GIVING IN - - AND GIVING UP
I've grown weary of being shouted at,
this shed is mine, I know my rights,
I should be free to enter
without sitting tenant fights
discussions or discordant voices.
And yet it's I who apologizes
as I subserviently creep away,
backing out of the door
as though afraid of an affray.
I give in - give up and acquiesce
to this outraged bully who controls
that ...
Friday 21st February 2025 12:45 pm
FOR ANNIE
I love to hear her laugh,
belly bubbling
throat clutching
outrageous chuckles.
It starts from deep inside
then fills her eyes
with a merriment that must be shared,
unimpaired
by self imposed restriction
or inhibitions
demanded by our adult role.
We join her in her laughter,
forming a curtain,
her defence against the world.
Monday 17th February 2025 10:25 am
AUTUMN BEECHES
Beneath these mossy skeletal trees
I have a sense of light and shade
soft air and mist
deep bedded moss
crisp leaves in drifts
of sloping banks
fast flowing streams
crystal splashed
pebble dashed
I have a sense
of waiting
of relating
a sense of being
a sense of seei...
Thursday 13th February 2025 11:47 am
CORRA
AH! Corra,
Your approach is fearless,
your dark eyes intense,
all knowing,
you show your confidence,
even arrogance.
Receiving my gift
you bury it
with dexterity,
leaving me perplexed.
Friendship is all I ask,
you look intrested
but complete your task
before coming closer,
asking for more.
What comes next
a peanut? you ask,
you strut towards...
Wednesday 5th February 2025 7:56 pm
DOWN OUR STREET
The narrow street is as it always was,
its uneven pavements cracked and untended
patchy grass bordering its crumbling edges.
Frayed ropes still hang from bowed lamp posts
and tired gardens still hide behind struggling hedges.
Apologetic paths lead to faded front doors
while sightless windows, opaque and unblinking,
blank the flat stares of those walking past.
Back all...
Saturday 1st February 2025 6:02 pm
OPAQUE
I gaze into the pool -
the pool gazes back,
a dark unblinking eye,
surface perfectly flat.
No ripples or reflections,
a natural sump
a bitter cup.
Almost round
with sloping sides
no iris or reeds
to soften its banks,
no dragonflies
or bathing birds,
just dark, brown black
surface perfectly flat.
Above the pool
mosquitoes dance
a h...
Wednesday 29th January 2025 10:18 am
KEEPING A COUNTY TRADITION ALIVE
These fine men
are British through and through,
they know when to doff their caps
and what is more ------ who to.
They're famous for their quad bikes,
their terriers, nets, and sacks,
with wooden crates both fore and aft
and bait bags on their backs.
As masters of their craft
they'll work both night and day,
enabling the 'Masters'
to indulge in make-believe pl...
Saturday 25th January 2025 4:46 pm
AT EASE WITH SIMPLICITY (re-edited)
I am a poet,
not the usual kind,
simple perhaps,
folksy, if in truth defined.
My roots are strong
and firmly anchored
in this fertile earth,
I recognize their worth
and I am happy
This life of mine
lived within my bounds
needs no embellishment,
no artificial dressing,
So here I am,
restricted by age,
mobility and terain,
defiant ...
Sunday 19th January 2025 11:18 am
YESTERDAYS ILLS
Don't hide behind your anger
it's a phase that cannot last,
age will dull your raw emotions
now your youth is in the past.
Facts, replaced by tales of fiction
reveal a sad and damaged soul,
exposing needs and lonely hunger,
ignoring that which makes you whole.
Unbridled rage is an addiction
that controls a troubled mind,
is this the reason for rejection
w...
Thursday 16th January 2025 3:34 pm
A SPORTING ENCOUNTER
Grey dogs panting
straps restraining
freed from their slips.
Brown hair trembling
wild heart racing
a scream on her lips.
Brown hair running
lungs bursting
stretching her length.
Grey dogs coursing
muscles revealing
their power and strength.
Black night enfolding
grey dogs creeping
hunter retreating
...
Tuesday 14th January 2025 11:49 am
HERITAGE LONG LOST second time round for this one
I have an overwhelming sense
of something missing,
a sense of loss -
perhaps a memory long gone.
A sense once shared across the generations,
by those that went before -
and - maybe - by those who follow on.
A sense that lets the spoken word fall silent,
while shared thoughts pass
through time and space,
revealing secret leyland traces,
...Thursday 9th January 2025 8:53 pm
BORIS ???
What is truth?
Does truth change with weighted words
that reinvent themselves to change the basic story?
repeating personal history,
untroubled by reality,
overruling louder voices
when we demand our rightful choices,
leaving us confused,
searching,
researching,
re-researching,
leaving our questions unanswered.
This is outdated no...
Thursday 9th January 2025 12:00 pm
BEHIND HIGH HEDGES
My boundaries are not defined
by gender,
or by age,
but by hedges,
the perfect definition of edges.
This then is my domain,
my place to write,
a place of personal reflection
and tounge-in-cheek confection.
Wednesday 8th January 2025 12:37 pm
DIPLOMATIC RETREAT
We played in the street when we were kids,
gathering around 'our' lampost like it was a totem,
making music with dustbin lids.
Well!
that was 'til the 'rude-boys' came
in their metal-shod brown boots,
they played a different game
swamping the air with harsh laugter.
And the fighting?
Well!
that came soon after.
We stood back from the ...
Tuesday 7th January 2025 11:16 am
A FLORAL TRIBUTE ( in the manner of Pam Ayres ) sorry Pam
This unassuming flower
punches well above its weight,
it can't be underestimated
the difference it can make.
It boosts our self-opinion
when we are feeling lost and low,
but when we get above ourselves
it's our comeupance blow.
So here's to our flowers
and the difference that they make,
spreading seeds of inspiration
in the hope they'll germinate.
...Sunday 5th January 2025 7:44 pm
GLORY DAYS
Mosses thrive well on these old stones
obliterating epitaphs
eulogizing these once loved bones,
victims of our inglorious past
their weighted die was early cast,
the price of avarice and empire.
Now there's no one left to pray,
bugles are silent -
Colours rotted away -
all that remains - a broken Cross -
a splintered, irrelevent, token Cross,
forsaken and...
Saturday 4th January 2025 11:26 am
A LESSON NEVER LEARNED (forgive me - this is a repeat entry)
Flocks of autumn crows
feast on scattered corn
in newly stubbled fields.
Greedily they feed
before the onset
of winter scarcities.
Wise birds these,
resourceful,
successful,
each maintaining its own personal space
aware that together - - they are safe,
and that sentinels will rise
to ward off dangers from the skies.
Paradoxically we ...
Thursday 2nd January 2025 12:25 pm
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