Mike Watts

An 'Ull lad, born and bred, I was brought up on Orchard Park which seemed to have more 'ups' than 'downs' then and I had a good childhood there. I have been writing for a few years now and usually feel the need to pick up a pen when something rattles me, though it is nice when pure inspiration calls. I spend most of my spare time reading everything to do with anything. As for poetry, well I am a big admirer of Philip Larkin. I knew Hull was a city with a huge amount of talent, especially music, but I thought most of the writers were 'secretive' and hid their work away in drawers, showing it only to a selected few .... just like me!

So when a friend introduced me to the thisisUll website I thought ' WOW' and it gave me the push I wanted, enabling me to share my thoughts on things with others. The quality of the work featured in both the poetry and short story sections on the thisisUll website astonished me. Mike has been contributing fabulous poetry to thisisUll since March 2003. See them all here.

Poetry - Talking to Mirrors By Mike Watts
	I'm knocking it on the head I've had enough I'm getting tough The destructive voices that I dread Are daring me to keep going, But it's all wrong Read more...

Poetry - What If? By Mike Watts
	What if I take a downward slide, Would people say 'at least you tried'? What if success becomes my story, Would anyone begrudge the glory? What if the truth's a hammer blow, Would it be better to never know? What if I get sick of saying sorry, Read more...

Poetry - Come On You 'Ull By Mike Watts
	Statistics claim my city sucks And in 'Crap Towns' and other books They say - poverty and slum have tied the knot And we're all wild on drink and pot, And teenage girls with STD's Push their buggies in two's and three's, Past feral gangs tooled-up and hooded Read more...

Poetry - Wheel of Misfortune By Mike Watts
	He went mad again And blew his brick Like the brainless prick He's turning out to be, It's the roulette you see, Her tight little gash Keeps swallowing cash Read more...

Poetry - Somewhere in Mind By Mike Watts
	This place has a crystal river A shimmering snake of colour Drizzling through a landscape Of emerald and sapphire, Framed and hung the thousand times That I've closed my eyes To see it. Read more...

Poetry - Now She's Gone By Mike Watts
	Every Friday was pizza night And we'd share a large pepperoni With extra chilli And a box of fries Which I always dished out 60/40 Because she was too gorgeous To be ruined by equal portions. Read more...

Poetry - These Streets By Mike Watts
	These streets are as mean As a dog gone mad The raised fist Of a drunken dad A thousand wasps In a swarm of fury A hot and hungry Read more...

Poetry - I Have Never By Mike Watts
	Smoked or taken drugs Had jewellery dangling from my lugs Been tempted by a teenage tart Held a lighter to a fart Backed a horse that's won a race Had a virgin on my face Thought Jim Davidson was funny Read more...

Poetry - Rocky The Rat By Mike Watts
	When I was ten I was given a rat A pet shop reject As big as a cat That shared the shed With my brothers rabbit Read more...

Poetry Debbie By Mike Watts
	At school fat Debbie was the joke Whose only friends were crisps and coke, Who invited buns and bags o' chips To settle on her arse and hips, Which gave nothing in return Just calories she couldn't burn; So Debbie cried and Debbie grew Read more...

Poetry I Need By Mike Watts
	proof I need truth I need another crack at youth. I need hope I need dope I need stimulants to cope. Read more...

Poetry - Showtime By Mike Watts
	The resident nuisance staggers, Zip down, dribbling at the busy Sweating behind mirrored bars. Mirrors reflecting movement, Scenes from the Neanderthal, The grunting unfit for their cars. Read more...

Poetry - Beyond The Glass By Mike Watts
	Up, with the flat-top and yogurts I palm a circle into the condensation And watch, through fusty wet, A surrendered street expose itself. Two plaster-spattered jackets light up Beside a battered van. Read more...

Poetry - The Road Sweeper By Mike Watts
	Reluctantly he slipped away from the depot And pushing through his steaming breath With thin-gloved flesh numb as death, He shrank into the thickening snow. And like a bud, he embraced the dissolving Of whiteness, evermore bitter Read more...

Poetry - The Decline Of The Fishing Industry By Mike Watts
	Once I battled for frogs When the waters bubbled and croaked With slippery life. I hunted minnows, flashing silver arrows Darting through the weeds; Caught and re-housed in soup-tins, Chipped mugs, held tightly like Read more...

Poetry - Off The Chest By Mike Watts
	I'm sick of you You're full of crap Mr 'victim' of the poverty trap What bollocks - and to be blunt You're just a fucking lazy cunt Sat on your arse for twenty years Blowing dope and necking beers Read more...

Poetry - On Getting A Mate A Job By Mike Watts
	He reckons life was wonderful When he was on the dole When he had fuck all. Well now it's a mess Because there's even less He's never any dosh Got a prick for a boss Read more...

Poetry - Night Fishing By Mike Watts
	Buzzing in the heat of clubber's breath My senses pinball from arse to arse As they shake and crash around me. Stilettoed feet shuffle and stamp As I scan an electric duo Boogieing beneath skirts Read more...

Poetry - Lunar By Mike Watts
	Ancient luminous coin Gripped within the crush of space How solemn you are, And how freely Your pale borrowed light Enriches earth evenings. Read more...

Poetry - Once a Thought Night By Mike Watts
	In this age of new disease Where bronchial factories wheeze Chronic clouds pour poison Land lubricates the ocean And every inch of green Is bullied by machine. Read more...

Poetry - One Day In Daphnes Life By Mike Watts
	Creeps creeping through her house helped themselves And left caramel-coloured shit reeking in every room. She was scrubbing when the police arrived. In the lounge, a new space carpeted with dust And her yucca collapsed Against the couch. In the kitchen an open freezer Read more...

Poetry - Louder Than Words By Mike Watts
	'We have performed this very difficult task Out of love for our people. And we have suffered no damage To ourselves, to our souls, Or our characters .' Heinrich Himmler Read more...

Poetry - Family Fortunes By Mike Watts
	My sister Susan is dead. My parents too. They're both buried With dad's lot, where mother's on top For a change. The second to drop One gin-filled evening, I was there As she bounced off every stair. And later, to ease the grief Read more...

Poetry - I Confess By Mike Watts
	Coming home one Friday night Scranning burgers and half pissed Me and a mate stopped to talk to three prossies All smoking in the doorway of a charity shop. "What would I get for a quid?" Me mate said belching and flicking onion Read more...

Poetry - Thirst By Mike Watts
	Sprawled like a victim I shrink on the heat of the bed. Closing-time poltergeists Rattle beneath my window. Glass shrieks across concrete As young voices drip, Go forth and multiply Read more...

Poetry - A Yorkshire Princess By Mike Watts
	This proud bird parades no vanity She paddles her feet in the Humber Muddies her dress to show she's working, As hard as they'll let her. Breathing in, breathing out, A great warehouse, a production line For the conquerors' of Kings, of Read more...

Poetry - Decisions By Mike Watts
	Disturbed behind bleached white net Crashing hysterically into the glass, Should I thump, poison, Or ignore you? Buzzing black carrier of filth Desperate to fly, desirous to feed Read more...

Poetry - The Day Off By Mike Watts
	On weekend parole I slip the boss For time and space and candyfloss. Early, and all the sleeping streets are mine Except for those on double time; Sickly crews with post-pub shock A drink damaged body clock, As I pass the milk and paper rounds Read more...

Poetry - Ah! But Does Crime Pay? By Mike Watts
	Of course crime pays silly twat Ask the druggie in his luxury flat With a ton of bling dripping from his skin A new BM and a baseball bat. Ask the murderer on day release With his finger raised to the police Stalking somebody's wife or daughter Read more...