stray-nge happ-nings

strange happenings

call point checks

running for miles

twilight reveries

swimming 

until stillness descends
and reaches
until it's hard to breathe

strange happenings

silence in the shrine room

words by a canal 

the storm is raging in hackbridge

the dogs are barking in unison

a doll speaks

the money doesn't add up

strange happenings

outside 

not inside the internet

pearlette

she said i would learn

strange happenings

outside a steam room
shrouded in white light
an elderly arab woman

 kisses my cheek

she says congratulations

i tell her she has mistaken me

for someone else
some one else. 

as she leaves she says
 she hopes 

it will come true
for you....

spirit guide?

 cosmic guru?

strange happenings

nothing ever happens

to exist in a black hole
to be swallowed up by the sun
to be blown away in hackbridge

gosh, that'd be fun >_<

jummah at sulimaniye

friday prayers

at suleymaniye masjid 
                                   wedged between 

a turkish giant

and a west african queen

nails done, scarlet

 gold rings adorning fingers

a fine and glamorous abaya 

gleaming

perfect made up face

beaming

noor spreads

the khutbah is in turkish

lost in translation

i try to translate 

the

unhearing

deeply caring

beautiful uzbek mother 

sign to her

young boy

jummah at suleymaniye

the men gather outside

wearing thawbs and smiles

kids squat on stairs by the tents

eating fresh kebabs and chicken
cooked by elders on the streets  

smoke spreads

kanafe and cake, 

families rejoice 

friends relate 

jummah at sulimaniye

haggerston lyf

fulham micro climate

a cup of tea

the courage to be disliked

meiko kaji

blinding light

it refracts off the walls 

of the secret garden

insulating

the orchard 

its piercing beams 

 burn through the eyes

of caterpillars 

the legs of the ants 

collapse under its weight 

the bodies are blown away

the queen is nowhere to be found

i close my book

and lie back on the grass

the earth is quivering, inconsolable      

its still turning, 

bruised, broken, defiled 

earth is still yearning, 

for respite. 

the wretched are suffering, ever still

the walruses fall to their death

the sea lion's child is taken

the glaciers are melting

pink floyd is lamenting

-hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way-

- shad o's

umbra sumus

but our shadows are giants

but our shadows are friends

sometimes they guide us

sometimes they follow us

sometimes they shrink

sometimes I think 

umbra sumus

 the lights will soon go out
what are you waiting for

?

elderly hearts

>//.

learning from the elders

the art of gratitude

of servitude, of living

of life, and a joy 

that runs deep

deeper that deep

 amazing graze

mac n cheese

the  kind hearted chef cooked up
to please.
us all, she gives some to the delivery boy

and human kindness is overwhelming

and when the years turn into decades

and almost a century has passed

and you're old
and fragile and ever so slow 

and visitors are few and far between

then you will know

what it means to be human

she said one day you'll be old

but in here / we take care of each other

we take care of each other

WE TAKE CARE
OF EACH OTHER

and the generation is passing over

that golden generation

you know the kind

the ones

THAT TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER

god, my heart it feels so full

when I'm with the elders

real people living real lives
with names like Pyliss and Mabel and Winston and Remi
names like June, Marina and Grace
the colours of the rainbow
they only fade,
in the minds eye of some, 

in a world of pomp and fakery

I ask of you,
teach me everything you know

teach how to grow
in wisdom, as well as age
teach me what really matters

while i still have

the illusion of time

tell me- does love really define 

everything u are

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

O