Bridges and Chimneys

2014 poems.

Cherry

Giovanni's

I think that’s Giovanni outside. Texting. At a table by himself. He hoped locals would refer to this as ‘the piazza.’ There used to be a lady playing...

I have fallen in love with someone beautiful

She is an illustrator of children's books obviously
Cherry

I love this storm

I love this storm It’s interfering with my TV aerial Wi-fi has a walking stick and needs help crossing the road Storm clouds sob and sob the sky is...
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Gold cherry

Jed's in LA

"Stick it on the company credit card" Jed says, laughing. His cleaner is making him a sandwich while he’s on his lilo, Skyping. He’s talking to his...
Gold cherry

Kylie Internet Dating

In an interview recently Kylie Minogue said that although she would like to meet someone new she had ruled out internet dating. This is a poem about...

Must kill President

I have never assassinated before never even killed a dog.

Oceans and mountains and space

You and me sitting back to back reading each other's favourite books on a piece of land equidistant from my house to yours in the garden of a church...

Our daughter the terrible painter

The trouble with dreams is one day you may realise you have no talent. And what then? Take our daughter the terrible painter with plans of art...

Police Interceptors

This is what my life is now watching Police Interceptors on Channel 5 waiting for the voiceover to tell me the driver of the runaway Audi who took...
Gold cherry

Probably start a poetry night

It’s nights like this I think about Whitby. Whitstable

The man who sells roses

The man who sells roses has never given his girlfriend a rose. The man who used to make up bed time stories to read his little girl at bedtime now...
Cherry

You don't buy furniture

You go from unfurnished house to unfurnished house rarely more than a year in each often not your fault but blame becomes less relevant with age. The...
Cherry

A good time to fall in love

Like when you can hang your washing out at the start of Spring this feels like a good time to fall in love a good time to feel breath on my cheek it...

Being single

‘A discovery is an accident meeting a prepared mind.’ Like a broken down lawnmower in an overgrown garden you are single again and you convince...
Cherry

Bridges and Chimneys

If you walk up the stairwell and lift the latch you can sit by the chimney pots and look out at the trains going over the railways bridge so far in...

Balancing

I've seen other waiters do this he thinks picking up a plate to balance on his arm already carrying two in each hand. It must be the uniform. He...

Another baby

The barmaid's sister in law is in labour. She keeps getting phonecalls from the corridors of the late night maternity ward where a cleaner mops and...

A supermarket just before closing

A nurse does her big shop the rest of us are here for cider or cigarettes or last minute milk "I'll just nip down to Tescos we MUST have cereal for...
Cherry

Asking for the bill

I don’t like asking for the bill sitting at the table with my empty cup this waitress is an unreturned text message an email that should have been...
Cherry

On the platform

Sometimes it's walking up the tenement staircase slow motion spiral epiphanies and by the time you've put the key in the door you remember the beauty...

Your handwriting

The letter you sent broke our hearts and I thought I wish I'd seen this handwriting more on Christmas and birthday cards. When we came to visit you...

The 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert

I like visiting new cities at Christmas I keep the first weekend of every December free and I'll go somewhere I've never been before. What better way...

Door to door karaoke

So I've heard about this couple who go round the neighbourhood providing door to door karaoke. My friend Ethan told me. They came to his house...

Theatre tickets for the postman

The zookeepers were delighted to be invited round for dinner. You were surprised they didn’t all socialise together more. They were barely...

The barman has started wearing glasses

He never used to wear spectacles but recently he’s had them on. ‘Well I suppose I’ll be needing these now.’ He used to hang out with a girl called...
Cherry

And there is handholding still

My friend’s parents married three weeks after they first met on their second date he proposed she said ‘I thought you would never ask.’ Two seventeen...
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Cherry

The youngest Clive

There’s a man who works in my office. He’s in charge of the post and he’s called Clive and I thought he must be the youngest Clive. Who will be the...

Envelopes

The letter you sent broke our hearts a page of A4 inside a Christmas card. When we came to visit you were gardening it’s important to make things...
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Disappointing Utopian Paradise

I have to admit I feel a bit let down I’ve seen much better sunsets and that wasn’t much of a lagoon. There are beautiful young tanned people...
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Cherry

Knutsford

Minibus taxis arrive with turquoise shirt-tie combinations outside the Belle Epoque where later passers-by outside will hear carefully worded...

Small talk has never been so difficult

You wish you’d got round to finding a regular hairdresser someone friendly who runs their own small salon who you would be happy to tip at Christmas...

Not sleeping

The good dreams only arrive when you reach the top level and I’ve been on the ground floor starting to think the lift must be broken. Something as...

Outdoor things

I’ve started to give myself compliments. It’s an odd feeling. Like taking a crocodile for a walk. I tell myself I should spend more time doing things...

The romance of pedestrian gate D

We’re at pedestrian gate D waiting for our friends. We do this every year. Meet them as they get off the shuttle bus so we can help carry their stuff...

Vienna

This chef wants people to see the sights why else would the portions be so big. Plates full of Wienerschnitzel and chips and potato salad far too...

Robbing a casino

I was the croupier decoy I’d been planning my small talk for month. ‘What’s it like to be a croupier?’ I was going to ask. ‘Just keep playing...

Robbing a casino

I was the croupier decoy. I’d been planning my small talk for a month. ‘What’s it like to be a croupier?’ I was going to ask. ‘Just keep playing...

Robbing a casino

I was the croupier decoy. I’d been planning my small talk for a month. ‘What’s it like to be a croupier?’ I was going to ask. ‘Just keep playing...
Cherry

Clara's Cape

At the car boot sale you said 'I'll get this for Clara.' An old typewriter with an L missing but you said Clara would like the challenge. You bought...
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Cherry

Steelworker on a bicycle

He is out of breath on his bicycle. This bit of the hill is always a struggle but he’s got to pedal and pedal because otherwise he won’t get to work...

A post lady wakes up and it's snowing

This is a bad job for someone who likes to lie in. She hasn’t once not pressed snooze. Most people are still ‘under the duvet deep sleep’ when she’s...