6th November 2026

 

a video

of me trying to Hula

man, I was big.

© Rachel Green October 2026

Michelle Obama made me Cry

It's just a YouTube;

a compilation of her wit and humour;

the way she roasts her husband on live TV

and the amazing charity work she does.

She surprises people in real life

and is always greeted with joy

and no matter what her opponents think

she treats them with respect

even the incoming rapist

and his Russian mail-order bride.

I wish I had such grace

and such sublime humility.

I wish she'd run for President.

© Rachel Green October 2026

5th November 2026

 

builder's van

displays a disabled badge

double-take

© Rachel Green October 2026

Soup of the Evening

Mum put marbles of mashed potato

as bergs in the bowl-seas of soup;

it strikes as odd behaviour now

but it helped to fill us up

when money was tight

and potatoes were in the garden, free.

The vats of soup on the Aga

simmered for hours, cooled, frozen

served up in the depths of winter

as a memory of the summer sun.

© Rachel Green October 2026

4th November 2026

 

autumnal morning

flying past earth-toned trees

seagulls

© Rachel Green October 2026

Gift of the Street

frame required

but I worry about the cost

Providence intervenes

on the road home from town

someone has left out a frame.

Too big for my needs

but I have a mitre block

and a sharp tenon saw

© Rachel Green October 2026

3rd November 2026

 

fuckity bollox

went to buy a meat pie

fucked the car up

© Rachel Green October 2026

One Hundred Tiny Joys

one at a time

numbered watercolours

destined each to be given away

fly, my darlings, fly

you have brought me so much joy to make

now spread my joy,

my love,

to others

© Rachel Green October 2026

2nd November 2026

 

chill wind

wearing an idiot's hat

fresh coffee

© Rachel Green October 2026

Leaves in November

stiff winds

and the leaves are blowing off the trees

and bring a recollection of childhood.

I was at Big School,

which means I was at least thirteen

because those were the years we were held back

while the system switched high school ages

from eleven-plus the thirteen years

and Grant the Humongous shared a secret

that to catch a leaf before it touched the ground

would mean you would get a single wish.

So many breaktimes I wasted chasing leaves

and I never got the wish

to have my mum alive again

© Rachel Green October 2026

1st November 2026

 

multiple deliveroos

all with different numbers

autistic Hell

© Rachel Green October 2026

All Hallow's Day

After the fireworks;

after the imported 'tradition'

of chaperoned children begging for sweets

(no, not fruit, or books, just sweets...

and not those cheap ones from multipacks)

another day brings calm.

The tolling of the church bells

announce survival of another year

as does the trails of sweetie wrappers

and discarded multipack lollies.

© Rachel Green October 2026

31st October 2026

 

crisp air

the street oddly scented

patchouli

© Rachel Green October 2026

A Post-Christian Utopia

when the dead rose

they didn't shamble and stagger

and look for the living to satiate a hunger

they couldn't put a name against;

they formed orderly queues outside the church

and at the Salvation Army building

and asked "Is this the Resurrection?

Are we going to Heaven soon?"

and all the government could do

was treat them as Asylum Seekers

for the land of the Dead

and issue temporary passports and 

put their names on reanimation certificates.

The next election had a new platform altogether

and was a 'look after' or 'destroy' coalition,

but the surprising outcome was the Ultra-Right

who ran with the slogan 'Ultra for Unlife'

and got in by a landslide until the economy crashed

because the Undead could work Unpaid

and the living all went to Hell.

© Rachel Green October 2026