SILLY ME

I thought I found a metaphor

Lying on the floor

But just like me, it's a simile,

Back to the drawing board.

DRIP-FED

Soft, gentle rain greets me as I open my back door. The very absence of light has somehow dampened its volume, allowing the street to keep on sleeping. Occasionally a drop or two, no more, blows in on the wind, and lands on my face. Touch and sound, drip-feeding me my new day.

RETREAT!!

Lines of tail-lights crawl up the hill, a defeated army of red ants marching 2 by 2 back home. A car brakes, setting off a chain reaction of brake lights down the hill. The ants are passing a message through the ranks

"Antpowder at 42-retreat!"

AVON DAY

The prologue to a dawn-dark day, as first-person narratives stir in my street.

I ponder days in the dark.

Thoughts flowing.

Time flows.

"Days named after rivers!" I shout to nobody,scaring the dog.

Monday becomes Wye Day, of course, and Thursday's already Avon Day in our house!

JOHN MACINTOSH KERR (great great grandfather)

I don't know why you stopped upon that spot

I don't know why you look so full of pride

I don't know if the past is real or not

I don't know where you found my father's eyes.

RHYTHM

just take a chance - try not to cheat

but do the dance - at rhythm's feet

it echoes through - the work you do

the beat before's - in front of you.

HALF A DREAM

My dog barks at a corner in the kitchen & wakes the house. I check. Nothing there. My wife checks. Nothing. One of the kids gets up. Nothing. The dog still barks. We search for clues.

"Of course! Look! It's this he's barking at" says my wife.

Then I wake up. 

Annoying, isn't it?

SCHOOL RUN - 1/2/22 - AM

3 teenage girls, the chattering classes in my car. I understand 1 word in 3. I think a boy's upset one of them so now he's dead to all of them. A uniform inspection means none of them wear make-up and, "Oh my god, it's like the worst day ever!"

LIMERICK

A man at the straits of Gibraltar

Was to marry but then he did falter

When asked "Who protests?"

The vicar undressed

And showed his true love at the altar.

TICKER-TAPE

Overnight, the small, open recycling boxes in our street have been robbed, plundered and scattered by the punch-drunk wind. The road and pavements are littered with paper and plastic. It's like we had a ticker-tape parade in honour of our great binmen.

But who'd clear that away?