A colourful character
Whispers under a Welsh breeze
Hints of fresh linen and sweetness
Delicate as tissue paper
My grandmother, Iris.

A colourful character
Whispers under a Welsh breeze
Hints of fresh linen and sweetness
Delicate as tissue paper
My grandmother, Iris.

We used to do a pub test
floating a conversation
taking a poll with our beer
the winner was the loudest.
Now I'm in my home office
a polished problem statement
is answered in online forms
and pre-formatted spreadsheets.
I give a voice to data
study all the ones and zeros
mining for insights and trends
to coax a conversation.
As the data grows louder
the pub test goes quieter.
Quiet above the cross-country roadways
a wall of beech and ash circle the view
lush green bursts from meadows and old forests
stitched together in a fresh golden hue.
A textured blanket of silvery clouds
sprays a dance of shadows across the valley
the sun breaks through with sparkles on houses
a transformative show changes hourly.
Silence passing from the dewey hillside
Her heart is filled with jam doughnuts and tea
The ghosts of Austen and Keats whispering
welcome to the finest view in Surrey.
Colours of yesterday fade
Golden nostalgia changes
Summer falls to the shade
A filter on the Ranges.
A sheer curtain with the dawn
Life inserts its fade out scene
A sparkle across the lawn
Warmth echoes last night’s dream.
A new world is beginning
Khaki, orange, brown red hues
Glows where the sun is burning
Beneath the cloth, we’re evolving.
Fluffy brown shadow
Sings towards the deep blue sky
searching for answers
Does he know the day is rare?
What thrilling game will he play?
An old white soldier
snoozing in his rocking chair
counting all his bones
He knows today is precious
The game is ending for him.


Side pony-tails and blue wellies
Found your red dusty rusty earth
Enchanting the young, wild and free
Behind the fences of Wentworth.
I loved hopping over the sty
Hunting the chestnuts on the ground
Scaling the Oak into the sky
Enchanted by the woodland sound.
You line the memories of my heart
A drop in the ocean of me
And although we are miles apart
I think of you often, happily.
Thank you for my magic childhood
My little patch of English wood.
I am a blade of short grass
Dancing along the river
Bubbled by the southern sun
And simmered by Sunday mass.
I’m not like the other hues
I only long for one step more
Springing from this tight pruned world
An adventure for the true.
Life took me from my woodland
Skipping, stumbling with the breeze
The passage of time followed
As I learned to take command.
I still have many rocks to climb
In my dreams along the Rhine.
I am a brown eyed unicorn
tip-toeing through this universe
afraid of my own echoes.
I want to find my voice and shine.
but I am a brown eyed unicorn.
I step to centre stage
the spotlight burns my soul
intensifying the fear.
I don’t belong here.
I don’t know where I belong.
I am just a brown eyed unicorn.
There is a reason for everything
the carousel keeps turning
the mountain needs climbing
and I am always wondering
why was I born, a brown eyed unicorn?
Stop saying ‘my understanding is’
be active and straight with your words
Stop second guessing your position
say what you need to say, be heard.
I’m not going to be here.
I’m not going to answer.
I’m not sitting around waiting
I’m dancing like a sunflower.
Courage is not the absence of fear…
Aged council houses in the Home Counties
backed onto deep dark historic woodlands
haunted by castle ruins and shelters
brought to life by village children.
At the end of the short cul-de-sac
a long footpath disappeared with the night
mothers shouted curfew bells at sunset
and demanded a return to the light.
Do not go into the woods after dark.
Not a step beyond the street light shadow.
Across the line the boogey man will wait
for naughty children who never listen.
Do not go into the woods after dark.
The flickering shadows are not your friends.
The boogey man will come, wait and see
and you’ll wish you had just listened to me.
Fast forward to the turn of the century
this village child became a teenager
where adventures went beyond the woodland
but never beyond the path after dark.
Because the boogey man could be waiting.
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