From Kurashiki to Manchester
It’s my last day. I’ll never see the telephone cables, from the corner of my eye,
meshed together, look like crows’ mingling.
Or the
White sheets straggling washing lines, having a barney with futons; bent over balconies,
blowing in the wind, from the bellow of petrol station attendants;
who make rainbows on win...
Thursday 31st December 2009 8:06 pm
Blue Moon Tonight, People
How cool is this!
New Year's Eve AND a blue moon!
Just in case it slipped your radar.
Happy New Year to You All.
CBT
Thursday 31st December 2009 6:15 pm
Also by Cynthia Buell Thomas:
Prelude to a Music Lesson | The Velvet Conversation | Star Songs | The Christmas Tree | Letter in a Drawer | A Wonderful Day |New Year
New Year
Its not all about the new and nothing about the old
Its really all about a story that’s always been told.
There’s laughter and tears to be shed
There’s fire works & champagne before any talk of bed.
Its all about us and nothing about them
To worry about the world is far to crazy to pen.
From the loss of loved ones who we held so dear
To the chall...
Thursday 31st December 2009 6:00 pm
basque
you make me want to buy a basque
to be wasp waisted
I linger by the lingerie
I need to get a negligee
and mules!
pink fluffy slip-on ones
to go with my painted toes!
and seven push-up bras
underwired and lacy
one for every day of the week
and all quite racy!
and perfume
a bucket load of perfume.
so we can drown together
in scent
and lace
and my cleavage!
Thursday 31st December 2009 5:52 pm
Also by Ann Foxglove:
My Nagual is a Narwhal | walking the coastal path with a pair of nail scissors | Apricot Man | HAPPY CHRISTMAS | solstice day | a different sort of person | mementoes | something\\'s lost | never look a Trojan gift horse in the mouth | 1 user on line | Sacred Well | the lost glove | my cat's audrey hepburn | on walking past our old house at christmas | my mum | Bereavement | The Hospital | Nightmare of the Dancing Cats |Happy New Year!
Hi there, all my fellow poets!
I wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!
Alain
Thursday 31st December 2009 5:30 pm
Having a shower after watching the news headlines
Having a shower after watching the News Headlines
It’s all about the 40th lime
And how I should rub my head with coconut butter
And every person wasting £400 of food a year
And other big headline claims
And I say
“Is that £400 of food from Aldi or from M&S?”
Who cares, it’s all cow pies to Desperate Dan
And it’s phosphorous bombs and child witches
And it’s Helmand Province and Hellman’...
Thursday 31st December 2009 2:02 pm
Also by Dave Morgan:
The Staff Room Celebrates |Quick Sequence.
Myself, me, I,
Sat, sat-ed
Ran, runned
Remembered - failed to forget
Followed - failed to lead
Watched in watchedness
you, you
Run, runned
Away, gone.
Thursday 31st December 2009 12:56 pm
Also by Kealan Coady:
View Of Stale Harbour. | Accident on Tonight's Street. | Dialogue from a Tragedy | Biography of a Backward Man. |well
well this time
well this place
well this we
forever
for those we kiss
for those we miss
for those we love
forever.
Thursday 31st December 2009 12:00 am
Also by Tommy Carroll:
The Pretenders | Ballad of Beelzebub | Rage Against The Machine | Christianity and other myths | The Love Making Of Hiawatha | Behind The Event | The shopping of Hiawatha. |CINDERELLA
The glass slipper is no good, neither is
the Fairy Godmother's wand, her spells,
the pumpkin, rat, lizard, rags, Stepsisters,
Prince and newly released Disney DVD.
They'll all superfluous.
What Cinderella wants is gold
but in the Kingdom everything's silver -
the clouds that consciously weep,
the glow of herring and mackerel,
rails marking the limits of disorder,
abandoned dust, ti...
Wednesday 30th December 2009 8:19 pm
Also by Rodney Wood:
THE UNTHANKS (a Poem from the Westy number 21) | WEST POEM 20: THE BOB HALL SHOW |Repeat to Fade
Wednesday 30th December 2009 5:53 pm
Also by Marianne Daniels:
Lachrymose Nesting | Names | Bettie Paige in Snow | Violin | A Mass of Contradictions | Andromeda in Waiting | Mothers |The Present
Ribbons unravelled
and paper torn,
unfolding ruffles from tissue
wrapped around a velvet pouch.
Unrolling reveals
a bed of woven silk
sewn in cotton threaded pearls
on which a silver sixpence lies
enamelled, timeless
currency captured for all eternity.
Reflections swallowed
on a carousel, spinning recollections
in the blink of an eye.
Wednesday 30th December 2009 12:39 pm
SITREP!
Sitrep
…………..Sunray this is not a civilian,
And sunray this is my sitrep!
I can hardly contain my rage,
Could eat me a chinnook
All battered and hailed in bullets
And fekk it,
No-one knows me,
No-one knows the ...
Wednesday 30th December 2009 2:42 am
Also by Noetic-fret!:
To the Rescue | Merry Christmas | Once Upon the Darkness | Salt of The EARTH | POLICE - DO NOT CROSS | She Glides Like Snowgoose | The Answered |OASIS
As I walked around its edges
studying the crystal depths
the question haunted me
‘Was this really an oasis?'
It was, for sure
bright, dazzling, enchanting
winking in the sun like cut glass
blinding in its reflection
Skin dried, parched, wasted
like a child, I had crawled
walked, run to it
basked in its waters
revelled in its showers
splashed, jumped, gambolled
thrown handfuls t...
Tuesday 29th December 2009 6:59 pm
Also by Isobel:
WOLOP for November |Limerthick
There was a young poet named Stan
whose poems were not up to plan.
When asked why this was
he said, "it's because
I always try and fit too many words into the last line".
Tuesday 29th December 2009 6:02 pm
Edging forward
Impeded
frustrated
edging forward
coasting in neutral
some minds playing
over past events
others planning or praying
others listening, talking, phoning, moaning
some going low speed
enough to read
some plotting, some jotting
Sometimes the way clears
or a joke is cracked
there is movement, there is laughter
there is
happiness.
It can be amusing or just
interesting
to watch...
Tuesday 29th December 2009 4:34 pm
Also by Dave Bradley:
Huntington's Chorea | So sensual | Softer | Rules |trails
my poems i publish on the web digital thoughts for people to stop and read i leave paper trails, bank statements receipts of transactions for things i need I am of course more than the sum of my parts but leaving trails is an art paper trails, thoug...
Tuesday 29th December 2009 10:07 am
Also by Daniel Hooks:
The domino effect |The Climb
Silence surrounds us.
Wind whipping hair, sun shining down.
The trees a rustle in the autumn chill.
Yet still we climb, climb this hill.
Our laughter evades the pores of the earth.
Sinking deep into its burning heart.
A lark it darts, flying free and high
away from the shackles of fate.
Tell me, why cant we?
Horse harsh breath flies as the bag we carry fills with stones,
Picking ...
Tuesday 29th December 2009 2:41 am
Secret Memories
Susan held that summer long
As long that summer was
A secret that enthralled the girls
Captivating them because
Love was such a wonder then
When innocently viewed
That Emily and Laura-Jane
So eagerly pursued
“What news!” they cried “what news have you?”
Excitement filled within
Those promenading afternoons
Of gently browning skin
Of barefoot days and carefree ways
When sisters shared ...
Monday 28th December 2009 11:46 pm
Also by Christopher Dawson:
Expectation | Don't | hum ko hus nay ko acha lak tha hai |evolution......
THE LIGHT IS BRIGHT...
THE DARK IS NIGHT....
THE SEA IS DEEP....
THE RIVER IS SHALLOW...
THE SKY IS FULL....
THE GROUND IS HOLLOW....
THE MOUNTAIN IS STEEP...
THE HILL IS MELLOW....
THE MOON IS GLOWING...
THE SUN IS DIMMING....
OUR VERY EXISTENCE IS JUST THE BEGINNING....
(c)2009 jeff.w
Monday 28th December 2009 6:34 pm
Also by JEFF.W:
all about you..... | price of christmas.... | dust lust..... | recycling | silent but deadly | volcano.... |new poem i wrote in pub for my open mic lol
and my new plane art too! drawn while drunk in abbey pub before my open mic
DON’T MOCK FATE
When you think you have it all and you smile knowing you’re the king of your own little world, an empire of your own making made by you. You do something that separates you from this life of your own making and what you have – a house with a mortgage paid for by your job in the City, engaged to be m...
Monday 28th December 2009 4:41 pm
Also by NICK ARMBRISTER:
nice happy xmas poem for you lol:) | poem | a poem... | plane poem |it isn't poetry
This isn't poetry
and nor is it politics
it is neither and both,
political and poetical
because poetry is pretty
whereas politics is not
but let's see where it takes us
and maybe we will end up
in a better place
not poorer but richer
for the experience of both
poems and polemics
are but the transport of ideas
whose media are words,
words of love, words of hate,
words hope, words of trust
and faith in something
a l...
Monday 28th December 2009 1:55 pm
2010 - A Year for Peace & Goodwill?
A new year dawns as many before,
will 2010 bring what we ask for?
A peaceful future that all can share
with the wealthy showing that they care?
In my hopes as ever that would be the plan
for without compassion what distinguishes man?
We may have tools and brains to embrace
technologies to help the human race
But if those minds just persue all with greed
then we ignore those with more pressing need
For f...
Monday 28th December 2009 12:54 pm
rejection
Monday 28th December 2009 12:05 pm
Also by Rachel McGladdery:
Little Clock | Stockings | Sunrise Over England | Where the Wind Sweeps Down To The Sea |My Voice “Let Freedom Ring” 7/12/09
Liberty is unlimited expression,
Intuition followed by rightful actions
Escape from the grasped clutches of guilt and resentment,
Replaced by optimism and courage!
Loud and proud speech with a conscience,
Not listening to cynics who capture it!
Upmost best of your ability- not under scrutiny
To explain your declaration of independence in the face of adversity!
Break open the shackles- soaring self esteem
...
Sunday 27th December 2009 1:22 pm
Also by DKlastro~*:
Daily Grind of Commuting 24/11/09 |On These Streets
An Old Poem:
Cracked sidewalks
follow the stampede
of the craze
of the holidays.
Rain drops as tears
down onto pavement
as the stampede
continues to gather
their gifts
and spend their generosity.
In all the midst
of the holiday spirits,
they never look down.
They never stop to see.
Here they go again,
frantic to buy
for those they love,
but what about me?
When they go,
all I will have
are the stain...
Sunday 27th December 2009 12:48 am
JUST ANOTHER WAR (A message to Barack Obama - Nobel Peace Prize)
They started a war - a war in my name
the truth - they had to bend it;
they tore out the heart of integrity’s soul
now who will come to mend it?
Attackers came forth from the land of the sand
with a plot that the West vowed to foil.
They went to off war in freedom’s name
but the sand was not free from the oil.
The men in the suits in the sleek Cadillacs
looked out to the men...
Saturday 26th December 2009 7:20 pm
Also by Barrie Singleton:
WHAT FOR | FALL OUT |STONES
I want to make a place
that is not of pain.
Built of life and built.
Not of earth
but of heaven
a shape of creation
built together
with spirit rubies
and other precious stones.
I cant explain
but I try to understand.
It is called .....righteousness.
Tuesday 22nd December 2009 10:03 pm
Why So Blue, Sweetheart?
Sweetheart
From the things I've done to you
Now your dead arm swings loose
And your bruised eye won't open
Sweetheart
These things I've done to you
An evening among friends, descends
Now we're alone
Sweetheart
Now you start on me again
Buttons all pushed, again
You try to stand your ground
But I'll always shout louder
Sweetheart
Surely safer to just settle down?
Cower, out in the...
Tuesday 22nd December 2009 2:18 pm
Also by Tom:
Sewing It Together | Sailing on Firewater | Then Give Back | One of These Years | Raining In Darlington | Lay Down Your Guard | Your Poem Is Still Young |There’s something going on making me feel fearful
I’m sitting here alone
in a dark and creaking house
I’m sure I heard something,
stirring inside sure not out
and I’m staring straight ahead
I’m trying hard to hear
that sound I heard just now
the one that made me scared
In a dark and eerie house
every sound is amplified
was that another sound
or was it just a little creak?
No, I’m sure I heard it then
again, it’s caught my...
Monday 21st December 2009 8:51 pm
Season\\'s Sonnet
Sonya,I got your comic Christmas card •
In a bed-sit Santa irons red suits alone •
But I hear tom-cats screech in your back •yard
And Santa’s smile conceals an inward groan.
For while you wrap bright parcels,show good cheer,
Weave plans to please the young and innocent,
Under lock and key you store a secret tear,
And out of bottles ,pour your merriment.
When to-morro...
Monday 21st December 2009 11:09 am
A sell out i am not.....
I get it now...., You have to sell your soul, Just to make a bit, Take shit and hand ''the man'' your ass, While he rapes it, Fake it, Something like a serpant in the snake pit, Pretend to be a friend, But bite with pure hatred, Ive seen so many people selling out,in abundance, The concept of keeping it real becomes redundant, I often wonder what inspires the thought pattern, Of lifes ...
Monday 21st December 2009 7:52 am
Opening
As sure as back streets caked in snow
melt and go,
so the stapled cardboard box locks,
as too the thumbs push further in
a thumbnail clicks.
Remember the time your thumbnail clicked
as cardboard panels stood their ground
the time you had that panic attack
nail bent back
just think: thumbnail bent right back. Snap!
It left a curved white line across
a keratin shell over soft blood a...
Sunday 20th December 2009 5:19 pm
Copenhagen
In the 18th century the people of Easter Island worked hard
creating the statues that their information showed
were absolutely necessary for their future.
In the 19th century Easter Islanders realised
that statues were a useless waste of effort
and put all their energy into the obvious need
to worship the birdman.
In he 20th century the stupidity of the Easter Islanders
was obvious...
Friday 18th December 2009 11:14 pm
Also by Malpoet:
In Poetry | Harry | Tiger in the Dark Woods |PAAARRRTTTYYY!!!!!
PAAAARRRTTTTYYYY!
“Ey up owd lad, tha does look glum!” Peter said one day, (he’d spent a while up north near Leeds, that’s why he spoke that way.)
“What’s to do? Tha’s sittin there wi a face like milkman’s hoss. I’ve nivver seed thee look that way, whatever ails thee boss?”
His boss looked up, all ashen faced, a pallor on his skin, and whispered “Pete, I’ve had enough, It’s time I jack...
Friday 18th December 2009 7:35 pm
Dirty Weekend
Dirty Weekend
Chipped china cup half washed up
Rests in her hands
Forty a day smoker stains
Tepid tea sloshes down the drain
Sodden biscuit crumb remains
Glistening like fools’ gold
She never dreamt she’d be this old
And to have to start again
Without her man
Wedding vows aren’t worth a damn
I do’s give way to the big I am
Voices raised, fro...
Friday 18th December 2009 5:46 pm
The Voice
How lucky I am to have my voice
With all its possibilities
I give it charm I make it sing
I can denote hostilities
How lucky am I to have a choice
To take this voice most everywhere
To express meaning, give voice feelings
Show my leaning when I dare
How lucky indeed to sow a note
And reap a song, when nature inspires
And good things conspire
The feeling’s strong
...
Friday 18th December 2009 9:55 am
Dreamtime
We might evolve into a species
With wires from our ears
So we don’t have to listen
To other people’s noise
Now every man’s an island
And everyone’s divine
Cos we can disassociate ourselves
And live in Dreamtime
This isn’t really happening
We can block reality
Put your plugs in your lugs
And live in MTV
And if the conversation’s boring
...Thursday 17th December 2009 8:12 pm
Tale from the North Country
As we crunched through snow together
In inclement Arctic weather,
I brought to mind an Old Icelandic song;
There’s a saga of the Viking
You need to heed when hiking
That “Pissing in His Boots -
Keeps No Man Warm for Long”.
Already you’ll be gleaning
A second, deeper, meaning
That short-term paths will, long-term, tu...
Thursday 17th December 2009 3:55 pm
The Busker
'He's more rapist than harpist',
I joke as we approach.
We calculate the etiquette,
Of rewarding each wrong note,
I crack, and throw some shrapnel in his case.
The music stops, he lifts his face.
One useless eye,
Poking like a sea scarred stone on ravaged beach,
But ears that figure in a flash,
The sound of seventeen pence,
Cash.
Jx
Wednesday 16th December 2009 4:17 pm
Also by John Aikman:
She Put the \\'Tog\\' in Together |Big Fish in Masvingo Lake
There’s a big fish at the bottom of Masvingo lake.
Old, fat, and ugly, it won’t be caught
I glimpsed it once, on the end of my hook;
Thought I had it, saw its cruel, fierce eyes
The fishing isn’t good in the lake.
The big old one has eaten almost all the others.
People still come to try and catch it
Maybe if the lake dries up
It will be found there at the bottom
Wriggling, squ...
Tuesday 15th December 2009 9:46 am
Happy Xmas Everybody
Happy Xmas Everybody
I love Christmas Day.
I’ve all my cards
on the mantelpiece,
a lot of them
from friends I can’t remember.
I’ve got my Yuletide ‘meal for one’
with a proper Christmas pud.
I don’t think anyone’s calling round today,
but I’ve some Marks and Sparks mince pies,
and a drop of sherry,
left over from last year, if they do.
The kids are all grown up
and live ...
Monday 14th December 2009 8:58 am
Bedouin
I know his betraying hips
so well.
Every fluid twist and turn.
I watched him my sisters,
as a ghost.
Silent as the sand.
Undisturbed.
I ask you, where
did my reason go?
The day I saw his eyes.
Shimmering emeralds,
behind such hair,
black as kohl.
My sisters...
Sunday 13th December 2009 8:30 pm
Also by Deborah Jordan Bailey:
Drifting |Camel and I
Waiting For Christmas.
(Note: I advise explaining the meaning of the word “undulate”: to move like a wave, before reading to a child.)
The cool of winter blows past my window,
The trees stand like pillared shadows,
The sun sinks early after school,
Soon it will be Christmas.
My sister and I run to the frosted bus stop,
Where iced leaves glint bronze and silver,
Then onto the bus and to...
Sunday 13th December 2009 7:09 pm
Also by jane wilcock:
The West Window: A Saga of York and Constantine |Christmas
(I make no apologies for this slushy Christmas whimsy- I like Christmas , or rather my rose tinted view of it !)
Tinsel twisted,
twinkled tree.
Tresses glintling,
glowing lights.
Little smiles,
small hands.
Halls a bounty
Boundless love.
Loading stockings,
stuffing turkeys.
Tuneful carols,
candy kisses.
Kind hearts,
helping strangers.
Still nights,
nipping frost.
Fruity fea...
Sunday 13th December 2009 9:03 am
Also by sian howell:
Alpha Male |My best mates a stripper (and I'm confused)
By day the telesales cold caller
By night the g string, leapord king, hen party mauler
Ladies offer dollars
And like man parish he swallows
He has an oil over tan
Bought at JJB, beside the wanna be wag glam
Admirers made comments in infancy
They saw his little bits in the pram
Said he would grow up big and strong
Rightly so, he adequately fills his feathered throng
Watch them baby oil girls go
Dj puts on the...
Saturday 12th December 2009 11:42 am
starry night
Sitting by the window pane, watching snowflakes fall setting peacefully upon the ground looking above to see a shining star twinkling so brightly in the heavens grasp feeling the warming sensation run through my body awakening feelings that was so deep I look around hoping to meet your gaze and your hands wrapping around my waist shivering as your breathe touches my neck and making me realise am...
Friday 11th December 2009 10:14 pm
The man who dripped digitalis
He could charm the poison out of fox gloves
and used his skills to quicken my heart.
I wondered what he fed on: frayed liturgies
and the secret dreams of women,
toxic spores translated into messages
of lust, slivers of the dank March sky
rolled up like pickled herring.
I never knew. He always skimmed me,
left me hooked on some potent pollen,
some sacrificial line,
some ...
Wednesday 9th December 2009 9:09 pm
Also by Gaia Holmes:
I am lifting the piano with one hand |The Knowledge - December
Last month I wrote a simple poem that I read at the River View....it was a prize poem. It went well with the exception that no-one got the answers right! So this month I wrote a new poem and made it much easier (or so I thought), here it is. The lines in bold are the lines people had to tell me the answer to. So can you tell me who wrote them (and/or from which poem they come)?
************
Ther...
Tuesday 8th December 2009 1:53 pm
Claire, my tour guide
Once long ago I was lonely and felt that I was destined to walk life's highways alone.
I watched in sadness and despair as people met and fell in love but it never happened to me.
The times I cried and dreamed it could be me that someone loved and wanted, I cannot say because it pains me to think of those and dark and bleak days.
Then all that changed for SHE walked into my li...
Saturday 5th December 2009 12:09 am
Also by Sue Hall:
The Lady |The Rose
Friday 4th December 2009 12:44 pm
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