slam.fitzsimons

Black and white image Black writing in a lined notebook It’s good writing

hanging out with an old friend. some writing I haven’t looked at for a year.

A catoon image offering satirical advice about how to become a better conversationalist. The top text suggests: "Ask people questions that give them an opportunity to talk about themselves." The cartoon shows one character asking, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

a reminder
not all people sick
dying
deserve sympathy
not all that are dead
deserve sadness
so ive heard

#poem

today i discovered
that a mad idea i had
is actually real
radish carving
there’s even a festival for it
‘Night of the Radishes’
i feel the world is a better place

no. 1 child recommended i read ‘things - a story of the sixities’ by George’s perec.

and what a fab recommendation it was. thoroughly enjoyed reading about how the yearning for things can affect your freedom. very apt for now as we are constantly and daily pushed towards the better mousetrap.

Writing Group (LIVE at the All Good Bookshop), Wed, Nov 5, 2025, 7:00 PM | Meetup We're the All Good Bookshop writing group - we've been around for 10 years now. We offer writing feedback and discussion, whatever your level. Never been before? That's fin

Did you know we run a writing group? We do. It's on tonight. It's well-established, there are snacks and drinks and you get to read out your work if you want. 7pm if you want to come along!
www.meetup.com/allgoodbooks...

start investing for the future
be radical
be brave
stop being so damn meek

what have they been given so far?
pandemic bleakness.
housing crisis.
nhs failure.
ai taking jobs.
global warming
threat of conflict between nations

your solution to create positivity?

another fucking reading test

reading tests don’t offer hope
investment generates the basis for hope

without hope and optimism there is nothing to strive for. to offer more of the same but worse is not an offer. you announced you are worried about the disengaged working class kids at school. they need to be offered a hopeful vision of the future. something to be worked for. strive towards.

acquiescence is all he knows what to do. labour voters had doubts but voted for him after 14 years of tory mess. they expected a drive for improved services no matter what. investing in the future. not looking over the shoulder afraid to act. immobile. people of uk need to be offered hope.

add to that main stream media giving farage a free ride and all the publicity. we need labour to take the gloves off, have the courage to say what reform and farage is touting is wrong, and offer an alternate vision and enact it. but starmer and cabinet lack moral backbone.

problem at the moment is that the major parties are a shambles. labour is rudderless, lacking a vision for the future. conservatives chasing even more extreme votes. liberals and greens too small to galvanise enough votes in first past the post system. so a party like reform can slime in by default

I recently saw: Night Of The Living Dead.
for the first time all the way through.
i had always seen parts below. caught extracts i fell asleep in. clips on horror review shows. the ending after coming home from the pub.

but now. the whole thing. the tale of the flesh eaters. and a remarkable hero.

there is something to be said of reading a real good book. how it can transport you away. to an idea. a place. people. the intertwining of thought and symbol on a page. time slows. you become timeless. caught in a place. an otherness. you no more.

#books

more and more people are neither rich nor poor: they dream of wealth, and could become wealthy; and that is where their misfortunes begins.

Things
A Story of the Sixties
- Georges Perec

I may have reached my limit of social media. a perpetual horde spewing vomit loudly demanding attention. too much noise. there is no space for quiet places any more.
look at me now!
do this!
believe that!
time to turn it off and return to the pen and paper. have time for one’s own thoughts

Full story available on stephenfitzsimons.com/2023/10/31/p...

#halloween #pumpkin #horror #spookytales #writing

the most exciting thing in my life at the moment is that I have a dental appointment.

not often I’m snapped doing a spoken word night. im usually working and taking pics.

tonight’s short was pumpkin (on my website).

nice to hear a whole audience gasp at the right moment.

#stories

isnt this how zombie movies start?

i not sure the thames water would have noticed
but then there are dividends to pay
and streams to pollute

its 2am
how is it 2am
i didn’t plan for it
no one plans for 2am
it just happens
stealthily

point break is on. just saying.
surfs up.

wow, insta quickly filled with ai imaging crap.

so that’s basically dead

so many social media companies
removing the social from the media

cracking the golden egg
just to find
egg inside

accommodation costs
the bar set very low
im not sure how everyone can cover it
i cant help thinking
us adults
have really failed a generation
what have they to look forward to?
debt
ruined environment
ai killing off jobs
lack of housing
poor pensions
why should they
work so hard
for such a legacy?

this is on my mind a lot at the moment
no.1 has taken a year out
but next year
the cost of the fees
saddling themselves with debt
before even getting a qualification
how will that impact getting a mortgage?
how will that impact saving for a pension?

and then there is the means testing
of the

when you pull it’s plug

ai would never write
a book by BS Johnson
Steven Hall
Max Porter

it plays safe
it doesn’t know how
to break structure
and grammar rules

its not innovative

its generic

its generic car ads
for the masses

the shiny thing
in value worthless

lacking soul
and vision

don’t say a requiem