LIKE THE BIRDS ON THE WIRES
As I walked I would occasionally
Look up, up at the sky, up where
The birds ruled, home there to the
Lucky, those who can move in the
Blink of one eye.
This time though the view was kind
Of different; the birds had all
Congregated, like musical notes on
A line, along the telephone wire that
Keeps us in touch with the outside world.
It was then I thought is that how
Leonard Cohen came up with the
Wonderful lyrics to 'Bird on a Wire'
By looking up, up at the sky, drawing
Inspiration from a natural phenomenon.
FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS
There were times when I would live
A life, a wild time, and would often
Find myself falling down those stairs
At the last resort out of my mind,
Always always out of my mind and
Late at night as that was when this
Beautiful gift always got me best
And sometimes it would be 3-15
In the morning and I’d be falling
Down those damn stairs out of
My damn mind feeling like a cat
At the end of his ninth life.
LIKE THOSE OLD DAYS (with my radio on)
I sit here tonight and it
Almost feels like the old-times as
My radio builds up to one of the games of the year
As old footballers talk of teenagers
Turning up to training in brand new
Shiny Mercedes-Benz as I sit here
Writing a life so far removed from
Their gilded existence it just goes to
Show you how capitalism has gone so
Terribly wrong…
BIOGRAPHY
Bradford Middleton was born in south-east London during the summer of 1971 and won his first poetry prize at the age of nine. He then gave up writing poems for nearly twenty-five years and it wasn’t until he landed in Brighton, knowing no one and having no money, that he began again. Ten years later and he’s been lucky enough to have had a few chapbooks published including a new one from Analog Submission Press entitled ‘Flying through this Life like a Bottle Battling Gravity’, his debut from Crisis Chronicles Press (Ohio, USA) and his second effort for Holy & Intoxicated Press (Hastings, UK). He has read around the UK at various bars, venues and festivals and is always keen to get out and read to new crowds. His poetry has also been or will be published shortly in the Chiron Review, Zygote in my Coffee, Section 8, Razur Cuts, Paper & Ink, Grandma Moses ‘Poet to Notice’, Empty Mirror, Midnight Lane Gallery, Bareback Lit and is a Contributing Poet over at the wonderful Mad Swirl. If you like what you’ve read go send a friend request on facebook to bradfordmiddleton1.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times at Artvilla.com ; You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author & https://poetrylifeandtimes.com See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
