Wednesday April 17th, 1912 Pier 60. NY,NY. After a successful maiden voyage across the North Atlantic, the Titanic berths in New York. Annie’s Story She was born with the name, Annie Constantine and from the age of nine, she had worked tirelessly as a kitchen maid in a large house on the south coast…
It wasn’t hurting anyone; now was it? She’d give the kids a difficult problem to solve, although if she was being honest, there wasn’t an answer to it. Then, when all their heads were down staring at the desk, she’d nip outside for a smoke on a delicious cigarette. She loved teaching – don’t get…
I promised myself that if the story made over 200,000 reads on FaceBook I would let it rest. It’s done that and there’s been over 31,000 responses – including the 12 Angry (who knew). I’ve tried to respond to every email but it was taking a bit of time. So thank you to everyone and…
Life was always other people, at least that’s the way it felt to her. It was the messiness of just being alive that got to Sadie. The messiness of love, of sex, of how other people saw the world. Religion hadn’t done her any good, hadn’t saved her from herself, nor drink, and sitting in…
Cracked Hearts She washes her mother with water and with love. Gently caressing the body that looks like someone she once knew, but her mother’s mind has already gone ahead and waits for the soul to return. She cleans away the saliva from the mouth that once used to chastise and kiss and smile. He…
He’d been called everything under the Sun but hadn’t become used to it – although it stopped hurting so much. ‘Freak’,’Monster’ and ‘Moron’ were some of the names. Thing had never done anything to harm anyone, except by being different (from them). ‘You ain’t normal’ was another. Normal to what? Thought Thing. You’re normal because…
HOW COULD YOU BE ANTHING OTHER THAN BEAUTIFUL So you’re not as thin, nor as fat as you wanted to be, Or as tall, or as short, or with a little more hair, You’re not as clever or wise as they said that you were, Or have looks that have people chasing you there. And…
Take a spin in your life today Try it out for size You’ve had it locked away too long Always thinking it would never fit Or seem too old Take a spin in your life today And let the world see it for all its worth It’s not as worn as you think it is…
Whether you’re tired, Or feeling alone, Each of us can walk The other, home. It’s brief this life Much on our own But we’re all just walking, Each other, home. bobby stevenson 2019
Can you hear the ticking ma of the clock upon the wall? The time is fast approaching when we won’t be here at all. Can you feel the rockets ma as they fly above our heads? They’re only trying to end it ma, get ready to be dead. Can you see the mushroom cloud? Tell…
When the withering sunshine slowly starts to rust And my darker days are quietly growing tough I close my eyes and smile somewhere inside, And tell myself a dozen times: “I am enough”. bobby stevenson 2019
Words can misfire, be misplaced or misused Words can slice through a heart with love Words can shrivel a hope, Words can laugh, words can cry, Words can dance, words can sing, Words can destroy everything you are or ever will be Words can fill an empty life with visions of another Words can build…
I Still love you Though It’s been a Long time, it’s been a Lifetime of Living without you. Our secret moments scar the Visions I have of anyone Else. You were everything – a Once chance meeting in this lonely Universe. bobby stevenson 2019
When you look in the mirror, love yourself. When you do something good, love yourself. When you do something bad, love yourself, Just tell yourself not to do it again. When someone loves you, let them. When someone hates you, let them, Doesn’t matter because you love yourself. You’re made up of atoms flung together…
These days seem noisier than ever They shout so loud it’s hard to hear These days they all have so much sparkle These days it’s difficult to remember There are good people who live out there They shine so bright it’s hard to see Just listen hard, I know you’ll hear them Watch closely and…
When she was four, she knew where the monsters lived, They would lie in wait under her bed To grab her ankles and take her to the underworld. When she was five, the monsters also hid in the dark spaces at the top Of the stairs. Sometimes she heard them whisper in the attic. When…
I think I was eight or nine years of age when my Grandma went down the road. At least that’s what my Granddad called it. “Your Grandma has gone down the road, and I’m afraid she won’t be back,” he said with sad eyes.“What never?”“Listen, sweet-pea, one day I’ll take that walk and later, so…
It’s a very short life, And an amazing one, Full of miracles and caring, With a universe or two, or maybe more, thrown in, All decked out with black holes and sunsets, And yet you chose to spend it hating, And loathing, and hitting and shouting, And name calling and abusing. Whatever this is, it’s…
My grandkids are the greatest folks and last week when they came visiting they asked that since I was the oldest man in the world, had I ever met anyone real famous. So I hum and haw, and I rubs my chin a little, but I know what I’m going to say, ‘cause it’s the…
Learn to climb trees,And live with skinned knees,Learn to jump gaps and laugh,Learn to handstand, Play a tune, join a band,Learn to tap dance in the bath.Learn to be foolish,And live without care,Learn to sing songs and cry,Learn your name in Swahili, And learn to climb trees,And never stop asking ‘why?’. bobby stevenson 2019
When it’s time for you to go, Don’t turn and wave, Instead, Consider this, If there should be a blessed place, Beyond, A land of half-forgotten ghosts, Then I will follow you and We shall meet once more, But if this other Eden, Should prove unformed, Remember this, One day, I too will rest among…
Don’t cry too long My little one The world is waiting on your smile Don’t listen to the midnight whispers It is their way To make things dark Don’t feel That other hearts are hardened Sometimes they need To take a rest Don’t wish that you were someone Other This life is only meant to…
It had worried him all his life, and now Eli saw that it had serious consequences. Thinking back, it just kinda happened. One week his mom was ill, and then she got ill again, and so he stayed home from school, and the schooling got less and less, and his mom needed more help –…
No camera can ever capture That kindness in your smile Or the love that’s in your eyes No camera can ever hold The way I felt as we climbed that hill Just you and I and the windswept day No camera can ever show how proud I am of you How much I love to…
She washes her mother with water and with love. Gently caressing the body that looks like someone she once knew, but her mother’s mind has already gone ahead and waits for the soul to return. She cleans away the saliva from the mouth that once used to chastise and kiss and smile. He dreads the…
I never picked a proper tune to dance to And I never got in step with any goal And in all those dancing years I spent wishing I could hear The melody which drove another’s soul. I guess it’s too late now to ever try to change things As I’m nearing my own moment to…
Breathe in the sun and touch the skySet a smile on your lips andA fire in your eyeDrink in this life and smother the cracks,You’ll live this day only once. bobby stevenson 2019
To all the love that died unspoken, To all the hearts, so quietly broken, To all the tears that fell unseen, To all the things that might have been. bobby stevenson 2019
Don’t ever let them tell you that You’re just an elephant, or a human, or just another life. One who is not meant to shoot for the centre of the Sun Don’t ever let them tell you that you are not good enough Or special enough to be that guiding light For when they say…
We walked a path once, You and I, And shared some gentle time while basking in the sun, We walked a road once, You and I, Fighting with the storms that blew upon our way, We walked a highway once, You and I, And dealt with all the loss and hurt that fell before us,…
You are my favourite thought, favourite smile, favourite life, You’re my first thing in the morning and my last thing at night, When I speak to other souls, it is you in my head, I long for you beside me, I dream of you in bed. You are my favourite thought, favourite day, favourite night,…
I remember that day we said goodbye, The day I asked you if there were any regrets, You said you wished you had realised sooner That everyone matters, The thing is, I didn’t know what you meant then – But I do now. Who has any idea how much oxygen a person brings to your…
She could feel the sun on her heart, as its rays broke through the window. There was a bird, a blackbird, singing in the old twisted trees. She heard the cyclists from the city, shouting to one another as their bikes sailed past her front door. The aroma of the freshly made coffee had skipped…
My Granddad is on the far side of the Moon. Well, he used to call it the Dark Side, after his favourite record that he would never stop playing, but later he found out that it wasn’t dark, and that it just pointed away from us all the time. “That’s the kind of place I’d…
Pink William or ‘Pink Willie’ as his friends called him, did not have a bad bone in his body, but that didn’t stop people bringing misery to his little life. You see the small town he lived in was run and controlled by the Mafia of The Mediocre. They couldn’t see stars or blue skies…
There is a little village in the South East of England; perhaps it’s yours, maybe it’s mine. Perhaps it’s a little hamlet with a Cross on the hill above it. Who knows? Sarah hadn’t set out to be a writer; in fact, when she was at the village school, she found that she had difficulty…
It was another evening’s bus journey from Elephant and Castle to her cleaner’s job in Stoke Newington. She’d been born in a house in Crampton Street and would most likely meet her maker there. Before the war, she’d had good work in Mayfair and Kensington. Really top class stuff in nice houses, with posh people…
Like every other day, Harry spent his mornings in the park in that little period between breakfast and lunch. He’d sit and watch the animals and the humans, and normally chuckle to himself. One sunny morning, Harry noticed a flash of light from under a bench a few feet away. When he picked it up,…
Let you and me Lie quietly Touching side by side To watch the rust sun setting As the day grows dark outside We’ve travelled half the universe We’re formed from stars and dust The miracle is – We found each other In love, And hope, And trust. bobby stevenson 2019
The first time you do it, The first time you don’t ask, or seek permission, And you just are, The first time you take off those sunglasses, When you’ve been told all your life who and what you are, Is scary, and strange, and wonderful. The first time you don’t look for opinions or wonder…
Buzz’s Ma would swear on a stack of Bibles that she knew Elvis Presley for real. Perhaps it would take a sarsaparilla or two, but soon she’d been tellin’ everyone how she and Elvis were as close as anyone could be. Sometimes during one of her stories she’d just stop, look far away as if…
(I am happy to inform you that your piece, ‘A Brilliant Life’, has been selected for a community reading group project at the University of Northampton. ‘A Brilliant Life’ will not be sold and will be used for educational purposes only) Martin was a man. That was the best and the worst of it. He…
I was born by the river, And I’m missing the sea, The smell of the ozone is bubbling in me, When you’re trapped in a town, And you’re aching to flee, ‘Cause you’re born by the river, And you’re missing the sea. bobby stevenson 2019
The stand-up and be glorious thing about it is: You’ll never know when or how it happens, Never know what affect you’ve had, Or who you’ve saved. It might be the smile to a passing stranger, Who was on their way to shout at someone – A someone who would have driven home in an…
…if she had looked up at that moment, his nurse would have seen his toes moving in waltz time to a tune that only he could hear. Through the willow window he could see the stars and the Moon and he remembered how, as a child, he would lie on his back and be overwhelmed…
When it’s time for you to go, Don’t turn and wave, Instead, Consider this, If there should be a blessed place, Beyond, A land of half-forgotten ghosts, Then I will follow you and We shall meet once more, But if this other Eden, Should prove unformed, Remember this, One day, I too will rest among,…
Martha had a room, one that she would refer to as a ‘spare room’. Not that the size of her house allowed for such extravagances – she had a kitchen, a little area to sit, a small toilet at the rear of her house, and a little bedroom upstairs. Next to that was Martha’s spare…
(I am happy to inform you that your piece, ‘A Brilliant Life’, has been selected for a community reading group project at the University of Northampton. ‘A Brilliant Life’ will not be sold and will be used for educational purposes only) Martin was a man. That was the best and the worst of it. He…
Next year some people will leave your life And new ones will enter Next year some dreams will vanish And others, not thought of, will come out of the sun Next year you’ll make mistakes And you’ll survive them all Next year you’ll win some things and you’ll lose some things Next year some friends…
I will remember you when the best of you has gone I will remember you when the song you loved is sung I will remember you when I stand on hills where we once walked I will remember you and your laughter as we talked I will remember you and all the kindness that was…
He had driven past the house a while back – just before the breakdown. His breakdown. His world had crumbled. Yet, he had been sure of what he had seen at the window, at least he thought he had been sure. Everything back then had been shrouded in a kind of haze. Stress, the doctor…
She wept when her grandmother told her that she would be leaving soon. “Will you come back grandma?” Asked little Mia. “No, my precious,it is my time, but I’ll always be watching over you, remember that. Let’s not waste what we have being sad”. So they spent the days telling each other stories and laughing…
