JAUNDICED OUTLOOK

"His books often has spaceships in them. And those spaceships have extremely odd, poetic names. Like:"

i.m. IMB

I wonder if I will turn yellow
in space. I worry I will turn
yellow in space. I turn yellow
in space. The earth will turn
yellow in space. Turn yellow
in space. The kidney will turn
yellow in space. Gall bladder turn yellow
in space. My sadness will turn
yellow in space. A mouth turn yellow
in space. No-one can hear if you will turn
yellow in space. My bruise turn yellow
in space. My pancreas will turn
yellow in space. They say I'll turn yellow
in space. They say I will turn.

A WASTING SONG

for DB

Travelling east
from Westminster
on the Jubilee line,
you lose one year
off your life
for each stop
you don't get off at.

Ulcers on the feet which go untreated.
Violence from passers by.
Unable to wash or shower on your period.
Being discharged from prison to the streets.
Exhaustion from walking around at night.
Being scared.

Westminster
Waterloo
Southwark
London Bridge

People are quick
to tell you to pick
yourself up.
Premature death.

Bermondsey

I shoplift for basics —
milk and bread.
People in their dressing gowns
at 3.30 in the afternoon.
Depression.
Black moods.
I live like I'm in prison.

Britain's big freeze.
The brutal Arctic blast.
A biting wind.
5000 deaths in a long, dead winter.

Canada Water
Canary Wharf

Oil and tar.

The body was still
in a bag at the scene
guarded by police
five hours after
it was dragged from the river.

A second body was recovered
by RNLI 
at 8.08 a.m.

North Greenwich
Canning Town
West Ham
Stratford

Something going down in #Westfield,
Popo and cordens.
Somebody got themselves stabbed in #Westfield.
Can't even get to Nando's.

RIP the young man
who got stabbed
to death today
in Stratford #Westfield.

It's a
sad
world
we live

MEMORIAL

This poem is for those who have suffered or died from cancer. I have set up a just giving page for Cancer Research UK here: Click here

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia
Adrenocortical carcinoma
Anal cancer
Appendix cancer
Astrocytoma

Basal-cell carcinoma
Bladder cancer
Bone tumour
Brainstem glioma
Brain cancer
Breast cancer
Bronchial adenomas/carcinoids
Burkitt's lymphoma

Carcinoid tumour
Carcinoma
Central nervous system lymphoma
Cerebellar astrocytoma
Cervical cancer
Childhood cancers
Cholangiocarcinoma
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Chronic myelogenous leukemia
Chronic myeloproliferative disorders
Colon cancer
Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

Desmoplastic small round cell tumour

Endometrial cancer
Ependymoma
Esophageal cancer
Ewing's sarcoma
Extracranial germ cell tumour
Extragonadal germ cell tumour
Extrahepatic bile duct cancer

Gallbladder cancer
Gastric cancer
Gastrointestinal carcinoid tumour
Gastrointestinal stromal tumour
Germ cell tumour
Gestational trophoblastic tumour
Giloma
Gastric carcinoid

Hairy cell leukemia
Head and neck cancer
Heart cancer
Hepatocellular cancer
Hodgkin lymphoma
Hypopharyngeal cancer
Hypothalamic and visual pathway glioma

Intraocular melanoma
Islet cell carcinoma

Kaposi sarcoma
Kidney cancer

Laryngeal cancer
Lip and oral cavity cancer
Liposarcoma
Liver cancer
Lung cancer
Lymphoma

Macroglobulinemia
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma
Malignant glioma
Medulloblastoma
Melanoma
Merkel cell carcinoma
Mesothelioma
Metastic squamous neck cancer
Mouth cancer
Multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome
Multiple myeloma
Mycosis fungoides
Myelodysplastic syndromes
Myelodysplastic diseases
Myeloid leukemia
Myeloproliferative disorders

Nasal cavity and paranasal sinus cancer
Nasopharyngeal carcionma
Neuroblastoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Non-small lung cancer

Oral cancer
Oropharyngeal cancer
Osteosarcoma
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian epithelial cancer
Ovarian germ cell tumour
Ovararian low malignant potential tumour

Pancreatic cancer
Parathyroid cancer
Penile cancer
Pharyngeal cancer
Pheochromocytoma
Pineal astrocytoma
Pineal germinoma
Pineoblastoma
Pituatary adenoma
Plasma cell neoplasia
Pleuropulmonary blastoma
Primary central nervous system lymphoma
Prostate cancer

Rectal cancer
renal cell carcionoma
renal pelvis and ureter, transitional cell cancer
Retinoblastoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma

Salivary gland cancer
Sezry syndrome
Skin cancer nonmelanoma
Skin cancer melanoma
Skin carcinoma
Small cell lung cancer
Small intestine cancer
Soft tissue sarcoma
Squamous cell carcinoma
Squamous neck cancer with occult primary
Stomach cancer
Supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumours

T-cell lymphoma
Testicular cancer
Throat cancer
Thymona
Thymic carcinoma
Thyroid cancer
Trophoblastic cancer

Unknown primary site carcinoma
Unknown primary site cancer
Urethral cancer
Uterine cancer
Uterine sarcoma

Vaginal cancer
Vulvar cancer

Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia
Wilms tumour


A reminder that you can donate to Cancer Research UK here

AUDEN AND THE SUN

It is hard not to laugh

when you see the great poet

finding his balance atop

the world's tallest ladder

in a pair of dungarees

Indeed, it would be

downright foolish not to.

These are things to do with grief

as boxes are to do with moving house.

Imagine him, his face red

from all that sun and work

and sweat. His paper face

puffing in the breeze

as he spanners the bolts free

and removes the supports,

slicing off wedges like cheese.

As boxes are to do with moving house,

these are things to do with grief.

And what does it mean

to drown yourself daily

in darkness? Here he comes,

on feeble legs, down

the last few struts at the foot,

all that weight on his back

heavy as a black hole.

These are things to do with grief

as boxes are to do with moving house.

In a moment everything

can suddenly be gone

like a street where no-one is.

His paper face is blowing

round the sidewalks of New York

as the subway rattles underneath.

There is space in air.

As boxes are to do with moving house,

these are things to do with grief.