So they asked, 'What's love got to do with it?'
And I smiled as I thought of my reply
Love, of course, is where all our answers sit
Even if, most often, we don't know why

Romantic love, the eros, takes control
It's a selfish, desperate need-me love
A piece of me to justify, inscroll
Your life fitting mine like perfection's glove

We can take solace in the refuge of
Family love, the storge of Ancient Greek
Or hold on tight to phileo, thereof
The heart of friendship, when life seems less bleak

But agapé is the crowning glory
Love unconditional, tell your story

Don’t fob me off with your toxic con
Soft Brexit is an oxymoron

We grin and lay down our hearts-filled flush
Then see the game is blackjack, and blush

Well now, there’s the rub
The price for talking politics with some guy in a pub

Waiting for this moment to pass
For someone to rescue us from this morass

Christmas used to be so simple

A stroll though the supermarket

Of plastic race tracks and

Pink wooden ovens

Of lego blocks

And lego friends

and lego Star Wars

and lego Potter

Now it’s getting more complex

With v-bucks and

iTunes credit

and travel and lessons

and a million hopes and dreams.

I’m less and less convinced

That I can pull off the Santa thing

This year.

Been there

Done that

Broken beyond repair

Broken beyond desire

And then, not.

Like Kintsugi

I’m more beautiful

And stronger

At the broken places.

BRAVE
Fearless
Selflessness

Never gave it a thought
Did what I knew I ought
Stepped up, cried out ‘This is wrong!’

“The right thing, not the easy thing”

I found the form here, on Shadow Poetry

Anti-human
Anti-acumen
Anti-country
Anti-effrontery
Anti-future
Anti-suture
Anti-common sense
Anti-sitting-on-the-fence
Anti-Middle Ages
Anti-advice-of-sages
Anti-me
Anti-probability
Antidote
Anti-misquote
Anti-politic
Anti-shambolic
Anti-this shit
Anti-Brexit

The lazy conflation of want and need
Consumerism’s ever-open maw
The thoughtless idolisation of greed
Self-sacrifice on the alter of more
Our bellies full with abligurition
Starvation remains for too many poor
It’s lack of food, lack of nutrition
Failure to meet a basic human need
Hunger for stuff will destroy us indeed

Quests don’t have to be publicised
Unsung heroes can stay that way
I have no need of applause, vacuous or otherwise
Each challenge risen to is its own reward
Talk to me of gratitude and being

Let go of the banging drum
Out with the needless praise and the hollow ‘like’
Unfriend those vexations to the spirit
Disconnect from the constant noise

Kwanza lodge
Kwanza River
River of dreams
River of schemes
Schemes of lust
Schemes of joy
Joy in itself
Joy in being
Being here
Being near
Near to bliss
Near to this
This escape
This repose
Repose required
Repose inspired
Inspired by beauty
Inspired by calm
Calm as day
Calm as night
Night closes in
Night enfolds
Enfolds the spirit
Enfolds the dream
Dream of me
Dream of you
You in harmony
You at peace
Peace and quiet
Peace flows
Flows like a river
Flows through everything
Everything, everywhere
Everything right
Right for here
Right for now
Now, the moment
Now, the place
Place in time
Place in history
History winks
History thinks
Thinks of today
Thinks of a way
Way to make amends
Way to move on
On my own
On the way
Own
Way