Footnotes on Life

The word 'Mum', which is a noun has somehow become defined only ever as a string of verbs, or at best, adjectives as if, pretty, feisty, tired, hot, could cover it. as if all Mums' are comprised of, is the sum of all the partsof the actions of the repetitions of...

Poems are like portals. Someone draws a circle in the air. The circumference fizzes like a sparkler and we cannot look away. Portals draw us in. What lies beyond is in the eyes of the reader, the hearer. Writing is like waiting for a portal to open up, large enough...

when asked to recall a moment of joy I rewind to this young hearts, bright eyes youthful legs entangled over the sofapyjama bottoms and painted toes inhaling take away left oversthe way our bodies melted,resting, safe,mouths and ears full of chatter and nonsensein...

March 2025 marks 5 years since our lives were turned upside down. I'd like to think we are now right side up again but on reflection, it feels more like sideways and still spinning. We needed the NHS then, we need it now and we will need it in our times to come. My...

if at times people and their ways confuse her mind and use all her spoons, she thought for a time,she could consider them as foodshe discovered sweets, for the occasional high, yet the so sweet / too sour is unpredictable, her body tells her she has had too muchshe...

Hi Mississippi Bye Mississippi is way she views time each second sweeping in to the next curtain callHi Mississippi Bye Mississippi the self same second bowing an exit asshe crosses the stage Hi Mississippi Bye Mississippi

It is not lost on me that as a poet who loves words and relies on metaphor has become tired by the overuse of terminology in the workplace. Perhaps it is that these terms are banded about with such high frequency across all the sectors that it’s become another noise...

Roots are everything. They draw you back. When the sap runs back down it returns to the roots, looking to be nurtured, seeking renewal. Memories draw up overlapping lines of time, merging, criss-crossing across the landscapes of Bristol and Somerset and bringing me...

Sunday dinner be good, try not to sin on no account become angry, try not tofeel guilty that your powers cannot extend to prevent bad weather, neverthelesshold off the rain, stop the car from breaking down and your family with it at whatever cost keep your little...

I recently attended an event for carers who also work. It could be that folk care for those who are young, or who are elderly or with a long term condition which affects their daily living, whilst at the same time needing to work to make ends meet, yes, and also to be...

In this year I have tried to be especially open to discovery. I have endeavoured to be curious. In so doing, in experiencing new, in being changed, I might try to explain it, in order to share it. But then in the explanation of something remarkable, there is...

This year I will turn 40, or 788,that is,if I am the sum of all the years I have been,that is,if those years all add up to something more thanwhat you seethat is,a collective culmination ofsome kind of insight that edges ever closerto what some may refer to...