Tell your story. Shout it. Write it. Whisper it if you have to. But tell it. Some won't understand it. Some will outright reject it. But many will thank you for it. And then the mostmagical thing will happen. One by one, voices will start whispering, 'Me, too.'And your tribe will gather. And you will … Continue reading My Tribe
life
Monday Musing
Morning Pogue, I’ve had a week off from writing letters because, well, I just hadn’t got enough thoughts stored away to commit anything meaningful to paper. Sometimes the well runs dry and I need a place of silence to replenish myself. Know that one? Anyway, you asked me a question and my mind has been … Continue reading Monday Musing
This is the Poem
This is the poem that changed the world,This is the poem that made men thinkAnd questioned all they could possibly do,These are the words that laid bare the truthThen the truth did what only it doesAnd the cracks began to appearMaking wise men smile for the time has come,When all will be laid bareAnd all … Continue reading This is the Poem
Tears On The Street
There have been more than 200 mass shootings across the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are injured or killed. Their figures include shootings that happen in homes and in public places BBC NEWS 9TH MAY … Continue reading Tears On The Street
Monday Musing
Hi Pogue, Another letter of home thoughts from abroad. I’m still on the road and moving through Bhutan, a country that is a complete contrast to it’s close neighbour Nepal. There is a sense of serenity and order with none of the apparent signs of being underdeveloped or the overt poverty that I had witnessed … Continue reading Monday Musing
This day…
Well Pogue, If I told the roads in Nepal weren’t the best I’d be cutting the roads some slack. Honest. We had a seven hour car journey yesterday back to Kathmandu. In England, three hours, tops. It eventually took fifteen hours. Now we were travelling on the main road to Kathmandu but having gone, maybe, … Continue reading This day…
Monday Musing…on a Tuesday 😳
Morning Pogue, I’ve been off the grid doing a trek in the Himalayas. Just a small trek but I was really away from the world and it was nice. Whilst trekking we visited a number of mountain settlements and observed the way the people live. They still cook over open fires, collect water from a … Continue reading Monday Musing…on a Tuesday 😳
Songs To Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now
Hi Pogue, So I’ve been reminded of an old song over the last few days as I’ve wandered around Kathmandu city, especially near the sites with religious significance. It’s something I’ve been loosely aware of at various place when I’m at home but here it’s made me think. It’s the abject poverty that is apparent … Continue reading Songs To Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now
Monday Musing
Dear Pogue, I have a story to tell you today to start the week. You up for that? Good. So there’s this guy who’s a farmer and he grows apples. They’re good apples and they sell OK. Then one day while he’s out walking he passes a neighbouring farm and looking over the fence he … Continue reading Monday Musing
Oranges aren’t the only fruit.
I was sitting in the dentist waiting room this morning when a young lady came in. It soon became apparent that her first language was not English as she tried to explain to the receptionist that she had made an appointment. Fine, except the dentist’s server was not working, no records or information could be … Continue reading Oranges aren’t the only fruit.
Monday Musing
Morning Pogue, I watched a TV series recently where the premises was a group of British agents controlled a programme which gave them access to a reset button. When the world reached a catastrophic event, usually a nuclear event, and the end of the world as we know it was hustling in, the reset button … Continue reading Monday Musing
I wrote a poem
So Pogue, I wrote a poem this week and I received an unexpected response. Two people asked, one directly and one indirectly, “Was that about me?”. Such vanity I’m thinking! First let me deal with the questions. No, it was not about you so, rest easy and know you both are still in my good … Continue reading I wrote a poem
I Just Dropped By
I just dropped by to sayFuck You!I’ve been meaning to do soFor quite a whileAnd because you know I’m not given to swearI hope you’ll feel the passionI hope you’ll know you’ve gone too farWay beyond the boundsAnd me?I grow in strength day by day,I’ve seen a better world,I’m practicing colouringBetween the lines,So my world … Continue reading I Just Dropped By
Monday Musing
Dear Pogue, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking around mental health in the last two weeks. I introduced the subject in a previous Musing when I made mention of the evidence now supporting the effects of Social Media on teenagers over the last 10 years. This is now a well researched subject … Continue reading Monday Musing
Saviours
I was slow to learnBut I’m thinking I am not alone,And when I came to knowIt was like, EYES WIDE OPEN!How did I miss that one?What just happened?I was so blind sidedFor in that momentI came to know that savioursTravel incognitoNot minding they go unrecognisedNor seeking glory and adoring praise,Rather quietly doing what they must … Continue reading Saviours
Monday Musing
Monday Pogue, Another week begins full of adventures. Well, as you are aware, I like to read and often pick up random books and articles. I think you’d say my tastes are eclectic and this week I found myself reading an article from a child psychologist who wanted to say that by the age of … Continue reading Monday Musing
A Bird
There’s a bird I watch from my windowShe comes day after daySoaring on the up draughtsBorn of stormy windsNever fluttering a wingEasyQueen of the skyNot a care or concern can be seenAnd as Lawrence wrote “I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself A small bird drop frozen dead from a bough without ever … Continue reading A Bird
Monday Musing
How you doing Pogue? So I wrote to you last Monday and when you opened the letter you discovered I’d been reflecting on how children and young people live such a different existence now compared with when I was young. And you let the letter get loose and…I got some responses. In fact more than … Continue reading Monday Musing
Close our eyes
We could close our eyesBut would we have to stuff our ears?So the sounds can no longer be heard?And if we did not see,No longer heardThe bullshit that we’re fed as lifeWould we be able to be free,To flourish and grow unhindered.Would the past sink claws into our coatsDragging and clinging,Resisting possibilities of loss of … Continue reading Close our eyes
A Little Magic
Dear Pogue, Having mused on Monday, as is my habit, I came a cross this quote in a feed I take weekly. I felt that it flowed like and from my Monday Musing. It speaks of an alternative world, maybe a better world, a world that is all but lost today. Maybe this is, in … Continue reading A Little Magic
Monday Musing
Hi Pogue, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this last week or two, mainly spurred on by being with you and your two children. Their world, the world you create and try to protect, is nothing like the world of my childhood. They have Lego, but I had Lego. Difference is, I use to … Continue reading Monday Musing
Monday Musing
Morning Pogue, Another letter on your door mat from me. Make coffee, find a comfy seat and sit down to read. It’s Monday. Do you ever come face-to-face with your shortcomings? I have been this week and it has made me realise that I’m not the person that I’d like to think I am. I … Continue reading Monday Musing
It’s Not Your Fault
It’s not your fault,I know, I know,It’s not your fault,Yes I understand,It’s not your fault,I feel your pain,It was done to you when,You were, oh, so young,It was pain when you craved love,And the only light was dark,So you’ve sought so much help,To set you freeFrom what’s gone before,Brutal, callous, undeserved. But it is your … Continue reading It’s Not Your Fault
Monday Musing
Morning Pogue, A few years ago I went on a tour of the World War 1 battlefields travelling throughout France and Belgium. One evening I found myself in a restaurant on the town square in Ypres, Belgium. As I sat my attention was drawn to a group of English school children who were noisily passing … Continue reading Monday Musing
Monday Musing
Morning Pogue, I did something yesterday that I haven’t done in a while, I went to church. You know I have a long and chequered history with the church and after being a regular attender for a long, long time, parted company with them. I would now say, when asked why I left, that the … Continue reading Monday Musing
Reading what’s not there
I’m currently reading what’s not there,It’s taken too long to see Between the lines there are gapsGaps that say so much,It’s what I’m not toldThe things not saidThe omissions waiting to revealThe things I shouldn’t know,But the whole picture seldom is completeSo you’ll forgive me please For reading into what’s not been saidFor pillaging your … Continue reading Reading what’s not there
Long Shadow
My shadow grew longAs I walked awayThe sun shone down behind meI had not realisedHow bright it wasUntil my shadow spoke to me The woods were agedAnd dense with growthI walked for hoursLost in thoughtBut then the woodsman cameFinally I saw the trees Music has filled my daysAn undemanding companionOccupying the spaceBut then I foundI … Continue reading Long Shadow
Songs Too Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now.
Pogue, I have a favourite bench in the woods where I walk. To get there I have to climb across two or three fields, walk up a gully and there it is, surrounded by aged trees. Where’s the song in that? Well it is a place of peace and solitude that I come to, often … Continue reading Songs Too Pogue…What I’m Listening To Now.
Monday Musings
Hi Pogue, Over the last few weeks I’ve found occasional moments when I have unwittingly slipped into dark thoughts. And believe me there is plenty of reason to go to that place. One episode of the daily news has the potential to send a weak mind into a tail spin. But in so many situations, … Continue reading Monday Musings
The Search For Jesus
Pogue, Further to my email last week on Jesus I’ve continued musing and thinking about how I can discover the “real” Jesus. Is that even possible after all this time? Here’s a thing. Have you ever thought that Paul, the Apostle, never knew Jesus. And that’s important I’m thinking because they were men of a … Continue reading The Search For Jesus
You must be logged in to post a comment.