In The Poetry

Why Did the Jews Kill Jesus, Dad?

Why did the Jews kill Jesus?
‘Cos Jesus was a Jew!
A trouble-making rebel,
And stroppy with it too.

He argued with his betters
An’ ‘ung about with yobs,
Chastisin’ money-lenders
An’ lecturin’ the nobs.

They didn’t take that kindly,
No more they would today,
They fitted him up proper, son,
An’ chucked [...]

‘This is the Server…’

I

This is the Server, waiting on station,
Silicone god of an e-mail nation,

Bearing you news of a baby boy,
Bringing you misery, bringing you joy -

Telling you auntie has taken to pottery,
Gloating your ex has won the lottery,

Jottings ethereal, letters venereal,
Packets attaching the oddest material,

Bleating that Katie has married a fool,
Reminding you “Man’ United [...]

Passing a School Playground

The imps are with the angels
Behind the netted wall;
The squeals of pigtailed lassies
The thump of boot on ball.

A bookworm in a corner,
The bully on his round,
Miss Showoff in her trainers
That cost a hundred pound.

A murderer’s among them,
A few who’ll make it rich,
Here’s fame and shame in training,
But God knows which is which.

Hacker-boy, Hacker-boy
(To the tune of Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been?)

Hacker-boy, hacker-boy, where have you been?
I sat in my bedroom and stared at a screen.
Hacker-boy, hacker-boy, what did you see?
I built a new virus upon my PC.

Hacker-boy, hacker-boy, where is it now?
It is shutting the lights off in Rome [...]

On News of a Friend’s Sudden Death
[for A-M. K. 1956-2001]

How thin the cloth, how fine the thread
That cloaks the living from the dead;
How narrowly, from breath to breath,
We plait our rendezvous with death.

How swift the tenant flees the gate;
The landlord’s writ, come soon or late,
Foreclosing slum or stately hall,
Hard bailiffs at His beck and call.

How [...]

‘I built myself a house of wood…’

I built myself a house of wood
Where once an apple orchard stood.
On stormy nights I lay in bed
While rafters moaned above my head.

They wept aloud for limbs long lost,
For buds pinched out by early frost,
For wicker baskets piled with fruit,
For phantom branch and withered root.

I caulked the roof and [...]

Lone Wolf

Loping down a muddy track -
Rabid – toothless – fled the pack -
Vegan wolf – no appetite -
Lost the bark – mislaid the bite.

Outcast – loopy – pelt gone grey -
Loner – turncoat – hunts no prey -
Scavenger – laps verse for blood -
Drowning in an autumn flood.

White Vase

Two figures on a sofa, side by side,
The stench of bitter almonds, smoke and sweat;
A man who ate no meat lies with his bride.

Fresh tulips and narcissi cast aside,
A white vase tipped; a chiffon dress splashed wet.
Two figures on a sofa, side by side.

The room is hushed, its spell defies the tide
Of history – [...]