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Premier Tour
They are a singing, swinging crowd,
They chant their slogans brash and loud,
They go as far as is allowed,
And, in their daydreams, further still.
They sip champagne and spit their bile,
They chuck their rubbish on a pile,
Yet, when the cameras roll, they smile –
Although a tad against their will.
They smooch and stroke and clap their hands
To music from some h...
Monday 1st July 2024 4:30 pm
Six Nations Time
Six Nations wake from slumber
As winter turns to Spring
For tribal warfare on the pitch
It’s a Celts and Saxons thing
They’ll be singing hymns and arias
From the Tiber to the Tay
And the week feels that much longer
As we wait for Saturday
And the squads are called together
From places far and wide
There will be sunshine and foul weather
There will be shir...
Sunday 21st January 2024 12:42 pm
Le Grand Jacques
Jacques Tati’s films should be universal,
They have so little dialogue and chat;
Yet, for some, his cinema bewilders,
The satire and comedy fall flat.
Perhaps it is the Frenchness of it all –
A supposed intellectual conceit –
Or maybe it’s down to Monsieur Hulot,
Whom he chose to interpret and repeat.
Is there not a hint of pretentiousness,
Do miming and humour...
Tuesday 1st August 2023 8:34 am
La France Profonde
Behind the crouching silence,
All human life is there.
The règlement de comptes,
The murderous affair.
The husband’s racked with jealousy,
The lover’s gripped by fear,
The old men play their dominos,
Now tragedy is near.
The policemen bow their heads
And lift the bodies up;
The wife flicks back her hair
And sips her coffee cup.
The lights blaze in...
Sunday 8th January 2023 4:41 pm
In the hammock
In the hammock
On days of tomatoes
Cheese and bread
When light breezes
Make the orchard leaves
Chuckle and quiver
With gossip from the mountains
When a head of dead wine
Falls in step
With the mood
Rather than being a weight
On your ankle
There is time to marvel
At the power of stillness
And the way that calm
Can be the raison d'êtr...
Tuesday 16th August 2022 10:58 am
Eyrignac
As I walked
through the garden dew
'tween clipped box and shapely yew,
'tween hard hornbeam and
'tween friends
a perfect peace descends
As I walked
from the round green room
past dusky shade and roses' bloom,
past shapely hedge and
past huge urns
the garden quiet returns
As I walked
in the lakeside glory
to the enchanted terrace torri,
to the ...
Thursday 30th May 2019 12:33 pm
French Heat
The weather map seems to have burst into flame
We wonder if climate change is to blame
Perspiration pours down skin like tears
I’m in shorts for the first time in 20 years
The city roasts in a concrete sea
This weekend we await the 39th degree
It’s too hot to move and the kids won’t nap
We need drinks on demand and patience on tap
But the thing that bugs me most, I fear
...
Saturday 4th August 2018 11:34 am
Football's problem - a tee-total football fan's message to UEFA
We've heard sectarian and racist hate
seen a governing body in a sad old state
fans forced to flee flying fists in fear
but football's problem is not just beer.
We've Neo-Nazis, ultras and yobs
most whom must hold decent jobs.
Some come just for the fight I hear
so football's problem can't be just beer.
We over-pay schoolboy prima-donnas
to create cheap imitation Maradonas
for a si...
Wednesday 15th June 2016 12:36 pm
The Dance of The Bells
Flat chimes ring out,
As hammers beat gainst metal forged in mankind’s heat,
Singing village tunes over river and hill,
As sunlight beams burn where mist lingers still.
The call rings out from hamlet village and town,
We are here, know us by this resound,
Like feral packs at bay sounding out,
The familial call of belonging-metal signals about.
Then the bell dance ...
Tuesday 3rd May 2016 5:54 pm
Field of Youth
Finding you wasn't hard
Although you all looked the same
Beneath ever changing skies
Stark bright and upright
Against Summer cornflower skies
Bathed in sleepy Autumn hues
Pure, under skirts of wintery slate
Did you think, at twenty two
Generations would stand here
Imagining the glory, the fear
Gripping anger and sorrow
Racing clouds allow the sun a turn
You...
Tuesday 3rd November 2015 7:37 pm
Fiscally revolting
(to the tune of 'coming round the mountain')
The Greek people they have had it up to here,
With those ‘haves’ that say these times must be austere.
Forbes’ list shows the same old picture
The poor pay up - the rich get richer
Publishing financial crimes without a fear.
Has the Parisian Republic gone berserk?
I mean, growth through spending... ...
Monday 11th June 2012 8:19 am
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