Hooligans and animals, headlines screamed.
Print and news screens echoed fabricated truths,
lies spun to shield the blame,
front page highlights, a web of deceit.

A taunt at the crowd, a weakness exploited,
systems broken, truth twisted,
false fingers point to scarves soaked in blood
mingled with lives lost on a muddy field.

To see fans, shivering,
wounded by more than the crush,
left in their silence and the mayhem of slurs.
Conspiracies slithered, snakes in the grass,
burying truth beneath the weight of power.

Though long the destination
and tiresome, I'll set my sails
to your shores, wishing the winds of hope
to bless and blow my sails.

I'll set my sails to bask in shores
pristine, to inhale
the whole Mediterranean breeze.

I'll set my sails
and dig for peace
in broken shells
on your shores.

While I was consumed by darkness,
And pain that pierced my heart
Like a dagger to the chest,
I let my eyelids fall softly.
A pair of azure pools appear,
Your delicate eyes
Drawing me away
From the torment that consumed me.
We speak, tender rain that is the sound
Of your voice,
Silencing the ache of my afflicted heart.
Your hands, gentle and warm,
Mimicking sunlight through the branches
Of a tranquil forest,
Take my vulnerable ones.
As your divine lips
Whisper words of solace,

Saw it with my own eyes
knew that it was true
able to see past all the lies
distortion, distraction
diversion and subterfuge

Sad to think this is the best we can do
a nation once so proud
trying to decide the best bad choice
hoping for some voice of reason
someone to lift the cloud

No telling what comes next
uncharted territory
crazy, wild
bizarre, unprecedented
heaven, hell or purgatory

I mean this smile
For the first time
In a very long time.
Not only the muscles
In my face
Moving upwards
Teeth exposed
But my entire mind
And body.

I love this smile
I noticed it
Just yesterday.
People respond to a smile
Always.
A smile brings happiness
And that's good.

My smile
Comes from
Who I am with
And what I am doing.
It tells me
That I'm out there.

All the young boys and girls wish to share the same sex
and are cocking a snook at The Daily Express.
Each generation’s appalled at the mores of the next
and wonders if to be sick is a sickness.

You’ve stood at that mirror and know how it hurts
to squeeze 14 bodies into size 10 shirts.
Kim Kardashian’s arse is how Democracy works
as social media is my witness.

A dark cloud,
Consumed my mind,
All sense of reason,
Became so hard to find.

Like heavy bricks,
Anchoring me down,
My swimming mind,
Could easily drown.

Multiple connectors,
Creaking and groaning.
In steely determination,
Until I elicit a moan.

A plethora of places,
Bare trauma's name.
Keeping score,
On pain's game.

And a bent structure,
Not standing proud.
Instead it's leaning,
Against the crowd.

The sun sears hot from cobalt sky,
Scorches a land where all things die:
The mighty oak the rowan lay
Withered to dust wherein insects play.

No swallows dart or sing their song
Above the ruins all along
The crumbling land above the sea
Cursed for all eternity.

Out from the depths a church bell weeps
The death knell of a town that sleeps,
Sunk deep below by natures curse
To lose all traces from the earth.

for Mutualism among Homo sapiens
long thought to be a pipe dream
case in point sited by a couple of recent
purportedly natural events possibly
exacerbated courtesy global warming
namely present conflagrations
include veritable towering inferno -
(sharing merest premise
with Hollywood film by the same name,
the highest-grossing
Classic 1970s disaster movie
about a fire that breaks out
in a state-of-the-art San Francisco
high-rise building
during the opening ceremony

Destination mischief
riding beach cruisers
through tenement halls.
We'd bellow out an
obnoxious call.
Just to see if anyone
would open their doors.
Then We'd head for
the town center.
We'd buy some fries
and splatter ketchup
on passing cars.
Always carrying
a little bag of tricks.
A wrist rocket, a valve stem loosener,
a mirror and a bag of ripe olives.
using them for our own
kind of fun.
We were'nt afraid of anything
and we never got caught and sent