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On watching a poet read her poems on video I read her poems and liked them but listening to her read one of her unscripted poems with the incessant sea in the background was like trying to o...

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THE APPLE TREE

I am in the garden listening with Kate to someone  singing  on the little radio my mother bought for me last summer from a door-to-door salesman driving a white Morris Traveller. She also bought 4 grapefruit spoons from him which we never use because we’re not really grapefruit people. Too fussy. But mother likes rituals  and the stuff that goes with them. “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth…

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monday26jan

Monday 26 Jan 2015

  One of these sleepless nights. No background radio to lull me to sleep and I felt a bit shamefaced about so quickly going back on our plan for how to spend evenings. A trail of brooding thoughts ensued. Anyway at 4am. I was still wide awake. Usually I switch on the radio and within 5 minutes or so I am asleep, even with the light on; but without background sound I lie awake…

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LIFE IMITATES FICTION

ESTRAGON: I’m going. VLADIMIR:   Help me up first, then we’ll go together. ESTRAGON: You promise? VLADIMIR:   I swear it! ESTRAGON: And we’ll never come back? VLADIMIR:   Never! ESTRAGON: We’ll go to the Pyrenees. VLADIMIR:   Wherever you like. ESTRAGON: I’ve always wanted to wander in the Pyrenees.

When I was  asked,  “Where are you off to this summer?”  out of the blue the exchange from Waiting For…

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THE ISLAND OF HOY

THE ISLAND OF HOY

                                            Ward  Hill – the highest point in the Orkneys

                                                      Rackwick Valley – here comes the rain                                              The famous sea stack – the Old Man Of Hoy

                                    The Hill Of The White Hamars with yellow flowers

                                        The…

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The girl with the blue and red tattoo To-day I went to the gym in my brand new addidas trainers white Primark socks black short-sleeved M&S shirt…

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The girl with the blue and red tattoo To-day I went to the gym in my brand new addidas trainers white Primark socks black short-sleeved M&S shirt…

[davidstrachan611]

The girl with the blue and red tattoo To-day I went to the gym in my brand new addidas trainers white Primark socks black short-sleeved M&S shirt…

[davidstrachan611]

The girl with the blue and red tattoo To-day I went to the gym in my brand new addidas trainers white Primark socks black short-sleeved M&S shirt…

[davidstrachan611]

The girl with the blue and red tattoo To-day I went to the gym in my brand new addidas trainers white Primark socks black short-sleeved M&S shirt…

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v l p t When I went for my eye check-up today after all the puffs of air against my unready eyeballs…

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SUMMER

SUMMER http://wp.me/s1zMHI-summer

SUMMER.

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The Golden Oriole

Yes, I remember Hoy,

I remember it still.

A lazy summer’s day

crossing a stream below a clump of trees

we heard but did not see a golden oriole

Anna and I

and it seemed to say

“Will someone put the radio on?”

in lilting liquid notes

“Will someone put the radio on?”

over and over again

“Will someone put the radio on?”

no sign of irritation

such a sweet song

such a gentle tone

such a calm, sweet…

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She Knows Who I Am

She Knows Who I Am

  An English guy I was sharing a taxi to the airport with told me this story about his mother. Hard not to listen to. He had one of those rich, brown voices and it was a sort of ghost story. I could see the taxi-driver leaning back in his seat so as not to miss a word…Anyway this is what he told me in his James Masony voice:

  Valerie, my mother, he said , had reached the stage where she had to…

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Learning a language

http://wp.me/p1zMHI-2oS

I was standing at the long bar in the Museo de Jamon in Madrid,  half-lifting an arm, half-opening my mouth in a vain attempt to catch the bartender’s eye when the Spaniard beside me, either out of pity or irritation, told me that to activate a waiter in Spain you simply called out Oiga, and forthwith demonstrated how it was done. Oiga. The bartender responded immediately. No offence taken; none…

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A Handful of Similes

A Handful of Similes

A Handful of Similes.

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A Handful of Similes

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Lonely as a truck on a siding in the Czech Republic

Dispirited as 2 patiently waiting dogs outside the Weston Link in Edinburgh

Miserable as a  Glasgow beggar in the rain

 Friendly as a tail-wagging terrier behind bars in Blairgowrie

Lithe as an early-riser in Iona

Preoccupied as a boy with his finger in his ear in France

Empty as the main Street in Stromness

 Happy as a Festival crowd in…

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