I smoke and discard my cigarettes Into the sea’s restless melt I walk my dog at six each morning In all weathers loving and brutal Winter summer spring and fall And again at three thirty in the afternoon I have smoked since I was fifteen And it is beginning to affect my gentle health I […]

Why prayers What are prayers What is light What is beauty What is love What is hate Who am I Who are you Why am I so disgusted With myself   Wild thoughts Wild deeds William Walton (unfinished)      

I met JCC outside Tesco’s earlier this week It had been raining hard So I offered him a lift Which he declined initially As he lived in a bungalow   However it was raining Bats and Bogs So he accepted my warmth And stayed for tea and toasted buns   The clouds passed and as […]

Why is there a dwarf in my bed I ask   Oh China Blue Oh China Blue I thought you liked TALL MEN It is so unfair and so unlike you   I have a new job which is very dull I superimpose false tractors On to real landscapes This is for the bottom end […]

My father and his father are both potters We have a shop and a very small factory Not far from the down harbour It was called or rather nicknamed The Curse of the Professionals  A throwaway remark from my mother In the summer we are quite busy And trade using the brand name Curse In […]

Jane asked me quite recently why I take photographs of the sea Was it the movement or the light or a combination of the two I answered yes and no as both the light and movement of the sea Interested me a great deal but it was the moment that I wanted to capture I […]

The one who plants trees  Knowing that he will never  Sit in their shade  Has at least  Started to understand  The meaning of life    I read these few lines As I sat on a cool station platform On a sweltering night in East India All the benches had been taken So I leaned against […]

I first noticed the pigeon in the road When the bus turned towards the terminus It had been killed by a bus or a tram Within the hour as its feathers were fresh And blowing in the grey sea breeze For this was a coastal town   I was about to photograph the bird When […]

24 Hour Party people was a movie about The Manchester music scene It is also the name of my black dog   I was one of these 24HPP and regret it now As I have lost my ability to play topless poker Which was a card game in which I remained undefeated   My dog […]

I asked you to remove your clothes And sit in front of the Acoustic sOund Mirror This you did without complaint I gave you one of my school exercise books And asked you to write words in French   Souvent Bientot Jamais  Ici  La-bas  Encore  Au-dessus de Derriere Dessous  Entre  Ailleurs  En arriere    I […]