This is a poem and some music that I wrote in 2001 at the height of the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in the North East of England. I subsequently recorded it with the superb Northumbrian Piper Andy May on his album "The Yellow -Haired Laddie " released on Fellside in 2003. It was a real honour to collaborate with Andy and I hope one day to be able to write another piece of music for him.

This will be my last podcast for a little while - but the blog continues here.




Place of smells and silence

Of faces and paper

A haze of care


Lift The Patient

The Patient Is Lifted


Handflighted into bed

I can't resist


Lift The Patient

The Patient Is Lifted


Sink featherlight forever into sheets

Drift into conversations with someone.


In the rain

Two fat pigeons snuggle in.


I perch to shit on a tea tray

In the night count drips of saline

Invaded by fear

Memories of blood and light.


The old man in the bed next door shouts " Joanna!"

At least I think it was him.

The night you twocced my heart
I thought it was secured -
Parked, locked and under lights
Taxed, tested and insured

The night you twocced my heart
I left it parked in gear
Downhill in the suburbs
And dented in the rear

The night you twocced my heart
It had been cleaned – it’s just
The exterior trim was shabby
With a lot less chrome than rust.

The night you twocced my heart.
At forty it was shaking
It backfired in the morning
And had inconsistent braking.

The night you twocced my heart
You’d have spotted something wrong
The carburettor floods
If you choke it for too long

The night you twocced my heart
The heat blew hot – then cold
The fan-belt started squeaking
And an offside tyre was bald.

The night you twocced my heart
It veered slightly to the left
Covered only by Third Party
Immune to fire or theft.

The night you twocced my heart
It did have a full tank
– A tiger’s tail and sticker
Saying “Atomkraft – Nein Danke”

The night you twocced my heart.
It’s one of the older types
Ready for a re-tune
And white Go Faster stripes.

The night you twocced my heart
I thought you’d soon despair
The clutch is always slipping
And the body needs repair

The night you twocced my heart.
Why you took it is a mystery.
It had several careless owners
And no full service history.

It isn’t a new model
It doesn’t always start
But it went from nought to sixty
The night you twocced my heart.

always arrives a wet dog coughing

like dawn doors in the gloom

or axe on wood


days end early too

my conker socket eyes

stare up at lower suns

dead things turn white bellied

toward the North



and first frost expected

thought lost

etched in laced dreams of glass

edges iced



and a letter to a lover

penned from the front line

ripped open eagerly

as snow falls smiling

On the floor in my hallway

Early spring sunlight on our faces

We sit in shadowless conversation.


Through the open door the daffodils nod acquaintance with translucent privet

And the sweet smell of earth rises.


You tell me about the time you sat in a room for a whole day

Moving round to follow the sun

As it lit each wall in turn.


On reflection

I think that the sun followed you

And finally, at dusk

Lay with its head on your lap

As I do now.

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