I regularly write for Wine & Dine Yorkshire, which allows me to pursue two passions at the same time – food and writing – lucky me!
Here’s the latest issue: https://issuu.com/createtvt/docs/wd_june_2017
Tag: downing
Your Decay
Your walls stand weak against shadows that spread,
Warping your contents beyond all meaning;
The flakes of your past feeble from leaning.
I see it amongst you; within the dead,
It makes and becomes you like pure black dread.
Your floor starts to creak like heavy lungs heaving;
The wild echoes seamlessly convening,
Till darkness fills all of where you may tread.
But I will be there and forever stay,
Fighting your shadows with all of my light;
I came for a reason to gently lay,
Rest your fear and ease your darkest of blight.
Shadows become lucent; your night to day,
I’ll give you that hope, that passion, that fight.
The Frame
Resting against this pure white, sturdy wall,
Is a frame of glass, cheap plastic and grime;
Clinging to images of a lost time.
An inscription engraved in listless scrawl,
Of illegible letters used to haul
Back to moments that reek of the sublime,
When stood against walls that flattered its’ prime,
Unburdened by conscience, never to fall.
It frames white thoughts that may never have been,
A raging spirit that was never seen.
Dreams so often promised; never fulfilled.
Something to reach to; heavily instilled.
But amongst it all is a tiny clue,
An image within, of someone: it’s you.
Wasted Votes?
Written for The Green Party | Published 22/05/15 | http://sheffieldgreenparty.org.uk/2015/04/22/wasted-votes/
We see it so often – regular voters wary of a party they don’t want in power, therefore choosing to vote for their most preferred of the larger parties. On paper, it seems like the most logical decision. Why waste a vote on a smaller party with no chance of gaining power and having to spend another 5 years under a party whose manifesto goes against everything you believe?
While this may make some sense, it is nothing but a quick fix; making the most of a political system in desperate need of a shake-up. Parliament today, generally speaking, offers no real democratic discussion and a total lack of representation of what regular voters actually want and care about. There are simply not enough opposing views and individual voices there to influence Labour and the current Lib-Con government.
UKIP’s rise in the past few years has shown, for better or for worse, just how a small party can begin to influence big party politics and therefore grow as a result. They have managed to make immigration one of the key topics of debate in parliament. The Conservative-led government has adapted their policy to suit this zeitgeist and hold on to voters that may be swayed by Farage. UKIP won’t get into power come May, but they’ve certainly left their mark, and will no doubt get the referendum they’ve demanded for so long.
Imagine this for another party. Imagine if all those potential voters of the Green Party, for example, decided not to worry about wasting their vote and to choose the party they really cared about. It may not happen instantaneously, but it is entirely plausible that the big parties will one day be absorbing the policies of the Greens and other parties too – and that can only be a good thing.
We need broader representation. Democracy is about everybody having a voice – not adapting that voice in fear of the least favourite man getting into power. Whilst the First Past the Post system really does inhibit smaller parties, encouraging voters to vote honestly and not tactically will certainly help give them a voice.
I live my life in movie scenes
I live my life in movie scenes.
A childhood spent wrapped,
In a bright red cape,
In a bright red cape,
With dreams of flight within my means.
….
“Use the force” they’d say at church;
It’s real if you’ll only feel it.
Well the force was weak it seems, in me,
There’s something else that I can’t quite see.
There’s something else that I can’t quite see.
….
Playground battles crying “Rufio”,
Lost boys in their bliss.
And like in every coming of age,
We’d clash into clichés and miss,
The fact that we were
Kings of a Summer,
That couldn’t carry on.
….
Unspoken romances in a hotel room;
A simple touch of affection.
What did he whisper?
And does she know,
That the love was Lost in Translation?
….
We heard all about,
The blameless vestal’s lot.
But the Eternal Sunshine,
in your Spotless Mind,
Doesn’t mean that I forgot.
in your Spotless Mind,
Doesn’t mean that I forgot.
….
A head filled with a fantasy,
Of going back in time,
With no DeLorean to drive.
So I’d stray into American Beauty,
Where I was destined not to thrive.
….
But the movies always end great, right?
The credits roll and they turn on the light.
….
So this is How I Live Now.
I’ve left my seat,
Into the day
Enjoying the real,
Letting the pictures fade away.
A Mark
I can taste it now; teasing at the tip,
Of my tongue as I drink greedily in,
With one hungry gulp of self-serving sin.
I waited at first, for chance to unzip,
The secret you held just close to your hip.
A mark that showed me where I could begin
And lead me to a place in which you’d pin
Me to you with an unknowing firm grip.
It’s grown stronger now so don’t let it become,
A reason by which to forget how sweet,
An elixir we shared; free of jitter,
A medicine to rouse the secret numb.
I know though in time, drowning in effete,
The last sip I take, wincing; is bitter.
Extract from Something we hadn’t forgotten
For weeks the heat has built, with the sky a permanent pale wash of blue. It’s as if the earth is storing all of its energy and taking in one long, deep breath before it rages. Today this long summer seems to rest on the edge of a precipice and, as the sun crawls lethargically across the sky, the trees begin to stir faster and the wind pulls and pushes the cooling air. There is an energy that can almost be grasped. The storm is coming.
I step outside, breathing in the moment. I’ve always loved days like these. Memories of running barefoot into the street, arms aloft under heavy August showers. Spinning wildly, becoming increasingly dizzy with ecstasy as soaking clothes cling to my skin. Before I had even begun understand it, this summer rain had always held a promise of new possibilities. Today is no exception…[CONT]
La La Land by Bug Jewelry | Fashion Promo
Written and directed by myself, to promote Bug Jewelry’s new range of products – La La Land.
Luke Downing 