I’m stuck for what to buy for my 11 year old

So big sister prises herself off Facebook

to help spend my money 

(an honourable cause, in her books)

and suddenly we’re flicking through the years

as she remembers the day Santa died

a friend’s house, a dinner table

how adult and child laughed as they stuck the knives in

how she’d wanted to cry, but joined in

ten ...

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Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only sane one left

in a mad, mad world

if inadvertently, I’ve fallen down some great big rabbit hole

to alternative reality

where truth’s a big fat water bomb, overfilled

that we sling back and forth like a pig’s bladder

sloshing round as we wait for the splat

except that it doesn’t splat

transforms instead to the leering face

of...

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I

At school I learnt that domestic science was not my thing,

drove Mrs Wright to distraction

with the carnage of eggs shells and flour I left behind,

bemused her with my sense of humour;

that I could laugh

when my Swiss Roll refused to roll,

my Apple Crumble, crumble

my meringues fail to fluff

until

weary of her w...

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She loves me to the sun and back

moon, planet, stars

She loves me 100%

(which is as far as you can go)

She has a love chain

and I’m at the top

along with God and Jesus

Below me come family

then friends

then neighbours

then the unknown, who are nice

then robbers and murderers

who aren't

She tells me not to post this

because it’s cheesy

...

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‘Beauty’s only skin deep,’ they say

words they somehow think will help

words fail

fall  like acid drops to litmus mind

absorbed, stored, burnt to memory

like scars.

Acute acne leaves its red and pitted trail

and mirrors tell no lies

I reflect upon a ruined face

each blemish magnified.

For many years

I shun the light

that sheds its brig...

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Chlamydia, Chlamydia

How could a name be prettier?

You’re up there with the Chardonnays

Bianca, Sharon, Mel and Jade

Once kiss from you my lips enflame

To pass you by it causes pain

you burn your name into my hide

you penetrate me deep inside

one look from me into your eyes

and I’m left barren, sterilised…

Chlamydia, chlamydia

No name on earth i...

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(Just a bit of fun for Francine)

Above vaulting box

Hot and steamy pumps take flight

Endorphins released..

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There have always been haves and have nots

There always will be haves and have nots

Once I was a have not, now I’m a have

Or am I?

I have what I can afford

All that I can’t, I have not

Things out of my realm

I dream about

And that suffices

So now society hangs on the spin of a coin

Crumbles when want is all

Where are our role models?

Where d...

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Here we are, two years on

And still I hate the school play

In crammed airless hall

Two hours of my life stolen

only this time it’s worse…

I’ve grabbed the last two seats in the house,

embroiled myself in chit chat with a neighbour

before the waft of urine hits my senses

and I thought her husband switched places

to ease our conversation…

My 15yr old bemoan...

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How I hate the school play

In crammed airless hall

Two hours of my life stolen

To watch other children

Whisper and mumble their way through

Indecipherable plot…

Doting mothers sit next to adoring dads

Who take photos and remind me

That I forgot my camera

And am

A most deficient parent

Exchange knowing looks of pride

Whilst I watch

A fois...

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Tooth fairy goes bad

after 2 glasses of red,

forgets to collect tooth,

stumbles blindly to her bed.

Tear drop stings taint fragile wings...

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Thank you to everyone who took part and voted in the above themed poetry competition.  As usual, more people were interested in reading and writing than voting but nonetheless, we have a very clear winner! 

“It was outstanding, the first one out of the traps, and I felt from the outset it would be hard to beat. Gritty in the face of grief, resilience in bereavement, marvellous language.”

...

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Of all the joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks onto mine…

He read me like a Mills & Boon

thought he knew my heart’s desire

swept me off my corny feet

set curled up toes on fire

For him podiatry was challenge

experimental, avant guarde

ejaculatory pedi-torture

hammered toes blown fast and hard

He innovated long and often

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When I grow old

I shall wear purple

polished patent leather, platform soles

aspire to strut higher

grind cool skin till its on fire

twixt scapula and lumbar

spread my toes...

I shall chuck grandchildren beneath the chin

then chuck them back - gladly

to parents disapproving, sullen eyed

not aspire to die too wealthy

make the most of being healthy

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Since everyone seemed to enjoy the Escape themed poetry competition, I thought I’d introduce a new theme pretty quickly before the holiday season begins - I hope you like it.  I wanted something totally different that opened us all up to lighter poetry.  The competition will run till 6thJuly with votes to me by 10thJuly.  I wasn’t proposing to put up any prize money.  I don’t think people are m...

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Fluttering from books

like pressed paper aeroplanes

last vestiges of love

Heat, warmth, promise

dried to seed and sown in barren land

threaded to words that can’t be worn

the touch, the taste, the look

this moment in time now gone

ink etched to history

to keepsake kept

for rainy days

when memory is all.

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You’ve gone again

but then I always knew you would

blown away by emptiness

the hollow rattle of it all

the words that never said enough

or never said at all

but fed upon themselves instead

now hope has gone the way that all things go

sunny side down

yolk hardened

like the setting sun

and yet for me

you left your mark

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There are no young at the Yeung Sing hotel,

only those who grew old, singing for their supper,

or was it breakfast?  For night turns to day, turns to night,

waiting to break fast, to break bread, to break owt

of the Yeung Sing Hotel where the hands of the clock stand still

like the ends of the arms of the chef who mans the grill.

Daylight saving seems a concept made in h...

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My daughter revises chemistry,

with a little help from brother.

(our family expert on such things)

whilst I listen on,

baffled by the formulas and names

the purpose of it all,

like a freshwater fish

all at sea with the brine

I need to be heard,

to matter amongst the matter,

add weight to the atoms of this foreign world.

‘What is the stuff of life?’ I ...

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How easily the mighty fall

no metal strong enough

to front the fury of this sea

no weight great enough

to stand its own ground

no house safe enough

a home to be

and yet the trees, stand still

rooted to the planet’s core

blinded to the fate of man

deaf to Nature’s angry roar

Bag the bodies

count the heads

tsunami tears

the walki...

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You send me back my wedding dress

20 years too late…

wrapped not in finest tissue

confetti tumbling from its folds

nor draped across a lover’s arms

regret pressed to every empty seam

not folded at all

but jammed like stinking gym shorts

into this case, too small

compressed, flattened

obligatory bow adrift

sad reminder of all that was.

An ivo...

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You think poor is…

One car not two

semi, not detached

the right school

the wrong brand

the wrong label.

I think poor is…

Tide-lines

thick enough to pick at

cardboard soles

in shoes with holes

and stains that don’t

wash clean.

Together

we know poor is…

the curl of a lip

in a hostile world,

the shame

of not fittin...

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People questioning things

People explaining things

People thanking people

People praising people

People joking

People not joking

People arguing

People being nice

People being obnoxious

People being clever

People being stupid

People being selfish

People posting, people posting, people posting

People disappearing

People re-appearing

Peop...

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I’m not quite sure

when it was I disappeared

the precise moment, minute, hour

I only know that one day

it happened

I ceased to exist

to count,

to matter,

to be.

Nobody told me so,

the milkman still knocked,

neighbours still smiled,

kettles still boiled,

and children still cried,

but somewhere, somehow

someone flicked a switch

...

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When I was young, I wanted ham

But my old mum

gave me spam, spam, spam

She gave me so much spam

I couldn’t taste the bread

For spam lay on my stomach

Like dull and heavy lead

If I complained too much

She’d sing the old refrain

About starving kids in Africa

Where spam clouds never rained

Where ham was never heard of

And they had no spam...

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