When the Dogs Bite

Saturday, 7 March 2026

7th March 2026

jiu-jitsu training

leaves me without self-defence

pavement pothole

RFK Junior says we don't need vaccines

because the worm in his brain

said they're a waste of time.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis has reached California

Rat lungworms mature, mate and lay eggs

inside a rodent's lungs.

And not just rats: Possums and Wallabies,

beavers and people.

larvae in the rats lungs

coughed into the rodents throat

swallowed and pooped out

waiting to be eaten by slugs and snails.

Rats and chickens, beavers and pigs

all eat the infected snails

and then people eat the affected meats

and the larvae party

in the carnivore's brain.

we don't need vaccines any more

just a healthy appetite

and a meat-puppet body

for the worms.

A Brain-Invading Worm Has Reached California

Friday, 6 March 2026

6th March 2026

morning surprise

from the washing machine

fresh-laundered glasses

Mum was Catholic;

with a bottle of Lourdes water

from a friendly nun who travelled there

that was never, ever opened

because she thought it Holy.

She had a crucifix over her bed

and rosary beads in a little purse;

each bead moving through her fingers

in a Sunday litany of prayer.

Over the stairs hung a picture of Jesus

talking to his dad in the garden of Gethsemane;

a five foot square print under glass in old oak

that she bought for a pound at the jumble sale.

Dad was Church of England.

He only ever went to St Lawrence's

on Remembrance Day

and after the vicar thanked him for coming

never went again.

They let me find my own religion

under the one condition

that I never let the demons I talked to

cross over in the house.

Thursday, 5 March 2026

5th March 2026

tyre place

walking to the garage and back

new shoes

Threescore Years and Ten

I wrote a short piece

the ended with my mother stating

she didn't know why God made men,

and I was corrected by a lady

who told me quite sternly

that God made man in His own image

and that everything in the Bible

was the Word of God.

I smiled politely at the this eighty-year old

and wondered aloud

about Psalm Ninety:Ten

and asked if she'd agree to euthanasia

on her next birthday.

She declined.

But if In the Beginning was the Word

and the Word was God

and God created Adam in His own image,

Was God an Incel

sitting in the Basement of the Void

Pining for something to stick his dick inside?

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

4th March 2026

Worm moon

bathed in martyr's blood

larksong

No Apparent Reason

Sitting outside Greggs, I break apart

my vegan sausage roll. In this rare moment

I am alone and without loves or dogs,

waiting for a digital clock to read thirty.

The car is at the garage; barely legal tyres

due to be changed, before the potholed roads

strip away the last of the failing rubbed.

If this was France, the people around me would be smiling

but here everyone is numb,

unremarking on the clear blue sky

and the sea-wash of traffic on the five-ways roundabout

Pastry flakes off, fodder for sparrows,

and later on, pigeons touring the closed cafe's.

I don't eat the pastry.

I barely eat whatever's inside

and I imaging my grandmother

examining the carcass of the roll

and declaring it a waste of money

because God invented pigs for a reason,

and my mother pointing out He made men, too,

and we still don't know why.

Tuesday, 3 March 2026

3rd March 2026

early start

no lazy YouTubing

busy day

Mark No Mistake

Remember

the absolute fuck-up

when Afghanistan was abandoned

and Americans personnel

were left fighting for places

on the last military evacuation planes.

We'll bomb Iran

but we won't make the same mistake:

we'll call dead Iranians "justice"

and dead Americans "casualties"

but we won't repeat the mistake.

We won't provide military rescues:

just issue a statement

telling them to leave immediately.

American lives (and British, Saudi, Australian)

and not worth a few extra dollars

stuffed in an envelope

and mailed to the White House

by the Israeli Faschisti

Monday, 2 March 2026

2nd March 2026

bicycle ride

no brakes on the downhill

stuck brakes on the flat

Progression's Glory.

The dead lie

fondly remembered:

treasured father, beloved mother

their lives condensed to one function

where the horrors of living are glossed over

because the dead must be benevolent.

Murderers, serial killers, rapists, politicians;

their corpses hidden

buried under tons of concrete;

and we act surprised when their houses become tourist destinations

and the memorials of their victims

become pilgrimages

of would-be paedophiles.

And why we glorify the rich

with statues of gold and bronze

we quietly forget they traded in slavery

and slaughtered populations

in the name of Progress.

Sunday, 1 March 2026

1st March 2026

tea bags

drying on the radiator

tiny art

Epic Fury

what has been promised to Trump

to cause him to declare war

on Israel's enemies?

It's money

It's always money

the thrill of a few more billion

to stuff an offshore account.

What are the lives

of a few dozen little girls

in an Iranian kindergarten

when the value of tech shares

increases thirty percent

and you can make another crypto killing

at the expense of the poor?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed dead

"The most evil man in the world"

because he declined to pay the ransom

after the last set of Trump's rocket strikes.

A demented man in his dotage

pushing his little models on a world map,

collecting his two billion dollars

every time he says 'Go.'

An enforced draft for the American forces

but the order is waived

for the trivial fee

of half a million dollars.

It sucks to be poor

Just give him your children.

He prefers them young.