Urban Decay

Oh how I long to see
some beauty in this city.
See sunlight stencil patterns
through girders in the sky.
Streets with no reported crime
whilst a racist cop walks by.
Sit in calm green spaces
of the mugger's roundabouts.
Meditate the joys of life
though thought's drowned out by shouts.
Fine churches and cathedrals
to make up for their sins.
Food enough for everyone
piled up in the bins.
Everybody smiles at you
in case you might be mad.
The milk of human kindness
destined to go bad.
The friendly hand that greets
as the other holds you down.
The folks who'll always be here
'cos they can't escape this town.
See the bigger picture
through tired and jaded eyes.
Supporting what you know and love
by tricks and compromise.

Manic Martin (transcribed November 2009)
Manchester and beyond

"The song on my lips" by Nathan

you are the song on my lips,
the beat of my heart,
the birds that sing in the trees,
the sun on my skin,

the place where i finish
yet also begin
you are an angel
and i hear you sing

let me take you on a journey,
through the moon lit forests.
lets run together, like windswept leaves
through deserted city streets,

unbeknownst to sleeping minds of men,
let us bathe in the darkness of the night

Strong conversations upward

Strong conversations upward

like blood sugar

going berserk.

Bandana’d airmen stood on the airfield

drinking sake

I feel susceptible

in my blue coat

losing face

and then later, a place

when my friend

recovered from meningitis

in the same house

Not wishing to risk a tenth

on the dropped kerb, the click-finger synchronicity

with a journalist

amazingly led to nothin

(c) Richard Fletcher

What Does it Profit a Man

To gain the Whole World
But lose his soil?


. . . Rev Si