Gladness and Addiction

One of the biggest questions regarding addiction is ‘why are some people susceptible to addiction?’ We know that many people can try addictive substances or activities yet only a percentage find these overwhelmingly addictive. Here I hope to present my…

Looking through

On the perfect, clear surfacethat is the mirror of the mind,Thoughts, like fish, break its surface.And, although brief, they simply twinkle.In a flash I know their worth,and I am pulled towards those that beguile.Yet now, when they end, as does…

What is the personality?

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…

Champagne in the Rain

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…

Backwards

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…

Drug Addicts

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…

The Invitation

It sat on the mantelpiece, pride of place where everyone could see. The royal crest was the important part. Impossible to ignore with its gleaming gold insignia. Esme found herself sitting on the couch opposite, eyes glued to that oblong…

Frozen in Time

Liz tried to shake off the weird feeling that was edging into her psyche. It made no sense. The reunion with Katie had been wonderful. In all these years, her old college mate was still fun, leaving Liz rejuvenated with…

Wait

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…

Vietnam – First Impressions

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…