Wilstonegreen

By William Craig

Madness is for the popular, those who have people around to notice it. Others will suffer alone, their crimes true crimes with no excuses, their behaviour; unacceptable, their rooms are cells and their minds echo the trot, trot, trot of deformed wild horses. They are monsters in the making. They are headlines waiting to happen and they are everywhere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Feb 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481782951

William Craig

William is a native Californian who was born in Los Angeles in January, 1961. In 1991, after serving and being honorably discharged from the Armed Forces, getting married and fathering a son. William sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Brain surgery was a given, but no one expected the stroke that occurred during the procedure. William's life expired for 11 minutes, and although he lost the use of half his body, he gained an extraordinary ability: the ability to use words to fuel hearts with the strength of joy and charge minds with the power of wisdom. Fortunately, movement was restored to his right leg. He also delightfully shocked medical personnel, family, and friends by fathering a miracle daughter. This is what motivated William to remove the "quit option" from his life, moving forward. William now dedicates his time inspiring others that they, too, can overcome the gravitational pull of challenges that hold them down.

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© 2013 by William Craig. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 02/11/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-8293-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-8294-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-8295-1 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

1. In This World

2. Such a Shame

3. Family Court Part 268467

4. Finally

5. Carousel

6. Only in Dreams

7. Nothing Flies in Tuscany

8. Two Streets Too Many (Raging Insanity)

9. Perverts and Pills

10. Days

11. Counting Spiders

12. In His Place

13. The Pulling of the Rope

14. From This Place, Rebecca

15. Footprints on the Sun

16. Sitting Wondering Wishing

17. One Night in Rotterdam

18. And London

19. Over and Over

20. Normal Is What Normal Does

21. Barrel Boy

22. There Are Flowers in My Garden

23. Black Foot

24. Writers Alike

25. These Are the Lost

26. He Can Relate

27. Nothing Lasts Forever

28. Four More Poems

29. It All Adds Up

30. Don’t Blame the Hargies

31. Like a Monkey on E

32. Just Carry On

33. Alone

34. That Much More

35. Reason

36. The Poet Chews His Fingernails

37. Roll Another Cigarette

38. Don’t Give Up, Samantha

39. A Dream to Cling To

40. Monsters Need Feeding

41. And You Will Burn

42. The Individual

43. To Write

44. She Left Me for a Woman

45. Not Just Another Artist

46. Troubled Crop

47. Scared Fat Bastards

48. The Dinner Date

49. The Retard

50. What Do the Ants Know?

51. Victoria

52. Each Drink Is as Bad as the Last

53. Gonzo Bonzo

54. Cowards

55. Sometimes

56. Rules of Attraction

57. These Women

58. Her

59. I Miss You

60. I Still Miss You

61. Rough Love

62. Your Days Are Numbered

63. My Brother Daniel and the Six Ducks Incident

64. On Reflection

65. Down the Working Classes

66. One in Two

67. That Dirty Old Lace

68. Poets with Children

69. On the Fence

70. Open the Box

71. My Father and His Cookie Duster

72. Family

73. In the East End of the City

74. Gravy Pirates

75. Three Pips

76. The Worms that Live Between the Clouds

77. The Night

78. Colour-Coded Curry Pipes

79. In Time

80. Sirens

81. To Gather My Thoughts

82. Dangerous Men

83. Always Pay the Clerk

84. The Girl In the Flowery Dress

85. I Have Been Warned

86. Hearts and Coins

87. I Struggle

In This World

In this world

which spins

out of control,

turning

the first night

into

the last day.

Streets,

full of puke and spit,

from those

who intoxicate

themselves

in an effort

to avoid their truths,

their fears,

their children.

A dirty,

cuddly toy,

laying

at the side of the road,

is scarred

with a tyre print.

It used to enjoy

the love

of a child,

but the child

grew up

and replaced it

with a

gun.

The man,

drinking port

and vintage wine

in his Masonic lodge,

stands back

and watches

the degeneration

of society,

stands back

and watches ships

sail on the blood

which flows

from the wounds

of

the smaller man.

Pop stars

and false prophets,

performing

under the guise

of culture,

recede to the banks

to count

the coins

left by those

who seek icons

and a metaphorical

light

at the end

of a hypothetical

tunnel.

Cancer,

working its way

through the evolutionary chain,

cutting down

the strong

and denying

the weak.

This viral weapon

knows no boundaries;

no one is safe.

Killers and perverts,

preying on the beautiful

who play

in God’s garden,

lurking

in the shadows,

just waiting

to make a name

for

themselves.

Poets,

chewing on pens

and screwing up paper.

They are alone

among many

and desperate

to produce something

just

that little bit different.

Every chord,

every note,

every line

and every joke,

strummed,

plucked,

spoken, and told.

Nothing is new,

nothing can grow,

for we have reached

our

full potential

and blown it.

Mothers,

daughters,

sisters, and aunts,

all longing

for that

childhood

fantasy,

to be loved.

To be carried away

by a prince

on a white horse.

But inevitably,

sitting alone

night after night,

crying

into

a chocolate bar.

Fish,

staying clear of the shore,

they’ve no intention

of growing legs,

for they

resent evolution.

And me,

frequenting back streets

and crack alleys

under the shadow

of darkness,

in an effort

to avoid you,

in an effort

to avoid myself.

In this world,

which spins

out of control,

turning

the first night

into

the last day.

Such a Shame

It was

another

in a long line

of

great

weekends.

But

when she

got home

she

couldn’t

take off

her

socks.

All

she

wanted

to do

was take off

those

socks

and

show

her mother

how

pretty

her toes

looked.

But

she couldn’t,

she

was

too scared.

She waited

until

bedtime.

Once

in bed

she

reached down

and

with her

fingernails

she

scraped off

the

varnish.

Then

she

swept

the sheet

clean.

Then

she cried

herself

to sleep

thinking

of

me.

Family Court Part 268467

So I sit in his office and watch

as he fingers through some

pointless paperwork.

The sun shines through the window

and reflects off his bald head.

His face is a real horror show,

it looks like a nose and two

eyes nailed on to a cunt.

From time to time he pulls his

glasses down his nailed on nose,

only to push them back up a few

seconds later.

I look at him for a while longer.

I can smell his miserable marriage.

I can smell his miserable youth.

I think about leaping across

the desk and biting him,

then I think better of it.

Mr Sylvester, he starts, "it’s not looking

good I’m afraid. Your exwife has

the law in her favour. She can

continue to make things difficult

and there’s very little I can do."

I know that in a few days

I’ll be sitting at home and

I’ll hear the post and it’ll be

a bill from this very office.

And at that time, I’m sure,

there will be very little I can do.

Finally

Ring a ring a roses,

a pocket full of

Prozac.

A sick man

on a hard bed

under white sheets

comes

to the final stop

of

his journey

through life.

Liquid stimulants

dilute

his blood.

Stimulants

he paid for

at the self-service