Probably my last blog of 2013 so all the very best for the New Year everyone;

Time is in the moment 
The moment is in the deed
The deed is in the action
The action is in the need

Time is in the moment
The moment of the choice
The choice is in the substance
The substance gives us a voice.

Time is in the moment
The moment of the voice
The voice is in the message
The lips ...

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I sometimes wander past the house where we used to live.

I park across the road and contemplate

the things we used to do.

As much as I stare I cannot see within

and even if I could

I’d only see the strangers who occupy our house.

I wonder if deep into the night

our voices from years ago

Might penetrate the years

and our echo may softly rebound

Across the walls we used...

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Framed by the setting yellow sun

By the roaring motorway and tarmac lines of cars

Pumping out their rush hour fumes

The brick houses and shops stand shabbily

and scruffy people hang about by the cheap booze shop

They look down at their mobile phones

for unimportant messages.

A dog soils the pavement and runs blindly across the road

nearly causing a crash

when I comment t...

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I always liked the jacket my Dad wore.

One day I found it

Hanging lonely and forlorn

In a wardrobe

And I thought of him and me

And remembered he was a bigger man than me

I tried the jacket on

And felt him close once again

I always liked the little pocket for a watch and chain

But to my dismay the jacket didn’t fit, not at all

It was too small

Though he was a b...

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(A timely re -post on this 50th anniversary)

President Kennedy, won’t you come back to me

Tell me all you know,

Tell me about Marilyn Monroe

Tell me about Oswald, Ruby and J Edgar Hoover,

The CIA and their secret manoeuvres

Tell me about the Oil men and the FBI,

The five star generals and the new frontier.

Tell me about the missile crisis and the U2 flights

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Don’t listen to me when I tell you of places far away

You know full well I’ll entice you

Entice you far away

Don’t listen to me when I tell you of trying to run away

You know full well I’ll entice you

Entice you to run away

The boss won’t listen when I hand in my resignation letter

I doubt if he’ll try to entice me

By offering me something better

I wouldn’...

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Those who win the war fire the last bullet

Those who die breathe the last sigh

Those who live on say a prayer

And those who never fought call hurrah

Those who stand in battle stand with courage

Those who pin the medals show respect

Those who fall in battle will never fear

And those who lose their loved ones shed a tear

Those who lose the war bow their head

Thos...

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Let the river of life take me wherever it will flow

Who knows which way destiny will blow?

Everything is written and we’re just passengers of fate

But step by step we go, towards the future we await

Let the tides take me where they will

And wash me up on some distant land

Near or far, for me it doesn’t matter

Just send me companions who will hold out their hand

Se...

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If you hate your job

-Resign!

If you don’t like where you live

-Leave!

If you’re stuck in some kind of groove

-Move!

If you don’t like the record

-Change it!

If you’re not happy outside

-go inside!

If you don’t like to drive

-Walk!

If you don’t want to be quiet

-Talk!

If you can’t bear to be still

-Shake it!

If your lif...

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Kill the badgers -hunt them down

Don’t let us rest

Until they’re dead

We’ve got to be careful

In case they sneeze

We can’t have them spreading disease

Still, we’ve got a hundred thousand pounds to spend

and hordes of shooters to descend

To make sure the badgers meet their end

So kill the badgers -hunt them down

Show no mercy

-we don’...

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(I was trying to write something with that nursery ryhme rythym, something like Pippin Hill, and this is what came out, not quite what I was looking for but here goes . .)

Pretty girl, lovely girl,

won’t you marry me?

Together now, you and me

So happy we could be

Gorgeous girl, bonny girl

Only you can set me free

Sadly girl, madly girl

Don...

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The gust of wind is ever so slight

But it lifts the seed on wings of air

And it is borne upon the breeze in flight.

The wind blows and gusts.

The rain washes and the seed is carried

to soft fingers of the earth, unhurried.

Nestling snugly in the earth

the seed slips deeper down,

Deeper into the earth.

Later a Green shoot appears

stretchi...

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(Somewhat tongue in cheek but here we go . . .)

You’re not expecting the thunderbolt to hit

Then when it does it hits you like a brick

One minute innocent and unmoved

The next incensed with passion and feeling bemused

Lovely face and beautiful eyes

The curve of your body is no surprise

Your smile affects me so, I’m feeling weak

And like a fool I can h...

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Everything seemed in order, I suppose, to die

It was a warm enough day;

Certainly

The sun shone and birds sung

Even though birds would cause a feline heart to race

Normally

I’ve had my fill of life

Of tit bits and cosy sleeps, sometimes in next doors shed

Informally

And I’ve had my chases and midnight hunts

And I’ve always remember...

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Disco nights

Flashing lights

The Dee Jay sets the beat

Ah, those youthful days of discothèques

Of short skirts and dancing girls

At the club down Oxford Street

Wide collared shirts

And tapered flares

We’d check out the gorgeous girls

Every girl was a beauty

And every chat up line was good

Though they didn’t always work as well as they should

...

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Some love is cold, some love is fire

Some love is nothing but sexual desire

Some love is warm some love is born

Some love’s a breeze and some is a storm

Some love glimmers in the dark of the night

Some love shines incredibly bright

Some love is unknown, some is foretold

Some love is silver, some love is gold

Some love is spoken, some...

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Forget the blue skies and the swimming pool

Your desk is all ready so don’t act like a fool.

Forget the pavement cafes and Mademoiselles

As your computer fires up with a thousand e-mails

Enough to numb the pain

and the nagging desire for a glass of red wine;

Act cool.

Briefings, meetings and folders to review

Memoranda and consultations to ploug...

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The clocks stop and time ends

Nothing more for you my friend

Life is in the moment of breath

And when it no longer comes

nothing is left but death

No more talk

No more chit chat

No more conversation

The blonde barmaid is safe from our lusty eyes

and the rock music industry must go on

without our criticism

The bell rings and time ends

Last orders f...

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The only thing in life is language

not love, not anything else

Not tears

not laughter

But those things may come after

It's words that matter

Because words come from deep within

because all our thoughts,

all our feelings,

are melted down inside our skin

and from our lips come words,

language,

not love

Not anything else

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I’m not what it says on my passport

I’m not what the picture reveals

Deep inside is another me

Someone you cannot see

I’m not what it says on my badge

that picture is another me

He goes to work and makes all the money

The money he spends for me

I’m not what it says on the form

That’s nothing to do with me

And the reference number is just a num...

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What is life all about?

I haven’t got a clue

I’ve no idea

What I’m supposed to do

I feel like a passenger

In a bit of a state

I’m just bumbling along

A prisoner of fate

I sometimes wonder

And I need it explained

How life works

Is it preordained?

I’ve got no agenda

And no design

I keep on looking

But I can’t see any si...

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The polished wooden bar

is just how I remember.

The optics, the glasses

everything is the same

The beer and pint pots

Drinks for the masses

And the barmaids smile is just as nice

as a barmaid that worked here thirty years ago

For thirty years ago I knew them all;

bar men, barmaids

pot men, and land lords.

Bar loungers, beer drinkers

and Pool playe...

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Never plan anything

that’s my motto

And if you can leave something till tomorrow

then leave it

Don’t think about loved ones

-Love no one

And consider yourself first and foremost

above everyone and everything

Don’t get involved

and don’t feel bad about leaving something

unresolved

Any money you make -spend on yourself

and don’t start thinking about...

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A hundred nights out, a thousand even or more

And yet we meet unknown and unknowing

A hundred bars, a hundred bar maids

A thousand pints of lager

Chit chat and chat up lines unleashed

Smiles flashed, charm dispensed liberally

And all for us to meet, unknowing

Chance, fate, call it what you will

The hidden hand of the universe

Brought us here to meet

...

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(I wanted to write something about the process of writing. Anyone remember that Cliff Richard record in the 80s?  . .from the needle to the plastic . . was it wired for sound? This is a similar sort of thing)

Pen touches paper

Thoughts flow into words

Mould them into order

Find the one that works

Reaching deep into my past

My very distant past

All my memo...

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(sorry -can't leave my stuff alone- had to edit this cos I wasn'y happy with it)

I’m sending out a signal, sending out a call

It’s for someone I knew years ago

That’s if she’s listening at all.

Silent years, lonely years are in between us now

So let us talk, let us bridge the gap

So softly, ask me how

Send me a message, send me a signal, I’ll be wai...

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Don’t throw away my notebook

Don’t throw away my world

I’ve got notes in there that go way back

To the beginning of time

I’ve got random bits of notes

And partly finished poems

I’ve got verses and paragraphs

Problems and stratagems

I’ve got the phone number of a girl

I met in nineteen seventy nine

And the winning lottery numbers

For quite ...

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(This is not a really serious verse but here goes anyway . .)

I say ‘was’ instead of ‘were’

And I come from a council estate

Wish I had a voice like Richard Burton

But instead I talk like this

I spent years in a no hope comprehensive

And maybe lack of grammar shows me up

Maybe I should get myself a tutor

-Can’t be that expensive

So would my ...

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I was watching television when Bobby Kennedy was killed

I was only twelve years old 

But old enough to cry

I ran out into the garden somewhere

And quietly said a prayer

But that didn’t seem to matter, because Bobby Kennedy died

My brother sprayed me with water the day Bobby Kennedy was killed

He had a brand new water pistol

And his aim was rather good

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(Found the first 8 lines of this in an old notebook of mine from the 1970s so thought I'd finish it off. Bit of a difference though between my younger thought processes and my older ones!)

It doesn’t matter anyway

That something went unseen today.

Everything fades away.

It doesn’t matter anyway

That coastal waters washed away

Our footprints in the sandy bay

That yest...

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Slow time, Quiet time

Is the way I’ve lived my life.

I’ve moved along at an even pace

Life is not a race.

Quick time, fast time

My life has picked up speed

Life is a midnight express train

And events are lonely stations passing quickly by

Slow time, quiet time

Is a pace I need again

Summers that last for ever

And friends that never grow ol...

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I am the thought

I am the instant

I am the fleeting moment

I am deep inside the feeling

The feeling of you

I am the air

I am the breath

I am the swelling of your lungs

I am the sweet sensation on your lips

The words you speak for me

I am the deed

I am the action

I am the motion of your body

I am the drive that makes you go

Come...

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Thoughts are things

Not things that disappear when your mind is closed

Or a wave of energy that fades away

Oh no, thoughts are things

They’re here to stay

So when I see you face to face

I take that vision place to place

And when I’m tired and sleeping fast

That thought is with me in my dreams

Because thoughts are things

They’re here to stay

...

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The King of the garden is dead

And now the vultures come

For once before they would fear to tread

But not now, now the King is dead.

The King was a battered mongrel dog

Who kept his enemies at bay

And no cat would dare to enter his domain

Whatever the time of day

The cats roam fearless now

And in the midday sun can quietly lie

Or dance and pla...

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Switch on     

Tune in         

Press the button

Change channel

Let the light come

And watch the flickering pictures

Watch the people

And see their faces

Switch over when you’re bored

If you fancy the races

They’re on channel four

Change channel

Press the button

Try the running chasing action show

Although a murder mystery is more my style

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The wailing wind is in my breath

And in my dreams I see the silver moon

My smile is the face of the summer sun

And daybreak stirs my waking soul

When sadness comes my tears are one with the pouring rain

And the blood within my veins runs deep within these hills

This Earth is at the centre of the gift of life

And when I die she folds my bones within her arms

While...

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Its cold outside

And Winter in my soul

The virgin snowfall numbs my thoughts

And my eyes and ears are frozen whole

Still cold and colder still

Passion frozen as passion will

And still the snowflakes fall

As silently as a snowflake tends to fall

As cold as cold can be

And the heat within means nothing

It’s the heat from a thousand words in moti...

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I don’t know if you remember me, we met thirty years ago

And made love in my council house flat

I remember the day quite well

And although I’ve never mentioned it, I was totally under your spell

We met for lunch in Manchester

And later I took you home

It was raining outside if I remember

But inside it was a beautiful day

We slipped into bed so easy

...

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(This was an attempt at a villanelle but I'm not sure if its quite the right structure . .oh well)

I only wanted to help

And when I offered to get you some shopping

It wasn’t me saying you’re not up to it any more

I only wanted to help

Thanks for the cup of tea

But when I offered to make it

I wasn’t saying your tea was bad: far from it

I just didn’t w...

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When she wakes in the night she sticks out her elbows and lifts up her knees

That tends to let in a cool sort of breeze

So I pull back the sheets and cuddle up tight

When she stirs in the middle of the night

She’ll turn to her left and lie on her side

So I’ll do the same and cuddle up beside

But restless thoughts always turn me again

When I stir in the middle o...

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(Ayrton Senna was killed on the 1st May 1994 at the Italian race circuit of Imola. In F1 racing circles the day is known as Black Sunday.)

Hard and fast and foot to the floor

Burning rubber

Spinning wheels

Yellow Helmet, blue car

Flat to the corner and turn the wheel

Down the gears

Off the brakes

Clip the apex

Hold the road

Tamburello to...

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Distant chill and early morning

Rising in the cold

The car's all frozen thawing slowly

Where’s my woolly scarf?

The radios drones on with a weather warning

And I’m shivering in the cold

The kettle seems to be taking ages

The toast is taking its time

Where’s the butter and marmalade?

It’ll be cold today, I’m told

Gloved and scarved, scraper in ...

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On the other side of the mirror there’s another man like me

He seems to look just like me I have to agree

He’s another man with the same thinking process

He’s trying to move on, trying to make progress

He takes milk with his tea but only one sugar

And offer him coffee and he’ll tend to shudder

He likes computers and writing things

Mainly poems but whatever his ...

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I often wonder if I’ve lived before

And left this life but never closed the door?

I wonder if I’ve lived a different life before

Reborn to live and love again once more

I wonder if I’ve lived in ancient Rome

Or in war time London spent some time

Dodging V1s and Doodle Bugs

I can just imagine my lovers call when bombs begin to fall

That lover’s call in...

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In that place

The summers were always hot and the skies completely blue.

And in that place

Where nothing ever hurt me

A lie was never spoken; it was all completely true

In that place

When the morning sun spilled into my room and woke me

Then I’d be up and out and riding my bike

And in that place

The place where I’d be the fastest biker ever

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