Poetry Blog by jan oskar hansen
| Email: | janoskar.hansen@gmail.com |
| Twitter: | @yes |
Caballus
Caballus
I`m a stallion
Once run for miles
To cover a mare
Tamed pulling a cart
Harnessed
I have lost the spirit
When the man whips me
It because he hates his wife
I think of hay.
Thursday 21st March 2019 8:41 am
identity
Identity
What a strange word
It exists for those with longings
for the mystical past.
The world has many cultures
it is easy to get lost
in the wilderness called identity
without, one is a cloud in the sky
varies according to the weather.
Wouldn`t that be wonderful
to belong to no one but oneself.
Wednesday 20th March 2019 9:29 am
winners and losers
Winner and losers
The two boys
down they ran
to the town`s pond
feeding the ducks
they had a bag each
one of them had
a mother who worked
in a cake shop.
The boy who came second
had been eating
cake crumbs
as he ran
didn`t care if the first
one won,
his mother worked
in a cake shop.
Monday 18th March 2019 10:53 am
the great war and India
The Great War and India
Thousands of soldiers from India`s interior
(I.5 million) were sent to fight in the Great War
Many of them died and were maimed just
so Britain could keep its hegemony.
When books were written, and history told
somehow the Indian soldiers were mysteriously
forgotten erased out, until now.
But disquiet lingered India became restless
they served th...
Sunday 17th March 2019 8:55 am
surrogate
she was giving birth, a surrogate mother, to a rich childless couple. she had been instructed to not look at the baby, did and relented, she had given birth
a wonderful newborn how could she give it away?
sensible people told her it was for the best, the child would get a good education, she the mother could not give her.
Under pressure by the righteous, she gave the baby away
but she ...
Friday 15th March 2019 9:53 am
the oldies blog
The oldies blog
I know of a writer/poet who has dedicated
His blog to old age, being considerably older
then him, I think he is on the wrong track.
To write about a poet who couldn`t find his
Specs, his wife saw them in the freezer beside
The ice-cream is chuckling, but overall people
Don`t want to know about infirmity.
To write down what happens to an old person
On an e...
Wednesday 13th March 2019 8:54 am
the burning
The burning
Let Rome burn, so spake Nero or one of his flunkies
Towns and cities are burning every day in the Middle East
Flames taste not of roasted chestnuts in the Alley
Of peace but the stench of hatred fills the air.
This will continue till the last drop of oil, better still
Until we don`t need petrol for our cars any more.
In the middle of this, we have Israel armed to t...
Tuesday 12th March 2019 10:23 am
re-remembered
The re-membered
Speak to me of a memory that ran into the sand
taken by the high tide drifting away
but at low ebb glitter on the lonely strand.
Speak to my memory as seen in a child`s eye
when my mother was young and danced
had laughter on her lips and stars in her eyes.
Speak to me memory in the haze of dreams
when life was lovely, and summers were long,
...Monday 11th March 2019 9:21 am
chicken and fado
Chicken and Fado
They eat a lot of roasted chicken with chips
in Portugal, once it was a rare food now it is eaten
with gusto most days, it is cheap and filling.
What sets Portugal apart is Fado,
I know of no other country with music that grabs
your heartstrings and makes you cry evokes
memories of yore, bitter and sweet.
I don`t know the origin of Fado but to my ears
...Sunday 10th March 2019 10:57 am
the long walk
The long walk
From my terrace, I can see the museum where Paula Rega`s
painting is, it didn’t look far, so I walked down it took a bit
longer than I thought but it was a beautiful day.
At the museum, I spent a long time looking at her pictures
she is an intriguing painter blending the masculine and
The feminine into one it can look objectionable as she paints
Scenes of what can appear g...
Saturday 9th March 2019 9:30 am
in the beginning
The beginning
When I went to school, it was only on religion
Christianity! Jesus with his cross and Danial fighting
a giant ogre, none of the pupils, believed any of this
yet it was entertaining stuff while we wait for
the school term to end so we could jump on our bikes
and play cowboy and Indians.
But what though as a child sticks lately, I have been
thinking of the origi...
Friday 8th March 2019 10:41 am
page fifteen
Page fifteen.
I have been looking at this page for hours
walked to the terrace and back still 15
went shopping bought thing I didn`t
need, the page hadn’t budges
page 15, how to overcome this obstacle?
writing about the weather, so you are a meteorologist now.
Actually, am I can forecast rain with my knees and
a general feeling of discontent.
Page 15 can do its own thin...
Thursday 7th March 2019 10:21 am
meteorology
Metrology
The weather plays a big part in me
When the sunshine and the wind is calm
I feel the lightness of being.
When storm blows and dark clouds
My mind gets dark, and I think of suicide
However, I like to watch thunder and lightning
stay on the terrace and sing
“Hit me with your rhythmed stick” a bit of a song
I remember.
A full moon is depressing it is as i...
Wednesday 6th March 2019 9:14 am
flying things
Flying things
I once saw a flying pig
there was a hard wind blowing from the east.
over the bay of Cascais
The wind slackened and dropped the pig
that was alive and swimming ashore
alas, where men with knives waited.
Every café was serving pork in all its form
a pig is versatile for human consumption.
Can`t say the same for my little donkey
on the terrace, it cos...
Tuesday 5th March 2019 10:50 am
ploughing
Ploughing
I have been ploughing
The field of nothingness
A furrow at a time,
With an elderly mule that farts a lot.
The soil is unyielding
It is cabbage and carrots
I want
You can`t eat flowers.
I have the carcass
Of a goat
But needs vegs
To go with it
All I need is for you
To see
I can cook a good meal of words
So far I have tw...
Monday 4th March 2019 10:57 am
we, conjurers
We, the conjurers
The USA wants Venezuela
And the worlds` press follow suit
demanding an undemocratic coup.
We have been here before
we remember the vilifying of Iraq
and Libya those two counties were lied about
before being invaded and occupied.
Our compliance with this crime is staggering
and do nothing for peace in the world.
Sunday 3rd March 2019 7:36 am
forenoon show
The forenoon Show
There is a ship anchored close to the shore
in the bay, I wonder what the cook is doing now
perhaps he is chopping onions for frying
with a bit of meat from lunch or maybe he is
washing pots and pans while the officers who have
nothing to do play cards in the mess hall.
The crew stand by the railing looking at the shore
and the brigh...
Saturday 2nd March 2019 9:27 am
senryu
Senryu
A cynical person
Protects his soppy heart
From mawkishness
Senryu
A lurid nightmare
Is an extension of a day
That went fucking bad
Senryu
They say he is rude
When objecting against old age
They expect poise
Friday 1st March 2019 7:56 am
the outing
The outing
It was a sunny Sunday we drove to a park
that has an old house in the middle selling paintings
some of them are good but mostly plenteous crap,
I know enough about art to see the difference.
Naturally, the place was closed since it was Sunday.
But going up a ramp to the park a driver buzzed his horn
they do that a lot in Portugal I told the driver what I thoug...
Thursday 28th February 2019 7:24 am
the princess
The princess
I don`t understand the British
when Diana died the county went into an unseemly
mourning a mass hysteria of grief.
She was divorced for a little shit called Charles
they had two sons who are both going bald.
I didn`t think much of her going on holidays living
The kids at home, if a working-class mother had
done this the social people would have knocked
...Wednesday 27th February 2019 8:30 am
the doll house is burning
I could see the smoke coming.
from the attic
the thing is the house of dolls
was not on fire
only the figures that once was cherished.
I put the ashes of someone’s childhood
in a box of wood.
One with golden handles.
Later did I realised that all must go
even those nearest to our heart.
Tuesday 26th February 2019 9:16 am
looking east
The view
looking out of the window facing inland
I see a petrol station painted green and across
the station a shabby supermarket with
an incompetent staff yet an excellent place to go
if you need to buy milk.
Buying wine is not recommended they don`t
know how to store it and the wine goes off.
The road below me is as usual full of traffic
that flows to fast.
I can`...
Monday 25th February 2019 9:13 am
too big a flat
Too big a flat
Who are those people whose idea
of posh living constitute a cavernous apartment
filled with unused rooms.
Someone could be murdered in one of these rooms
and not be discovered before the firm
of spring cleaners entered.
No identification on the skeleton and teeth
never interfered with by a dentist-
unsolved crime, the apartment is up for sale
the o...
Sunday 24th February 2019 9:31 am
suckling pig
Suckling pigs
In the time of the Vikings
when a baby girl was born in the winter
put her naked on a shield
carried her into the woods where she
was eaten by wolves or froze to death.
Piglets are little darling suckling the sow
but not for long they are slaughtered and
roasted and sold for our table.
I ate suckling pig for lunch today the flesh
sweet and soft, the crust tender it was...
Saturday 23rd February 2019 8:24 am
cleanliness
Cleanliness
On my frequent lone walk by the old docks
I came across a building which turned out
to be a communal bathhouse.
It was incredibly cheap for a few pence
I got a towel and soap and had my first shower
I was at the time, elven years old.
And when I was short of change asked my mother
for not ice cream, but for a shower.
My brother said only poofters went there, ...
Friday 22nd February 2019 10:05 am
bully beef
Bully beef
Twenty years after the war
I found in the attic of a small hotel
several cans of corned beef.
since the cans were dark green, I assumed
they had belonged to the German army
not that they were going to demand
the cans back I opened one the meat was
perfect and could be used in a stew.
No one wanted to a taste the meat I ended up
eating the corned beef...
Thursday 21st February 2019 8:49 am
pre-dawn
Pre-dawn
No wind blows
Stillness
From the bakery
Nearby
The aroma
Of fresh bread
Light is probing
Morning
I hear the rumbling
Streetcleaners
Some get up
Early
Wear yellow vests
Voices
Morning
Has arrived
The smell of coffee
Wafts
Through the building.
Wednesday 20th February 2019 10:12 am
Australia
Australia
When I first came to Australia
it reminded me of a colonial outpost.
The officials were pompous and behaved
like little Englanders.
I thoroughly disliked the country, it didn`t
help it was so far from civilisation
I was thinking of Europe pubs closed early
and beer was served in small glasses.
There was not much of nightlife I think
the whole nation wen...
Tuesday 19th February 2019 9:07 am
the bird of omen
The bird of omen
On the railing of the veranda
I sat a raven since I have never seen a white one
one can assume it was black.
It had yellow eyes but not from the Far East.
It flew into my living room walked like a sailor
on land leave into the bedroom.
Why does a sailor seek a bar, it is because
the hustle and bustle ashore makes him nervous
and beer is sold.
The rave...
Monday 18th February 2019 7:33 am
not what you see
Not what you see
It looked an idyllic scene
a farmer with a sweet, little red tractor
was ploughing a feel while his mule now unemployed
stood under a carob tree resting.
The tractor stopped no more fuel, the man went to
the nearest petrol station to buy some more, but a dreamer
walked past gave the tractor pink wings, saw it flew
towards the sun.
The farmer went t...
Sunday 17th February 2019 7:23 am
anit this and that
The anti this…
We can be anti this and anti that
say, our hatred of Muslims is there but not deep
and is often based on ignorance.
But we have to face the fact that anti-Semitism
is in the psyche in the western mind.
Here we have to differentiate between Israel and
the Jews as there is not many of them
in that state of Israel, the sitting government
there are Zionists...
Saturday 16th February 2019 9:27 am
once when
Once when
I lived in the deep countryside
Of Algarve come spring
And knew of every tiny village
When seeing me, the dwellers waved
The strange foreigner is here
It will be summer after all.
I had many friends back then and drank
Coffee with sturdy farmhands.
I will not be there this year, will they miss me?
Perhaps at dusk, someone will say
They saw me riding by a...
Friday 15th February 2019 9:38 am
the aged
The Aged
If young people knew
How hard to be old
They wouldn`t use their car horn
So much when seeing
An elderly driver.
To drag your old body
To the shower
Remember which medicine
Is for what
Yet we the old cling to life
As we know nothing else.
It is a good thing
The young don`t know
What it is to be old
If they did, they might jump
Off a cliff
...
Thursday 14th February 2019 11:14 am
the way it used to be
The way it used to be
When I came to Liverpool in the seventies
I found a country in peace with itself,
the difference in income between workers and
the bosses were not extreme.
Living in England, I found my education woefully
lacking in substance and took classes in counselling,
philosophy and literature.
Then the catastrophe came in the form of Thatcher
or ...
Wednesday 13th February 2019 9:23 am
a horse
A horse
My faithful fjording
Go into toy stable the day is over
The little boy will come and stroke your neck.
When a boy is a man he will
Sit on the cart, but not load
It too heavily
And when you and he plough the field
He will give you rest
A slice of bread or an apple
If the cart is full
After shopping in the village
He will get off an...
Tuesday 12th February 2019 8:48 am
forget me not
Forget me not
Rebellious heart
Cast the spell of love
Flirtatious,
Like spring breeze
Lacks boundaries,
Meaningless!
No conclusion!
Shifting shadows
Only walked
By the unhappy
Monday 11th February 2019 8:54 am
I knew of a writer
I knew of a writer
who had to take the job as a kitchen cleaner
as no one wanted to publish his work
mind, he always had clean fingernails, when he sat
late at night composing words no one in the world
would ever bother to read.
When it became clear to him, he was an exercise
in futility, he quit his job grew a beard and his
fingernails grow long and dirty.
Crossing a br...
Sunday 10th February 2019 8:29 am
a new society
A new society
Is Brexit more than Brexit
a dream of going back in time
when everything had a human dimension?
To physically eradicate the royalty
to take back thousands of acres stolen
by the aristocracy.
Leaving the cities as a bird sanctuary
go back to the land, a homestead with
a cow and a few chickens.
Living a sub-existence hunting boars
in the evening li...
Saturday 9th February 2019 8:00 am
conspiracy thinking
Conspiracy thinking
What`s wrong with that?
It`s poetry!
Trying to find a nugget of truth
in the forest of lies.
Friday 8th February 2019 8:58 am
a calamitous night
This not a good day despite sunshine
he feels like a blob without muscle tones
dripping from the wall.
an unspeakable person he has become
to think he always wanted to be slim and elegant
in a tailor-made suit. His whole family are fat
it doesn`t bother them swilling beer eating pork
sit there with ample bellies being satisfied,
it as they think it is a sign of prosperity a...
Thursday 7th February 2019 8:57 am
cats
Cats
We are looking
after a cat
it is white and yellowish.
I feed it and clean
the litter box.
The catwalks around mewing
and shedding hair
on sofas and beds.
I hate the fucking cat it is
not friendly, sometimes the cat
go on the veranda on
the seventh floor
and it isn`t falling down.
I like a dog can bond with it
take it for a walk and they will not
...Wednesday 6th February 2019 9:20 am
the failed writer
The failed writer
For twenty years he has written down
what came to his mind, in the end, many books
with his name on a bookshelf.
There they reminded unsold, unloved collecting
the dust of time.
He tried to sell his books on Amazon and in shops
when that failed he gave books away to people
too polite to say no.
He danced a summer night declaring he would
be a writer ...
Tuesday 5th February 2019 8:30 am
sunlit Cascais
Sunlit Cascais
Today the sun shines
Over the bay, a pilot boat
Is going out
To take a small coast ship
into Lisbon.
In the night
the couple upstairs
made robust love
Plaster fell as snow
on our bed.
And that was ok
Fucking is better than war
I know the woman
often see her in the foyer
she looks haughty and chaste
and unsmiling.
Not that I wou...
Monday 4th February 2019 8:54 am
Brexit 2
Brexit 2
They don`t get it the politicians
why people voted to leave.
there is and rightly, so a deep
discontent among people, the see
their water, gas, train and bus prizes
privatised by pirates.
There is a revolt in the air, the Brits
are tired being led by the nose
by a capitalistic system that long ago
ceased to be a democratic, free vote is not
democrac...
Sunday 3rd February 2019 9:51 am
dementia
Dementia
I have taken to wake up late at night walking about
the apartment that is big
One night there was a short-cut I lost my bearing collided
with a mirror. My wife who has a flashlight by her side
switched it on told me which way to go.
Dementia!
The moment when you don`t know your name
and the familiar faces unknown when you can`t find you
way back home and you...
Saturday 2nd February 2019 9:50 am
the Norwegian club
The Norwegian club
We went there last night
it was set in a wine bar and the prize,15euro each,
I refused to pay that much.
The bar was almost empty but for a group
of Norwegians who sat whispering in a corner
And there was no one to welcome us.
I was donating some books to the club
left some of them on a table.
No one stirred.
I thought the scene was surreal.
...Saturday 2nd February 2019 9:34 am
epigram 5
Epigram 5
Self-awareness must not be confused
With self-consciousness which can be
Devastating for people with fragile egos
You cannot be as good as your inner self.
Friday 1st February 2019 9:33 am
when all is an ocean
When all is Ocean
I have been looking at the map on the wall
Most of our world consists of salt water
In time to come when the sea level rises
Britain will be a rock that steadfastly refuses
To join EU, and that is ok, since most of
Europe will be under the sea.
The far and near east will consist of islets
And Swiss will have a seaport.
If you think this will bring ...
Thursday 31st January 2019 9:38 am
epigram 3
Epigram 3
If the universe has a limit, will the limitation
Be a wall, made of elastic a rubber band that
Can be overextended to the breaking point
A balloon that can be pierced at will, or like
The horizon, you see it, but it can`t be reached.
And what is beyond the boundary?
Wednesday 30th January 2019 7:24 am
Recent Comments
Hazel ettridge on Caballus (18 hours ago)
LEON STOLGARD on identity (1 day ago)
M.C. Newberry on the great war and India (4 days ago)
M.C. Newberry on the oldies blog (8 days ago)
M.C. Newberry on the burning (9 days ago)
keith jeffries on re-remembered (10 days ago)
Kate G on re-remembered (10 days ago)
M.C. Newberry on in the beginning (13 days ago)
Martin Elder on page fifteen (14 days ago)
Hazel ettridge on page fifteen (14 days ago)