One of the ‘mistakes’ we make in understanding mental illness is assuming that our identity and personality are the same thing. This becomes really confusing when, because of previous psychological trauma, our heightened response to threats become labelled as a…
When it’s rainingChill ChampagneIt helps to take away the painOf dreary days and endless nights Don’t waste it on a sunny dayWhen all is lovely, fair, and brightDrink it on the rainy daysIt warms the soulAnd brings back the light…
Let’s be scientific, and look at hieroglyphicsThey’re really just daft pictures on the wallAnd now we have emojis on our phonesIt’s all about encryptionForget about the dictionWhen a smiley yellow face can say it all It’s shorthand for the massesWe…
We are all drug addictsMy old friends and meThe doctor is our dealerHe provides our scrip for free We very rarely see himWe hardly know his nameHe doesn’t know us eitherBut, supplies us all the same We have to meet…
What can I do with all this pain?It seeps from beneath a jovial personaand drips on the soul like rain.I fear the parasite will overcome the hostand their life will be but a ghostof what it could have been.‘But it’s…
Poor old Ho Chi Min. He wanted to be cremated with his ashes scattered throughout Vietnam, but here we are in front of an architecturally brutalist mausoleum in Hanoi, reputed to contain his embalmed body. Thankfully, the mausoleum is closed…
A Protest Song Down with emoji’s now let’s make it clearOur speech and our writing will soon disappear.From grunting and signing…here’s language todaySo don’t let emoji’s take all that away. Down with emoji’s we’ll lose all our skillsWhen dining on…
A Navvy’s Legacy In driving winds, thunderous clouds and sleetThe navvy toiled, his pick cleaved at the landAnd as wet rot attacked the poor man’s feetAnd blisters soiled, a hook replaced his hand. He carved for years through meadows, hills…
Transposition of Care I have lived so long in this place and I have born witness to life.I am moved around at their will…waiting,Waiting to feel the warmness of their form to weigh on me, to nestle in me.I have…
The earliest of smells so distant in timeMy mother’s cheek as it lay next to mine.As I grew it remained, to love care and tendI turned to her smell when I needed to mend. A jam jar of water with…