When the Dogs Bite

Wednesday, 3 June 2026

3rd June 2026

Google memories

a sequence of old photos

who are these people?

Depression

Loft junk

Unwanted for now

but maybe for later on

What later on do I mean?

I've lost interest in things.

I'm sixty-two already

how much longer will I live

and do I still need swords,

because I once learned to use them?

Will I ever paint big canvases again?

The oils for a six-by-ten

are beyond my budget for ever

and I need nothing.

Even the game I've been playing for ten years

no longer holds me enrapt.

Tuesday, 2 June 2026

2nd June 2026

sliding into depression

are the meds still working?

no HRT

Unplanned

I was the visitor,

the uninvited guest;

the nosy relative

looking through my parents' things

after they were burned to ash.

Here's the fur coat and gloves

my mother wore to church

every Sundays and holy day.

Here's the jar of silver farthings

in cast they became more valuable

than the sixpence of decimalisation;

and here's a packet of three condoms

with one missing from the box

the remainder expired in 1963

after my Catholic mum

realised he was using them.

Monday, 1 June 2026

1st June 2026

waiting for the gasman

to quote for a new boiler.

cold showers.

Pardon Me

I love that he gets stuff

to make our life better

and reduce our impact on the world

by reducing our use of plastic, maybe,

but the poor people are the ones who can help the least.

I buy plastic-wrapped bananas

because the unwrapped ones are twice the price

and come without the free gift

of a tarantula in torpor;

apples have tripled in price

seventy-nine pence in the Biden era

to two pounds twenty for six.

Replacing the tap cost me fifteen quid

and the light fixture only five

but a severely damaged thumb

and a couple of hours work.

Last week was the hottest in years

and this week the rainiest

but sure, sink some more ships in the Straight of Hormuz

and build another AI data centre

and we'll bask in nuclear fallout

eating microplastics on toast.

Sunday, 31 May 2026

31st May

toilet swimming fly

testing my respect of all life

I fail

Family Portrait

four figures depicted

but on the wall is a photo of their mum

recently dead from a ain aneurism

in the very room depicted.

The father on a wooden armchair

blue shirt, grey trousers, braces pulled down

a lit cigarette in one hand.

Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, named for the dead,

faces away from the camera,

staring at the father with obvious contempt

a pad of post-it notes in one hand.

A foot away, the second girl, Susan.

facing the camera, in shirt and riding boots

one hand protectively on her younger brother's shoulder.

and the lad himself, John,

dressed in school uniform, right arm at his side

tightly clutching a crucifix

which is cutting into his palm leaving a line of blood

all the way down one leg.

Saturday, 30 May 2026

30th May 2026

condemned boiler

no hot water for a good while

summer heat

The Sixth Seal

the chatter of chain guns

from the bay doors of helicopters:

giant locusts with stinging tails

and women's hair, whirling

like a desert windstorm

and it's not the stars falling

but a storm of bombs and missiles

forcing the great men to hide in caves

and underground bunkers

while the sky is rolled away

under a nuclear winter

when even the sun turns black

and the moon is tinted blood red

from the reflected light.

Friday, 29 May 2026

29th May 2026

bicycle seat

hits me in the clitoris

not pleasurable!

Jesus in a Cassock

Sunderland church condemned

for disobeying the law

and being kind to people

and letting transwomen use the loo.

It's almost like church

has actually read the Bible

and not just used it as a heavy club

church 'brazenly defies law'

Thursday, 28 May 2026

28th May 2026

slimming fail

I thought Coffee Mate was free

apparently not

Words Okay

Kindled in Bacon

a love for books

Shakespeare, Keats, Greek tragedies.

Literature should be devoured

not eked out and taken

in medicinal doses:

children should read voraciously

of any book they lay their hands on.

Father considered mental desire

an immoral impeachment

and intellectualism

an impediment to society.

Grandmother 'entertained'

(and read of that what you will)

and went to extraordinary pains

to stay slim as a reed

and athletic as a dancing girl,

and if one cannot dance

it is best to be amusing.