The person behind the cat. — I’m an artsy ‘bohemian’ type, in my fifties, living in the rural north of England, with my partner, our teenager and a collection of animals. I mainly write personal essays and poetry — occasionally a book review or opinion piece. Often a combination of those. Mental health is something very…

A Poem — Dark he stands, A shadow, Eyes downcast, Cheeks gaunt, Full bearded, A face that haunts, Lit end of cigarette, Flickers back and forth, A dark presence, In a dark alley, Moon behind clouds, Damp curls the air, And edges of his hair, Where it falls, Below the brim, Of his cap…

Say No to War. Poppies come in colours other than red. We wear white on Remembrance Day in November and since 1982 when International Conscientious Objectors Day was first declared and observed around the world, I’ve made it a point to mark the day as best I can. This year, one of the ways in which I’m…

Never a simple prospect, in no small part because it seems like a ‘Groundhog Day’ situation from which there’s no escape, but with the right mindset and the right support, life can still be rich and fulfilling. — “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” — Marcus Aurelius I woke up this morning. I suppose I should be grateful for that — there are plenty ‘Think Positive’/’Choose Gratitude’ advocates…

It feels like Deja-vu — At university in an English city in the late 1980s, I protested against ‘Proposition 28', which became Section or Clause 28 in UK law. If you went to school in the UK in the 1990s, you grew up under the control of Section 28. It was a law that censored…

Counter Arts Book Club — April — ‘How We Disappeared’ (Jing-Jing Lee) — I just couldn’t do it. Having struggled through chapter eight, after much thought and consultation with the book club people (Jess the Avocado and Carlos Garbiras), I decided to stop reading this month’s novel. I hardly ever do that, I could probably tell you the titles of the scant few…

Spreading awareness or ‘Poverty Porn’? — If you care about, or want to learn more about, people — how they live, and most importantly WHY — I recommend ‘Soft White Underbelly’. It’s an education. (132) Soft White Underbelly — YouTube Mark Laita, the man behind ‘Soft White Underbelly’, was a successful (award winning) photographer for marketing…

NSFW Artist of the Bloomsbury Set, Charleston, England Duncan Grant, born in Aviemore (Scotland) in 1885, was an artist and designer, a founder of Omega Workshops with Vanessa Bell (1913). He was a core member of ‘The Bloomsbury Group’…

Our nom de plumes are connected elsewhere, our real selves have our real lives, but here… — A Poem For Arthur Dewson Just some random person on Medium Don’t know, I could be one of many Who fell in love with your poetry Yet now I want to go base jumping Dive deep into you Learn about your soul If your eyes tell the truth I know I will enjoy…