A (Pine) Forest – 31st July 2025

silence loud
penetrating
the canvas of boughs

investigating
insects burrow down
through the carpet of needles

soft and damp
upheavals
a dripping darkness

with no echo
wolf eyes watching?
it feels so

stilted humid breath
whispers
into the silent depth

withers
dull and dissipated

joining in
accumulated
silent wings

flapping
the quiet life
within

Written (later) for the GloPoWriMo prompt Day 14:
Imagine the “music” of a place without people in it. So today, try writing a poem that describes a place, particularly in terms of the animals, plants or other natural phenomena there. Sink into the sound of your location, and use a conversational tone. Incorporate slant rhymes (near or off-rhymes, like “angle” and “flamenco”) into your poem. And for an extra challenge – don’t reference birds or birdsong!
This poem references Queen’s Copse, Holtwood, Dorset, England. A place I often visited in my youth.

7th Aug 2025 – conveniently shared with dVerse this week too.

No Remains – 30th July 2025

There will be no Anne Frank
of Palestine,

she has been murdered ten
thousand times;

A life shortened to the point it
never existed,

all memories erased, a family
without trace;

Small diaries buried in white
without ceremony,

buried from the shores and buried to
the banks;

No history to remain of a
girl hiding,

no attic to remain, there are
no spaces;

All humanity removed, monsters
ruling monsters.

Perfect Scoundrels – 29th July 2025

Circumstances led to adventure
as Giuseppe failed the monastery
after practising great deceptions
and experiments in alchemy;
With promises of great treasures
he forged his way out of Sicily
to become the most perfect scoundrel
that marked the world’s history.

And then a new adventurer came,
well-studied and practised in lies;
and in the kingdom of deceit
the regime encouraged his rise;
With promises of great treasures
of fantastic, tremendous size,
Donald failed to conjure more
than a Cagliostro in disguise.

Lothario – 28th July 2025

*I found this line somewhere but can’t remember who wrote it now!


If you want to kill someone
fill them with love and leave;*
– Bone is stronger than the heart

Fill up a cup with honesty
designed only to deceive
– and break their world apart

Razors in the chocolates,
A minefield full of flowers;
– Coerced to play the bit part

The Lothario, the Romeo,
contain Casanova powers
– make their torture a work of art

Over His Creation – 27th July 2025

I’ve had enough and I want to quit
after looking at what I created;
Seeing what the useless humans have done with it

and all their stupidity aggregated!

I gave the chance of pleasure and peace

and slowly evolved their brains;
But the endless wars that never cease
means that little of beauty remains;



I’m wasting time being worshipped
you’ve all forgotten my intention;
Your happiness can’t be purchased
there is no final redemption;

The seeds of wisdom planted within

but humanity always wanted more;
It was pretty simple to begin

but now I don’t know what it’s for?

I’m done with this, I’ve thought it through

I think I’ll make another extinction!
Start again with a better cosmic brew

and a better book of fiction!

Shared with W3 prompt #169. This wasn’t written for the prompt, but fits quite well with the idea.

Along The Stream – 26th July 2025

The sky was Australian blue;
not the first time we kissed –
that time
we smashed our teeth together due
to excitement – our tryst
sublime.

Along the stream, we got undressed,
the passions came and went –
took heart.
That memory is still the best,
long after this time spent
apart.

Shared with dVerse Meeting The Bar – not quite meeting the theme of ‘anniversary’ though this is a memory that I recall at least once a year, reminiscing on the wild emotions of discovery of new love.
The form is memento (2 stanzas, 6 lines per stanza, 2 tercets (2*3 lines) per stanza, syllable count per tercet: 8,6,2; 8,6,2, rhyme scheme abc, abc)

Sigma – 25th July 2025

Shared with dVerse – Who has a sweet tooth?

Born of the sugar babies,
full of ADHD;

The shortest attention spans,
worse than Gen Z;

The glass generation,
sharented by tech;

Sucking AI lifesavers
or a virtual idol mech;

Branded from birth
with avatar identity;

Logos before letters
and synthetic celebrity;

No razzles or starburst
needed for the dopamine tooth;

Swiping right for success,
sigma generation AI youth.

We Eat Our Own – 24th July 2025

From birth, our bodies begin rotting on the vines,
Makeup masks our ruin; clothes shroud crumbling shrines,
Enough seats for us, our grief, and ghostly diners,
Clay dolls shaped by less intelligent designers;

Gorge while we can, is what the void inside us tells,
Teeth grind charred swine, desperate to stuff hollow shells,
Too lost to gauge each other’s decomposition,
Doll cracked maliced lips chitchat in competition;

Starved, we crave the feast, each other’s incompleteness,
Clay clings to fear’s wrinkles, exposing raw weakness,
A mask slips, the vultures dive on the roadkill eats,
Eyes glimmering in hope of lacerated treats;

Enraptured, we unravel, cherubic and sweet,
Guilt claws our full guts, choking undigested meat,
Regret gnaws sweet scraps in this hostile carcass,
We lick our plates clean to disguise our darkness;

Eat away our germinating cancerous shame,
The charade that glues us whole, this fresh tumoured claim,
Why are we starving for each other’s misery?
To spoil the scraps of goodness; call it victory;

Aroused by the rotting, vultures peck at each corpse,
Prey and feed until there’s nothing left on their forks,
Stacking up our stinking shells in the smoke-soaked trash,
Our bellies bloated where nibbling maggots thrash.

Inspired by The Last Supper, written by Luciana Cole on Substack
25th Nov 2025 – Shared with Melissa’s FFFC #348

Kaleidoscope – 22nd July 2025

Nothing is ever as good as it seems; float on a sigh,
all my imaginings and their themes float on a sigh;

Alone amongst friends and too busy to wait,
running nowhere and watching my schemes float on a sigh;

With a prod and a push, a light shone on me
where the angelic rainbow streams float on a sigh;

Splitting the prism, wandering in the wavelengths,
watching as your white-winged sunbeams float on a sigh;

So realise it forever, Shaun, you are now one lucky guy,
together we’ll build a world where our dreams float on a sigh.

Written for the GloPoWriMo Day 8 prompt:
write a ghazal that takes the form of a love song.

8th Aug 2025 – Shared with W3 #171