1 April
Dancers march out
The spirit of Summer
Children scramble for
Hidden eggs
keep on rolling
2 April
At Ely's Eel throwing
They make Anguilla the eel
With tights stuffed with socks
To throw in the sun.
An Easter tradition
At a Cambridgeshire fair
It's amazing what some folk
Still do for fun.
3 April
Sun shining on red brick tenement
White sheets flap masking the broken fridge
and half burnt sofa
Today it's all car horns and seagulls,
Excited chatter and Sunday roast smell
binbags are out three days early.
Last night we gathered on the square
Watched firemen climb through a window
Alarm silenced
We half looked into another half life
Today they gather on the square to wine-slug and
snail-trail without a home on their back
I write inside with the curtain half shut.
4 April
Fun in April sun
Communication is key
I love my I phone
Me, me, me, me.
5 April
In a blue sundress
Held a gun to her own head
The heavens opened.
5 April
I wake first
Your ashtray is full
And beer cans are scattered
Morning smoke chokes
I open the window
Surround sound seagulls soon silence
When you walk in the room
Smoke taste disappears
And I am ready to kiss the day.
6 April
Roadtrippin' Andy
Was never at home
Always cruisin' the highway
He loved open roads
Roadtrippin' Andy
Liked being alone
The wind in his hair
Didn't need to backcomb
Roadtrippin' Andy
Lived life fast
Had a heart-warming smile
He'd do owt you asked
You'd feel like saluting as he sped up the street
Roadtrippin' Andy
What a nice guy to meet.
7 April
Nobody heard me, as I rose
but here I sat
Watching This Morning on tele
and not waking but gazing
What a shame, I'd love
to be wide a wake
but it takes at least two coffees
it must be since I've got older they reckon
Oh no no no, it's always too early
(Still i like to be up before midday)
I always was very highly motivated
but here I am
not waking but gazing.
8 April
Yes I have the skills you need
I communicate well, I write, I read
I won't see it was a job more a career
A way of life
I have no fear
Yes I am just the height
Here's the fuse for you to light
To be launched from a cannon
I'm feeling wired
Can't wait until
The time I'm fired.
9 April
Tickle white, black hammer
Clear sounds, thoughts stammer
Middle distant dream kiss
Pedal down, good vibrations
It's about the tim-ing
Classical, jazz, pop, music hall
Play them Sam
I love them all
Gorge on melody, feast on beats
Pump out bass tones
I want my rock stars drugged or dead
Songwriters gentle, honest, warm
Jazz acts in smoke wobbling heads and hatted
Music of my soul be stained and torn
Poetry is just like music
I told the wet-fish-handshake man
I won't intellectualise my life away
But see the gold whenever I can.
10 April
I used to be happy on thimbles of love
now you flow in my days
and I dance in pure fountains
I'd stumble around in life's dirty molehills
now I hold your hand
and we stand on the mountains.
11 April
So now I stay at arms length
not through lack of love but
to deny history denies identity.
I don't want to dwell on dark times
I worked hard to get this light.
So now I stay at arms length
I don't want to be cold,
Just don't believe in hiding my truth,
or brushing the mess under the rug
although it might be wise to
hide it from innocent eyes.
So now i stay at arms length
close enough to be heard,
close enough to be called upon,
close enough to lend a hand
then say goodbye when I need to.
And it's not through lack of love,
It's self preservation,
It took a long time to get this clear
And others need me
And others want me
And others love me here.
To deny my history denies my identity,
So I stay close to those who know me,
Close to myself and to you
Not through lack of love
I stay at arms length.
12 April
A chance romance in the street
She was carrying her flute
He was keeping a beat
He was looping new lyrics in his mind
She was humming a tune
And their paths entwined
They found a place that was more secluded
I've heard they're still together
This story's not concluded.
13 April
We're the Halfords sleeping bag testing crew
We snooze on the job just for you
Nathan in a field, Claire in the street
Wayne on his mams floor just for a treat
We are dedicated
We pack in the hours
only stopping for meals and showers
A job full of dreams for £10 an hour
We mark out of ten and we write a review
We snooze on the job just for you
We're the Halfords sleeping bag testing crew
14 April
Candy was a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants girl
But that day she held her body strangely
She was a hum a tune look up to the sun girl
But that day her head weighed down, she was groggy
Candy was a live-life-to-the-full girl
But that day she looked over her shoulder
And she just kept saying
"Every time I fall, I see his face"
But she wouldn't tell us who she meant
She just said
"You've got to careful, what impression you give"
15 April
All the complaints went out of the window
screwed up letters, shredded fax memos
the phone, the flat screen
the impartial advice
the polite guidance, the obscene
the wastepaper basket
the desk tidy, an old family photograph
and finally he launched himself
back into his work.
16 April
She developed a taste for cigarettes
an infatuation with the smell of leather
saw his clothes scattered round the room
Imagined they were still together
An infatuation with the smell of leather
She dreamed she was close to her love
Closed her eyes and remembered his voice
Lit up again while she blushed
She dreamed she was close to her love
Like that dreadful night had never occurred
Lit up again while she blushed
She was convinced she was cursed
As if that dreadful night had never occurred
And the policeman that came to their home
She was convinced she was cursed
And the rest of her life, all alone
And the policeman that came to their home
Saw his clothes scattered round the room
And the rest of her life all alone
She developed a taste for cigarettes
17 April
My dad's all-weather rucksack
Virtually empty, apart from his diary
and the objects that he carries everywhere he goes.
The weight of my Dad's rucksack
Tinned mackerel, an adjustable spanner and tonight's Evening Mail.
The look of his diary, scrawled upon,
Battered, well used, looked at so often.
Time with my father, the smell of mackerel
which ever since has meant masculine
and emptiness, and love and bad news.
18 April
I'm not really a quiet child
In spite of what those adults say
Ask my imaginary friend or my Skype connection
They get tired of me talking every day
I'm not really a hyper child
I don't even think I'm really ill
Just my parents want a quiet child
So they gave me a label and feed me pills.
19 April
My pen became an aircraft
My bad writing became an autograph
My step-ladder became a step-dad
a candle became my life illuminated
my sleeping bag became a bed
my flat became home
my fear became my empathy
my tragedy became my insight
my observations made people laugh
I began not knowing what to say
I have made a life of saying
"Yes" and "You're OK"
You can make something out of anything.
20 April
Praise them
Big them up while they are in the room
Tell them they light your day
Tell them you hear and be
excited by their presence
Continually
Relax and smile
share moments
a laugh if possible
Remember everything
Every minute, each detail
Bring them a song
Celebrate with a cheer
Insert silence
Keep on bringing
21 April
I took the horse to the river
He didn't drink the water
It had taken an hour to get there
I tried my best to encourage the fine beast but
He did not lap up one drop.
Although they told me
You can take a horse to water but
You can't make it drink
I didn't predict
How disappointed and deflated
I would feel
After that I never saw the horse again.
22 April
Today I am a rocket
My fuse has been lit
I am soaring
It's the middle of the afternoon
So unusual for me to be out now
But here I am
Doing the one thing
I'm meant to do
BANG
23 April
The comedienne wasn't funny
It was all just dictation
Cracks about gender roles and menstruation
Her pace was a mess
Her themes overstated
In all her reviews she was totally slated
The comedienne wasn't funny
She was scraping the barrel
Next year there'll be DJ's
And a choir singing carols.
24 April
Don't walk down my creaking stairs
Don't look behind my shower curtain
I'm the scream when you put the lights out
I'm the blood soaked hand
The lost girlfriend
The body in the boot of the car
The crime scene
The dark woods
The drip, drip, drip
Don't try the phone
The chord has been cut
Don't look in the mirror
I'm right behind you now
Don't.
25 April
All I could do was wait
Imagine my fate
Walk down the river
Distract myself
Couldn't eat dinner
Couldn't phone
For the first time in ages
Felt alone
planned a speech to prove my love
watched the ducklings from the bridge
checked for messages a million times
couldn't scratch my itch
Sometimes you have to trust the world
Breathe fresh air and have a beer
At the end of the day it worked out fine
Sometimes it's good to feel the fear.
26 April
Against it all
Against the street
Against the quagmire in his mind
Against the eight years of virtue
Against the rash left by his watch
Against his all consuming anger
He was up against it
Outside against his house
Against a hundred empty milk bottles
A note read “No milk today please”
27 April
All they offered was a glib shrug
We trust our leaders to do the right thing
All they wanted was a peaceful life
All we wanted was to dance and sing
So they suggested we go underwater
A carnival opera in the depths of the sea
By the end of the drowning we’d all graduated
But in death no-one cares what’s on your CV.
28 April
Wayne loves Alphabetty spaghetti
Orange stains down his white t-shirt
Empty tins scattered around him.
He enjoys separating letters onto different coloured plates,
cutting toast into different shapes,
Hexagons for S’s.
He generous scrapes on I can’t believe it’s not butter,
Today is Wednesday and he has a mouth full of B’s.
29 April
She asks for explanations
She’s just given one word
She asks for a pet dog
She’s given a bird
She’s full of confusion
But she’s never heard
They cut her coat
According to her cloth
Decide what to tell her
According to her age
She gets frustrated
Always outgrowing her clothes
Always searching for more answers
And confusion turns to rage
One day when she’s older
She’s ask them why they did that
Or through loyalty mis-guided
She’ll ignore it all
She’ll figure out what’s important
And hopefully she’ll trust enough
To share intimate joys and sadness
And feel connected to the world.
30 April
Love is brighter than the happiest memory
Phat-er than my pizza-belly
More generous than the Christmas aunts
More constant than my change of pants
It’s always sane and sunburst
And the more that it becomes
It’s greater than all living things
Even creatures without thumbs
Love is more than winning
Always more than life
Always bigger than beginning
One day I’ll be your wife
It’s more nuts than a bunch of Snickers bars
Louder than a turned up tune
And sometimes I’m speechless when you’re around
You’ll always make me swoon.