365 attempt #12 17/03/09 – HISTORY

Late at night on Watling Street, made by the Roman, who conquered and civilised simultaneously.

On Hadrian’s Wall, Iraqis rubbed shoulders with Gauls, and the tribes of Britain.

Roots of multiculturalism

365 attempt #11 16/03/09 – OPEN HOUSE

There’s a house a few doors away.

The back door is always open, whatever the weather…it must be cold indoors sometimes.

Dogs roam in the yard, and bark at passers-by.

The postman never opens the gate.

365 attempt #10 15/03/09 – TRAINING

At Boxing:

a ritual of wraps, warm-ups, stretching and skipping.

then the real effort: sweat drips as the punches land

Outside it’s still and calm

Inside, energy builds and dissipates in a perpetual cycle

365 attempt #09 14/03/09 – SHOPPING PARK

A vast car park – packed with metal and fuel – a giant bomb.

Debt Bomb. 

Primed. 

Ready.

‘Buy Now – Pay Later’.

How many meanings in four words?

Smiles the hardest thing to buy. No-one is giving them away.

365 attempt #08 13/03/09 – ANGEL OR DEMON?

I’m in a cafe, reading comics.

A young guy – he’s half-lying on a leather sofa – looks at me strangely over his book.

I can’t decide if he thinks I’m an angel or a demon.

I only know what I think…

365 attempt #07 12/03/09 – RIVERSIDE

It’s a Spring day,

and the sun is shining on Riverside

The roller moves up and down the square,

while on the outfield the mowers move smoothly in opposing circles.

It’s peaceful.

365 attempt #06 11/03/09 – MOTIVATION

Sometimes

Motivation is hard to find.

Your own depends on other people’s: Enthusiasm – Interest – Life.

I look for it, and like mist at dawn it dissolves and disappears.

365 attempt #05 10/03/09 – SUPERMARKET

Talking to the checkout girl:

she looks at me blankly,

with a hint of  ’why should I care?’

‘why should she?’, I ask myself.

All around me youth marches on. 

Confident.

Superior.

Strangely joyless.

365 attempt #04 09/03/09 – YOUR OWN WAY

‘You can go your own way’…the singer calls.

You should go your own way…

You must go your own way…

The only other way is madness and despair

365 attempt #03 08/03/09 – WHOLENESS

Have I been the person I wanted to be in my life?

Not rich but whole.

A ‘good’ father – whatever that is…I’m still trying to find out…although my children think they know.