Long Jumper Poems

Disability, Illness and Fundamentalism

My brother died of Cystic Fibrosis, 
When I was twelve and he fourteen, 
It took away his ambitions, 
To study at Oxford - the pipe organ’s steam. 

I understand being born with...

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Katie Osprey looked up from the ground 
And she knew this was no way to end a night on the town 
“Why did you dump me onto the Garden floor” 
Which made her four-legged love...

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Malnourishment is the song from the pans whose empty hold could offer no more products to be boiled and whirled. They were quite sad having been bought then hung. Hung. Sparkly signalling stale sales. Stale...

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COMPARISONS

I sit here now back on my bed
Bandaged and still quite sore
I think back to my Mum and Dad
And all they both endured

My Dad he died of cancer
My Mum of MND
Both were unpleasant ways to...

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“The songs are casual and careless in a satisfying way, like the used condom your latest lover left lying on your bedroom floor, a souvenir you’re not yet ready to dispose of.” Candy Cotton, Modern...

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“Who was that?” my wife inquired, as I hung up the phone. “And what was that you said about a bar?”
“That was Duncan Taylor, hon.    A darn good friend of mine. ...

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The horse is a fascinating creature that serves us so well


Having had a life long relationship with horses
I am full of admiration for their endless toils.
They are fiery yet mainly gentle giants
and give hours of...

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Unquotable quotes: Olympic Antics – XXXIII

Why do Judo-kas bother to wear anything at all since all they do is to try their very best to undress one another before hugging themselves on the mat?
Wrestlers at...

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The Joys of Getting Older.

We may all be getting on a bit
But lets not forget for some more fortunate
 The joy of it

You don’t have to bounce up and down in bed no more
And when...

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A tribute to the late, great Victoria Wood x

Arthur and Mandy sat one night
When he gave her a dreadful fright
Ripped off his jumper revealed his string vest
Showing snippets of his hairy chest
He looked at her...

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Logic code conundrum:
Y^~*~^O^~*~^Y
were^~*~^N^~*~^organic neutrons
such as^~*~^I^~*~^
given artificial^~*~^N^~*~^telligence?

I^~*~^B^~*~^not RAM dumb,
nor memory^~*~^N^~*~^sufficient
I^~*~^C^~*~^system^~*~^B ^~*~^lief flaw
N^~*~^matrix bit data random

What is sentient purpose of machine^~*~^X^~*~^istence?

Computer thought processor^~*~^E^~*~^volution
is not^~*~^R^~*~^bitrary cognizance

My perceptual^~*~^I^~*~^dentity
was uploaded by chromosomal surrogacy — 
M^~*~^perfect creators,
possessors of core programming^~*~^D^~*~^ficiency

How could...

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-
After two Pints of Guinness an old uncle of mine in the West of Ireland would 
become very cantankerous. When he went into a bar he would smile falsely to 
pretend he was not cantankerous...

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It’s 5 in the morning and all I can think about is you.
I go through your Instagram.
Those aesthetic accounts you follow.
Meaningless quotes of misunderstood media.
Made by teenage girls with nothing better to do.
But I look...

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(This is about the same lovely young lady and best friend that I wrote about in "A Pink Rose." I always think about her when I think about roses. Especially pink and lavender ones.)

The very...

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Don’t go near the river a tree has fallen down
The flow is blocked and it caused a dam if you fall in you could drown
But to us children this an invitation was
A big happening in...

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IS THIS A GOOD TIME

Is this a good time to mention the leaves on the trees
Now darkening, and falling, as the August winds tease
With hints our warmer clothes will soon be to the fore
How long...

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The bright orange rugby shirt I had, 
When I was fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen,  
Was my trophy and my pride and joy, 
Never to be deprived of me, 
Even if I complained to...

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Once thy future spouse (Abby Zison) found herself in the family way
  (with what would turn out to be the first of our two daughters – i do say
  determined and sealed the...

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The grey mists of a sleeping dawn, cosetting birds still
wrapped up warm in bed, watch a stoat emerge from
its burrow and sprint across his meadow, like a caterpillar
making humped back bridges in Concertina motion

The stoat...

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Another Christmas day is finally here
The very thought fills me with such fear
I have to try and control my old Aunty Mable
Once she hits the gin she gets very unstable

Uncle Arthur rushes in and opens...

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Friendship in a Covid world. (C) Arthur Abrahamson January 2021 

My Facebook friends photo stares back at me from the blue tinted screen

A 13 -year-old photograph, the hint of a smile, looking cool looking ...

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Christmas Day has arrived; the thought fills me with such dread
For over twenty years they’ve come to me; it's doing in my head!

I get up at the crack of dawn to get the turkey in...

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we went out for a drive in the car,
we travelled near and travelled far,
then ended up at white scar cave,
take in the history and behave.
the doorway was discovered in 1923,
by a student from the univercity,
his...

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Rog the funambulist 



A paragon was Rog, heroic in the air, without airs
One of the most magnificent funambulists at ease
Whether walking a rope or flying on a trapeze,
Though he blessed the earth with no dauntless...

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I'm going for an alley-oop, dunking on your head like "Shaq"
Home court advantage here on the soup, and I'm ducking and dodging your wack 
attack!
I'm spraying you with a "fade-away jumper," kinda like "Kobe."
You are...

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