Mike O’Brien’s poem: Trip Advisor

Note: Although the website uses UK-English spelling, the spelling of the title of the poem is kept unchanged as submitted by the author.


I had my papers stamped by the stationmaster

at the ticket office of transports of delight

took a train of thought to the edge of the ocean

To embark on a voyage on a ship of foolishness


All at sea, I dined with the captain’s quarters,

For seven days and seven dwarves

Until land hoved into a different Brighton

Populated by disparate demographies 

and consolidated fruits


Impatiently, I snail-paced the dimensions of my minibar

leafed through leaflets and loosened the loose leaf tea.

Many biscuits were digested

As I gazed out of the Microsoft Windows 

Until I could grin and bear it no more


I took a flight of fancy

Circumnavigating the globe

Pausing only to refuel

Sleeping only to awake

And submit the tickets

Clutched so tightly in my hand

That the ink had run

For a full English refund



Mike OBrien lives in the North Of England, he enjoys writing poetry and self publishes more than he is published by others. He writes a weekly piece on his Substack – Sixty Odd Poems (zoomburst.substack.com) and promotes the work of others on his other Substack page – Sixty Odd Poets (sixtyoddpoets.substack.com) His hobbies include watering the garden and speaking about himself in the third person.

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