Thursday 30 June 2011

The Godfather

21-06-2011 Chesterfield Union Walk (2)13

Union Walk, Chesterfield

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Monday 27 June 2011

Ragwort

19-06-2011 ragwort02

unwelcome ragwort
still manages to cheer
derilict factory

Friday 24 June 2011

Thursday 23 June 2011

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Monday 20 June 2011

Sunday 19 June 2011

Hope Road





Rain at Sixty MPH


The moment I elect to go out on the motorbike
the clouds roll in, it starts to rain, I tell it do not like
but a promise is a promise and to Sheffield I will go
with thunder notwithstanding, at least it didn't snow.

A piece of tape secures the satnav there and back again
(It's a piece of paper, really, with directions writ in pen)
I set off in the pouring rain and pootle through the town
hoping for the sun but rain precipitated down.

I rode through Sheffield centre and then out the other side
What is it with the road names that they seem to want to hide?
I made it to the road and parked, then panted up the slope
the Priory is a lovely place, no wonder it's in Hope.

The artwork was astounding, the etchings very fine;
the altered books were fascinating – dare I say divine?
She's just the sort of artist that I wanted to become--
just the sort that I am not, for I sit on my bum.

I wish I'd had the money to support the ladies there
who daub themselves with etching ink and cut off all their hair
It made me feel inadequate, the wonders they produced,
the utterly fantastic works creativity had loosed.

I rode home in the solace that although I never etch
I have at least the training to make a simple sketch
look like the lake I'm sitting by, or splashing paint around
can bring to life the demons whom my books have run to ground.

18-06-2011 Hope Rd (4)04

Top Image:
Left: Transit of Venus II by Catherine Harnett (etching)
Right: 'In My Shallow Grave' by Jan Hopkins (artist's book)

Friday 17 June 2011

The Speakeasy


The Speakeasy - Extraordinary Night of Monologues

including

one of my monologues: 'Black Lace Curtains'

Three nights only!

Monday, June 27, 2011 to Wednesday 29th at 8:00pm
Upstairs at The Nell of old Drury, London, United Kingdom

Thursday 16 June 2011

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Wetlands Field Panorama

15-06-2011 Wetland field joiner

moths fly from flowering broom
amongst the clover and daisies
grasshoppers chirp

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Monday 13 June 2011

Sunday 12 June 2011

Saturday 11 June 2011

Friday 10 June 2011

Thursday 9 June 2011

Hearing Voices

04-06-2011 Hearing Voices

and in the post
a contributor's copy
of a poetry magazine

Hearing Voices

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Not Quite a Blanket and Pillow Trap

25-05-2011 Boythorpe Wood

We watched a truly awful film a year or two ago, the one redeeming vignette of which was a vampire that set out a blanket and pillow to lure unsuspecting children to go to sleep outside his lair.

Sunday 5 June 2011

Saturday 4 June 2011

Friday 3 June 2011

Thursday 2 June 2011

Wednesday 1 June 2011