A Bulk Of Disrespect

(with sympathy for Sophie)
   
And only a rib of Adam to shoulder!
No more than seven-stone, soaked.
Unconvincingly posturing Custer
against a falling down boulder, tanked
and gravitating to the mirrors
hung in front of his every Eurydice
and those would-be's, should-be's
all-telling Sophie: He's looking to lose
Himself, a lunge learnt of starvation.
His sickening sequestration shadows an army
Already fallen come morning.

- Tom Hollingworth, 26th January 2010

A Waiting Room, Brighton

I think that’s their cat? rubbing
around a mattress, no bed
frame or other furniture, a mouse
counting cash in the other room
it’s Big Cheese business, not for us
Babybel, trying to settle
a ledger, we bet our hasty escape
on that loose garden gate
having not been fixed

    - c.h., 3rd June 2022

A Woman Is Brave

A woman is brave before being brave.
A woman is brave before she knows that she is.
A woman is brave when she knows that she is.

A woman is brave and another woman was.
A woman is brave and another woman will be.
A woman is brave and another woman will be too.

A woman is brave, with or without clarity.
A woman is brave though the questions are insulting.
A woman is brave raising truth from reflection and action.

A woman is brave, supported or not.
A woman is brave whether lonely or fearful.
A woman is brave in the struggle and in the struggle.


- CH, 28th January 2017

a y for hope

the y is yours
if you want y
if you need y
whichever y
the y is yours
unconditional y


    - c. h., 24th May 2020

Andrew James Brown - Birthday Limericks

1.

There was a young man, Andy Brown
Who would orate words deep and profound
But nought pleased him more
Than to draw cock ’n’ balls
In the minds of the prim and the proud.


2.

There was a young man, Andy Brown
Who would wiggle it all around town
Though the end: battered, pissed
The enabling catalyst
A snifter at The Rochester Wetherspoon




- CH, 5th September 2014

Aunt Titty

Glamorous Aunt Titty
Fag-in-hand witty
Dark curls, starry starry
A fur coat from the Silver Screen

At home in rural Anglia
Cows with barrel-bodies
And cockerals between the beams
Rewatching Leo & Kate at sea

Abroad with the family
Carriaged through her holidays
Flirting with the Adoni
Drinking in the lapping waves

Dearest Aunt Titty
Tweedle Dee o' Dum my Daddy
Brring, brring! ev'ry b-day
For Olly, her Spaniel, to seranade

I remember my Aunt Titty
Always playful with the R.P.
Sat up in bed in her nighty
Whilst we perched down on the duvet


    - c.h., 8th July 2023

Cambridge

(For Amy)

At the launch, inevitably
My line will be

You had ascended past a critical angle of the slippery staircase to the higher level of the bus before

I had the chance to say
Hey. I'm so envious of you.



- CH, 7th January 2012