When the Dogs Bite

Thursday, 8 January 2026

8th January 2026

Minneapolis murder

ICE agent shoots point blank

at fleeing bystander

On the Burning Origin of 'Guys'

So many things today are named, in truth,

after people once in the public eye.

Think ye of Darwinism (that, forsooth,

religious folk protest until they die!)

Or of Fourth Earl of Sandwich, Montegu

whom while gambling, liked a chunk of meat

between two cuts of bread - now so do you

though oft you swap the beef for something sweet.

Nowadays, at times thou call thy friends as 'guys'

but mayhap you not know from whence this comes

so named for effigies of Fawkes' disguise

'tis now a term for shoddy, ill-dressed bums.

So though thou think thyself to be polite,

thy friendly use of 'guys' be not alright.

Wednesday, 7 January 2026

7th January 2026

Donnie's new hair

a pink rinse is the height of fashion

for 1970

Tuesday, 6 January 2026

6th January 2026

Christmas decorations

still covering the houses

littering school parents

On the Journey of the Protagonist

Thou writes again with but a shorter frame

of words within thy characters might dwell

and yet progress the plans of Death's new game

and figure out what skill thou can excel.

For relics of the past lead summer on

to the final winter of thy soul,

thy pity checked with need and duty never gone,

and endless infamy to be thy goal.

And though thou be protagonist in tale

in death thou be the villain of the piece

for there be few of women or of male

who desire thee to make their life surcease.

But when at the end their do their maker meet,

then they will learn how much of life was sweet.

Monday, 5 January 2026

5th January 2026

cold morning

pissing on the windscreen

warm water

On Declining to Perform Shakespeare

Duke Orsinio pining for Olivia

whilst shipwrecked twins wash up on separate shores;

Viola wants to serve the Countess all year

but, pining for Sebastian, she cannot offer chores.

So Viola dons some drag to serve the duke

and calls herself Cesario instead

Orsinio sends (him) by some well-plotted fluke

to woo the countess in his stead.

Meanwhile the brother, Seb, turns up, and dim,

becomes engaged to the lady fair

(because she loves Cesario and thinks he (him)

though Viola loves the duke, I swear.

But thanks to the Americans, who voted for a joke

actors in drag are hanged 'til dead by his Red Hatted folk.

Sunday, 4 January 2026

4th January 2026

coffee pot

bought and sold for six pounds' profit

overdraft fee

Chinook Helicopters over Caracas

Thou hast gone too fast with stolen power

and made excuses far too many times

Thou started with the blatant lie of hour

that Fentanyl was the basis of their crimes.

Then thou seized a tanker full of oil

and claimed it had been stolen from the States

and furthermore that Venezuela's toil

was the reason that you closed the country's gates.

And now you claim the invasion of their land

is purely for the people's benefit

which seems to be the hill on which you stand

on Putin being such a piece of shit.

And now watching the news, we shed a tear

Your ground troops spreading Caracasian fear.

Saturday, 3 January 2026

3rd January 2026

hard-fought session

ends with a beautiful armbar

I accept defeat.

On the Effectiveness of Distraction

Whilst thou sit in judgement o'er the world

to shill a few more million from the poor

thy flagging arguments should be re-furled

for they prove thou art an idiot the more.

I get that afraid of women's dicks

and literally or no is not the issue

as Epstein files emerge the more dirt sticks

that paedophilia is thy sticky tissue.

Thy demand that secretaries show their willy

to prove they are the sex assigned at birth

when thou prefers young girls seems rather silly

and only shows thy motives are self-worth.

Who was it that has hurt thee oh-so-bad

that thou be full of hate and going mad?

Friday, 2 January 2026

2nd January 2026

promises

made to nightly demons

forgotten by morning

The Ubiquity of Prostitution

One grows up all too fast without a mum

and self-destructive ways dost fill thy head

when at a tender age thy life feels dun

for the god that though believeth in be dead.

At fourteen years thou tried thy very best

to be grown-up enough to face the world

but thou were but a child put to the test

and on thy back a demon's wings unfurled.

The ghost of Jimmie Dean thou takes as thine

a pack of smokes and leather jacket clad

but for these costly ventures though must mine

the baser natures other adults had.

The money that thou made when school was shut

assisting men behind the cricket hut.