A Handful of Words – For your amusement

After ’96 Vandam’ by Gerald Stern – Three attempts

Aftermath of the UK Election – Recognising the challenges ahead

Amy Yin – Dancing, dreaming and dying

An A-Z of Equality – Equal rights and equality of opportunity is everything

Aqua – Delightful droplets

Arrival – Arrival is now

Arriving Slowly – From the legacy of damp

Balanced Tulip Glass – Water continues on

Balancing – Light and Dark

Brave Little Heart – A leap to freedom

Change Will Keep Coming For You – But you can be ready for it

Changing The Guard – Marking a new beginning

Choices – Driven by experience or expediency

Comfit Comforts – The sweetness of a black tongue

Coming and Going – And gone forever

Coming Up for Breath – Fresh perspectives are a bonus

Commuting – Wish it was the weekend

Dastardly Dave – May he be cursed forever

Dear Bullies – Open letter to the bullies I have had in my life

Disconnected – No longer on the planet

Doctor, Doctor – Just exactly what health advice are you giving out

Drifting – Slowly escaping

Face – A consideration of physiognomy

Fatherland – Occupying the territory

From Looking to Listening – Flapping my ears for text

Generosity and Kindness – Creating contentment all around

Getting It Right – And making it work well for you

Gills and Fins – For children everywhere

Glaikit – Or embracing the slow life?

His Five Aspects of Self – Ecological, Interpersonal, Narrative/Extended, Private, Conceptual

How to Make Sure Things Get Done – Despite the distractions

How to Make Your Fish Ride a Bicycle – When all it wants to do is climb ladders

I Want To Be – Not yet certain

I Will Be Right Back – After my summer break

In My Garden There is a Tree – Full of red berries

In The City – Choking on the dust

Island of Silence – Tranquil existence

Learning to Soar – Breaking free

Life – And how it sounds

Living in The UK – Week beginning 3 June 2024

Living The Reality – On Relationships

Look After Yourself – Don’t just read about it or think about it

Love Beyond a Box – A tale of two realities

Making Fun of The Self – On talking whilst alone

Managing Energy – Incorporating all kinds of days

Melting Clock Face – Slow is the way

Mouse and Fraser – Who will win this war?

Moving Forward – And feeling very positive

Mr Robinson’s Razor – And something to shave away

My Dad – And other forms of silence

My Sunday – With shadows of the past

My Voice – My voice is Scottish

Nine-and-Three Quarters Things I Do Every Day – What else am I to do?

Not Perfect – But I think it is ok

Not So Cute – But absolute skill

Note To Self – Moving on

Notes from Dispatches – ‘Welcome Week’

Old Cronies – Friends for life

Participation – Now

Pockets – Full of memories

Pondering Life – And how it relates to ongoing reading and writing in 2024

Postcard Home – Stuck on earth

Procrastination Busting – How to break the dam we have built

Quercus Robur – The joy of English oak

Red Armchair – Existing as a magic portal

Reminders – Of how we fall and rise

Renewed, Refreshed, Replenished – Leaving Summer break behind

Repetition – To follow or not to follow?

Respect – And accept difference

Ripples of a Positive Thought – Combo poem one

Ruby Prompts Prompt one – Fraser composition

Searching for Love (A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.)

Seneca, Asthma and Me – Making a connection over the centuries

Something – Anything

Streetball – Kids with skills

Sun Shining Down – And winter gone

Taking Time to Tick – Meandering moments

Tanks on the Hill, Guns on the Streets – And amphibious vehicles on the beach

Tea In An Instant – Refreshing

Ten Ways NOT to Write Listicles – Excitement does not wait within

Thank-you Everyone – Much appreciated

That Was the Week – Beginning 11 November 2024

That Was the Week – Beginning 18 November 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning 28 October 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning 4 November

That Was The Week – Beginning on 15 April 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning on 22 April 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning on 7 October 2024

That Was the Week – Beginning on 9 September 2024

The Cold and Dark – I see the snow that isn’t there

The Day Efter The Morra – A poem in Scots

The Demise of Old Lions – As birds take flight

The Good Life – This old jalopy keeps on going

The Gradual Groan – And the hacks in your bones

The Journey There – And the rhythm…

The Only Truth – Inspired by ‘Kathy’s Song’ by Paul Simon

The Streets – Are not paved with gold

The Value of Ignorance – And how it enriches my life

The Wide Blue Ocean – Contained within a BIC pen

Thinking About Writing for Wellbeing – And what it means to me

This Is The Day – The day for…

Tree of Words

Tugging Cloths – Create your own art

Turning A New Leaf – Nothing is what it seems

Underground – Labyrinthine burrows

Walking in Bristol (UK) – And finding carvings from trees in Purdown

We Had – All that we needed

Writing for Wellbeing – I take a step forward this week

Writing For Wellbeing – Helps me become a better human

Coming and Going – And gone forever

Last week was the departure
Bella has gone
this week is the arrival
sons and daughters
never seen before

they gather for
whatever Bella left them
and they rake over
the remains of her possessions
the final accoutrements
of a life well-lived
but one they barely knew

abandoned for 20 years
in housing for older people
we all knew her well
so we will wait for them to go

and then we will remember
the whole of her life
as she told it to us
over tea and laughter

and the tears she shed then
are shed now on her behalf

Fraser
November 2024

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A Handful of Words – For your amusement

After ’96 Vandam’ by Gerald Stern – Three attempts

Aftermath of the UK Election – Recognising the challenges ahead

Amy Yin – Dancing, dreaming and dying

An A-Z of Equality – Equal rights and equality of opportunity is everything

Aqua – Delightful droplets

Arrival – Arrival is now

Arriving Slowly – From the legacy of damp

Balanced Tulip Glass – Water continues on

Balancing – Light and Dark

Brave Little Heart – A leap to freedom

Change Will Keep Coming For You – But you can be ready for it

Changing The Guard – Marking a new beginning

Choices – Driven by experience or expediency

Comfit Comforts – The sweetness of a black tongue

Coming and Going – And gone forever

Coming Up for Breath – Fresh perspectives are a bonus

Commuting – Wish it was the weekend

Dastardly Dave – May he be cursed forever

Dear Bullies – Open letter to the bullies I have had in my life

Disconnected – No longer on the planet

Doctor, Doctor – Just exactly what health advice are you giving out

Drifting – Slowly escaping

Face – A consideration of physiognomy

Fatherland – Occupying the territory

From Looking to Listening – Flapping my ears for text

Generosity and Kindness – Creating contentment all around

Getting It Right – And making it work well for you

Gills and Fins – For children everywhere

Glaikit – Or embracing the slow life?

His Five Aspects of Self – Ecological, Interpersonal, Narrative/Extended, Private, Conceptual

How to Make Sure Things Get Done – Despite the distractions

How to Make Your Fish Ride a Bicycle – When all it wants to do is climb ladders

I Want To Be – Not yet certain

I Will Be Right Back – After my summer break

In My Garden There is a Tree – Full of red berries

In The City – Choking on the dust

Island of Silence – Tranquil existence

Learning to Soar – Breaking free

Life – And how it sounds

Living in The UK – Week beginning 3 June 2024

Living The Reality – On Relationships

Look After Yourself – Don’t just read about it or think about it

Love Beyond a Box – A tale of two realities

Making Fun of The Self – On talking whilst alone

Managing Energy – Incorporating all kinds of days

Melting Clock Face – Slow is the way

Mouse and Fraser – Who will win this war?

Moving Forward – And feeling very positive

Mr Robinson’s Razor – And something to shave away

My Dad – And other forms of silence

My Sunday – With shadows of the past

My Voice – My voice is Scottish

Nine-and-Three Quarters Things I Do Every Day – What else am I to do?

Not Perfect – But I think it is ok

Not So Cute – But absolute skill

Note To Self – Moving on

Notes from Dispatches – ‘Welcome Week’

Old Cronies – Friends for life

Participation – Now

Pockets – Full of memories

Pondering Life – And how it relates to ongoing reading and writing in 2024

Postcard Home – Stuck on earth

Procrastination Busting – How to break the dam we have built

Quercus Robur – The joy of English oak

Red Armchair – Existing as a magic portal

Reminders – Of how we fall and rise

Renewed, Refreshed, Replenished – Leaving Summer break behind

Repetition – To follow or not to follow?

Respect – And accept difference

Ripples of a Positive Thought – Combo poem one

Ruby Prompts Prompt one – Fraser composition

Searching for Love (A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.)

Seneca, Asthma and Me – Making a connection over the centuries

Something – Anything

Streetball – Kids with skills

Sun Shining Down – And winter gone

Taking Time to Tick – Meandering moments

Tanks on the Hill, Guns on the Streets – And amphibious vehicles on the beach

Tea In An Instant – Refreshing

Ten Ways NOT to Write Listicles – Excitement does not wait within

Thank-you Everyone – Much appreciated

That Was the Week – Beginning 11 November 2024

That Was the Week – Beginning 18 November 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning 28 October 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning 4 November

That Was The Week – Beginning on 15 April 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning on 22 April 2024

That Was The Week – Beginning on 7 October 2024

That Was the Week – Beginning on 9 September 2024

The Cold and Dark – I see the snow that isn’t there

The Day Efter The Morra – A poem in Scots

The Demise of Old Lions – As birds take flight

The Good Life – This old jalopy keeps on going

The Gradual Groan – And the hacks in your bones

The Journey There – And the rhythm…

The Only Truth – Inspired by ‘Kathy’s Song’ by Paul Simon

The Streets – Are not paved with gold

The Value of Ignorance – And how it enriches my life

The Wide Blue Ocean – Contained within a BIC pen

Thinking About Writing for Wellbeing – And what it means to me

This Is The Day – The day for…

Tree of Words

Tugging Cloths – Create your own art

Turning A New Leaf – Nothing is what it seems

Underground – Labyrinthine burrows

Walking in Bristol (UK) – And finding carvings from trees in Purdown

We Had – All that we needed

Writing for Wellbeing – I take a step forward this week

Writing For Wellbeing – Helps me become a better human