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

Charlie Walsh - Birthday Verse, 2014

The Swedes might skål with Schnapps,
The Dutch may cheer with Grolsch,
Whate'er your tipple, may your raps today celebrate
Charlotte Anne Walsh.


- CH, 7th March 2014

Dream Of The Intimate Terrorist

Alone now in my distance
I can still see the flames
The panic is now muted
The film now tapering frames

Some shuddering silhouettes
Surround the burning cage
Were you trapped inside tonight or
Did you manage to escape?

Here now slumps the desperate man
Who you wanted to see grow
With petrol stains marking his shirt
From dousing your family home

How could it have come to this?
What is it I should have known?
I thought my anger would disperse
Like a slowly, fading drone

But instead, my soul was transported
To a creature flying low
That witnessed as my body subverted
Against a moral code

I came to feeling breathless
And the benzene hit my nose
Stimulating flashbacks of
A story that cannot be so

I feel a tugging on my hand
Relentless, but barely there
I try so hard to ignore the boy
For the promise in his stare

And then my mother’s whisper
Looped a labyrinthian thread
I only wanted you safe and well
And a life of happiness

Turning to the starless sky
To find my Father’s face
Desperate for His disapproval
And desperate for His grace

I curl my nails into my palms
As I pretend that I have won
I start to run away again
Frightened, lost, and fallen


    - c.h. 20th February 2020

For You, At Last

Catch the hare by the hind legs
As it darts up towards the rising sun.

Once harried and hard-pressed,
A breast unhung from the tree.
   
Replenished, with a full head of hair
Staring confidently towards the camera.


    - c. h., 16th November 2018




as part of The Hoopoe, from The Prayer & Profanity Of HOWARD COWARD

Four Solo London Walks

I

A mousy paw
In a bucket bag of cuddly bears
Strutting by streetlight
And victory in summertime
England heavy on Holloway Road
The paving slabs flapping soul

II

Turned Angel, Allhallows,
Walbrook Wharf.
Through Fruiterers Passage
And then Three Barrels Walk.
Hung out mysteries by The Alfred Plaque
Counsel sought between the hail on The Thames

III

Who made the nests on the Jubilee Bridges?
Who built the pyramids of Tottenham Court Road?
Who ordered the shooting of that horse
Behind the Iceland, on Mare Street?

IV

I tipped my hat
Grateful to the heron
Guarding the barges of Regent’s Canal
Late, and through this orange night


    - c. h., 11th December 2024

 

 

 

Harlesden

Raised nose in the air
Biscuits, weed, the dirty canal
Missing Harlesden Town

Lairiness at The Clock
And you’re Bakerloo bound
Hours in Harlesden Town

Weaving through hangars
Food shop, prayer shop, mechanics
Moon-kissed Harlesden Town

Street-level laughter
Money in a high-rise looks down
Everywhere and Harlesden Town

Fireworks at midnight
Those hasty, zipping, motor sounds
Sleepless Harlesden Town


    - c. h., 25th August 2021

 

 

Handshakes From A Distance

Two old invitations for International Workers' Day, 2020


You are not manager
I am not employee
Just us before the causes


I am not the boss
You are not the boss either
We will manage without


- c. h., 1st May 2020

Highgate

Sunkissed
Feeling like a cute king
On my polo island
In a gently, rustling morning
With gold in the green, of green in the teal

Counting the mammal planets,
Bobbing in orbit
Through my peripheral vision
Time, I’m perched on
each pension plan consideration and oedipal reflection
all booze-cruise polaroids, and Machu Picchu reviews

Across the water, further sovereign stations
Each receive their share of diary entries  
as per our intercontinental agreement -
That all things must pass!

For we are not feathered therapists, Jack
We are the lightness of being


    - c.h., 30th October 2023

Hometown

Locals gather to sing the hook
'Remove Your Hometown'
Proud of a band they bet a kiss on
Years ago, hoping
Sex homegrown, could make it.


- CH, 14th February 2013
After Kubichek! playing The Cluny - Newcastle, 2nd February 2013

How Can You Trust A Man?

How can you trust a man who cannot ask for what he wants?
Is that Warhol, reclining on the couch, saying “Please, just let me watch”?
Like the juror hiding long in his coffee until his vote is moot
There’s no heart for Cupid’s arrow, or an enemy’s face to shoot

A camouflage is a carapace is a suit in rush hour traffic
In the minds of glorious party guests, he both was and wasn’t at it
Is there a truth to be seen in the painting of the painting of the painting?
How can you trust a man who is at his destination, waiting?


    - c. h., 12th February 2023

Just A Drink

skipping from her shift
she’d told friends it was a date
she denies that now


    - c.h. 22nd September 2019

Life Moves Fast

Life moves fast.
Before you know it




- c. h., 10th June 2019