Saturday 27 April 2019

Notting Hill


Fluttering Hugh stands in the doorway.
We both see Julia, in close up.
I er … I er … actually… I mean … would you?
His hair is floppy. He’s wearing corduroy.

Doe-eyed Julia is smiling shyly.
Why is she listening to this fool
with his display of false diffidence?
She doesn’t go, she just stands there

as if she is hypnotised and yet she
is the one with mesmerising eyes.
He is obviously a chancer
an alpha male with Audi and loafers

Notting Hill is full of his kind
his modesty a ploy artfully applied
like fake tan; a moth on steroids.
I er … I er … can I? … I mean …. could I?



Wednesday 24 April 2019

A series of miracles

On Friday, a bullet goes back into a gun
The stone rolls away easily

A politician admits: I was wrong
My ill-advised Tweets are withdrawn

There’s no need to vote, since we agree
Another – thank you, I accept your apology

On Saturday, the sky is as blue as hope
We might just as well be in Greece

Washing flaps in the breeze, like a semaphore.
What is it saying? Forgive your enemies.

At Wembley, it's England versus Germany
There is no reason for victory

By mutual agreement, the game is drawn
Honour is satisfied by the beauty of play

Sunday. No planet was harmed in the making of this barbecue
In the garden, vegan sits down with carnivore

Monday. The touch of fresh cotton on my skin
Feels like a new beginning 

The best thing? To achieve this miracle
You can just change the cover, not the whole duvet

Friday 12 April 2019

Black hole


Bending light with its gravity
And drawing all of life
And time back into itself
Like the deepest, darkest
And densest black hole
You would need 
the largest telescope on earth
and even then 
you probably would not find
Theresa’s May’s soul.

Obviously she is human
She is governed by biology
And she lives in this galaxy
But that apart
The whereabouts are a mystery
Of Theresa May’s heart

Perhaps in Greece
In leopard print
She would be inspired like us
To some great ecstasy
On a beach, by Orpheus

But I don’t think so
She moves mechanically
And she is never rowdy
She’s a tin automaton
Part robot and part mouse

Drink sangria while there’s time
Count your blessings
And try to move south
But it’s probably too late
Do not be sucked
Into the death star
Of Theresa May’s mouth

Sunday 7 April 2019

Hard cheese


The Brussels bureaucrats are dead
The pages of the atlas red

The Queen is on the British pound
The ensign flies on Plymouth sound

British dreadnoughts rule the seas
We got back all our colonies

Merchant bankers, Eton boys
Come on fellows. Make some noise!

Nigel, Tommy and the rest
Are patriots and Britain’s best

The heroes of the DUP
Gave us back our dignity

Jezzer is a dirty liar
Tug your forelock to the squire

Obey your betters, bend the knee
Three cheers for British liberty

The rich can only help the poor
With all their assets held off shore

The best is yet to come, it’s nigh
So hang the traitors, string em high!

Johnny foreigner’s a thief
What is wrong with British beef?

Let the glory days begin
Free of those with darker skin