Wilstonegreen
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About this ebook
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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Wilstonegreen - William Craig
© 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