When the Dogs Bite

Tuesday, 25 November 2025

25th November 2025

cold morning

fourth cup of coffee brewing

eight a.m.

On the Adoption of Foreign Nationals

Let us celebrate our country's patron saint

a Turkish soldier enlisted in the force

and personal guard for Diocletian, late

of the fallen Roman Empire. In due course

an order came to implement the law

demanding all the citizens to pay

their homage to the Roman Gods of yore

and make sacrifice on each god's naming day.

(Except for Jews, whom by decree exempt

because they followed not this new god, Christ)

the punishment for all those of dissent

was execution, which our lad George decried.

The Diocletianic Persecution came

with George declared a martyr in their game.

Monday, 24 November 2025

24th November 2024

cold room

I make room for a warm dog

delight

On the Fat of the Land workers

Once there was a man whose grandfather fled

from Bavaria to make all his dimes

He opened a bar with breakfast and bed

and a brothel for blokes on their way to the mines.

He passed all his wealth to his wife and his son

when he died of the 'fake' Spanish flu

They used up the money to buy land by the ton

building houses and naval yards too.

Taken to court on a profiting claim,

by the Senate and State of New York

he put the firm in his son's name

and gave him twelve million to work.

His Immigrant wives die in very odd ways

but he finds a young girl to replace them in days.

Sunday, 23 November 2025

23rd November 2025

shifting junk

filling the back of the van

thrift shop run

If Wishes were Fishes

If I could change one thing within this world

with some god-like power or alien machine

would I end wars and have world peace unfurl

or banish fascists as some fevered dream?

What I would do is distribute the wealth;

to make each person no more better off

than the poorest woman's state of health

in Delhi or Burundi or Bangkok.

And lower though my quality of life

might be from such a rule that I might make

It comforts me to know that other's strife

would be less of a burden them to take.

Schadenfreude would ease the nation's rage

with Billionaires reduced to basic wage.

Saturday, 22 November 2025

22nd November 2025

cow hooves

splinted into bare feet

dog chew

The Need for Distinctions

Let us group together all of the things

and make order in the chaotic land

to ease anxiety that nature brings

perception guided by the human hand.

Animal, vegetable and mineral

three states of matter as our decrees

but confront us not with an original

for what is fire but none of these?

Flatware covers spoons and knives and forks

but not scissors, nor those sharp scalpel blades

nor utensils which do move and block our drawers

or pots and pans, for which we cupboards made.

But let us not lump "Belief in God" as one

else reasons for the wars we fight will be undone

Friday, 21 November 2025

21st November 2025

morning frost

sees off the nasturtiums

ordering seeds

In Totalitarianism We Trust

If thy skydaddy embodies love

and urges thou to love thy neighbour too

and hoard thy money not, in treasure trove

but render unto Caesar what is due.

But thou decline to follow this woke rule

and heed instead the Jewish laws of old

Thou shalt not kill (unless thou slaughter all

who follow not thine interpretation bold.

Thou cans't treat women as a lower class

and call them 'Piggy' when they decline thy lust

and schill the taxes meant to feed the mass

Amend the words to say "In Trump we Trust."

Thou fiddle with thy pre-pubescent girls

but claim defamation when the truth unfurls.

Thursday, 20 November 2025

20th November 2025

vitamins and coffee

evacuating bowels

morning ritual

Our dearest friend, Nadia, from Dudley.

where the men wear coats and the women are studly

share a joke that goes back twenty year

when she was the lady in M&S gear.

Where the phrase came from I do not recall

and Google has been of some help not at all

for what is aloud is betrayed by the movement

of hands where the humour obtains the improvement

"My friend has curly hair" illustrated by finger

moving in circles, at temple will linger

"and brushes her teeth" with an index one pointed

at whoever sits in the direction anointed.

"Mad as a Hatter," my friend seems to mean

and has me in giggles whenever she's seen.

Wednesday, 19 November 2025

19th November 2025

ghosts of the past

PG Chimps and Lorraine Chase

old TV ads

On the Overcoming of Fear

No more will haiku issue from this pen

I am no more an angry piece of trash

who though polite outside will seethe within

and burn my lover's poetry to ash.

No longer shall my wilted smile convey

acceptance of the trials that come this way

if thy home be chaos, I'll not come another day;

if I desire thee to depart, then I will say.

This shift in thoughtful patterns, I have thought

occurs in part for I, intensive train

in the methods of defence I learned and taught

and suffered many injuries and pain.

If though insulteth me I make no threat

but if thou lay a hand, thy'll find regret.