POETRY WORKS

In PROSE, POETRY and PICTURES this latest, published in January 2026, is a thin book
which tells the story of the struggle of a small business - a Cocktail Bar - in a small seaside town in the county of Essex, England, employing poetic innovation as a key to success.
The Bruff Experiment.
Appropriately the size of a niche,
an awkward shape, an awkward locus,
fish out of water tempting the focus
of luxury end minority niche.

Romantic, their ambience smooth and suave,
easy seductive and cool as you please
intending imbibing flavours of sleeze.

Together we’re here, in the niche again
as patient as cactus waiting for rain.

3 in one: The first section is a reprint of 'First Plonkout' and includes the long rhythmic poem 'Arrested'; an account of the poet being arrested for the suspected murder of his wife who'd left him without notifying anyone and who seemed to neighbours to have simply disappeared.
"Poodling about jobbing, Taking the days as they come. Meetings, arrangement, encounters.........."
Section 2: Lighthouse Gallery: Poems and Solids publishes for the first time the experimental concrete poems displayed in a solo exhibition at the Lighthouse Gallery, Hebden Bridge in 1983. Playful and fun.
like the simple;
'Huge and yellow, Little and white, Watch the full moon Travel the night'

or the metaphoric 'WE ARE ALL WE HAVE' containing made up words and which begins with the lines:
'& now wording maiding rings lips full open closing
round the rim of dibbleness getting ever nearer
splash time hot wash dip soak wish expressing.'

Section 3: Revisiting: Ekphrastic: poems alongside full colour Matthew Hilton images.
Available in paperback @ £13.50 or hardback @ £19

The book is about the twenty years we spent running the becoming iconic Hotel Continental at Dovercourt Harwich, Essex. How we came to buy it; the continual development; the art; the people. From a small sum and a bank loan to £1.7 million. It's a tale of giving all, risking all and losing all.
Full photographs illustrate and honesty describes; pulling no punches this is a raw poetic account of the truth from the author's personal perspective, illuminating Gordon and Blossom's very different approach to life.

"For this anthology I've chosen one hundred and twenty three of my favourite poems from Gordon's most recent work from 2016 to early 2022 covering all the topics he likes to write about, be it Philosophy, Sex, Politics, War, Peace or Green issues; seriously or with humour.

His deep and far-sighted understanding produces the most unexpected work; to my mind it's unique, never dull, or bog standard, presenting me always with a new way of seeing and a great deal to laugh about.
And though I'm biased, I hope you'll enjoy reading the poems and find some which resonate."
Blossom, May 2022.
Paperback £13.75.

An account of a holiday to friends in Friesland, Netherlands.

"This poetic sequence is not a confessional, more a search for understanding and reconciliation, a ferreting in the dark warrens of uncertainty trying to see clearly and learn. As such it has the nature of an inconclusive cold case detective story" Gordon Hoyles 22nd February 2023.

Paperback. £8.75

"Eager froward younging, swirling, licking, licking up the spitting of the sky. Passing by the wallowers in want, followers of the leaders, bleeders of the followers as they grovel wallowing in wanting what the leading bleeders hold up as example standard. Lapping up the licking in the low-way through the valleys, swishing, sallying through the alleys, boulder-bordered crumples in the crust of our careering speck of dust. All embracing better, encased within a bubble looking out. The weather's getting wetter but the spirit's so much better getting pleasure from the wetter seeing water all a tumble down the high sides of the valleys as we sally through some settlements of some aborigines......" "INTRODUCING'.

An interesting compilation of short and longer poems printed at the Poet's home, Bell House Farm in letterpress. Only available through this website at the special price of £7 + P & P

RHYMES AFTER THE NURSERY RHYMES
"Nursery Rhymes are the fun with which we make an unforgettable and very early contact with poetry.
Many of them baffle. As indeed a lot of poetry tend to do.
Now regardless of the interpretation and historical references sited by thinkers with serious scholarly intent, I must admit the more I read the originals, the more I recognise the double entendre possibilities.
Hence my offering here is a cross between a cultural refresher course and a bit of harmless fun.
Though not conforming strictly, so risking the purity of the declared endeavour, I have included as part two a few of my other pieces that are in the same fun vein and raise laughs at recitals."

Paperback £8. Cover: Tall Body Vase 'Our Daisy'. supplied by www.baserootsshop.com

THE TIN BOOK

A collection of 100 poems first published on tin pages, as in the photograph, in the late '70's, and distributed widely in the North-West in Cafes, Art Galleries, Colleges, an Ice Cream Van, a Post Office etc., and exhibited in a major exhibition in Manchester.
Reprinted in 2015 and available as a paperback £10

As a regular reader at 'Poetry Plus', a group who meet at 'The Red Lion' pub, 42 South Street, Manningtree, Essex the second Tuesday of every month, awaiting promises of a publication I decided
to go ahead with my own consisting of 45 poems I recited between 2015 and 2018, for example:

There's no need to flap
they're making a map
on which you will see
a touch of the knee
leads up to the gender gap.

(14th November 2017)
Paperback £7

'The Roll of the Artist'

The paperback edition of a roll 4 feet in length covered densely in poetry and exhibited alongside The Tin Books in Manchester in '79.

The work was written at Bell House Farm, Mytholmroyd, West Yorks during a time when the threat of nuclear war felt palpable, so pieces pertaining to the threat feature prominently. However, there are many examples of lighter works both long and short.

Could you see the light
You'd see nothing but the light

A small leaflet Blossom and I made on our letterpress, designed to sell for 50p at recitals in the early '80's. We've still got copies left. Free of Charge. Postage applies.

CD TRACKS
1. Journeying.............................................1.20
2. Train now standing.............................. 0.45
3. Colchester Rebranded......................... 0.58
4. Parrots,Pigs,Pussycats......................... 1.07
5. Ann Summers....................................... 0.40
6. Eternal Triangle.................................... 1.38
7. Sestet.....................................................0.27
8. My Sister................................................0.52
9. Stena Britannica................................... 0.38
10.The Angel.............................................. 0.47
11.The Big Cheese..................................... 0.28
12. Cottage by a Traffic Stream............... 1.06

13. Horseplay.............................................0.39
14. Country Life......................................... 1.00
15. Shell Shock...........................................3.25
16. Market Cries......................................... 1.25
17. Speech...................................................1.04
18. Mrs May...............................................0.28
19. Titters at the young Farmers............ 0.50
20. The Stakes........................................... 0.54
21. Hearing Difficulties............................. 0.51
22. Windfarmer Sea Shanty..................... 1.29
23. Our Fish............................................... 1.02
24. Last Rites.............................................. 1.15
25. Strangely.............................................. 2.41
£10.