A WALK IN 1950
on the great hem of Heathrow in summertime
we set off from Ashford to Stanwell
Sunday sure - footed,
my parents ahead,
my brother and me behind.
"Daddy, daddy, what's that for" I asked -
no answer came, his mind a trick of the light
a prism of serious concerns.
The reservoir confronted us and then
in slow procession the prefabs.
"Daddy, daddy, where does that go...
Tuesday 30th June 2015 10:45 pm
Also by ray pool:
THE CORPORATE CORPSE | JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES | gogglebox | A TALE OF SNAILS | TOSHERS | 1953 AND ALL THAT | MUSICAL BLISS - CLEANLINESS | WHAT WE HOPE TO GAIN | THE FOOD FAIRY | UNDUE CEREMONY | IT'S FUNNY HOW RELIGION ARRIVES | CAN POETRY LIFT THE SPIRIT | ON THE LATHE | UPHILL CYCLIST | LITTLE JOHNNY | IN MEMORIAM | SKELETON SERVICE | SELF ANALYSIS | FEAR OF SCHOOL | GOD MOVES ON MYSTERIOUS MOTORWAYS | LADY CONTORTIONIST | THE BLESSED TRUMPET | BETJEMAN WAS RIGHT | YOU CAN'T GET QUICKER THAN A KITCHEN FITTER | MY PRAYER | BEAUTY AND THE BEAST | POWER TOOLS | I CAUGHT HER ON A SOFT TURN | ON THE OTHER SIDE | A POLICEMAN'S LOT | TO BE IN A BAND | PIANOFORTE | WAITING FOR THE BUS |plasters
I have always collected paintings
Always on the lookout for another piece
Something to go there
Next to the door
I have pictures of women
Their backs turned
Japanese ink drawings
Of cranes
I have splashes of colour
That mean something different
Each time I see them
I have scenes of desolation
And of hope
I have idyllic cottages
Crumbled apartment blocks
...Tuesday 30th June 2015 8:19 pm
Also by Stuart Buck:
top hat | fed | garden | burial | ouroboros | brahms | registered trademark | twelve eyes of evil | safety net | photo | lawn | maize |Romance
Just like a flower
our love
blooms in the summer
and dies in the winter.
With nothing but memories left to show
what once stood tall,
has now
fallen.
Tuesday 30th June 2015 6:24 pm
COPYBOOK WRITING
No pal at school ever called it exciting
Crouched over a desk - doing Copybook writing.
With dip-pen in hand slowly following each letter
Teacher over your shoulder - willing it better.
The scratch of the nib across a notebook
Juvenile attempts at a tidy "by rote" look,
With occasional splatterings of wayward ink
To cause a kid to stop and blink -
And hastily blot...
Tuesday 30th June 2015 5:00 pm
Also by M.C. Newberry:
EMPTY VESSELS - SOME FATHERS' DAY THOUGHTS | DOWN BY THE MEWSTONE | HONOURS UNEVEN | FAREWELL BRIAN CARTER |I miss you so..
Author unknown; posting this here because I found it to be so very beautiful.
~~I’m an old grey cat letting life slip by,
Nothing disturbs as I twitch and sigh,
My silken fur is grizzled and dank,
My sturdy frame is frail and lank,
It’s a shadow world as my eyesight dims,
A bony old cat with creaking limbs,
But my heart beats strong with a faithful thud
And I have to say tha...
Tuesday 30th June 2015 10:42 am
Also by Dana Lee:
But, I do love you.. |Not from round here
Between every few steps
He staggers
He rocks
He sways like a sail
Caught in a gentle breeze
Then says to me
You’re not from round here
Are you?
I nod in the affirmative
Wanting to move on
As he seeks to make conversation
His ship now stuck fast
Perhaps like his thoughts
Run aground
The after a moment’s thought
He confidently declares
‘You are from Lo...
Monday 29th June 2015 10:18 pm
Also by Martin Elder:
Eyes | Hoochie Coochie man |All I Will Ever Do
You came to me in slow strides. Steady and ready.
Half a face was all I could see. Hidden was the other half, like the dark side of the moon. Never seen, never discovererd. Forever dormant. You were almost extinct.
I howled at you. I howled at you because there was no other way, no other voice. You were cloaked, hidden by a wall you created in your mind. I tried to break through. I tried to...
Monday 29th June 2015 9:14 pm
Also by Chandana:
Left Without a Clue | Out of Breath |FATHER AND SON
I touch your cheek,
I'm surprised, it's cold.
I reach for your hand
for I need it to hold.
I look upon your face
that beamed and sparkled
as we loved and laughed,
wrestled and tickled.
Your face is so pallid,
the sparkle is gone,
no more to smile
at the hot summer sun.
Your hair neatly tended,
you lie there so still
as I try, with memories,
...Monday 29th June 2015 11:34 am
Also by THE PEN AND THE PAGE:
HOLLOW HALLS | GOOD MORNING | THE BENCH | ENOUGH IS ENOUGH | FLOATING FREE | FIRE ON THE HORIZON | A MOUSES TAIL | A WORD OF THANKS | END OF THE LINE | THE BALLAD OF THE SKATEBOARDING ANT | SHATTERED REFLECTION | A CHILDS EYE | BRAVE FACE | DRIVEN BY FEAR | WOODLAND WONDER | DREAMS OF A LIFE |Scholarship
I started writing poetry at 13.
Monday 29th June 2015 5:14 am
Also by Ja'Saun Young:
Bob Marley | I'm a Nigga | Under Pressure |hospital gown green (06/28/2015)
burnt bridges grown back by the flesh of sacrifice;
regrown and abraded: ground up as red obsidian
made for careless feet, tapping on solemn, hallowed ground
Bled dry and fed back to the living.
Sigh
so much time spent making noises
mouth-mimicks hiding treasure like a throat infection
coy as is want to do, need to be: my predilection
Parroting:
Insidious, obsidion, ponchus pilot myrmid...
Monday 29th June 2015 1:59 am
Also by Zach Dafoe:
A Maui Closer to Home | poutine chips are ok (06/22/2015) | Knell is actually a great word (6/21/2015) | malinsky common ground (06/14/2015) | long light short shadow (6/10/2015) | run-on 1 (06/07/2015) | Cary Grant 2142 |day sky
sometimes i look at the sky
when driving, at speed
and I
see the clouds billow and fold
an angry riposte at the audacity
of open miles
sometimes thick and black
they tumble
sometimes less afraid
they swoop a palette knife
full of paint
and accentuate themselves with white tipped
curvature
like waves in a torrent.
sometimes i look at the sky
and in the picks of rich umber and the ...
Sunday 28th June 2015 10:27 pm
Night Thoughts
Sunday 28th June 2015 8:34 pm
Sweet Light
The hour before sun does set and twilight born
hazy aroma of cooling fields and hearts forlorn
Homeward bound, and bound to home
The wayward desires cease to roam
Sweet light nymph strays into beaten field
To catch that haze she dares to feel
She writes a glimpse of hope untold
As fragile as the petals she dares to hold
© Katypoetess 2015
Sunday 28th June 2015 8:24 pm
Also by Katy Megan:
Solstice | Beholden to Behind |Almost Impossible Forest
Enchanted scenes running for my life
Lost horrible in the creepy mist of the strange dark woods
Think that I may very be well and truly gone good and proper
I have been in the water so my phone is broke
Acting absurd like there's no tomorrow.
I met two of my mates, it was weird, the one with the axe, I didn't really look at him,
I focused on the other man witness me dribbling mag...
Sunday 28th June 2015 10:10 am
Also by SPACEGHOST:
Wave One |On a mat appears...(an early practice poem for a public art commission)
Sliver, slip, slub, snarl, sup-up
pins, pair, pick, put up,
inandoutinandoutinandout,
nip, nicking, necking, nosing,
nightnoisesirensnevending,
inaweinaweinawe,
nocturnal nattering ‘til noon,
get-up garble gibbering go work
Murmeringmutteringmouthingmilling
unclearunblockingunravelling
laying-on, let-in, long lever
endsneverendneverendnever home again up ...
Saturday 27th June 2015 11:52 pm
The fairytale gone bad
That lonely, dark the path she took;
led her down to the bickering brook.
the leaves of the fall, ahead they rushed ;
as she walked down the lane in hush.
They whispered all along the way;
"And she wept in quiet" they say.
The starry sky lit her trail,
and the fireflies carried her love's mail.
She called up the fairytale gone bad;
the fairytale she dreamt,
washed away by the stream...
Saturday 27th June 2015 4:40 pm
Also by aparajita das:
Reminiscence |Are you the Cannon?
Are you the vessel?
The vein?
The path?
Are you the fuel?
The impetus?
The drive?
Are you the moral?
The whole point?
The final punctuation?
Are you the fuse?
The chasing ?
The whats next?
We wish we were the whole thing,
Beginning to end.
But we all have our place.
Point.
Burn.
Incite.
Land.
...
Saturday 27th June 2015 2:11 pm
Also by Corr Lens:
Red White and Burbank- Deathy and the Dive |us
The blade of lust cuts me deep, And u seem to like the sight of it, And nothing takes us by chance, Not even when I break and u just stand. Far off u see a pretty sight, You do everything and u slay me, But when u get there, All has gone to none, All was always dust. And now when u know u'll die, U run back. U touch. And u want our fire back, When nothing took us by chance, For a ...
Saturday 27th June 2015 7:52 am
Should i
As im sitting here trying to fall asleep
I cant help but to constantly think
Of you and all your lies
How you confide and cheat
How could I of been so dumb to love someone like you
Not a man
Not a human
Not a safe haven
Who are you ?
How could you let me give you all that I ever had?
While you left me wanting more like the end of a chip bag!
How dare you try to tell me that youll a...
Saturday 27th June 2015 1:39 am
Also by Autum:
NO WAY | Im sorry |the paint and the puddles
The wind it tackles
the leaves and the litter
the leaves and the litter
the leaves and the past
the sun it is drying
the paint and the puddles
the paint and the puddles
the paint and the past
I saw the bend coming
the bend was approaching
the bend in the road
that soon would be passed
I saw her look sadden
she feared I was leaving
the leaves...
Friday 26th June 2015 9:39 pm
Also by Tommy Carroll:
anointment | ... a can or art | taxi | look see here she comes | Calligraphy | Konnichiwa |On Centralplatz
Look close, look far
too far?
(too far)
Cars come, cars go
tortured, metal boxes, smudged colours
on tattered tarmac.
Pneumatic drill sounds, distant
hammering, dry clatter
on summer paving.
A man, newspaper
folds and departs kiosk
shimmered in sun.
The calls from traders
I heard them, then
did not hear them
(refused to hear them).
Stepped inside a p...
Friday 26th June 2015 5:11 pm
Also by David Blake:
The Boathouse |MAKING A POINT
Making a Point
I’m understanding
To a point
When the point
Becomes too sharp
I become blunt
I’m blunt
To understanding
When the understanding
Becomes a point
I become sharp
I’m sharp to the blunt
When too understanding
I become a cunt
Making a point
Friday 26th June 2015 1:18 pm
A poet at prayer
(before the idea of man/woman Christian marriage vanishes utterly, a re-post about what it was all about)
WIFE WISH
(an ode)
Lord, send me a natural woman.
A straight, proud, toss her head,
Fling back her curl,
Thoroughbred,
Steady-eyed girl
With satin-supple flesh.
Let September sunsets through a mesh
Of low mist glint
And deepen her hair to a copper-gold tint.
Let her...
Friday 26th June 2015 1:00 pm
Prose about Her
She is a beautiful woman, my mind is taken by her. But this is not the first time I have fallen to fancy. I tend to exaggerate in a longing for romance; yes, I could list many superlatives about her. But what would that say? Really, nothing might happen. She might love someone else. I might love someone else. Then this desire to potray her, as one who is ideal, so as to be poetic, is hopeless. I ...
Friday 26th June 2015 6:10 am
Changes
I didn't know
how many muscles
a body can have
until tonight.
I didn't know
one can dwell in Eden
if there is no god
until a year ago.
I thought I knew
one can fall from grace
any time
without relief
or justification.
But I didn't know
what it means to descend
and how long the road,
and to where,
to crash or land,
I still don't know.
Thursday 25th June 2015 8:55 pm
Also by Celia:
In Absentia |I Picked You
as i sit across from her i knew i had to say something, but the only problem was, how do i go about doing so?
i have wanted to tell her for a while now but i get all flustered when i try.
how can it be so difficult to get a few words out i mean its barely even a sentence.
i know that the longer i wait the harder its going to get but shes looking at me, with no idea of what i am about to say.
o...
Thursday 25th June 2015 3:48 am
Also by dumbmango:
The Elevator |Writing 'proper' poetry
Peppercorn eyes or was it peppermint eyes, does it matter?
Something...orginal eyes! Something blazing eyes...something dreamy and crapper.
Yes, so he tasted of morning breath and the blandness of saliva
but just write that he tasted of strawberries and hope because that sounds a lot nicer!
...Wait... stop! The ryhme is off!
Can you have more ryhme this time, less variation.
Sort...
Wednesday 24th June 2015 7:05 pm
Answer
I took your purple book
and with a purple smile
I pitched it in the bin
wishing it were you.
I would laugh to see you
ground to pulp
in the purple teeth
of the trash truck.
Wednesday 24th June 2015 12:13 pm
Also by Cynthia Buell Thomas:
Child in a Stroller | Morning Mantra |canto 11
below the decked black clouds
the upper reaching moor shines emerald now
lit by the slashing sun
between the rain soaked rungs
of the ladder bent above
without rainbow or climbing feet
the raw bouldered hanging cliff
yellow in the evening state
stripped to demerara soft
to mock their hardness and their weight
as all melt away at night
to their beds again they go
but those of us uns...
Tuesday 23rd June 2015 2:58 pm
Also by jeremy young:
the education of norma | canto 8 | canto 3 | meeting a nazi | back eye | then |madness
am inside
i am banging am kicking am shouting
but am still inside
inside by myself
lonely, lonely lonely ..... frightened
its dark its quiet
the silence... the silence...... the silence
it drives me crazy then,
the whispers.........its soothing
the voices i hear.......... but later they become loud
loud loud loud .............they call ......louder and louder
i ban...
Monday 22nd June 2015 2:28 pm
My Apology
To her, to them, and to the rest
Please know that I did my best
For you though the pain fills my chest
But to have known you, I feel so blessed
To the one who holds my aching heart
It is my fault that we’re apart
Funny, beautiful and oh so smart
But it is I who has been such a tart
The past remains a total blur
Temptations have been my torture, my lure
What ...
Monday 22nd June 2015 10:30 am
Also by Thion D. Morriaty:
La vita e la morte |Turning 24
I have filed myself away, in a neat little folder
marked Unread. Sneaked myself on the top shelf
hidden yet observed.
To be read later, when I hit that magical age of 50
people seem to celebrate or dread
life half over, half to begin.
Maybe.
Let me enjoy being 24.
The boys are hot, music loud and
alcohol tastes so divine, it leaves
a trail of drunken who gives a fuck,...
Monday 22nd June 2015 9:21 am
June Solstice
The longest day of the year
in the Northern hemisphere.
The most Sun we experience.
For those seeking abundance
it’s a magical time – astrology says.
It has glorious beams and seeds
that you planted in spring
ripen and sweet fruit bring.
And here is a practical advice
that can’t be bought for any price.
Spend time in reflection and meditation
to understand the real world’s creation.
Li...
Monday 22nd June 2015 7:59 am
Unsaid Hearts
Unsaid Hearts
You've held your tongue of feelings unknown
Yet I broke your silence of gold
You cast your spell in all hope's endeavor
Hoping for forever
But I've already been spellbound by another
You're three words to early
And I'm two words too late
Must this be our fate?
PS. I love you, I'm sorry...
Monday 22nd June 2015 5:44 am
Also by Smash Lee:
The Lover's Goodbye | Painting Sins |Bankruptcy
Grief is costly and I was broke,
Not you or him or any bloke,
Could have filled my pot of casting love,
He pulled my purse-strings from above.
That heavy weight of stress I threw,
I shrunk and stole myself from you.
That constant stream of words that played,
For them, a fortune I'd have paid!
I foraged deep for that sweet tune,
But woeful blues, they filled the room.
You wouldn't know t...
Monday 22nd June 2015 12:29 am
Absent Father’s Day
Absent Father’s Day
Coupled together
Then ripped apart
My friend cries out in the dark
Remembers the pitter patter of tiny steps
Now alone in his bed sit with regrets
Coupled together
Warm and snug
The memories fade like the picture
On the mantelpiece
No words can explain
Or comfort the vacant lot
Of fathers tonight
Who have all
B...
Sunday 21st June 2015 5:15 pm
Also by David R Mellor:
This God Forsaken World | The NEW Ten Commandments |I get the word "snatch" into the Daily Telegraph - 10 points to me!
The lovely gels at The Daily Telegraph Wonder Women asked me to write a poem about contraception for their ace campaign Take Back Birth Control, which encourages women to explore which contraceptive method is the best for them. So I did; it's called Chisel.
I did a video in my living room starring me and my scary cushion and you can watch the video here. I...
Sunday 21st June 2015 1:45 pm
Strip Poker
Handsome hunk
Sexy lady.
Cards dealt
Game on.
Hard core
Strip poker.
High stakes
Both married.
Bold daring
Winning streak.
Drinks flowed
Heavy petting.
Naked gambling
Lucky night.
Late session
Taxis home.
Fumbling stumbling
Drunken state.
Unfortunately when
Nervously undressing.
Awkward qu...
Sunday 21st June 2015 1:37 am
Also by Nigel Astell:
A Banner to Follow |Our Workshop Poems
Our two collage poems are already available on the unpicked-restitched website:
https://unpickedrestitched.wordpress.com/category/participants-writing/
Saturday 20th June 2015 2:56 pm
Also by Stockport WoL:
Heart of Stockport II | Heart of Stockport I |My Lottery Win
I spotted a slip of paper
Blowing around the floor
Nobody else had noticed it
So I had to go and explore
I chased it around the pavement
Through the bus station door it blew
I managed to catch it and pick it up
It was last weekend's lottery ticket, who knew?
It was for the big, multi rollover
Thirty million they said
And they were still seeking the winner
All sorts were going thro...
Saturday 20th June 2015 1:11 pm
Also by Pauliegreg:
Coffee shop blues |Paper Weight
My middle name must be leave
Because that's what they all do.
"I don't want to be in a relationship"
Just say it
I don't want to be with you
Because relationship means commitment
It means not being indifferent
It means being consistent
And being realistic
But I'm problematic
And defective
Clearly defective
Because they always choose someone else over me
Always leave and say the sa...
Saturday 20th June 2015 8:58 am
Also by Ash:
(untitled) | Runners High | Polly Lane |Universal Time Co-ordinated: June 30th 2015
~~Universal Time Co-ordinated: June 30th, 2015
What will you do with your leap-second?
The precious one second adjustment
added to the final minute of this day.
The important second that holds back
earth’s drift from atomic time;
making up for the irregularities of the earth’s rotation.
The second that keeps us precise.
So, what will you do?
You could accrue the second, keep it in a...
Friday 19th June 2015 7:40 pm
What Monster?
Just a bit of fun, these poems are used in my work as part of a project using monsters as a way of inspiring young people to share an enthusiasm for writing. Can you identify the six mystery monsters?
More than just the sum of his parts
this monster stole another's heart
and his hands and feet as well
not much is his as you can tell
his head is screwed on firmly
by the bolts...
Friday 19th June 2015 10:44 am
Facing A Break Down
What is breaking down? Is it coming to realizing that everything you have been was wrong? Was it because you realized you lost somebody you loved? Is it losing the weak half of ourselves to make us a stronger person? Is it because you're finally facing the problem you've been trying so hard to forget and run away from that it stops your heart for a moment as it all rushed through you, knocking you...
Friday 19th June 2015 5:20 am
Also by Vanna:
Happy Ending | Their Story |Give me a sight that lasts,
something that won't escape,
because I'm tired of the changing of minds,
the persistent feeling of unease,
that decorates my mind,
it plays havoc with my self-belief,
so lost behind what I thought I could see,
should have realised it was foggy
Friday 19th June 2015 12:52 am
Also by emmy92:
Truth |Vaccary Walls
Vaccary Walls
Stone lines veining the landscape
Quarried slabs pulled from the earth
Placed upright making a stone fence
Enclosing green fields for Cattle and Sheep
Dividing bog and tussock
Residual hedge trees find purchase for roots
Alongside the rough stones
Where the valley gives way to peat hag and Bilberry
A Buzzard overhead begins a shallow upward spiral
High a...
Thursday 18th June 2015 5:20 pm
Jonah
~~Sometimes
The rainbows
Get cloudy
I got holes
In my soul
And my sins
Are dripping
All over
The floor
They say
The skeletons
Will rattle
Until
They drive you
Mad
They ain't seen
Nothing
Yet
At the bottom
Of this ocean
There are the bones
Of a killerless
Whale
Who ate a man
In the bible
But couldn't digest
And if you
Count its rings
You can tell
Its age
Or shoe size
...
Wednesday 17th June 2015 10:48 am
Also by Twilbury Wist:
Happiness | Once | Tell it to the wind |Breaking the Duck at the Roisin Dubh, some Salsa Dancing and Tai Chi in Galway – Getting through the Bucket List and Early Onset Mid Life Crisis!
Try something new they said. So that was my challenge for this week, and I also got to introduce a Galway audience to the brand of poetic humour that Dublin and Tullamore has come to expect from our Carty!
The open mic night at the Roisin Dubh was something I had wanted to partake in for a while. From the poetry to the comedy gigs down there, I am a regular attendee, normally a heckler ...
Wednesday 17th June 2015 12:02 am
ME
my sentence will be
my emptiness among
others.
I am walking a path which
has now divided finding
less company while i am
pushing forward.
Those i do pass feel lost
and empty...
Tuesday 16th June 2015 4:29 pm
Rules of Success ( Kamyabi ke Niyam )
Kamyabi usi ke kadmo me hoti h,
Jo apne Ghamand ko insaniyat me lagata ho
Zidd ko jo palna janta ho.
Vyavhar me jiske pyar ho,
Jiska dil udar ho,
Mehnat jiska hathiyar ho.
Haar manna josko gavara nhi,
Jisko lagta kisi ka sahara nhi.
Rakhta ho jo zasba pahado me chadne ka,
Tufhano ke bich rahkar jo hua ho bda.
Girkar jo uthna janta hai,
Muskilon ...
Tuesday 16th June 2015 1:51 pm
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