

Cows shy in muddy slop by gate and fence and stile

Eating out their time with pensive grace

Despite and come what may

Crows and gulls ride eddies on the horizon

Some fight but fail in the gales

Backwards blown, head first, out of control

They circle low and return for more

A game perhaps to taunt the wind?

To flirt then escape its awe

What clever place, what space, what free

What gladness

Memories and present mixed by hill

Antithesis of cultured want pumped from plasma

Into emaciated sofa bound faces

of pin prick pupils and brain

Fresh and raw it stinks of shit up here

Die, then rot. Renew

Cold. Wet. Real.

Effluence that surrounds us daily

Tastes sweet we eat it, watch it freely

It comforts us saving pennies

Easy quick and simple

Real and raw, hard to get, use your mind spaces

Make you earn the thoughts that travel with you

Places that are beyond us

Beyond me place I love you

I come to fathom life

To escape and hide

To feel especially alone

To recharge

And to carry my burdens

On

Old Lady Down

“Old lady down”

I meet with a committee everyday.

We talk things through, chew fat.

Several items run up a flagpole later, (about 4:15) we are ready..

To refer the aforementioned items to a sub committee

for final approval subject to overall analysis from logistics and legal.

I encountered an old lady today.

She had slipped and fell in a busy street.

As I stooped to her aid a myriad of H&S, risk assessment and staffing issues hit me.

Withdrawing my arm I saw a trickle of blood seep from her mouth

Bewildered and incomprehensive, was the wild stare in her eyes.

“It’s no good getting agitated” I said “this situation calls for clarity and an action plan”

Passers passed by and the world turned its head,

But I was project leader, objective led

invested too much time in this situation to merit me walking away without a result

It came to me,

like bolt from the blue

I knew what to do

Taking the pen from my pocket, my thumb pounced

clicking the ink into action

“Have you got anything to write on?” I asked her.

Between the coughs and tears she managed to point to her handbag,

 tissues issued from the crevice, the whole thing smelt old

But then, there! Glinting like ice, clean and crisp and even. Paper

Sitting down beside the wounded

I had to write fast.

She was pale now, the coughing had slowed like her breath.

Starting with the words “old lady down” in the centre I began to

Construct a bubble diagram exploring the various options open to me

My boss would be proud….. If only I had a ruler

I could now step back, view the scene from above,

play God and decide the best possible avenue of attack.

I could take in the variables and count the cost implications

The results were breathtaking….. Literally.

My plan had no contingency for death…..

I turned the sheet,

“old lady dead” was quicker to formulate

especially as now a few people had gathered to offer what I felt was

‘valuable feedback approved by a wider party of concern’.

“What the ***** are you doing!!!?” was the only negative comment received,

But one out of what was now fifty, is perhaps to be expected?

I would include it all the same to reflect the impartial nature of my research!

The plan formulated, I considered it prudent to call for a second opinion

What’s not checked  s’not done!

Borrowing a mobile (mine is for work only!)

I rang Richard. He told me he would get back to me ASAP he needed to run it by

his area manager.

10 later we were all singing from the same hymnbook, Green for GO.

The light to signify “CREMATION IN PROGRESS” was actually pale blue,

It came on a week later,  just after the coffin had passed beyond the crimson velour.

On the bright side we had all just been singing the same hymn

And as a bonus it was to the tune of a lone piper.

I felt it prudent to attend the ceremony for PR reasons

John and ‘JCB’  couldn’t get out of a finance meeting but they sent a post-it.

Devotion to e-motion

Devotion to e-motion

Slow………..

Time to

Think and reason

Judge, consider, retort upon

Ephemeral toil. Devolve control to succeed

Respect and unconditional trust in humanity

Sew a seed

Plough a barren field

Share and rejoice in a crop. Enjoy this world

Separated by that atom, split by the electron

The speed of time evolves towards its crescendo

Quick, got to get this done before I begin again on another

Thing to complete in time for rapturous applause from an appreciative clientele.

Ring, write, e:mail, courier information faster than time itself. Hurry fast around the wall don’t bang a blunt forehead into the pointing. Share your communications let someone else decide I’m not paid to think? Haven’t I done a good job??? Promote me got to get on I will get to the top or die trying………

When………..will…………….it…………stop?

Howfastcanwereallygo…………………………………………………..???????????

De-eqiup our weapons of hyper communication, unplug the Ethernet, ban broadband.

Open our eyes and drink in the light the light of day

Smell the air of freedom of thought. Bless your brain
dip into the still mill pond by the grace of God

Let fly like a dove the emotion of love

Learn to talk

Love to listen.

'Beer Song of Depression'

‘Beer Song of Depression’

Deep in a quilt

Nose inhaling the evaporated scent

Of  day’s guilty work.

Purging the planet of minerals or ore

Transmogrified mineral, raped planet

Broken stones fall like tears in my mind

Grieving widow earth pregnant with sorrow

Timeless as a bleeping alarm clock

Pulling on cords to cover pants of

The sincerest pulchritude. Man packet proud

Smile at the face by the door

Pink, tie gripped neck, away!

Work of deep meaning gives way to

Inconsequential tea break

E:mails await keen to be written

To conquer the world like a Trojan

Days run like this in century 21

Men tricked by the telly and the

Equalsising oestrogen of liberalism

Lives based on quality of money

We envy the trump

Fear the lump

Bow to the sump

Our heart is a pump.

Rev. F. Webb

Rev. F. Webb

A smile instils confidence

There is warmth in the eyes

Offering piercing sincerity

Without trace of disguise

Little known man

Can lay bare my frail life

Cut quick to emotion

Then burden the strife

Few times in our meeting

Yet his words resound still

Not in their meaning

But by the force of his will

A will of pure goodness

Of unquestionable faith

A rare source of reason

For a battling race

(Eulogising dead people

Is easy to do

It soothes my own conscience

For a moment or two

The higher praise offered

The lighter one feels

Shedding memories to paper

The truth slowly reveals

Even in passing

Without word or request

His lingering image

Is doing its best

To draw out from the heathen

Senses deep and repressed

Thoughts not often spoken

Unholy, Unblessed?

In the moment of airing

They take to the skies

Free from their harming

Those transient lies

I desire to imitate

To be like a man

Who can unburden the planet

In his life’s span

Guilt invading feelings

Jealously stirring within

Angers unanswered

Where to begin?)

Looking deep into his face

I know what to do

My mindswings mellow

As I remember Peru

Life being gift

That is given from God

Birth is not asked for

Yet some think it odd

We enter with nothing

And leave with the same

Our rippling fortunes

Become but a name

A name in the memory

That might motivate others

To rise as one species

embrace our dear brothers

Look deep in the eyes

Of a neighbour or two

Ask not of them

But seek out to do

To unburden their labours

To relieve them of fear

By listening and learning

Use the gift of the ear

Lead by example

Treat all as the same

Careful, respectful

Tolerant, humane

Its not about the fixing

Or standing strong in the fight

Its about the instinct

To exist by what’s right

He asked me no questions

Simply told me his truth

I hope I understood it?

I hope it’s of use?