morning walk
extra barking comes free
empty houses
© Rachel Green October 2026
Attempting to be Cheerful (II)
steel plates
left out for the binmen
and an hour spent wondering
how to use them in artwork
half a dozen ideas
and a return to the disposal site
now...
how to cut sheets of steel?
© Rachel Green October 2026
supermarket walk
musing on the uses of discarded steel
returning collection
© Rachel Green October 2026
Attempting to be Cheerful
Small pieces
painted on old metal,
pieces of fallen brickwork
or that book of collected Keats
that you threw in the fire.
just one, every day;
bright colours in oils and acrylic;
watercolours and gouache
set in tiny frames and photographed
then marked for post-mortis trash
© Rachel Green October 2026
rainy morning
coughing up phlegm
London maladies
© Rachel Green October 2026
Surface Detail
Right-wing Christians
controlled all the AI centres
while well-meaning scientists
learn to upload consciousness
into an artificial memory.
Who decides a future
when Christians take the conscious minds
and upload them into a simulation
of heaven and of Hell?
To spend an eternity in a data stratum
constructed by patriarchal xenophobia;
A dystopian nightmare?
or a capitalist dream?
© Rachel Green October 2026
TikTok
supposed to be a daily habit
Bad Rachel!
© Rachel Green October 2026
Frieze Masters
flurries of art
crowed into two marquees;
old masters, recent ones,
and a hundred new to me.
Many I am humbled by,
a few disdainful of
and a few to be inspired by
and a couple I wondered why the artist
would display such terrible skills
© Rachel Green October 2026
flu jab
dragging the dog along
new sniffs
© Rachel Green October 2026
Brand Name
We write 'predator' in inverted commas
because he hasn't been found guilty yet,
but still, he faces of three charges of rape,
three of sexual assault,
and one of indecent assault,
and I really, really hope
I can take off those inverted commas.
Being a personality, TV or otherwise
should not become a gateway to assault
and being voted 'shagger of the year'
should be a source of shame
not fucking pride.
Pun intended.
© Rachel Green October 2026
dental visit
followed by shopping trip
bags of doughnuts
© Rachel Green October 2026
I don't play fair because I am old;
and though I don't tire as easily on the mats
I do get dizzy sometimes
and I'd rather finish fights quickly
than prolong a bout in the search
of the perfect flying armbar.
If it's any consolation
I'll teach you everything I know
all the wrist locks and heel hooks
how to choke someone to sleep
and how to make them cry out in pain
because they tried to hurt you
or someone you were protecting;
and if you're determined to fight
I'll show you how to stay lawful
while sowing chaos on the street.
© Rachel Green October 2026
portraiture
on a television show
Yes! You can!
© Rachel Green October 2026
poetry
from two decades ago --
was I better then?
my writing fresher?
or am I more nuanced?
more focused on the world
instead of always the Self?
Except this one, obviously.
© Rachel Green October 2026
