Now existing solely on borrowed time

But the loan carries a horrifying interest rate

From adulation to ignominious insignificance is a high price to pay.

Regrets and nostalgia for before often trigggered by frequent funerals

Each demise a painful thrust through the heart.

Relations' irritation that the loan has not yet been extinguished

Scorned for inevitable small inadequacies o...

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Dog let unintentionally loose on Sunday

Was first to find the eggs

And ate five, shells and all!

Will need checking on for some days.

Dad was betrayed by a buddy

Who nonchalantly asked in Mum's presence

Why his car had been in front of The Good Angel

Two a.m.Thursday night?

Older brother was soundly berated and told

he'd had the last supper with friends

After he zigza...

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Espied the lively flock preening

Squabbling squawking chortling.

Unkindly miming and mimicking

Down The Corso Saturday evening.

Snowy sweatshirts with hoods to hide in

Ink black macho leather bombers

Black jeans cropped off by white sneakers

Pied evidently cool for teens this year.

Chattering laughing mockingly taunting

So very streetwise. Their sly all-seeing eyes

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Barely visible opal hills in heat haze

and shimmering surfaced streets.

Little dog invisibly belly-sprawled

on icy marble cupboard floor

in frantic search of coolth.

Balcony dwellers limply gasping

slightly straightening only

at sight of heavy watering-can.

But oleander and bougainvillea

evidently in their element

flaunting their lovely abundance.

Birds o...

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How have we gone on ths pagan bent

goodwill not exactly heaven sent,

rejoicing mainly for what we've spent?

Christmas began with a little child

born of a mother gentle and mild.

This we should celebrate and recall

not go beserk in some glitzy mall.

Only gifts in sign of love and respect

which greatly your purse need not affect.

That child who gave poor mortals ...

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Walking enchanted underneath

a vast high yellow canopy

with coal black struts supporting,

and recalling the heavy  scent of drowsy  summer evenings.

The honeylike aroma indicating a bees' paradise,

A gentle zephyr suddenly sighed

sending bright yellow snowflake leaves

to their final fall, so forming

an ornate mosaic leaf carpet underfoot,

of every possible sunlike shade.

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The Landrover bounced rapidly over the cumulus and cirrus

finding the Great Gate unlocked and opened wide.

A fine welcome she was given, with smiles and widespread arms,

and full angel choir to receive her, as certainly due

to one who had faithfully maintained her youthful promise,

and had always done her best even when severely tried.

Then a disorderly yapping silenced the ...

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Where had he come from, this pitiful derelict

cast away dying from a moving truck?

From little white boxlike home on searing sand

sheltering under the tall green fronds,

an elegant Riad from more prosperous days,.

or a stifling windowless den in a rabbit warren souk?

Small boned and surely quick moving once,

still with feverishly brilliant black eyes

and ruthful gap-to...

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Bent over bedside fearfully, incredulously

in the long dark deathwatches of a hot night

holding his hand beside a good son.

Gnawed by uncertainty and anxiety

straining and listening for that barely perceptible

last tiny  invisible wisp of life,

ever more laboured and fainter, difficult to discern

until it finally ceased as he peacefully slipped away

while the nightingale sa...

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We love our school and learn a lot

after passing through the metal detector.

Most important, we're taught how to conceal ourselves.

No sport for us, but shooter drills instead.

Turn out the lights and lock the classroom door,

squat quivering, eminently visible, under our flimsy desks

as someone could crash in with murderous intent

having already killed the guards on the school...

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A son of David pitched against a midget Goliath

but one who has such might behind him.

The ogre claiming he has come for a deliverance

(he was a man of cunning from his youth).

The other fighting in the simple name of freedom,

full well knowing the effect of The fetid Bear's breath

forever felt on their necks during decades past,

his razor-sharp claws ready to subdue, imprison...

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Cobalt leaked into his life's blood.

from a previous aged hip implant.

Alarm bells! Tragedy! Perilous!

However, at least he could sustain

that having blue blood was aristocratic!

Advantage? Handicap? Out-dated?

Then steps taken all went back to normal,

Just returned to  former plebian scarlet.

Luckily? Regretably? Inevitably?

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From Mrs Santa Claus,(a second wife), just before Christmas

Dearest,

This icy forest, soaking wet, is not that on which my heart was set.

Fed up cooking for those wretched elves, tell me why they can't fry up themselves?

So many missives requiring risposte, but no reward for the time I've lost.

No glamorous designer gear, just down and boots and furry hats, a Yeti's mate do I appear...

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Dizzy with sweet yearning perfume

the swooning scent of fragrant orange blossom.

Clump of pink purple-veined mallow flowers

where spied a fire-coated fox snoozing below.

Allseeing  gold-ringed dark amber eyes

looked up and registered me harmless

as I gazed admiringly at his glowing curves.

No stone or pitchfork, gun or snarling dog

so serenely he dropped off again

unders...

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Passing the graveyard's mossy stones

Heard some quite appalling moans.

Coffinwood creaked as they stole out

One giving a cadaver such a clout

I wondered if in an earlier life

The pitiful corpse had belonged to the wife?

Me with saintly image in silver locket

Coarse salt hidden deep in pocket

Silver crucifix brandished high

So evildoers would pass me by.

A garlic ...

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Waiting avidly for unwary prey

Terrifyingly huge, dark and shiny with squat body,

thin sprinter's legs enabling rapid pounces

grabbing his chosen victims.

(he likes them plumpish.)      

Met face to face provoked a shriek,

though he, luckily, was voiceless.

Such an apparition petrifying,

but probably the fright was mutual,

causing him to retreat into his sinister lair

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Forced furiously to undergo a Pre Matrimonial Course

by both Priest and gorgeous harridan intended,

(otherwise the knot remained  undone).

Feeling indignant, resentful and slightly put upon,

the 'married' to him less important than her 'moneyed'.

Honeymoon period over, he grabbed the chance

to take a Post Matrimonial Refresher Course

to avoid early nuptial burnout and collapse...

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Why now always only a rapidly ebbing tide?

No more riotous high water vigorously invading

Or incoming flows to delight the rock pool castaways

No frantic storms lashing waterfalls over the groaning pier wall

No crashing breakers racing to the shore

No white horses neighing fine windswept spray

But always going ever further out and out

Leaving only the bare hard ribs of cemente...

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Relations can't be chosen, they're

the same brood, acquired, new arrivals,

the demented but kindly older ones.

How many snide comments must be swallowed,

incomprehensible pretensions, subtle slights,

words distorted or deliberately misunderstood,

just to maintain a fragile web of support?

When the ever fizzling fuse finally flares

a family spat causes widespread r...

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Seemingly so peaceful a place

with birdsong, birches, and smooth green lawns

verdant with the lake of tears past shed.

But what agonizing long gone secrets

lie hidden below those ramrod white stones?

Lonely deaths in a field, under a hedge, along a dusty road,

seeking animal-like a quiet hidden place undisturbed

to draw that now welcome last breath.

So young, so many l...

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Down by the olive-green river

Basking lazily on the flat, sunwarmed rocks,

Saw him gleefully, jumping, leaping,

splashing, swooping, sliding,

slipping on the water-smoothed pebbles,

in the transparent shallows,.

joyfully barking, soaking wet,

doggily laughing crazily!

He had discovered a new sport,

'Frogging' we called it.

Luckily for both the frogs could spring

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(for a nightingale)

Tossing in redhot sheets

with two granite pillows,

every sleepless night

he keeps faith and enchants.

Such a silvery crystal song

better performed than any tenor

so many perfect variations.

But no fool he, this minute brown bird,

his lovely lust only let loose

on balmy spring nights.

Never when just cold blackness

filled only by harsh owl shr...

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When will we see the clear blue sky again?

All living in a frightful fog of fear, always

remembering the long lorryloads of coffins,

avoiding and even distrusting ever familiar faces.

Where might they have been?

Who might they have been with?

What might they have touched?

Shopping become a hazardous trolleytrip,

checkout girl now avoiding eye contact,

worried that a wisp...

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Where has it gone to, I'd like to know?

No precipitous flight, but a gradual perishing.

But then I see the young girls flirting  in the park

who must have magically stolen it away.

Chestnut hair, lapislazuli eyes, petal skin,

dècolletè with pomegranate breasts,

hourglass waist, now just a waste,

once able to pick and choose.

So you luscious lasses, heed me I beg.

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The dead garden where birds sing no more.

Alas, it pleasure gives no longer,

lost and gone forever,

now just an enclosed emptiness.

High stone walls protecting still

but only tufted grasses swaying now,

where once was such delight.

No wasps guarding glossy brambles

or squabbling thrushes feasting on the cherry.

The tiny burn now murmurs lonely

flowing through into the...

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 Slumping tweedcapped on his bench

gnarled mottled hands on walkingstick,

far off she wandered, swaying slightly.

Lithe and lovely with slim brown thighs

tantalisingly appearing disappearing

from slits in a flowery gipsy dress,

a cascade of breezeblown dark hair.

He saw a gracious gust remove the dress,

another the tiny lacy things, and then a vision!

She came to hi...

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Can such deep dark eyes

like peat river pools

make their desire so plain?

They certainly can.

But, regretfully withholding

considering too long

how many lives might be hurt

far more than only mine.

So forgot, or at least tried to

those pleading dark eyes

but secreted them away

as something very precious.

Warm and consoling

to quicken sluggish b...

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We don't wish you a Covid Christmas

Or New Year in I.C.

We hope you keep distant

And all wear your masks

No Mistletoe this Christmas

As kissing is banned

Let's hope we can beat it

With help from Above

We wish you a happy Christmas

And hope you keep safe

We wish you a happy Christmas

And a better New Year!

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The storm had bruised the night

with inky black and blue clouds

and sky-splitting lightning streaks.

But after the welcome downpour,

I saw against soft lamplight

as penitence the storm had left

dark branches dripping diamonds.

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Small agile grinning implike being

a whirlwind with magic feet

sometimes seen of clay.

Streetkid's eye for an opening

sphere stolen with incredible dexterity.

It must have seemed  to him

redress for youthful hardship

from penury to affluence.

Excesses of every kind

his many women forgiving

except the white lady,

and other wicked spirits

who held him in thrall.

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When time for bed

For him no hot water bottle

No cuddly teddy bear

He had to have his comfort cat

a coal black tiny crooked cat.

When bedtime came

He sought the feline anxiously

And if it was no show

He'd hunt it out determinedly.

If daring to refuse him, then

Bring it gently in his huge jaws

Drooled on, indignant, but quite unhurt.

Then he'd lay down his massiv...

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Purest  gold leaves

Heart-shaped and such 

Fragile flesh on dark skeleton

Prettily fluttering down

With each gentle gust

Gilding green grass

Left glowing in the sunlight

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Will this never cease,

the wrenching racking weeping

an infinite sense of loss?

No-one to speak or write to

 who  truly cares.

No more her sense of humour

laughing at the same things.

No-one able to listen quietly

then provide some comfort.

All this can't be contained

in a hideous dead weight urn.

So sprinkle the contents on the roses

where her ashes will create...

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The bloated bellies of offshore vaults

where lie the profits, accumulating wealth

though giving off a nauseous stench

of crude oil and the decomposing corpses

of so many helpless non-combatants.

Sent by bearded men plotting over long tables

using deaths, terror and yet more deaths

to further their not so obscure interests.

Evil metallic predators wing stealthily over t...

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Sweet moon, answerable for much heartbreak

from the lies your silvery beams induce.

'I'll love you forever'

until cockcrow next morning.

'Never met anyone like you before'

the many 'others' all discarded.

'This is love at first sight'

  on sighting the gleaming Porsche.

'This time it's for always'

 or until the first black eye.

'You'll never be alone again'

as...

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(put a five letter word in the gaps, if you dare!)

For this I could be called a ............ guard now.

Perhaps  put on a ...........list even though

I can't be .................balled, not being

a worthy member of any exclusive club.

Can I still ........... out, or am I obliged to faint?

When  asked ............. or white? for coffee

how do I refuse the first, If I prefer the...

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Idling evening on the terrace

watching the light on the bay

saw a swirling whirl of wings

zigging, zagging, desperately spiralling

up down over round and above.

A ravenous rapacious raptor

chasing a frightened fledgling.

Just when all seemed lost

the victim, as a last resort,

dived under the table, and crouched

quivering, heart thumping visibly

half dead  with shee...

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A massive  muscular cheerful smith

Vast but nimblest smokedark hands

A red face gleaming in the flickering firelight

Wrapped in his stiff leather apron

The fire glowing as the bellows huffed and puffed

The clanging of his hammer on the anvil

As he beat the shoe into shape and size

Acrid smell of hot metal, then the hissssss

As he slipped the shoe in the cold water bucket

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Undeserved cruelly cutting words from someone

who had been created out of love,

raining down like physical blows

bruising, breaking, belabouring, bloodshedding,

robbing you of well-earned peace of mind.

Affection, respect, compassion thrown out,

rudely discarded as valueless.

But no Good Samaritan passes by

to cherish, console and comfort you,

applying an ointment of rea...

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A sudden vivid flash electric blue

so swiftly straight more sensed than seen,

streaking burrow-wise from his grey branch lookout

over the dark olive green lake water.

So fragile no halcyon days are his,

unable to command the creek or river water,

and inexpert divers are the fledglings

often waterlogged and trapped in weed or twigs.

Suffering from our pollution-pro...

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My Dad had a bristly black beard

of  which many peoiple were feared

It grew and it grew

but not straight, quite askew

so our Mum with the mower appeared!

A couple of twins put on wellies

and smashed both the family tellies

their Dad threw them out

giving each boy a clout

'to come home ytou must crawl on your bellies'

There was once a Teutonic shrink

whose...

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Paving stones a crazy brilliant red

redder than the roses growing there

but she loved him so, they all said.

Picked up a smiling child from school

just as usual,the teacher said.

Left the supermarket with bulging bags.

Why bother? the police said.

Walked serenely up the pretty path

unlocked the heavy front door

soared up to the top floor

With what in mind? t...

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Didn't recognise who the smile came from

remembering the chrysalis child.

Metal entwined teeth, tangled hair,

a nose too large for a little face,

unhappy self-doubting eyes,

the too tall insecurity and gawkiness.

Now suddenly transformed into a butterfly,

blessed with gazelle-like grace

glowing skin, shining tresses, sparkling eyes.

The drastic effect of the hated metal

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I'm large, gingery, whiskery, muscular, agile and ever resourceful

but definitely never been a cuddly calendar cat.

Not even outwardly respectable like my ancestor

being seen to hunt,forage, steal and scrounge

for myself and the motley feline crew where I'm Top Cat.

Of my nine lives, forfeited three at least;

cornered by a canine fiend in Boxer shape.

I bear the scars sti...

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This novel crown is not desired,

not sought after or fought for,

nor jewelled in glittering gold

elevating those who bear it.

Giving not riches, power, authority

but conferring weakness and disability,

more like the crown of thorns so long ago

used to torment and humiliate before expiry.

This comes alone with never a belov'ed face

helping to tide them over the brink...

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Sitting demurely at a cafè table

several young novice priests,

buttoned up in slim black cassocks

with wide-brimmed black hats

not so often seen nowadays.

Suddenly a child-kicked football

flew into the cathedral square.

A conspiratorial glance slid round the group

which as one jumped up to the call.

Twirling whirling, long skirts swirling,

tall supple elegan...

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The besotted lad has been bewitched

his royal title from him snitched.

All passion spent he'll feel alone,

will the Prodigal Duke then slink back home?

The lovely enchantress, mother too,

(she produced a dukeling to step in shoe),

tried to commercialize his royal crown

so required a little taking down!

Now the cake's put back in larder,

(couldn't she have tried...

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(A repost from November 2017)

Hey Hey for the not so merry month of May

but what on earth will the butler say?

Will she make her Markle felt?

Want golden faucets in the loo,

Just like the lovely sTrumpets do?

No shepherd's pie or kidney pud

for Cinderella. Oh no, no good.

Just hominy grits and collard greens

with pumpkin pie and Boston beans

Caesar salad - cookie...

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The skulking squall suddenly sprung

choosing three little fishing boats as prey.

The sky became leaden with inky clouds,

a merciless gale howled and shrieked

skimming salt spray off the crests.

Trio of tiny coloured boats bobbing desperately

like  children's nutshell toys.

Planks straining to scale the dark green walls

then crashing down into the troughs again,

all ...

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Springtime daffodils, crocuses and polished buttercups,

delicately scented fluffy feather-leaved mimosa.

February winter jasmine cascading yellowly

over southern sunwarmed stone walls,

an explosion of tiny briliant forsythia stars.

Hillside covered in cream yellow primroses,

with violets as mutual complement.

Sunrays stealing through shutter slats,

gifting a natural aw...

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