She cradled newborn babes veiled with mothers blood,

her hands steady and assured.

Her love knew no jealous god, no book or holy ground,

her voice spoken not written.

She was beaten and defiled by men who knew of love,

corrupted by instruction and fear.

Her body a vessel for nurture and hope, broken by hate,

their blooded fists against her flesh.

Sh...

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In the quiet corners of life’s vast expanse,
I wonder how the stories of your days dance.
Though shadows linger and clouds may come,
My prayers soar high, they will find you, then hum.

From afar I send wishes, a gentle embrace,
For your heart’s longing and longing for grace.
May safety cradle your family, tender and true,
In the tapestry of dreams, I weave hope for you.

I car...

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I don't know much
But I do know that 
There's nothing quite like
The love of a cat
People think they're indifferent 
And assume that means cold
But there's a warmth in being seen 
From behind a blindfold 
They're don't care about 
What makes you feel small
To them you're still
Just as tall 
If you come home from work 
Not wanting to be tough
Well, they don't expect you to be 
You're...

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Gotta live the life 

you want 

they say

Or a close to it

As you 

Can be

Hey everyone 

It’s not 

As cool

But my dollar shop 

Version 

Will do

Maybe one day

I’ll be you

If I keep trying

Keep surviving 

One day I’ll be cool

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The Westgate Run (Re-Run).

“Get the round in John!”

Upon the Merrie Cities oldest street

when twilight creeps across the Yorkshire sky,

traditionally friends and strangers meet

and let the velvet darkness pass them by.

In pictures from a dim and distant past,

as gaslight spilled from heavy shadowed doors,

to neon tinted bars of Friday last

the sound of liquid l...

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Differant Hand

I cannot ever speak unless I am spoken to.

Take the risk of being beaten black and blue.

Violence is the normal for little people like me.

Everyday occurrence in this caring facility.

Very soon I will they will move me on again.

And I will still receive the same old violence,

Just it would be with a different person’s hand.

Nataiella (1972) Childho...

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Look through the glass 

The other side , a thin membrane away

 I can see but not hear 

What if I break it to reach  out to the silent world beyond

Push  my hand through 

Will it be freedom

Or blood soaked shards that rain down

Shredding the flesh and mind

Scattering mortal remains 

On a cold floor

Perhaps I can hold your hand 

Together we can leap

With your prot...

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Today we all have equal opportunities

children don't starve

there's no waste of food and resources

we are conscious consumers. 

There is no war.

Nuclear deterrents are no longer necessary

Artificial Intelligence has created a society of leasure and prosperity.

Today we are not possessed by idealogy.

Subscribing our souls to any kind of 'ism' does not equate to intellectual ...

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Color fade, has a shade

Wetty eyes, glow your face 

From dark days, take a run

It's your turn, to yourself be concern

Accept your flaws, out of laws 

And that's how, you yourself draws 

Say goodbyes to all the cries

Just think wise, everything has something nice.

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Wavelets slither over a wet shore

warmed in the heat of day, the faint

popping of bursting effervescence

barely heard. Toes squidge in it, sinking

with the flow of successive swirls of tide.

Stepping forward releases a schlurp, leaves

puddled footprints that wash away

in moments, leaving no trace of my passing.

Water ripples round my ankles, tickling,

enticing me fu...

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Metal and flesh, a parallel design,
Both robot and human, with purposes aligned.
A framework of wires, a skeleton of bone,
Both support the structure, that makes them whole.

Microchips and neurons, a dance of electric fire,
Both process information, with a desire to acquire.
Sensors and senses, a world of input and sight,
Both navigate the landscape, with a will to take flight.

A heart...

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I can’t see it’s hard to be a stoic

when you’ve never cooked a meal

or paid a bill.

Still

I’ll allow it was rather heroic

to share a bed all them years

with Prince Phil.

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My first ever attempt at a reverse nonet.  I hope I got it right  🙈🙈🙈   Thanks for the challenge, Graham Sherwood  🤗

A

Bright star

Sprinkles light

Upon us all

Awakening  souls

To the magic of love

Bringing hope to the weary

Open your hearts with gratitude

It’s time to embrace humanity.

Clare Kinnaird, 2024. 

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I'm braggin' and showing off:

Here's to Sinterklaas preparations!

Tzatziki with traditional Dutch&Frisian bread;

A lovely traditional tartellette; 

And of course some sweets for our chewers,

bananas and grapes on saintly skewers :)

Got up early, before the sun.

The presence of Sinterklaas has just begun. 

Let the chicken soup be healing.

Come and join our happy feel...

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This morning I was having a conversation 

a slightly uncomfortable conversation . 

I thought about a world without men

and my boyfriend seemed upset.

"Even without me?" he asked 

and that was a though one to answer.

I thought about a world with no fear

no fear for my body, no fear for me.

But honestly a world without him,

that is even more scary to think about. 

"I wo...

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I am brimming with happiness today,

Partially because he touched me,

He touched my arms, my hair, the nape of my neck,

He bit my cheeks,

I know

That's probably why I can't stop smiling .

Partly also, it's because it's raining,

I hear the rain,

I hear as it falls,

I hear as it hits my gable roof,

The sound it makes as it hits the tiles ,

Echoes in my heart,

...

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In the year of nineteen eighty-nine,

A soul was born, destined to shine.

Mats Steen, a name to behold,

A heart of courage, spirit bold.

Ibeline Duchenne, his shadowed twin,

A journey shared, where dreams begin.

Through battles fought in realms unseen,

He navigated life with grit serene.

Bound by fate, yet free in mind,

A warrior's spirit, one of a kind.

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The man on the London Eye said

"this is what you wanted,

just pick the choice you want to make,

we're keen to know your views,

we'll tell you which to choose"

The man on the Clapham omnibus

had nothing much to lose.

He thought it through carefully

before he made his choice,

grateful to be given a voice

The London Eye man was annoyed

and urged him to think...

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Jane had started it,

brushing up against the guys

and stroking knees suggestively.

She did it to him, he did it back to her

Everyone seemed to join in

It seemed to be harmless fun

When Laura got up to go to the loo

he slapped her playfully on the bum

...................................................

He knew it wasn't Laura

He knew it was Jude, her wife

She'd neve...

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On the day after Christmas in 1862, 38 Sioux warriors  were hanged under order of President Abraham Lincoln. Their crime was to fight for their own land. .

Don’t let the fat white males into your land
they have no concept of stewardship
they think they own the very air 
watch them massacre the holy bison:
the white buffalo are all dead
their bodies rot under the holy sun.

These bast...

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I look for new light

in old flames

the quietest crackling embers

searching for that mad spark that

will set alight my time-dried mind

but the fire has always been but one

sometimes seen, sometimes not

that runs right through the Earth

immanent, infinite 

in thunder and star, love and hurt

it's not the light I seek

but the heat of the invisible fire

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A stoic man I want to be
To be in charge of my destiny
Live in the moment with liberty
Give me a break and set me free
A stoic man I want to be

Walking down a road with no direction 
Just need a little love and affection 
Dreaming of a world that is okay
Maybe I'll find it one fine day
My heart is broken and I am down
No smiles from me just a frown
Just need a a star to guide my way
...

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The black death, you troubadour, songwriter
Writing to verse, cauterising your heart
Sit in bars, watching the optics pour
Harbingers of bad weather.

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Welcome to December, autumn’s blown away.

In meteorological season’s, winter starts today!

I wonder what kind of UK winter lies ahead?

A season that divides opinion, it has to be said!

I’m definitely a ‘winter person’ I’ll let you know.

Winter cuddles on a chilly night, I love them so!

Sunbathing on a scorched beach, that’s not me.

All bundled up in winter, that’s my cup...

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Be proud of who you are…

You have come very far…

Worked hard and faced those hurdles…

Even when your mind was going in circles…

Standing high and tall on your two feet…

Whether you are indoors or on the street…

People will watch you, whether they like you or not…

You have the strength to show them what you have got…

Don’t ever let anyone play with your soul or feelings…

...

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Happenstance after happenstance,

With some choice in between:

The rosary of our lives,

With moments replete,

Whispers sometimes

In the stillness

That, yes, we are just

Flying on borrowed wings,

But, oh, what a journey

This has been!

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*

see!

poet,

listen, look!

now here she is,

dispelling the gloom,  

love the magician’s spells

make those angel voices heard.

the word made flesh, amongst us dwells,

love conquers all, she’s claimed the last word.

*

*

*

*

Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh, 2nd December, 2024.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////...

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Barn owls are unearthly.

On moonlit nights they coast

above the fields in silence,

floating white as ghosts.

They bring me out in goosebumps

and were I mouse or vole,

when barn owls came along the street

and knocked on doors for "trick or treat"

I wouldn't pamper them with sweets,

I'd scurry down my hole!

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'Twas in the village scout hut that she first made her debut

Proudly showing off her ticket – Yellow 482;

She chatted quite excitedly beside a Gordon's Gin

But they soon left then followed by a Crawford's Shortbread tin;

Then Head and Shoulders, Action Man and toddler's xylophone

So sadly Yellow 482 was left there on her own;

“You'd better take that crap one” a mum yelled to her ...

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I can remember the day
That I saw a picture of you
And didn't react at all

No rage
No sneers
No tears
Nothing.

I've never been happier to feel nothing

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That hamlet where mum's lineage dwells,
Ancestral ruins, where silence swells.
Foundation stumps, a faint design,
A phenomenon strange, yet mine.

History breathes in broken stone,
Family lore in whispers grown.
Sights and sounds, scents of old,
Stories in these ruins unfold.

But in this decay, a shadow's cast,
A reminder of life that cannot last.
Bulldozed, ground, swept away,
...

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You can rage against reality,

or you can accept your fate

and just laugh.

Laughter, a bit of a chuckle really,

a resigned smile,

is so healing.

It's all good, you say to reality,

and reality smiles back.

Somehow we survive,

all these upsets and calamities,

people carry on.

Look at you, writing this, reading this, still alive.

A testament to survival.

Find the...

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Have you ever dealt with empathy?

Remember our times were like a child.

Tucked inside all of your energy.

Do I get to comment?

Am I allowed all of this therapy?

Doubt you’ll stick around.

It’s timeless all of the times you’ve picked an enemy.

Or stayed by one. 

I could’ve rhymed that, but whats the lesson if you’ve never got one?

And I know a broke heart, when I’ve seen ...

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A series of haiku poems inspired by the wonderful nurturing, supportive mothers in my life - thank you for *planting the forest* :

I am a splinter 

What I need is a forest 

Mother the Mother 

****************

Tender and swollen 

Every inch of my being

Mother the Mother 

****************

Sitting in silence 

Musing, panicking, drowning 

Mother the Mother 

***...

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So many things I'll never say. 

So many miles I'll run away.

So many ships I've stowed away on.

So many lives I've passed away.

So many screams I've swallowed down.

So many smiles turned into frowns.

So many tears I've wiped away.

So many things I'll never say.

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you could mistake 
your life for a situation 
you could make decisions 
based on wrong information 

it would be great 
to be a child again 
but we gotta pretend 
to love ourselves instead 

in your situation 
I’d be dead in ten seconds 
I speak with endless admiration 
for the lifting you do with grace 

in your situation 
I’d target more than a few for assassination but you endur...

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I am the earth what humans 

I am what humans call me home

if you split me in half I am shaped like a dome

but most of you just stare at your phones

but don't appreciate how the sun has shone!  

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At the edge of the 

Apprehensive dark street,

Eyes often fail to meet

And in the moments 

When they fleetingly do,

The few tungsten lights 

Begin to constantly blink. 

The space for car parking 

Must've marked a lot of 

Departures and separation. 

Blur vision caused by droplets;

Rain isn't always the culprit,

But sometimes the eyes 

Well up and overflow ...

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My granny used to say:

We are not so rich

to buy cheap things.

Don't trust a son of a bitch

who pretends to be a king.

My granny used to say:

Meet the early morning light,

It's so Christianly right.

Always meet the dawn,

Jesus Christ had been born.

She used to say about money.

Honey, don't take other belongings!

Because you take oth...

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I was forced,
to keep my eyes shut.
While all the crimes were infront of me,
I chose to stay blind.
Stranded on a deserted island
With nowhere to escape.
I let my dreams fly away,
While I let my soul,
live in that hell.
I was a part of it,
Cruel and nasty doings.
Committing sins,
I never wanted to.
But what could I possible do?
Because in the end,
All that pain, was my closest frien...

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