When the Dogs Bite

Friday, 18 July 2025

18th July 2025

clumsy takedown

where he lands on my ankle

night agony

Belfast loyalists are annoyed again

by Irish councils doing Irish deeds.

They believe the Gaelic language, in the main,

is a basic threat to all their English needs.

How dare they add some dual language signs

to roads within the boundaries of their borough;

Republicans are intimidating lives

and they assure us of their retribution thorough.

They've added Sunningdale to their parade

in which they'll wave their flags and stomp their boots

and further to Republic protests made

will use their megaphones along their routes.

"This is British soil here in Belfast,

and British prejudice is built to last."

Eleventh Night parade ‘attempt to intimidate’ residents at centre of Irish language sign row

Thursday, 17 July 2025

17th July 2025

constant alarm

from my mobile phone

left in the dojo

"Of course the cameras in the prison cells

don't record a minute over midnight

and it's a daft suggestion anyway that bells

announce the start and finish of this oversight.

"I'm not entirely sure Epstein was guilty

that he and I were friends is just Fake News.

"The evidence collected was all wilty

and it's libellous to say I Shylock Jews

"There's nothing in that client list redacted

that would warrant it to be in public court.

"The way my past supporters now have acted

suggests that defamation suits be brought."

"Why are reporters asking still about this

when Big Bird is indoctrinating kids?"

Stupid former supporters

Trump vs Big Bird

Wednesday, 16 July 2025

16th July 2025

high humidity

Rhossili Sunflowers

shit early

Full many a shining forehead have I seen

but none to shade that of Jonny Hinder

MP for Pendle and Clitheroe green

where they burn old folk as tinder.

Transphobic as his dome is shining

he wants to ban transfolk from fun

in public sports activity, whining

they still are in parks allowed to run.

"A non-competitive sport like this

should exclude those who are transgender

allowing those identified as Cis

disabled, kids and ladies, tender."

"How can I beat my personal watches

while checking all the women's crotches?"

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

15th July 2025

bathroom pull switch

damned fiddly to replace

aching arms

Like Faust before me I have made a choice

to follow not along Fate's woven thread

but look to find my heart and use my voice

to stitch my cotton to another weft instead.

And though the life I wanted veered away

to all the dreams my father came to fear

he took the cheaper seats and chose to stay,

defending honour though it dost him dear.

No son or heir to carry faml'y name

into a future under threat of war

Thatcher's Britain's poverty to blame

the private sale of freedom hard fought for.

unlike that titular hero I will seek not

to untie Mephistophelean knot.

Monday, 14 July 2025

14th July 2025

fourteen hours

a metal shed constructed

one-star review

That thou be blamed is just another proof

for free speech applies only to the right

who bleat and moan that satire is not truth,

and Fascism is one true source of light.

Constitutional citizenship revoked

for criticising Presidential greed

Rosie O'Donnell regrets not that she joked

that campaign vows be honoured is a need.

In Germany, Sebastian Hotz is put

on trial comparing Trump's would-be assassin

to someone who runs to catch the bus

and finds he's unfortunately missing.

Dire consequence imposed upon the left

while Trump supporters kill and rape without regret.

Sunday, 13 July 2025

13th July 2025

day's heat

sliding over the horizon

night walking

Let's ignore the future of the planet Earth

I won't be around to see it anyway

eco 'terrorists' become a source of mirth

they're not concerned with Money For Today.

Nigel wants new strip mines on the fields

where groves of solar panels need to be

the money he is promised soon will yield

and end to 'ugly' wind turbines at sea.

That makes way for extra rigs to gather oil

from sea bed habitats of other critters

but for them he doesn't give a single F at all

they don't give him the kickbacks that he fritters.

He'll also cut the funding for worker's NHS

better to pay private for the best.

‘An enormous scar’: the battle over solar farms and pylons as Reform UK takes aim at net zero

Saturday, 12 July 2025

12th July 2025

first blackberry

a sour taste in my mouth

British politics

With aching hands, my building session done

after only hours two, and reddened

sheets of aluminium, though few or none

of them are screwed into the base and deadened

are my arms with scalpel-sharpened cuts

and fingers stabbed with countless pricks

for though the build-a-shed kit comes with gloves

one cannot wear them with the tiny bits

like nuts and bolts while plastic washers keep

the rain from penetrating pre-drilled holes

but finally I have the base made up and weep

for all the parts not yet unwrapped: the sides and poles.

And worst of all: I should have measured length and wide:

There is no way my bicycle will fit inside.