Trauma Ties – Written Monday 28th June 2025 (Aged 50)

The trauma ties,
the trauma ties,
the trauma ties —
untie them, let go.

Chorus – Written Monday 28th July 2025 (Aged 50)

Where do I belong?
It’s a complicated song,
although it has
verse and chorus.

The Actual Question – Written Thursday 31st July 2025 (Aged 50)

And it is that,
the question,
the actual question,
the lifelong task.

Prejudice Sets Sail – Written Wednesday 16th July 2025 (Aged 50)

They blame other human beings,
human beings they’ve not actually met.
Boats enrage them,
dinghies cause their prejudice to set sail.

Belong – Written Thursday 10th July 2025 (Aged 50)

Where do I belong?
And where are my roots?
A local boy
with foreign boots.

Steam Power – Written June 2025 (Aged 50)

Memories frayed
around their edges.
Experiences, intangible,
like melted snow.

Inward Gaze – Written Friday 27th June 2025 (Aged 50)

It has a theatre,
but a one-person show.
It tracks identity
with the passion others take home.

The Boy Was Not As Mad As They Made Out – Written Monday 23rd June 2025 (Aged 50)

In the end,
the boy was not as mad
or as senseless
as everyone else.

Knockout Blow – Written Wednesday 23rd June 2025 (Aged 50)

Democracy’s a shadow boxer.
The knockout blow
is the individual vote.
What was once so golden now feels so broken.

People Can Easily See In – Written Thursday 19th June 2025 (Aged 50)

The shyness is never far,
but really it’s not shyness —
it’s actually a desire for privacy.
And those two are very, very different.