Raindrops
As the rain continues to patter softly on the windows, the questions keep on coming.
What is this place so shabbily created?
And who is that there, looking over from the doorway?
I only know that I need not worry of the past.
Choice
Choice
Looking out to the sea from the tower on the headland, they felt a strange wind blowing. Birds fly past, future siren songs to a glorious beginning and a doomed conclusion, sun blinds the eyes. They want freedom. They want choice. They want what they already have.
Treatment
I’ve been thinking back to just over ten years ago.
I was in hospital following a major bout of illness.
My legs had stopped holding me up.
My eyes had double vision.
Numbness was in feet and hands.
I was put on a 2 month course of steroids to reboot the system.
It worked and I could gradually get back to a good level of health.
Nine years ago I became afflicted with optic neuritis.
My left eye went blind.
Following this NHS neurologists confirmed an MS diagnosis.
Since then, with the help of professionals and an awareness of my own health issues I’ve been largely free of major relapse.
All of which is to say, I trust in the effectiveness of medicine. That plus proper self-care has kept me moving.
Look after yourself. Look after each other. Keep health services freely accessible.
Dawn to desk
On this table top
This surface
This counter space
Memories turn and twist
Gathering thought
Gathering pace
I dreamed I was creating
I thought I might be writing
I felt I could be planning
When I found out I was listening
I sat back
And drank more tea
Robert W. Monk 2021
Myrmidons
Following like flies to the shithouse
These citizens are up on their crap
Ready to distil the teachings
Of a wrong-un in a tin foil hat
These myrmidons follow their leaders
Like ants slowly walking the line
And when it all gets too much for feeling
They’ll put the whole thing online
They’ll put the whole thing online
See/Hear
Let me see
Beyond the structure
Across the walls
Over the platforms
Where content
Falters
Lies whispered in breeze
Amplified by follows
Click click cicadas
Alone and together
Let me hear
The words that
Need to be heard
That can rise
Above the false notes
The trap doors
In open passageways
Of our perception
The words of the eternal
The words of the one
Robert W. Monk
Game
Stick to the
Game plan
Ahead lies
A new world
Twinkling in twilight
Winds change
Stars unfold
Robert W. Monk
Visio Mag – Dreams
Pleased to see that I had a poem published in the latest issue of the ever-excellent Visio Mag.
The Dreams issue looks at our inner dream life. My poem ‘Old Dreams on Repeat’ features alongside images, poems, stories and reportage.
Sweet dreams.
Above and Beyond
I wrote the following five years ago in Feb 2016… on hearing about David Cameron’s call for a referendum on whether the UK should leave the EU. It was put to the vote that June… feels like a loooong time ago…
—
ABOVE AND BEYOND
Above and Beyond
Within and Without
Crossing the Border
No Shadow of Doubt
Do They Mean us
Or Do They Mean them
The spangled terms and pronouns
Need a referendum
To play the part
The steps are all-too-clear
Remove half-brain
Then jump, shout, cheer
Time changes
And so do the thoughts
A brush with power
Asleep in the courts
A Shot in Space 