Barry Graham's Blog, page 9

"Yer da sells Avon!"

"Aye, yer da's is best customer."

She packs boxes. He sits in a chair. She has her back to him as she works. She occasionally turns to face him as she searches for another item to pack. Each time she turns in his direction, he looks away from her, pretending he is not watching her.

He gets up and goes over to a table on which there is a pot of coffee and some cups. He pours coffee into two cups, then picks up the cups and extends one toward her. She takes it.

He goes back to his chair and sits, drinking his coffee and not looki...

Frost on the ground,
Condensation on the window.
Maybe something brittle
broke along the way;

I’ve learned there’s no such thing
As a perfect triangle
And now there doesn’t seem
That much to say.

Between seasons,
Colours indistinct,
Painted life in shades
Not quite of grey,

No stone to be cast
Between guilt and innocence,
And now there doesn’t seem
That much to say.

Water on the glass
Makes it hard to see.
From outside comes
An old dog’s tired bark.

None of this
Is near being true.
No young or old, only new.
The sk...

adults shouting
children crying
memory — safety of libraries

The American singer-songwriter Holly Puckett listened to this song by the Scottish rapper Mog, and remarked to me that if rapping stops being fun he could go into pharmacy.

zazen on veranda
tower block hermitage
sirens and birdsong

I hate being right about Trump. I predicted he'd get the nomination, and I predicted he'd become President. I predicted the vaunted "checks and balances" wouldn't stop him from doing whatever he felt like, because, as he has shown, that system depends on the President choosing to comply with it.

With Cohen and Manafort both guilty, pundits are heralding the impending downfall of Trump. I don't think any of this is going to hurt him at all, and I predict he'll be elected to a second term.