ECCLES CAKES

Referendum what a bore

The man in the street will still be poor

And the rich will be richer than before

The press will descend on Manchester

And what she declares the world will swallow

The public’s chance to change tomorrow

Leave or stay? Remain or exit?

United Europe? Or Sporting Brexit?

The lying deceitful corrupt elite

Boring yawning I’m snoring ...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

CONCLUSION

First of all, congratulations to everybody who completed the challenge of writing thirty poems in thirty days. I enjoyed doing it for the most part, but I am, as always, a little disappointed that there are so few pieces that I think are any good. There are one or two that I feel I can do some more work on, and there is actually one that I have already performe...

Read and leave comments (0)

TOENAILS BLUE

You know

I know that - you’re playing a game

You tell me you paint your toenails blue

You mess with my head - but you stay the same

All night you talk to…? I haven’t a clue

You know

I know that - there is only you

Behind your grin and bear it persona

Sparkling and dizzy - and heady just you

Fizzy like Tizer pop and Corona

You know

I know ...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty Nine

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to

write a poem based on things you remember.

Here’s mine:

MEMORIES

Monday we said we would always be bold  

My very first kiss – sixteen – seconds old

Falling back to earth in a lead balloon

She thought that she was flying to the moon

Memories can flatter and sometimes please

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty Eight

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to write a poem

that tells a story backwards, therefore, the first line should

say what happened last.

Here’s mine:

SHE HATED

Finally she pulled the trigger and walked away  

She hated them all with a vengeance

The alley cats that rooted through trash cans like bin dogs

The fat cats ...

Read and leave comments (0)

   NaPoWriMo 2016

   Day Twenty Seven

   HER MADE UP WORLD

   Her made up world of shopping for shoes/ Under the bed she has continents of them/ Amazonian rain forests full of knee high boots/ Islands the size of Timbuktu stuffed with carrier bags/ And receipts for stiletto’s that she’ll never wear/ I went to visit her once and she took an hour to find an odd shoe/ It was under ...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty Six

APRIL

What about April

Even weeds are weedier

What happened to spring

More showers this year than last

And today the snow came back  

In Piccadilly

The man with the feeding tray

Waiting for the birds

The grass is always astro

Dream on you know you can’t play

260416

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty Five

PHOTOGRAPHY

From time to time

We travel by photography

From one time frame to another

From the present to the past

And from the past into the future

Through the same eyes

We see things in different ways

As if for the very first time

Light is thrown upon the Darkness

Illuminating our minds for ever

We wonder if those sh...

Read and leave comments (0)

MANET POSES

She’s kickin’ mad for it like Baudelaire

Done time in prison and she doesn’t care

The painted canvas of her portrait cries

Up in the gallery despite her lies

If I don’t tell her she won’t know the truth

She set herself apart she’s so aloof

As fleeting as modernity methinks

Art Nouveau rings another round of drinks

A gin and tonic and she waves goodbye

As p...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

 Day Twenty Three

 The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to write a sonnet.

I took the end line words from Shakespeare’s sonnet LXI

and the (sort of) idea behind it and came up with this:
 

JEALOUSY OR JEALOUS ME?

Do you plan to keep your image open

So sleeplessness will keep me up all night?

Do you think that my sleep will be broken

With images you send to t...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty Two

ITZY BITZY

When the sun is shining right through

Rough as you are and feeling blue

Phew Itzy Bitzy Timbucktoo

Choose to be there I want you too

Phew relief that you came back home

Rome is no place for one so young

So young Itzy Bitzy like you

Bleu as they say you are en France

Dancing cool to the latest dance

Rom...

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty One

FIGHTING FOR LIFE

Standing still revolving at the same time

Itemise this and that throw the other

Her blanket keeps her warm on the dry nights

Nights when it rains she sleeps under the arch

The arches where all the addicted go

Going there is the worst thing that she hates

She hates it more than queuing up for food

Food that...

Read and leave comments (0)

3ww

Pacify

Rage

Scarce

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Twenty

Here’s mine:

Flash Fiction in 51 Syllables

ONLY A GAME

After losing the big game, Dawn tries to pacify her Pet Robot. However scarce it  may be for a Robot, he flies into a rage. Dave can’t see what all the fuss is about ‘it’s only a game’, he says.

200416

Read and leave comments (0)

NaPoWriMo 2016

Day Nineteen

HOW TO TAME A TROGLODYTE

Is life a competition or a game

Pray tell me soon my all creative one

Ask your troglodyte to discuss his name

He’ll grunt and groan ignoring you for fun

Club you to kingdom come if you let him

You need to exercise control all day

Bind him tightly and whip him till he’s thin

Feed him minute amounts and make...

Read and leave comments (0)

THE ROOKIE
The conjurer tried to conceal
an ace up his sleeve but no deal
for the audience saw
that the rookie was raw
and the magical deal wasn’t real 
180416

I did the Madeleine Begun Kane Limerick prompt today.
The idea was to use the rhyming word conceal or seal
in the challenge. 

Read and leave comments (0)

BACK TO BRIGHTON

Who’s the dolly with the carboy trolley?

Bonkers about the bottle rack plonker

It’s Holly and she’s looking for lolly

Dish the dosh and hit her with a conker

I think she’s got a crush on the crusher

It used to be the bottle carrier

Had her eye on the winery brusher

Before that it was the dray farrier

South America would not be too far

Then there ...

Read and leave comments (0)

CHINA TOWN

MANCHESTER

Welcome to Manchester

Or should that read

Greetings from Manchester

Or perhaps

Welcome to China Town

Or maybe that could say

China Town Manchester

Whatever the weather the

Umbrellas are out shielding

And shading us from the sun

Parasol City this is not

Welcome to The Rainy City

on a sunny day perhaps?

160416

The prompt I chose a...

Read and leave comments (0)

MONKEY

Trouble don’t come so easy these days

You need to take a broom and brush it

Push it to the limit if you can

The bin dogs and alley cats know these things

And the garbage man

I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home

The wife said to the monkey

Double trouble hubby bubble

The wife said to the monkey

150416

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to write

Read and leave comments (0)

FREEZE

She looks at me etcetera

Pulling a mean and bitey face

I hide her cone shade but stay close

Wishing I had gone to Petra

The rose red city would be ace

She lifts her gun and starts to squeeze

Squirting water towards my nose

I pick my hose up and shout Freeze!

140416

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to write a san san poem.

Read and leave comments (0)

AFTER THE CRASH

Sometime after the crash, Dave had a touch of melancholy madness.

Dawn tried to console him, saying, ‘the windscreen was virtually opaque’.

The nimble pet robot had been behind the wheel, still Dave blamed himself.

130416

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was a bit cookie, so I did the Three Word Wednesday Prompt. The three words were: Melancholy, Nimble, and Opaque...

Read and leave comments (0)

AN INDEX POEM

Acid heads are as bad as those that are

Alcohol fuelled filled to overflowing

Aluminium cans get kicked down the street

Ammunition can be so explosive

Batteries can power her motor and

Bleach can be used to clean her kitchen sink

Bombs can explode at unexpected times

Brown can be seen as a colour or not 

Calcium’s out there in rocks and in chalk

Read and leave comments (0)

WATCHING

WASHING

Watching it intrudes into my

Life it takes up a huge amount

Of room in my living space

I watch it sometimes

But sometimes not

It talks to me informs me

Sometimes it tries to sell

Things to me products and

Ideas that I don’t need  

Sitting on a table by my sofa

It is wider than it is high and

These days it has a flat screen

It has preset ch...

Read and leave comments (0)

UP ON THE BOOKCASE

Up on the bookcase she’s still writing plays

Adventures melt titles leap off the shelf

Ben Okri – An African Elegy

Books with a bit of wear and tear like Skin

Ten Short Plays – Nicola Batty & co

Memories of places we used to go

Guide to the Musée d’Orsay - in Paris

Modigliani on the hotel wall

The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen – Garner

The ver...

Read and leave comments (0)

BABIES KNOW

Happy don’t come easy sideways

Sway the boat don’t rock it baby

Babies know much more than we think

Inking forearms is forbidden

Denton is on another plane

Lane after country lane we drive

Arriving home before midnight

Night turns into daytime too soon

On the day God created man

Manchester was what He wanted

Granted it took some time to do

...

Read and leave comments (0)

FLOWERS

All covered in bangles

Done up like Beau Jangles

So cosy

Like poesy

Red roses sans mangles

Cream cheese and hot bagels

Laid out on long tables

Like plastic

Fantastic

Red roses green stables

Red damaged and tangled

Green droopy bits dangled

Red rosy

Girl’s posy

Plastic flowers mangled

080416

The prompt at NaPoWriMo today was to wr...

Read and leave comments (0)

POOR CANDLESTICK MAKER

He might love her but she loves the Butcher

Next time I think he will try the Baker

Butcher Baker or Candyfloss Maker

He even asked out the Cocktail Shaker

Still no joy for she too loves the Butcher

Cake in hand he’s waiting for the Baker

She was late coming out of the Bakers

When she did he said Hey Miss Cake Maker

She said what? And wen...

Read and leave comments (0)

EVER EXPANDING ANDY

Since bread and cheese with herbs became his dream

The cabbage soup diet would not suit him

Eating himself to death with cakes and cream

I don’t think that he will ever be slim

Shedding a few pounds would be a riot

Of course that’s not as easy as it seems

Lose the weight first then go on the diet

Ever expanding Andy – burst the seams

He need...

Read and leave comments (0)

CHOCOLATE
WHISKERS
Lily kitten pussycat
Nimble as an acrobat
With her chocolate whiskers sat
On a thimble Lily cat

I went out too early for the NaPoWriMo prompt today,

so I wrote a little rhyme for my Hello Baby collection.

Read and leave comments (0)

NEVER KNOWING KNOWINGLY

Sitting there looking - bored forever

Never knowing knowingly - owing me

Ring me - bring me - sing me a song

A long, long - long lost song

Why pay rent on a concrete tent

When you can drive a Winnebago

He sings the jingle over in his head

Like a metronome windscreen wiper

If any month was heaven sent

It must be March or May

But the...

Read and leave comments (0)

WHACK! AND WHAM!

Dear Batman, I’m your biggest fan

Robin’s bobbins compared to you

You’re greater than the also rans

Superman, and Spiderman too

You’re the best of the very best

They just don’t measure up like you

And I’m not talking Adam West

The Riddler can’t out riddle you

Love the way you Zapped! The Joker

Kerplop! Thunk! Blam! One thump, Pow! Swish!

...

Read and leave comments (2)

Day Two

Today’s challenge at NaPoWriMo is to write a poem that takes the form of a family portrait. You could write, for example, a stanza for each member of your family. You could also find an actual snapshot of your family and write a poem about it, spending a little bit of time on each person in the picture. You don’t need to observe any particular form or meter. Happy writing!

Here’...

Read and leave comments (0)

Day One

Today’s challenge at NaPoWriMo is to write a lune. This is a sort of English-language haiku. While the haiku is a three-line poem with a 5-7-5 syllable count, the lune is a three-line poem with a 5-3-5 syllable count. You can write a one-lune poem, or write a poem consisting of multiple stanzas of lunes. Happy writing!

Here's mine:

BETWIXT

AND

BETWEEN

Betwixt and between

Read and leave comments (0)