War is Hell
To our young men, war is an opportunity
for posturing youthful swagger.
With arrogance and recklessness
head first or by cloak and dagger.
Half-cocked, without a sensible thought.
No consideration for what’s ahead.
Forward. Running into eternity.
Future decided, they’re already dead.
To our old men, war is considered a just cause,
detached by age from rea...
Saturday 30th November 2024 12:07 pm
A Balcony in Verona
Prologue
The balladeer sings his songs, sweetly sung.
Balconeyed, she listens from high above.
Juliet: Verona's otherwise rose,
Though star-crossed, she must obey courtly love.
Earlier, love’s soft light broke from the east,
like brisk fireflies on a scented breeze.
His lyrics besieged virtuous walls. She.
surrendered subsequently, with ease.
Romeo
Fair la...
Saturday 23rd November 2024 7:40 pm
Lest we forget
Form a queue boys, form a queue,
Stand still in line boys, stand still in line,
It's coming to you boys, it's coming to you,
One at a time.
Your country needs you boys, your country needs you,
To fight in their wars boys, to fight in their wars,
For the right and the true boys, the right and the true,
You’ll likely die for this cause.
So march with the band b...
Sunday 10th November 2024 9:28 am
Anything more?
She spoke soft ‘’Are you ok?’’
‘’Not quite yourself today?’’
‘’ Is there anything more to do?’’
‘’To help bring yourself back to you’’
I’m not feeling so good right now
You are aware of why, and how
you’ve taken all I had, it’s gone.
One has lost, the other has won
Before: Considered our unhappy time
love was then not a pleasure, more a mime
Unappreciated, ...
Saturday 2nd November 2024 1:41 pm
Mothers Song
Her song, sung in a sing-song pitch
Musically hemmed with a Giocoso stitch
Chords played Staccato in different keys
Rapid Toccata, stylistically free
As a young boy, she was my first violin
The major key to performing life as it begins
Dancing carefree, rhythmically to her beat
Tunes of the sixties, nostalgically on repeat
The unison of love, my Mother's embrace
...Thursday 24th October 2024 1:43 pm
And the winner is….
Welcome, beautiful viewers,
This year's celebratory reason
The annuality of time
the gloriousness of the season
Let's relive those quivered moments
Holding ourselves, no longer to linger,
Harsh winds herald from the north.
the onset of subzero Miss Winter
Frost, paints hung abandoned webs
Snow glistens upon your bluing nose
freshness of the air, patterns,
...Wednesday 16th October 2024 4:07 pm
Let’s Talk
The ancient art of conversation lays frost-covered, almost dead
No one's listening anymore to what the other person said
Defiantly devaluing the nuances of syllables heard
Randomly clipping, unquestionably, necessary words
Discussions typically hurried—no mutual listening.
Group communication resembles children's Chinese whispering
How frequently have you heard someone ...
Sunday 13th October 2024 4:16 pm
The ballad of Teddy Sheean (1942)
He went down fighting,
Tasmanian Devil still sighting,
His Oerlikon gun skyward blazing,
All hell in hell-raising.
HMAS Armidale evasive,
Bridge captain persuasive,
Manoeuvring this way, then that,
Avoiding the Japanese air attack.
He went down fighting,
Dropped bombs dynamiting,
The ocean whipped in fury,
Teddy, keen, but weary.
HMAS Armidal...
Friday 4th October 2024 1:19 pm
The Lane
Pitter-pattering, soft translucence,
An unseasonal summer rain,
Refuged 'neath low-slung boughs
In a tree-lined Cornish lane,
Fine mist-splattered spectacles
impairs sight with every spurt
Drip, drip, drip down the collar
Wetting this warming undershirt
Cascading from the leafed canopy
Tramping slowly to the ground
Flickering rainbows glisten
As diamonds ...
Wednesday 2nd October 2024 1:03 pm
Weathering love
Oceans, believe me, will never run dry,
Whilst flooded tears fall from my saddened eyes.
I'm unloved, now you are gone.
Neither can I comprehend, nor explain,
The reason for storms or the driving rain.
Or figure, why you are gone.
Or why the frosted field, now whitened cold,
Is abandoned as my heart, frightened, old.
Lonely, lost, now you are gone.
The Art...
Saturday 28th September 2024 5:29 pm
Strange how.
Deep down, this old heart sings a love-lost song,
A dirge, slow sung, how did our love go wrong,
Gently tuned, with a melancholic verse,
Strange how sensualness, falls back accursed.
First verse is about how two lovebirds met,
Umbrella shared, not willing to get wet,
Laughing as they watched others in the rain,
Strange how that first spark, ignited a flame.
Second...
Saturday 7th September 2024 9:09 pm
21st-century eulogy
I have no faith in faith
that gives little hope to the already hopeless,
Nor am I fascinated by fanaticism
or the intolerance shown by their obsessiveness.
No trust in grey suits with greyer faces,
stumbling forward from fumble to bumble,
elected despite the world-weary apathy.
Democracy grumbles, ultimately crumbles.
I applaud the science of science.
Others bl...
Tuesday 3rd September 2024 4:39 pm
The Kiss, (Gustav Klimpt. 1908)
His sensual ruggedness, closer
Her rouged cheeks, surrender
head softly caressed, cradled by
masculine fingers, though slender
Hold that puckered pose
Crimson lips tender
Anticipating gentleness
She’s a love defender
Hand-picked blooms
Threaded through reddened locks
Petals stroke barefooted soles
Verbena, Primrose, and Phlox.
Robed in gilded weave
Poli...
Saturday 31st August 2024 8:21 pm
If tomorrow should start without me
If my tomorrow should start without you
I'd shed a million tears and watch them fall
I'd find the grief unbearable
Unsure if I could cope at all
If my tomorrow should start without you
The inner pain I'd feel would be immense
You were my reason for living
My purpose and my present tense
If my tomorrow should start without you
I'm uncertain of just what I should...
Monday 26th August 2024 5:21 pm
Misquoting Cohen
Leaving home, my new tomorrow
Leaving home, life without sorrow
Leaving home, for somewhere better, for sure
Leaving home, I’ve escaped his gaze
Leaving home, from mis-fathered days
Leaving home, pleasingly, slamming the door
Sunday 18th August 2024 4:29 pm
What can I do?
North Carolinian slave
Her beloved mother. Slave.
Her rejected father. Their owner,
A plantation master who disowned her.
An exceptional level of intelligence shown,
A yearning passion for learning grown.
Whilst outside, the barbarity of the Civil War brought
not only bloodshed but, the emancipation sought.
For Anna, a God-sent opportunity
An escape from thi...
Sunday 11th August 2024 4:30 pm
Triarchy
Perfect triumvirate. You, me, our love,
But passion soon died without majesty,
Muse, as I sit north of the Rubicon,
Recollecting Julius's strategy
Let us cross to a point of no return
Where former foolishnesses lay unmasked,
Let the die be cast, let those thrown die, lie,
Show the falsehoods that peppered our past
Spitefully conniving, you planned and schemed
...Tuesday 6th August 2024 4:55 pm
“America’s Best Girl.”
A new century of enlightenment beckoned
The age of women’s suffrage had begun,
A young girl born in downtown New York,
Unaware of the greatness soon to be won
Eight kicks, one stroke, the eight-beat crawl.
Propelled like a torpedo down the lane
World and national records blown from the water
Seven in one afternoon. This was her domain.
Paris, nineteen twenty-four,...
Sunday 28th July 2024 1:43 pm
Catherine Bush
Audibly warmed, such mellifluous tones
a subtle mix of soft sexual moans
Transported in song to different worlds
Moments of pleasure in her every word
Visually Wowed, an alluring sight.
Provocative, dreamers Dreaming delight
The man with child's eyes since seventy-eight
Sweet vision. Aroused my pupils dilate.
Forty-six years on, I'm listening, still
A...
Tuesday 23rd July 2024 5:02 pm
New World Sonnet
The bigotry of racial prejudice,
Multi-racialistic injustice.
Views distorted by xenophobia,
And an irrational paranoia.
Islamophobic or Negrophobic,
Antisemitic or Pantuetonic,
An ethnocentric attitude belongs
In landfill sites with all the other wrongs
Discrimination and segregation,
Dehumanising demonisation
Unwarranted tribal castigation
Racists shoul...
Wednesday 17th July 2024 2:36 pm
Remembering You
Silently, I walk, wringing anxious hands,
Crossing acres of once familiar land.
Fast-flowing memories of what was then,
that'll forever stay as my former when.
Mainly unminded though unforgotten,
Desires driven that were once begotten.
An age of optimism and attainment,
Where possible dreams feared not containment.
My future holds with little certainty,
My pres...
Tuesday 16th July 2024 1:20 pm
Memento Mori
Reminiscing nostalgically,
I ask. Have you pursued life ecstatically?
Have you chased it fully with determined tenacity?
Have you gained your life's well-spent validity?
Or, tragically and drastically
Have you succumbed to someone else's gravity?
Given in passively to their selfish vanity.
Their unending capacity for indulgent banality.
There’s always an unenviable possibil...
Friday 28th June 2024 11:43 am
You could never………
You could never understand, not even in an eternity.
The subtle intrigue in this mystery
Our present, once lived, becomes history,
That had a splendour and a beauty
now lost, as you glanced sideways into periphery
I was caught in a spell of your bewitchery
Wishing I was your mainstay, not a mere auxiliary
Loving you hurts, it mimics a ruinous injury
You could never understa...
Monday 24th June 2024 4:42 pm
Grey-scale Love
It's impossible to catch the north wind that blows,
Or quick snatch the breeze from a lover's sigh.
It's inconceivable to pause rain as it falls,
turn the tide of tears that a lover cries.
It's hopeless to reverse the direction of time,
Realign the planet's path in the sky.
It's unthinkable to relive a love now past,
acknowledge our truth: Let sleeping dogs lie.
I...
Wednesday 19th June 2024 1:39 pm
Did I?
Did I hear the drone?
Or hear the air around it moan?
Did I see the photoflash?
Or how close the rotors almost clashed?
Did I view the guiding lasers?
Or the defender's stream of rapid tracers?
Did I feel the aerial explosion?
Or the small arms bullet’s detonation?
Did I feel the overwhelming heat?
As the missile landed in the adjoining street?
Did I suffer the m...
Thursday 13th June 2024 3:03 pm
You're my disappointment
Like rain on a summer’s afternoon,
A sexual climax that comes too soon,
The morning post that brings only bills,
Excluded from both parents' wills.
You're my disappointment.
Like a hotel room with a brick-wall view,
A pint of beer with an inferior brew,
A firework that's a dampish squib,
A left-handed pen with a right-handed nib,
You're my disappointment.
...
Wednesday 12th June 2024 1:33 pm
Beware the Ides
As I watched our mutual world, I cried.
Bruised and buried deep inside,
this saddened heart of mine had died.
Realistically, was it your choice to decide?
the time when happiness would be denied.
Whilst I enjoyed the emerging ride,
you had plunged down the other side.
You told me once you were satisfied,
but now open-mouthed I’ve realised,
how much you’d fed me bare...
Tuesday 11th June 2024 2:26 pm
Coprolalia
Your world moves on greased rails, sleekly
Twitches and twerks hijack mine uniquely.
Orchestration of vulgar sounds and ticks,
life with Tourettes, this lousy box of tricks.
Dancing a rhythm that no one else can hear
This herky-jerky jackass body bucks severe
A mind, full of whirlwinds, where random thoughts collide,
Clinging on to this whirling dervish, what a ride
...
Saturday 8th June 2024 6:00 pm
Metamorphosis
She changed
love rearranged
No second thoughts
His approval no longer sought
She’d absconded
Love unbonded
No looking back
Or papering over the cracks
She’d stirred
Her love deferred
No hanging on
To conditions where love's gone wrong,
She realigned
Love reassigned
No longer they
Pledging self-success in her way.
She breathed
T...
Wednesday 5th June 2024 5:06 pm
Greater than Alexander
His love delighted her
Shirley Valentine would have been proud,
Intertwined, on sun-bleached sand.
Quietly tender, both breathing loud.
Unlike her suburban life
Every moment, utterly forgettable,
Together yet separate, final vows unfurled,
The sadness of marriage, entirely regrettable.
His love delighted her ...
Wednesday 29th May 2024 4:51 pm
What does it feel like
What does it feel like to be unloved?
Feelings hosted, taken for granted
What does it feel like to be ignored?
Inconsideration's planted
What does it feel like to be alone?
drift aimlessly through familiar crowds
What does it feel like to be unheard?
When everyone else is shouting loud.
What does it feel like when all hope's lost?
A future much bright...
Saturday 18th May 2024 8:08 am
Metaphorically: A life
Before, a taught rope, you pulled on life's haul
Feet planted firm though you never stood tall
Mostly, enjoyed the seven deadly sins
though you're struggling now to gain any wins
The absent smile, from the faces of clowns
Our world straight upwards, whilst you're upside down
Lost within, though there is no maze around
One of life's bankrupts, currency unfound
Time...
Thursday 16th May 2024 11:16 am
Innermost Coast
Within you lies a refuge,
Where wild vexations are tamed,
And consolation releases
those happy thoughts, now unchained,
A sanctuary from your chaos
Ocean's haven from life’s storm,
Moored securely port-side
Leeward safe and sheltered warm.
Anxiety takes a back seat
Worries find release.
No scrutiny from others
Your troubles ebb, then cease
This precious sel...
Tuesday 14th May 2024 7:11 pm
It doesn't excite me anymore
You know,
that doesn't excite me anymore,
Making love,
it’s not unpleasant, though a bit of a chore.
Intimate thoughts
No longer whirl inside my head.
when you and I
lay close together, at night, in bed.
There’s no reason
for you to be so upset,
after all
We move on, hold no regrets,
We've been there,
done that, it was ok back when
we were young,
I...
Friday 10th May 2024 4:16 pm
A better you.
Deep within, a bounteous fountain springs.
That inwardly cleanses what self-doubt brings.
Be kind to yourself and to those close by.
Uncertainty drags us down in a sigh.
Stride courageously, break untrodden ground,
Urged on by the kindness of others, found.
Be undeterred when a fraught journey's long,
With inner confidence, step forward, strong.
Despite any blackn...
Wednesday 8th May 2024 4:46 pm
Nature’s Green
Amongst emerald-coloured fields, where nature's dreams unfold,
Lush verdant hues paint vibrant tales, as yet untold.
There, between the mystic realm of love and life, serene,
Landscape blankets woven, composed in shades of green.
Beneath canopies of majestic leafy boughs,
I lie silently alone and casually browse
an arborous ballet; mellow breezes reanimate the scene
Plié...
Tuesday 16th April 2024 12:42 pm
The colour of crucifixion
Crushed cream limestone, trodden underfoot,
Natural brown, the oaken hue
Of the Cross, for crucifixion borne.
He would die for you, and those true blue.
Sunrise, golden-edged the blackened clouds.
Whose threatening veil hangs above.
Calvary, its slopes lush, verdant green.
Yellow sallowed his sorrowed love.
Green and yellow-blue, the sparks that flew
as grey iron-he...
Thursday 28th March 2024 9:15 am
Elegance, on the 10:54
Initially, our train carriage, devoid,
Lacking something,
Something
we were unaware
was a something to be lacked
Then you,
glided from the platform,
majestically
This onward journey, our onward time
Slowed
in silent motion.
You cat-walked
down the central aisle,
A model vision,
Men’s hearts skipped.
jealous women sneered,
But all eyes opened wi...
Monday 25th March 2024 4:57 pm
George O 1903–1950
Young man.
E. A. Blair.
Literary predilection
An uncommon flair.
Each page, inspired,
His soul laid bare,
Dystopia pondered
From his polished wooden chair.
He wrote of men
Who lived without a prayer,
P.S. Burton, the tramp,
No grace, no air.
The squalor of poverty
Before ‘Coming up for air,’
On ‘The road to Wigan Pier,’
As he breathed Southwold's salt...
Sunday 10th March 2024 2:55 pm
School bully
He died,
And although I tried,
Deep inside
Relief sighed.
He passed away,
And all I could say,
To him today
Was, hey!
You were my misery,
Joy of youth razed, you made me jittery.
Swerved rebuke, you were slippery,
Considered me a frippery.
Butt kicker.
head flicker,
Unable to escape bullying quicker,
Morphed from carefree to quitter
Thank you, thoug...
Friday 8th March 2024 1:34 pm
The end
We have nothing much to offer love,
Embarrassingly, we extend a nothing offer
We have very little to say about love
Ashamed that love escaped its heart-shaped coffer
We had high hopes once, for our forever-ever
Searching forever with higher hope
Scarcely do we have anything left of belief
Recognising that belief in love is beyond our scope
We have little time that...
Wednesday 28th February 2024 4:08 pm
Time heals
Time heals, however, grief still bleeds the wound.
Life appeals, a brief hope you'll be immune.
Heartbreak recites a language unspoken,
Love's gone, though unforgotten; Love's broken.
Reminiscing, there's nothing to achieve
Love is, as it is, nothing remains; Leave.
Exploring your commitment, you both found
Love swam in shallows, then finally drowned
Love, un...
Saturday 24th February 2024 1:40 pm
Cherished Canine
Monetary rewards of life
Established through labours long,
Disrespected by office minions
Jealous words from uttered tongues
Apathetic greedy offspring
Disinterested homebound wife
You purchase them their latest wish
If not, ‘’it's such an unfair life’’
Curled in her corner, soft-bedded
Contented, tail freely wagging
Unconditioned love transmitted,
No sho...
Wednesday 21st February 2024 5:01 pm
The colour of crucifixion
Cream-crushed limestone, trodden underfoot,
Natural brown, an oaken hue,
The Cross, for crucifixion borne.
To die for you, and those true blue.
Sunrise, golden-edged blackened clouds,
Whose threatening veil hangs above.
Calvary, its slopes a verdant green.
Yellow sallowed his sorrowed love.
Yellow-greenish blue, the sparks that flew
as grey iron-headed nails ha...
Sunday 18th February 2024 6:44 pm
Hope
I'm the warming summer sun
I'm the blue lazuline sky
I'm the bond between two souls
The answer, without the why
I'm your wished-for confidence
I'm the promise each has made
I'm the trust that two hands hold
A shared future unafraid
I'm the beat between two hearts
I'm the care, that both will cope
I'm the trust right from the start
Your belief; for I am HO...
Thursday 8th February 2024 12:28 pm
Dubiety
I'm the chill wind that blows across your face
I'm the obstacle to winning life's race
I'm the hope that's lost when out on a limb
The uncertainty of your faith in him
I'm the hesitation felt in your core
I'm the question unanswered from before
I'm the misgiving you have in your heart
The reason you are sure you both should part
I'm your suspicion that all is not ...
Sunday 4th February 2024 4:50 pm
1,000,000 Acred sky
This Fenland million-acred sky,
Perceivable vastness beyond mortal eyes
An atmospheric canvas of blue-washed dye
Souls unbound by expansive skies
This Fenland million-acred sky so wide
That fluffed white cl...
Tuesday 30th January 2024 1:34 pm
Will Shakespeare, therapist
If all your world's a stage, my dear,
Contrived words in scripted scenes
Voice and thought directed, my dear
Exit stage left, and follow your dreams
The lady doth protest, my dear
Maybe an unworthy cause
There before you, your future, my dear
Dominate your life, without pause
If music be your food, my dear
Allow lover's tunes to play
Object to pizzicato, my ...
Tuesday 23rd January 2024 6:53 pm
Shakespeare 460. A summary.
Stratford’s sonneteer and scripter.
Gladdened glove-makers girded groin.
Studious son: Sunny student.
Choice cusswords casually coined.
Dangled, dipped, disastrous rhythm,
Woo, weather, bed and wed.
Minor marries maturing Miss Anne,
Mistress Mother’s birth bed bled.
What withered within?
Hamnet’s demise, heartbroken by death?
Fleeing Poacher, teacher, soldie...
Thursday 18th January 2024 1:09 pm
Smile
Sat still, his back resting against the dirty brick wall
He, like the facade that he leaned against
begrimed, likely unpleasant to the touch
He smiled a nervous smile, apprehensive, awkward
Cradling close, a defensive metal crutch
Many walked, avoiding him, clearly incensed
He was unwelcome, passers-by rejected him one and all
I walked between line painted boxed parked ca...
Wednesday 17th January 2024 6:42 pm
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