As the New Year arrives for us to greet, 

Keep this resolution in your mind:

With the ongoing opportunities we will meet...

Whenever we can - let us be KIND!

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How fitting now in deep December

When days are short and spirits low,

That in our hearts we will remember

Those we knew who had to to go.

Christmas hours are briefly bright,

Their spark is spent in Winter's pay

And soon surrenders to the night

When light retreats and fades away.

But O how wonderful this living!

How magical this life we own,

That we are given...

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Remembering those who have gone from this world but still keeping the positive gratitude for this life, 

here's an instrumental version of my song Christmas Snow...put up in the style (I hope) of the James

Last Orchestra !

A FOOT-TAPPING MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!! 

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Go back in history and it will show

It's mostly about either "stay" or "go!

Choosing the time to head away

Is down to experience come the day.

Acquiring an empire provided that...

Knowing when to tip the hat.

If being run by others is your need

This seems contrary to our creed,

Buccaneers and bravos bold

Fill the history books of old,

And who amongst those doughty bra...

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Here's my contribution towards the coming Festive Season.  Grateful to Diamond Studios of Bristol.

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I was sitting alone, long after you'd gone

Wondering how love had gone wrong

When in my mind your face I'd find

And with it the words for this song

That Night before Christmas all on my own

Was the loneliest...

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Still with the written word - my comic-crime novel of the above title is now available via Amazon (Kindle

version)  plus a "look-in feature/ while print copies can be ordered from the above and other major retailers.  I've managed to include some rhyme/verse at various points in my story and that pleases me.

ISBN 9781786232502 

Christmas is coming!

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Pondering the expression longevity

Leaves little leeway for levity;

So I will stay serious -

And whilst age may weary us -

I prefer abundance to brevity!

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Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "health"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "wealth"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "living"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "giving"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "gain"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of "pain"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of  "caring"?

Tell me - who's your equal in terms of ...

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War is madness,

War is sadness;

Its consolation -

Freedom's gladness.

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My uncle, Ernest Valentine Venner, Lieutenant: The Rifle Brigade, has a grave that is marked, but many 

who served and died do not, and these lines from 2014...the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1...are intended to mark and maintain their memory.

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For the sake of comment in poetical form here is a re-working of a previous entry. 

Listening to Julia Hartley-Brewer

Makes me wish somehow I knew her.

That sense of razor sharp summation

Addressing the wounding allegation

Returning from a distant past

With virtue's rising hot air blast

To put a long lost act on show

That only those concerned can know.

So - look to yours...

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The resignation from high office of Sir Michael Fallon evoked a notable response from his erstwhile victim - 

Julia Hartley-Brewer: talk-show host, panellist and newspaper journalist.  She has displayed what is

demonstrably missing today -a maturity and no-nonsense attitude towards what can occur in the real 

world occupied by the male and female human species....and what are called "rite...

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Yesterday brought the news of the passing of my favourite performer from the great days of Rockn'Roll -

Antoine "Fats" Domino, and it took me straight back to my 1950s boyhood when the Hit Parade had a

new Number One virtually every week and a wealth of talent competing for a place in the Top Twenty

in the Melody Maker and the New Musical Express charts...every pop lover's' "bibles" of th...

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Being a Premiership football manager isn't much fun these days,

At the beck and call of money-men reminding them who pays,

And suffering prima-donnas with self-obsessive ways,

And whining "for the moment" fans who demand who goes or stays.

It's all about the ego now, with players priced in zeroes,

Over-estimating their own worth - unlike true sporting heroes,

Fiddling around whil...

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As inevitable as a farm track's newly laid dung

Is the poetry competition aimed at the young.

What about those who have progressed to age,

With long life to savour and flavour the page?.

I make the case for a competition for the old

Who write what they know and not what they're told;

Let's have more from knowledgeable old fogeys

Still rattling along like a steam loco's bo...

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Why go to the expense of an encyclopaedia

With all those brains to be got in the media?

I heard the following from a press-preview bloke

Who clearly didn't think as he spoke:

"Obesity is a huge problem", he opined...

Obesity and huge forever defined!

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Testing the venality of a politician

Does not require much erudition;

In fact it's quite an easy task...

All you have to do is ask:

"When you see grass

Would you vote to save it?"

or

"When you see grass

Would you vote to pave it?".

Would you bet money on what they'd do,

Despite anything they'd say to you?

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When we met you'd been hurt by love,

The pain was plain deep in your eyes;

Punished by its careless push and shove

And being told too many lies.

I made a vow as I came to know you

True love would play its part;

Every chance I got I'd show you

There are ways to mend a broken heart.

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She glided past me in the street,

Sweet, petite...good enough to eat.

And leaving - to mark where she went -

She left a lingering heavenly scent.

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From the tree, the leaves lose hold and fall,

Their wrinkled faded fabric, once glorious green then gold,

Evoking human lives meeting their own approaching winter,

Coming to their rest as the world turns cold;

Making way for those that wait their turn,

And like the leaves: they're beneath the foot or they burn.

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On a Stateside visit years ago,

I was warned - and with good reason,

To take care to avoid when hard winds blow

At the time of the "Hurricane Season".

The storms that have materialised

To reek recent havoc there

Are coincidentally appearing

With what is witnessed elsewhere.

The media news has been omitting

Stargazing's overheated surprise:

Excessive activity...

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Love leaps high

And readily vaults

The high bar set

By human faults.

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If you must fall in love -

Fall in love with your self;

That way you'll never

Be left on the shelf.

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Present efforts to conserve the countryside around the White Cliffs (Dame Vera in action!) -

and ongoing threats elsewhere persuade me to post this current comment on today's world.

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What care I for gate or fence...

Come - let us talk of pound...

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For all who have found that "special one" - or who are still looking!  Be happy, whatever!!

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Come with me to the small car park by the fields of Higher Brownstone high above Kingswear and the

River Dart in South Devon where the track to the old World War Two coastal defences is marked by a

solitary tree.  Breathe in the salty air and step out down that track towards the sea.

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My thanks to Marcie Summers of Bristol for recording this poem for me.

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Our English hills like sentries stand,

Proud guardians of an ancient land.

Across their brows, God, ever wise,

Has draped the everchanging skies.

While in their valleys, gently laid,

There lie the ...

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I was giving some thought the other day

About the word "community"

And how being Scottish, Irish or Welsh

Can be boasted with impunity.

And how a multitude of ethnics

Within the population

Can claim a similar title

And do it with immunity

Yet if someone says they're English

Have you noticed - there's every chance

They'll be ignored or even derided,

With looks at be...

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So Brucie's gone and the world's in a whirl,

Leaving life with a final twirl.

Always full of vim and fizz

Sir Bruce Forsyth was Mr Show-Biz!

Multi-talented, multi-faced,

Your passing on seems such a waste

But not in memories of fun and glee,

As I see you dancing into eternity.

You gave so much and deserved your fame,

God bless you Brucie: Good game...good game!

.........

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The disorder and death in Virginia seem to have begun with disputing the aim/intention of pulling down

a statue of Robert E. Lee.  The man himself would have probably distanced himself from both public

statuary and the violence.  Offered the post of commander of the Federal forces of the North, he

declined because he considered that his first duty was to his own state - Virginia.

The A...

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Tolerance is a two way thing

That should never brook the attitude

It's somehow OK to go rioting

And be pardoned with some platitude.

It's not enough to command respect,

That's something to be earned.

How can anyone really expect

Respect for buildings burned?

.

Far too many doing crime,

Too many of them doing time.

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We were chatting like most siblings do,

About the past and who we knew;

Of times enjoyed and where we went,

The things we had, the money spent.

But in the chat there came a pause,

Even now I can't recall the cause;

Then my brother's words came quietly:

" I don't remember Mum ever hugging me."

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Stupid is as stupid does,

The two will always meet.

You'll see them at war with the weary Fuzz

On some unlucky street.

With mental toolbox short of a spanner

And willingly led by their noses,

Beneath some wildly brandished  banner

Rational reasoning dozes.

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This poem with its musical setting joins my collection of verse recorded for a personal CD

by Peter Dymond.  The subject can be said to have been approached with the value of hindsight!

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There's this to say for getting old:

You take more care against the cold,

And value each new day.

And this to say for getting old:

You want to keep and not to s...

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Intended for August but I mixed up my dates and it appeared on 31 July.  Oops.  So here it is again.

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Written following a memorable blue-sky afternoon looking out over Preston Sands, Torbay.

Pausing high above the beach,

I watch the children ...

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There are those who will -.

Because they must -

Call it love

When meeting lust.

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Once upon a time life's losers were boozers,

But now life's losers like drugs.

In their self-obsession

They lose self-possession

And fall prey to predatory thugs.

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There seem to be many who find it scary

To be - or thought to be - solitary.

I've no such worry - and just as well

Logging on to W O L.

There is no other voice but mine

When the page tells me there's "1 online"!

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During the many decades since I was a kid

Time Lord Doctor Who was "the man who did"!

Now today's BBC takes the view we are due

A Time Lady Doctor Who - a woman who'll do!

But despite all the approving feminist calls

I fear that the Beeb is losing its balls.

Who next will we be expected to greet.....

Shirley Holmes and Miss Watson of Bake-Off Street?!

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We know of the "faces" that occupy Facebook...

And the "twits" adding twaddle to Twitter.

The first with its trivia-filled waste of space look

And the second with its bile from the bitter.

But now the net allows anyone a voice

Or so it can seem - hardly cause to rejoice!

The stuff that appears can make one despair

Or at the very least, tear at one's hair.

Those who can't sp...

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Americans from the pioneer stock of the West of that great country have a term for those they perceive

as blowhards and fainthearts:  "All hat and no cattle".

I was thinking about the mindsets that insist we must remain within the European Union - displaying

their preference for rule by a committee of various and varying political administrations that are able to

impose laws formed by ...

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Our friends and allies with all their faults

Are better than our enemies and their assaults!

If you judge, you may be judged...

If you don't budge, you may be budged!

Virtue is a wondrous thing

But, defeated, has a hollow ring.

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How come we hear "those who know" say

The heart needs exercise come what may,

While joggers drop dead as they go their way

And Stephen Hawking reached seventy five the other day!

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Never politicise somebody's grief

It never helps facts become clear;

You'll risk being seen akin to a thief,

Stealing what honesty holds dear.

Better instead to link arms and intentions

To ensure a repeat won't occur

And reject out of hand premature mentions

Of blame that make focusing a blur.

Let the desire for truth be the spur!

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Give them the occasion...give them the day

And you will find they came

To play in everything they say

The easy game of blame.

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Now that I'm firmly in my 8th decade of existence on this old Earth, it seems a good time to take stock...of the past, the present and the future.

I was so lucky to arrive just as WW2 was drawing to a close and although the years that followed were marked by real austerity with ration books still in use into the 1950s and the country bankrupted by

the cost of its efforts to save the civilise...

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I know you'll excuse me when I write

In terms of envy, spleen and spite.

Holding forth in finger pointing finality

From my mountain summit of morality.

The well to do are there to be got at,

(If I had my way they would be shot at!).

Suspicious of their money and how they make it

Has me thinking of ways to take it.

And those that say they do their best

I find it easy to d...

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Look behind and you may find

A tale of two great cities.....

New York and London each defined

By two mayors and a thousand pities.

The difference as far as the fates agree

Between London town and NYC:

One mayor steps up to take the lead

The other to criticise and plead,

While saviours in Manhattan and North Ken

Are linked by courage - now and then.

No one blamed the p...

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An out of power politico's art

Is about a performance...playing a part;

Projecting an image in variable focus,

Cue: Abra-ca-dab-ra and hocus-pocus.

A mug shot...a hug shot...kissing a baby,

Don't look for deeds done: trust make believe maybe.

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I'd love to be a poetry judge,

Know what I mean...wink wink nudge nudge!

Chosen for my poetical nous -

To indulge in wordy "pick and choose".

It seems that adding a uni degree

Would serve to see the likes of me

Complete a literary course or two

To hold forth on the likes of you,

And what you write and even how

You form your lines in lonely plough.

Be warned I may not ...

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So, Theresa May's political gamble following unpopular intentions became a busted flush, with Corbyn

benefitting from the youth/protest vote (see the result in Canterbury and various university towns for 

examples of that).

There was a song around the time of  WW2 that encouraged folk to "keep young and beautiful if you

want to be loved".  A political update might be to "be young and g...

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Hate is never late,

Taking  its own time.

Hate and fate relate

To create the crime.

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Does Mother Nature show the need

To define what makes a flower or weed?

Everything has its natural place

While Man decides to give it space.

The dandelion - or "lion's tooth"

Is one example - and in truth

Would be treasured on a vine

Ensuring its future as a wine!

Does Mother Nature seek to guide a

flea to be free of the web of a spider...

Or help the spider...

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On the day when it mattered

They weren't going to be sold a pup;

The Champions' double was shattered -

Arsenal were up for the Cup!

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It's said God made Man in his image

And if you believe that, isn't it odd

That these murderers calling on Allah

Are actually bombing God?

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I dare to dream my favourite dream

And I see my Holy Grail

Whenever I pass the sight of a sign

That says "Woodlands for Sale".

By a West Country road or Scottish loch

It offers a personal heaven,

A refuge from a tiresome world

In the highlands or dappled Devon.

I drive on by yet always look back

As the green hued mansions pass,

Their secret pathways tempting...

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Another bit of inspiration following a pre-waking dream that brought me a tune and the song title.

A completed CD song demo followed!

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I was sitting alone long after you'd gone

Wondering how love had gone wrong

When in my mind your face I'd find

And with it the words for this song

That night before Christmas

All on my...

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A bank holiday at the start of May,

Another at the end.

So many motoring snarl ups

Drive me round the bend!

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There's a presumptious impertinence I look on as theft:

The acquisition of "liberal" by those on the left.

How often it irks when they're used together,

With no mind to give any thought as to whether

It might well be the case that "liberal" might

Be perfectly suited to those on the right!

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Assad breathed

And with each breath

He sent a breeze of breathless death.

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In the years following World War Two

Films fought it again for me and you,

And in their battles they employed

Two famous names in celluloid.

Enthralled, we watched and cheered on

The daring deeds of Jack and John,

Exciting us with their wartime thrills,

We acclaimed Jack Hawkins and John Mills.

They fought the good fight on land and sea,

And in the air - occasionally.

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I remember Croydon - on the way heading out of town;

What did it ever do to make morons want to burn it down?

I remember Croydon - suburban in each drawn breath;

What did it ever do to become a stage for death?

I remember Croydon - a place to be passing through;

What did it ever do to change from the place I knew?

I remember Croydon - far removed from airs and graces;

What did...

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Least said...soonest mended

Does not appeal to the easily offended.

They look around eagerly, seeking to get

On the unctuous side of being upset.

They trot out the "isms", (their bible in life),

Ever pious of pose, they'll disguise the knife

Of righteous riposte till the time is thought right

To drive home the blade in sanctimonious delight!.

They are found all ar...

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I was idly contemplating the passing of Martin McGuinness when it came to me how much his

existence resembled the famous Dublin drink that his own name so nearly replicates.

In his life's glass was poured the black swirling mixture of the horror of the bombings and

shootings that butchered and brutalised so many lives; of the terror at the knock at the door,

the bundled body into a car...

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Take me back to Rockn'Roll

To that music of my soul...

To the music that was ours

When we were young.

It hasn't left me yet,

Gee - how could I forget

Any rockin' song

Played or sung!

With Chuck and Jerry Lee,

That's the beat for me

And I know it's true

That you want it too.

With Fats on Blueberry Hill

He sure knew how to thrill,

Like Buddy a...

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Once upon a time

We had that magic thing called love;

It shone into our lives

Just like the stars above.

And with the stars came heaven too,

But storytellers know -

Once upon a time was long ago.

Once upon a time

Love was "Happy Ever After",

In a word: Eternity,

Filled with joy and laughter.

Love was always - Love was true,

But little children know -

Onc...

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Back in the day, this team held sway and Highbury Stadium saw them play

And we'd watch the magic on display on each "at home" Saturday.

Hard playing, supreme in grace and pace, that Praetorian Guard of players

Were legends of their time and place, confounding all naysayers.

Today, pale shadows of that past, contemporary players fade far too fast;

The English core has since been cast...

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It is reported that the new live Disney version of "Beauty and The Beast" is boycotted by

"Christian" elements in the South of the USA because it features a gay character as the best

friend of the male lead character.  The selective choice of reasons for religious objections are a

matter of interest because I recall from my own brush with religious instruction that one of JC's

instruct...

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Today marks the official first day of Spring,

(The Met. folk like a three-month thing).

March, April and May light the way ahead

To when Summer keeps us out of bed.

But when June, July and August are done,

And we say goodbye to their seasonal sun,

September, October and November

Soon fall due - with Autumn's stuttering ember

To lead us to wan Winter's chill

When December...

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In Thiepval's rows in line abreast

Subaltern Venner lies at rest,

Among those with whom he died in war,

Sacrificed - aged twenty four.

Not for him whispered words of love,

Instead, it's hoped he dwells above

With his pals, the angels among,

In timeless kinship ever young.

Today, of mind, he comes to mine,

My uncle - Ernest Valentine.

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

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A young man armed himself with a knife and attacked without warning a number of people, one of whom

- an American lady due to fly home the foillowing day - died as a result.  Following defence claims of

his mental condition - allegedly suffering a psychotic condition affecting his actions, the CPS

proceeded on a charge of manslaughter, plus the wounding of the other victims.

The CPS sp...

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The world and its dog seem determined to dump

All the guilt in their world on President Trump.

Yet it was the saintly Obama - looking back -

Who placed SIX month exclusions on folk from Iraq.

And the list of proscribed lands he handed on

Has been taken up by the much maligned Don.

Whose position as president duly elected

Entitles him and his office to be respected.

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I don't recall meeting my father

Except in a photograph;

I was barely four years old

In this family epitaph.

My mother, sisters and brother

Are stood and sat around,

While my father gazes at me

From a chair close to the ground.

Already gaunt and painfully thin,

I wonder about his fear

That TB would see that rictus grin

Gone within the year...

Leav...

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The tune and title came out of a dream, obliging me to get up and put them on tape or risk

going back to sleep and forgetting.  The completed lyric followed within the next hour or so.

LOOK AT ME (C)2016

1.

Look at me happy

Look at me sad

Look at me laughing

Look at me mad

2.

Look at me watching

Whenever we part

And you'll find me waiting

Right there in your hea...

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It was dispiriting indeed to read of the physical and verbal intimidation in Birmingham City Centre

that forced a group of Morris Dancers in traditional garb and black-face make-up to abandon their

performance.  Even more so, to read that the Shrewsbury Folk Festival seems to encourage this

ignorant behaviour by its decision to refuse to book such acts at the said Festival for 2017.

Th...

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With a new year now in force

No future found in false remorse

For what has been and gone before

Let us smile and shut the door.

With resolutions based in hope

And our ability to cope

No more "for crying out loud" cringing

At self-serving self-pity and why me? whingeing.

Instead, face up and vow to fight it -

Whatever's wrong, let's get on and right it,

Or at...

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