Goodbye 2021?
Will this new year
be a new year?
Or, the same as the old?
I guess, patience is an essence of time
As we wait for what unfolds
So, goodbye to covid
Goodbye to crime
Goodbye to war
Make peace in our time
Goodbye to jealousy
Goodbye to rage
Let love be the sunlight
And, Earth, be its stage
Goodbye dictators
Goodbye to greed
We're under on...
Friday 31st December 2021 6:04 pm
A Winter Escape
Hope everyone has had a nice Christmas!
And, thank you to local musician Stuart Bell for turning one of my Christmas poems into a lovely little song!
Hope you enjoy it, but apologize for the sound quality!
A winter Escape
Like comets we slid
through the crisp, white grass
In our wake billowed
a powder-puff mass
It floated and swirled
and twinkled with ...
Wednesday 29th December 2021 4:15 pm
I still believe!
Mam,
What was it you said
As a I lay in my bed
One snowy Christmas Eve?
That if I believe
In what I receive
Comes from a magical place
Then, the world can be yours
There'll be open doors
Into realms
beyond our time & space
***
Merry Christmas & a better New Year to all on planet WOL! ❤️
Wednesday 22nd December 2021 5:19 pm
The Christmas Tree...
(A dark tale to be told)
Befitting
of the Victorian room
the Christmas tree
stood tall & handsome
Needles of lush green
strangely shimmered deep reds
when caught in moonlit shards
It had taken Mother & Jacob
hours to decorate
I stayed in the corner
holding Teddy, just watching
From the day they brought it in
I didn't like it
They could dress...
Monday 20th December 2021 8:15 pm
The Last Noel
In the bed, she lay
So tired & so frail
Like the room itself
So colourless & pale
At least, through the window
She could see the snowflakes dance
Falling in a serenade
To a winter's night romance
Her bed sores burned like hell
In this purgatory of self
A forgotten thing called living
Lay dormant on its shelf
But the snow fell so dreamlike
...
Wednesday 15th December 2021 4:26 pm
A Silhouette In Time (re-post)
( click on the live motion link below to get that lovely crackling fire sound ?)
On cold winter nights like these
When flaming hues of orange and red
flicker and sway upon the walls
of a darkened room
The past can find its way back
Seeping out of cracks, long-since filled
Through floorboards, long-since replaced
Soft and hushed,
ingrained in the periphe...
Saturday 11th December 2021 5:06 pm
Dim Tim
The Christmas lights were dim
But, not as dim as Tim
Who opened all the doors
To let more light in! ?
Wednesday 8th December 2021 6:06 pm
The Sixpence II
From the old stone bridge
he could see her,
barefoot, on a platform
no longer there.
Under a moonlit slither
something shimmered
in her slowly closing hand
Her head slowly rising
Her eyes locking on his
Somehow, her face so clear
despite the distance
Her hand snapped shut!
He could see a well
Dark & slick with black moss
A door
Smell a drift of whi...
Sunday 5th December 2021 1:50 pm
The Little Things
It's the little things
That matter really
Things not forced
But given freely
A gentle touch
A warming smile
The laughter of
A carefree child
The golden sunlight
The silver moon
The dawn from which
A new day looms
Those gentle strolls
Took hand in hand
Across the seasons
Changing land
Through dewy fields
Or crunching snow
Past autumn leaves...
Tuesday 30th November 2021 8:57 pm
The Vagaries
Mere vagaries dwell
On parchment old
Written with quill
In blood
Though, if your eyes
Should read such scribe
You'd flee
If only you could
But scraping brain
And flesh & skull
The ills
Shall burrow deep
Such sweetness of
Poetic sorrow
Shall free your soul
To weep
Sunday 28th November 2021 4:08 pm
Why Can't We?
Why can't we find a place
Where no rats are in the race
Where only idle things prevail
Where, together, we could sail
Upstream from all the madness
So far from all the sadness
Serenely would it lead
To a place where we are freed
To be as naked as at birth
Just us and Mother Earth
There, we'll dig ourselves a hole
And bury deep our sou...
Thursday 18th November 2021 5:52 pm
The Last Call
As the yellow mist
rolls across the fields
of slaughter
The young man thinks
Of his unborn daughter
How would she have looked?
How would she have grown?
Would her heart have been full
From the love he had shown?
Would her smile have been his?
Would her eyes have been blue?
And shimmer in sunlight
like fresh morning dew?
Yet, he knew not her mother
Fo...
Sunday 14th November 2021 10:17 am
Don't Forget
The unknown soldier beckons
Don't forget, don't forget
The lost, who somewhere lie
Don't forget, don't forget
The grieving family ties
Don't forget, don't forget
The defeated & the broken
Don't forget, don't forget
with mental scars unspoken
Don't forget, don't forget
The veteran in the street
Don't forget...
Wednesday 10th November 2021 9:16 am
The Beast Of War
1941
Before the war, Dad would snore
After his shift & a few beers
On the floor, on the couch
The big, lazy slouch
Mam would just roll her eyes
(Give him a sly dig)
Clootie pudding on the table ready
For when his eyes opened slow & steady
He never spoke of 'The Great War'
Of which he had scars to bare
But sometimes his eyes would well
In rem...
Tuesday 2nd November 2021 12:42 pm
The Blanket
I found it in the loft
In a dusty old chest
It whispered, come closer
Come get some rest
I made it to the bedroom
As slumber took my eyes
The blanket in a corner dark
Stifling long lost cries
I heard them in my dreams
A young girl's shallow wailing
I felt his hands around her throat
Under twilight slowly fading
I awoke to it upon my bed
He...
Tuesday 26th October 2021 10:58 pm
A Place For Mushrooms
Roses were never within her
For only the cloying fragrance of lilies
emanated from every pore
and ethereal breath
A succulent moss gave comfort
like an earthly blanket
Seducing her cold, dead bones
Pale, decaying flesh turning
fertilizer for sprouting fungi:
such tempting, flavoursome morsels
of a fine meaty bouquet
The swirling breeze whispers:
...
Wednesday 6th October 2021 6:05 pm
The Sixpence
She could not remember how she arrived
at the house
She wasn't cold
But, perhaps a little damp
She looked down, and wiggled her toes
The varnish chipped & blackened
Then looked up at the wooden door
painted silver by moonlight
In her palm was a sixpence
It was warm and shone brightly
She glanced over her bruised shoulder
to where the well was a silhouette
...Sunday 3rd October 2021 2:03 pm
A Sunflower In A Winter's Field
...and under a starry, starry night
As passion became his pain
The artistry of a creative life
Extinguished like a flame
Infinite strokes of colourful hue
Brushed out to a pallette of gray
A sunflower in a winter's field
Amidst the cold decay
Starlight swirled & flowers bloomed
Pigments, of intimate blend
Blew away upon a fragile wind
No colours. N...
Thursday 30th September 2021 11:00 pm
Compromise
She languidly lounged in linen
While her husband was in the pub
Singin'
She thought this was fine
As he'd be in by nine
And her takeaway
He would
Be bringin' !
Wednesday 29th September 2021 6:21 pm
Moonlight Sonata
She had moonlight in her eyes
Starlight in her hair
Her smile became the sunrise
That burned away despair
She took me to the clouds
Weaved rainbows from the grey
And showed me all the colours
That life had on display
And under starry skies
Where galaxies unfold dreams
We ran into the cosmos
To find its hidden seams
But I lost you to the star...
Tuesday 21st September 2021 1:28 pm
Something From Hell!
From the eerie, cool night
She drifted in
With her coal-black eyes
and pale white skin
From a shallow grave, inhaling sin
To the village she crawled,
to feed within
As the moonlight shone
most soundly slept
Into the flesh of their minds,
she wriggled & crept
To expose a secret
they had quietly kept
And devour their souls,
'til nothing was lef...
Friday 17th September 2021 10:18 am
One's Crap & PisStory
(Verbal decipher kit at the ready…)
One's horse drawn carriage
Left London one day
Edinburgh bound
But got lost along the way
Ended up in North-East?
Streets filled with shit
And soot covered peasants
Adorning most of it
In peered through one's window
With coal dust for skin
A ruffian to behold!
With a crooked, toothless grin
"Where's th'...
Wednesday 15th September 2021 5:42 pm
Prelude to a working day
The toast was warm and buttery
The coffee, hot and strong
The radio played a reminisce
From sunny days long gone
I sipped away the aches & pains
And watched the morning light
Brush honey upon the basking birds
That sang with all their might
The open door leaked warming breeze
And a hint of dewy blooms
But, time tick-tocked reality
To rejoin life's spinning lo...
Sunday 12th September 2021 9:16 am
A Single Tear
I cried a single tear
That trickled to a stream
The stream became a river
A tributary of dreams
The river became a sea
That sang a shanty bold
The sea became an ocean
That swept me from its hold
The ocean turned to sand
Sifting through my soul
The sand turned into land
Where I dug a jagged hole
The hole became a grave
Where I lay to watch the sky
My g...
Wednesday 8th September 2021 11:05 pm
Your Protector
In the morning I held you so tightly
As the dawn light drizzled our bed
Wondering if your dreams fluttered lightly
From the kaleidoscope in your head
Did the rays of the sun come and catch them?
And filter a rainbow of dreams
Then gently release & dispatch them
Into shimmering rivers and streams
Did the water taste like sweet nectar?
To the ones who drank ...
Saturday 4th September 2021 11:16 am
A Beautiful, Dreamy Poetry Day, MASSACRE!
Through your window, the puffed up clouds
And sun drizzled fields are beckoning poetic verse to be written.
Behind you, a gentle scratching sound distracts
But you don't turn.
It's probably that sneaky, little dormouse that sometimes visits
Yes, that's what it'll be
And yet...
...Is something staring?
Something glaring?
Slyly peeping
Slowly ...
Wednesday 1st September 2021 12:30 pm
A Shooting Star
I think it's the third twinkle down
(Alioth)
In the constellation of Ursa Major
Where she sits
All sparkly with stardust
And cheesy-gobbed from moon food
Gran said that God had came and
plucked her right off the earth
A car was an odd choice of plucking
But, that's what he chose
With all her beautiful smiley curls of gold
And shimmery eyes of sapphires
I t...
Monday 30th August 2021 12:40 pm
Page Break
I took a break from poetry
Let words slumber in silt
Let the cobwebs gather in corners
Let the wind under my kilt ( metaphorically ?)
Sailed stanzas out to sea
Let them drift casually
Let sentences settle
Switched on the kettle
Had a cuppa tea
A slice of banoffee
Colloquially free
Just beautiful silence & me!
Saturday 28th August 2021 11:18 am
Sunbeam
I woke this morning
Amidst a splattering of sun
Dust motes twinkling
Like stars on the run...
...From the brooding night sky
Of a day far too long
But the warming rays of light
Told me, that night had gone
So I showered in the sunbeams
Like a meerkat at dawn
Walked out into the morning air
Feeling like a man reborn
Thursday 26th August 2021 8:14 pm
Your gracious hosts
Hark! The screams
Of distant lands
Where hope resides
On shifting sands
A Danse Macabre
Played out for all
The Taliban host
Their Masquerade Ball
Smile ye devils!
At prying eyes
For once averted
They need no lies
Knives are sharpened
Whilst in this lull
Once backs are turned
So starts the cull!
Tuesday 24th August 2021 7:17 pm
The Day The Seeds Fell
The blue sky yawned
And out they came
As the mortal hoard
Looked for blame
It's us! It's them!
It's God's fair hand
His silence broken
To make a stand!
Some cowered. Some ran
Some stood in awe
As tears of seeds
Filled Earth's floor
For exactly 6 hours
The seeds were sown
For the 7th
Time stood alone
Leaves stopped in flutter
...Friday 20th August 2021 12:29 am
The Changing Breeze
Before the demolition
Turned my old Street
Into rubble
I went to steal some memories
Of our laughter & our struggle
I went to hopscotch down
The chalk lines of the past
Play tag with the echoes
Of ones who didn't last
Time had aged the street
Like a persons face too old
It wore the strain of many toils
From the ending of 'black gold'
I wal...
Sunday 1st August 2021 10:36 am
Growing Pains
How you doin'?
How you doin', ok?
I hear you struggle
To find some light
In your day
They say you're dancing
All alone on the floor
And treat your friends
Like they're not friends
anymore
Your Mother's wine
helps your mind to escape
And washes down all
the pills that you take
Such plagues of sorrow
To find in the young
That life ...
Wednesday 16th June 2021 2:38 pm
The thing about poetry...
Poetry is a funny thing
It can cause debate
Or make hearts sing
It can take you to
A wondrous place
And brighten up
A moody face
It can make you smile
Or make you fume!
And sometimes even
Make you swoon
It can make you cry
And make you shout
Or, sometimes, be
Just about nowt!
It can make you think
And make you ponder
What lies beyond
The ...
Friday 11th June 2021 11:10 am
Avalon
In the light of the waking sun
steam plumes
from his dormant mug
dancing to unseen draughts and breath
It sways hypnotically
There's a glimmer of rainbow within
Perhaps, blue skies
and exotic dawns
He lingers in its gentle drifting
Too long, really
Until evaporation,
and beyond...
...She sits upon the hillside
overlooking the valley.
In the dis...
Wednesday 9th June 2021 7:56 am
Equilibrium
She flew over meadows
Over rivers & brooks
And held conversations
With articulate rooks
Who told her a tale
Of when mankind resided
And the balance of nature
Irreparably subsided
How they ravaged her soul
And ripped out her heart
And watched their green world
Slowly depart
How the creatures of woods
Of forests, and meadows
Had to fle...
Sunday 6th June 2021 10:08 pm
Rather hot today
The golden orb
Has rendered me red
Upon arms & shoulders
And on me fore'ead ?
Monday 31st May 2021 6:17 pm
The Withered Vine
I watch her slowly
fall from grace
Her body still
Her mind displaced
New memories
no longer stay
they simply
just
drift a w a y
Like a mist around
a mountain old
that dissipates
as the dawn unfolds
She's there in body
but sparse of mind
Sometimes it's hard
to seek, and find
The vibrant woman
she...
Wednesday 26th May 2021 6:20 pm
Our Lungs
Be still, and feel
This gentle breeze
That brushes by
With careful ease
And ruffles leaves
Upon their trees
And scatters far
Their fruitful seeds
Which vein the earth
To start anew
So you and I
Can live here too!
Wednesday 19th May 2021 11:18 am
Mr Frost
Goodbye Mr Frost
Did you leave the children screaming?
Give their life some meaning?
Do they realise the cost?
Stay there
So you can hear him breathing
Prepare you for the grieving,
for the wailing of your soul
Slow down
His darkness is just growing
Your stomach churning, knowing
That the end is coming soon
...And he's right here in your ro...
Monday 17th May 2021 10:52 pm
About the size of it...
Behind a small window
Within a large house
Upon a thin ledge
Scuttles the tiniest mouse
To whom,
Everything seems big
To such a thing so small
Even a baby girl
Seems so very, very tall!
Wednesday 12th May 2021 7:54 pm
Beyond
Beyond this realm
Beyond the sea
Beyond this frail reality
Beyond the blue
Beyond the air
Beyond the things no longer there
Beyond the dusk
Beyond the dawn
Beyond the Twilight's sleepy yawn
Beyond the dark
Beyond the light
Beyond the tapestry of life
Beyond the planets
Beyond the stars
Beyond the galaxy's vibrant scars
The...
Monday 3rd May 2021 2:19 pm
Do We Do Nothing?
Do we do nothing
But stare at the sky?
Do we do nothing
But avert our eyes?
Do we do nothing
But stifle our cries?
Do we do nothing
But conform to lies?
Or, could we become
All we can be?
And settle the wake
Of this turbulent sea?
And rise above waves
And rise above fear
And shout at the sun:
"Look! we are here!"
A...
Tuesday 20th April 2021 9:59 am
Chrysalis
As football poems always do well on here...?
I thought I'd torture you with this one I wrote about the best club in England ?
On Sunderland docks
They riveted iron & steel
In surrounding villages
Whirred the pulley wheel
Graft and toil made
The industrial North East
Sweat and blood spilled
All with little release
But teaching minds resolved
...
Thursday 25th March 2021 8:13 pm
Evelyn!
Evelyn is a doll
Just a rather large doll
She's not made of porcelain
She's only made of wood
With a shock of black hair
Hidden under a hood
Cigarette burns & scars
Pot-mark her face
And, she lives under the bed
In an old leather case
She's missing an eye
From when thrown at a wall
Her tattered old dress
No longer fit for a ball
Oh...
Sunday 14th March 2021 5:00 pm
Something's Creeping...
Something comes creeping
Through the dark night
I look from my window
But it's just out of sight!
Something comes knocking
Knocking at my door
I turn the handle... slowly
But, it's there no more!
Something comes crawling
Crawling so slow
Shall I turn to look?
I no longer know!
Something is breathing
Under my bed!
I dare not look
'case it ...
Friday 5th March 2021 7:54 pm
Little Dickie's Poo-Pot
Two little dickie birds
Sittin' on a pot
One did a poo
The other
Did not…
...yes, my WOL friends, that's the grand total of poetry I'm able to summons this week
Not quite up to Hugh standard ?
I think the title may be one of my best though ?
Wednesday 3rd March 2021 6:25 pm
Strange Old Day
I ate some strange old mushrooms
Got chased off a shark
It jumped outta my beer bottle
And began to bark
I ran through a dying mist
And into a wall
Then into the deepest sleep
I began to fall.
Into strawberry Fields
With lemon drizzle streams
And coconut shells
Full of incoherent dreams
Oh
What a strange
Old day
Making conversations...
Saturday 27th February 2021 12:55 pm
The Misted Pane
I passed by a window
Where an old man smiled
and misted up the dirty pane
Behind his eyes the sadness showed
of every steep & rocky road
He'd had to climb
Next day I thought I'd call on him
And out he came
So pale and thin
-but with that smile
And graceful guile
He said
Son,
in my mind,
I'm as free as a summer breeze
A...
Tuesday 23rd February 2021 12:09 pm
The Unsettled Man
(re-edit)
I came upon a man, unsettled
Wandering a barren land
He'd lost his hope and joy somewhere
So, I took his trembling hand
I told him I had lost my heart
And my soul had flown away
But, together, perhaps, we could find
A better place to stray
We came across a weeping girl
With skin of obsidian black
Her flesh was torn and gaping red
Where the wh...
Tuesday 16th February 2021 10:52 pm
A Reflection
The man in the mirror
No longer looks like me
His best years are behind him
There's nothing more to see
His daughter is a woman
With family of her own
The years now seem to fade away
Into the bleak unknown
Although I'll keep on dreamin'
Of better things to come
Sometimes I feel like runnin' free
Into the rising sun
A slither of a silhouette
Against a s...
Tuesday 9th February 2021 10:48 pm
The Rhythm of My Heart
I dream of idle chatter
In a bar where nothing matters
Where sweet vibrations beat
In rhythm with my feet
And laughter comes so easy
Conversations light & breezy
Like a languid summers day
Where your mind can drift away
And eyes are full of winks
And lips are full with smiles
And beer flows like nectar
As we dance in different styles:
Some without rhythm
...Tuesday 2nd February 2021 6:47 am
A Love Song (forever)
A Love Song
(forever)
There was a time
When love defined
All of the things
life could show
So undermined
By routine & time
Upon our own tide
we ebb and we flow
A fork in the road
A different abode
What would these old eyes
Of mine now see?
Perhaps without love
Perhaps then I could
Get over how much
You mean to me
...Sunday 31st January 2021 11:38 am
A Better Life
The car jolted.
Her weary eyes
opened slowly
Like mechanical shutters
Flickering through trees,
the dying sunlight
stabbed at her sight
with golden shards.
Mouth dry
Limbs weak
Clothes damp
Daddy?
A stench of sweat
Lingered in tobacco air
Made her cough
Made her gag
Where's Daddy?
she croaked
Muffled laughter
Gon...
Thursday 28th January 2021 12:00 pm
Who?
Who am I?
Who knows? not I !
Perhaps, I'll find out
when I die
When in the ground
cross armed I lie
and become
the congregation spy
Will friends & family
sincerely cry
Or, perhaps pretend
and also lie?
Will I hear truths
I now deny?
Or, will they say
'Oh! What a guy!'
Will happy thoughts
of times gone by
Just turn to thoughts
of ...
Sunday 24th January 2021 11:31 am
Mr Rhubarb
(Song for politicians)
There's a...
Great view from my Ivory Tower
The window is frosted, but I still feel the power.
Got my...
Savile suite so I feel the part
But I like to pretend I got it straight from Primark
I feed my…
Flock through the magical lense
My sincere smile upon your telly transcends
And I'm…
Fully trained not to give a ...
Thursday 21st January 2021 6:57 am
Night-time Serenade
The dusk turns to dark
As I look to the sky
With starlight reflected
in the blue of my eyes
And, softly, into focus
glow the heroes of old
Each golden cluster
a tale to be told:
The Hunter & his Hounds
search the night sky
For dragons & serpents
and horses that fly
While Perseus gives Andromeda the eye
And grabs her a moonbeam
as one passes by
Thi...
Sunday 17th January 2021 12:29 pm
A Cadenza
A Cadenza
A melody drifted through the sky
All who heard, could not deny
The feeling of joy within its sway
As we sang & danced the night away
The song broke free upon the wind
And all indifference did rescind
It came from mouths like blossom freed
Unchaining hearts of every creed
We danced until our hearts were clean
And thoughts ran clear as crystal ...
Thursday 14th January 2021 8:33 pm
We!
Something wicked this way comes
For Dante's Inferno fills God's lungs
Heave o' heave! The mortal tide
Stitch & weave his ruined pride
Or, too late fall
Into the gaping wound
Until the time of man
Has been consumed
This world is of our making
Its resources slowly breaking
Yet, we continue to prod & poke
Though, it is ourselves we slowly choke.
If Nature...
Tuesday 12th January 2021 3:55 pm
Broken Friends
(Originally song lyrics for a friend, wrote after the tragic suicide of Chester Bennington)
Broken friends
In the backstreets of my mind
I kicked a ball against a wall
It bounced into a neighbours yard,
Where, I cut my hand upon a shard
of glass that glittered in the sun,
Into my mind again I'd run
And wake within this broken life
Upon my wrist I held a kni...
Saturday 9th January 2021 2:26 pm
Nectar
She danced under the moonlight
Deep, deep into the trees
Until the morning mist
Made her the dew upon the leaves
She dripped unto the fertile soil
Where fragrant flowers bloomed
Then bees refined her into honey
And your eager mouth consumed
Your sticky lips, like summer, shone
As you sowed your field of corn
And the innocence of restless youth
Lik...
Wednesday 6th January 2021 12:49 pm
A New Breath
He flung the rope
over a branch of a tree
And fluttering down
came a few dead leaves
He watched them rest
upon the cold, crisp earth
And cursed his mother
For his wasted birth
This year of pandemic
Had him stripped to the bone
Made him jobless & useless
A bear in his home
Frustration begat anger
And anger begat fear
Unable to provide
For...
Friday 1st January 2021 1:24 pm
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