MARTIN WARDLEY

Today was not my unbirthday But still I think I’ll have tea I’ll ponder the number of years Which amass to greater than three I’ll sit...

I’ve been looking under rocks Scraping barrels, watching clocks I’ve been been slouching In dark corners While withering my stock What...

It’s not about gender It’s not about class It’s not about sexual orientation It’s not about nationality It’s not about creed It’s not...

Does she have a year, a month? Or does she have a day? And if she knew What would she change? Would she dress in lurid purple? Paint her...

A perfect fold To ward off the rain The wind and the cold Magical imagery Beautiful symmetry Effortless construct Neat-nipped and tucked...

A steep incline A weighty pack A heavy load A fading track Traceless steps of feet and hope Into the clouds I go A heavy rain A sodden...

We’re Africans, Saxons Celts and we’re Romans We’re Indians, Pakistanis We’re Norse and we’re Normans We’re Eastern European Antipodean,...

Does victory lie in numbers Or achievement lie is lies When held to account by history Is there anywhere to hide? 27th July 2022

I cannot sit and listen To the fiction and fabrication A seemingly ubiquitous condition To pique my jaded indignation 27th July 2022

Like the pale skin of a football team And questions of grass-roots inclusion How can the disadvantaged at birth Infiltrate this insipid...

A standing ovation A gaudy applause By those who called To see you gone Sniffs of grand hypocrisy But who am I to know what’s right Or...

It’s too damned hot to argue Too sticky to contradict Too oppressive now to disagree Thus destined to this destiny 27th July 2022

Dancing on the shoreline Reflecting on a time line This life line brings me here Overcome by joy and drenched in tears Stepping over...

Yesterday I had no words No way to describe the incredulity The banality Nothing would form Nothing would come close Nothing that would...

I’m the man The man who makes mistakes The man who regardless ate the cake The man who disrespects the woman The man who violates the man...

Sitting with acknowledged privilege, here on this lounger Floundering while gazing out over a turquoise Aegean Sea Trying to process What...

This morning I awoke and smelt the coffee I saw the sun and once more smelt the rain This morning I found promise in my breakfast I...

He tries to make ends meet He tries to salvage pride He tries to stay afloat He tries to stay alive He wears another layer He eats what...

The calming, steady hand of sobriety For days and weeks and months Holds and comforts Soothes and cools Dilutes the cruel Guiding the...

The bronzen dale lay bathed Lit gold by the late-day sun Wonderfully, Gloriously swathed While the light warns of night-time to come The...