ISBN: 978-1739480639

Jake is a spoken word poet and a future children’s book author from Canterbury, (England). He describes his work as ‘unpolished poetry’ and uses straightforward relatable language, which makes his work accessible and engaging for a wide audience. His poems delve into universal themes of time, loss and the search for meaning, with a sprinkling of humour to keep things light. Jake has a profound understanding of vulnerability, where he paints vivid portraits of life’s small but defining moments. He drops his audience into the middle of an experience. His focus on isolation, repetition and blurred realities creates a nuanced portrayal of mental instability. His comedy poems remind us that he is able to laugh at it all as well. Jake captures the fragility of the human psyche and the fine line between sanity and madness.

DOORWAY DOG

We will be together side by side,

even when I’m scared and have no place to hide, 

I watch the brightlights while he takes a nap,

I feel nice and safe in my owner’s lap, 

Sometimes he gets tired but that’s okay,

I get stroked by passerbys throughout the day

But this time he slept even more,

hunched over on the cold hard floor,

I will wait and wait – he’s my only thought.

Then came Brightlights of a different sort, 

I watch him be taken away,

in comes the darkness, here comes the rain.

Shoes on the pavement, a shadow in the way 

“Hey little fella what’s your game”

I raise my nose to the voice and into the black I say

“I am the doorway dog, the dog with no name”

ENOUGH?

This is not enough

Walking to the end, but not the end of the night

Air foggy as I stay in the gaze of sight

The same looks from the night before are thrown

As I stand so very much on my own

As I stand and wait for my fate

Another day where comfort comes late.

Counting coins, I hear a noise, assessing every shadow,

Fingers frozen feel the chill and the burn from old tobacco.

My day is finally done

The long awaited time has come.

As I hold it up to the light,

This won’t last me through the night.

This is not enough.

THE SILENT MAN

The silent man came to me today

Said he had a lot to say

Said he would only speak to me

He needed to speak urgently

He already knew my name

Knew what I was going to say

Said that we are the same

He’s got to tell me all he knows

Said he knew every pole

But didn’t know, which way to go

He would make me feel so free

He said that they had mentioned me

He said, 

“Don’t listen to a word they say.

Stick with me and you’ll be okay”

Said they wouldn’t understand,

With a raised voice from the Silent Man

Now I see him everywhere

Both of us in despair

Said he couldn’t trust me now

I must do

What he will choose

For the Silent Man.



THE BIRDS

The birds talk to me, I just heard my name,

Flying up so high they will not be tamed,

Not scared of the creature,

but of what it can say, 

Can you work out what the chirps convey?

A coincidence too many times, 

The same bird ‘song’, line after line,

“Twit, twit, twit, it’s you” 

I can hear the voices, 

Can you hear them too?

Flaps in my ear, then the noise disappears,

They follow me everywhere I go,

Tune into the tune of the predictions of doom, 

Then life will go more with the flow,

The chirps of threes and fives, 

Tell me how to live my life

Pecking at my brain in a rhythmic way

Make sure you listen to what they have to say

But now I know they’re coming for you!

The birds told me and they will tell you too ...

OCD

Organised chaos disorder

Again and again

The chaos of order

Again and again

Order, arrange

Its all the same

Arrange and arrange

Precise and aimed

The chaos disorder, of the orders order

Will order the orders to disorder

Order is, order is, order is, order,

Organised chaos disorder