Poetry Blog by M.C. Newberry

There's a saying about trouble

That leaves me somewhat troubled:

'A trouble shared is a trouble halved';

Oh no, it's not - it's doubled!

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Adopting an agnostic avian attitude towards the flight of religion,

Islam appears like a hawk, Christianity - a tame pigeon.

It's for sure there'd be hands raised in something like hysteria

At any suggestion of building churches in distant Syria,

Whilst there's no doubt there also exists an excluding ban

On any subject similar in the ayatollahs' Iran;

And there's no sign whatever...

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Better to live in hope

And die with a chuckle

Than live in despair

And silently buckle.

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What is this this life,

So full of care,

If love we find -

And do not share?

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It's Tommy this, an' Tommy that..,.

An' Tommy in harm's way;

You may know the score

When sent into war

But politicians know how to betray.

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There are some who say it's more than rumour

That women have no sense of humour,

But consider just how often when

It emerges at the expense of men!

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Looking ahead to the approach of another flat racing season.  Roll on!

Sunrise creeping, daylight peeping,

All is silent, all are sleeping.

Alarm clocks whirring, staff start stirring,

Farm dogs scratching, farm cats purring.

Voices muffled, sneezes snuffled,

Stairways creaking, footsteps shuffled.

Harness jingling, senses tingling,

Eggs and bacon and co...

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A re-post on a theme that deserves open-minded considerations of the circumstances of bravery and its existence - or otherwise.

Hero and coward,

Two sides of a coin;

How close you may look

You won't see the join,

A flick of the fingers -

The hero's in place;

Another flick brings up

The opposite face.

Hero and coward,

What's in a name?

One deed gains the l...

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Spare us the pretentious pap

Close cousin to contentious crap;

They both abound when it's a free go,

Bilious bastards of the ego.

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Near Kingswear town there stands a tree

That stand alone and waits for me

To take the track back to the sea

The way down by The Mewstone

Past the beacon in the corn

Built for every seaman born

To the works of war forlorn

At bay down by The Mewstone

Above the rocks - beneath the pine

Look-outs lost in leaf and vine

Still staring out in dark design

Decay do...

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Capturing a memorable moment in time,

Or the act performed in premeditated crime;

Mapping our lives like immortal cartography -

This imaging miracle they call photography.

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One of the most famous photographs caught an enthusiastic young US sailor grabbing a bent-over kiss  

from a young girl in New York City as Victory Over Japan was celebrated in 1945 and WW2 ended.

His death has just been announced - not long after that of his partner in that memorable picture.

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So the young sailor in tha...

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If you try to be profound

Sods' law will see your words rebound;

It's folly to parade pretension -

Best instead to choose abstention.

So keep it simple,

Make it clear,

While grateful hearts and minds draw near

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If I suggested you jog down a motorway

A finger you would wag;

Yet you're ready to shorten life's own highway

Dying for a fag!

If I suggested you dip your hand

In a jar full of dangerous bugs

You'd get the needle - and I'd understand,

So why do it with dangerous drugs?

If I suggested daily you fill the sink

With the sort of booze that rots your guts

And drain it - wou...

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Blessed are those who are born of this land

Happy are those who can hold fast its hand

Who can pull up a chair

And bid goodbye to care

We won't ask what you're thinking

When we ask what you're drinking

Lucky are those who share this old bond

Eager are they who come from beyond

To this land full of history

Magic and mystery

We won't ask why you smile

Or why you...

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They sent me for an MRI scan,

A fact of life for the older man

Whose blood amounts of PSA (*)

Sees him doing what the medics say;

Obliged to wear a tied-behind gown

That makes him look (and feel) a clown,

Before being put in a wheel chair

And trundled in to where

The MRI scanner waits its turn

To probe the body and noisily learn

Its hidden secrets under the skin

Th...

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I've always been of the mind

That says "take as you as you find",

Believing in one-to-one reactions

That help in easing warring factions

And ask how can it make much sense

If folk are so ready to take offence

At every perceived remark or slight

To anyone they think aren't right.

People found most everywhere

Share the trait to point and stare.

At those they see as not ...

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With some justification it could be said

That the easily led are...easily led;

That birds of a feather flock together,

Especially in inclement weather.

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The following is part of a lyric in preparation.  The tune has been recorded already,

:

Blessed are those who are born of this land

Happy are they who can hold fast its hand -

Who can pull up a chair

And bid goodbye to care

We won't ask what you're thinking

When we ask what you're drinking!

Lucky are those who share this old bond

Eager are they who come from beyond

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It occurs with some desire to employ objectivity,

That when Einstein put forward his theory of relativity

He'd had the original come to mind some time before -

That a married man rarely pleases his mother-in-law,

But kept it quiet for the sake of domestic sensitivity..

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I saw him emerge from the door of the shop:

"Excuse me", he murmured, believing I'd stop;

But I knew what was coming and ignored what he said,

Hurrying on past him and ducking my head.

"Excuse me..." he called, vainly trying again

While I entered the shop...safe out of the rain.

 But stepping inside I felt I had sinned

As his final "excuse me" was lost on the wind.

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It intrigues me greatly - truth to tell...

Some attitudes to "Comments" on WOL.

Where opinions of blogs are allowed a forum -

Not just whether you dislike or adore 'em -

So observations of various sorts

Can earn some interesting retorts,

But if someone throws a spanner in your work

Resist the temptation to react like a jerk;

Let's bear in mind the word "comment"

Should n...

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In my lifetime I've seen self-possession

Become unhealthy self-obsession,

Where the awareness of what it is to be

Has become the mantra "me, me, me".

And this trait is getting worse...

A modern Narcissistic curse,

The needful are become needier

Encouraged by the social media,

Funded by big business ads

That serve to promote fatuous fads

That pander to the self-obsesse...

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It's very easy to get stressed - believing in a belief;

And be blessed when leaving it - what a relief!

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Whilst we watch and hear what they say

As our politicians lead the way,

Towards a not quite in or out

As if they don't know what it's about;

Let's recall the words of Jean Monnet(**)

Of what was kept from us back in the day!

Chief architect and founding father

Of what many here now would rather

Leave - from market to European Union

Achieved by unholy stealthy communion -...

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To all you UK readers under fifty five; come... take a trip with me

Back to Christmas 1962  - and the New Year of '63.

On Boxing Day the first flakes fell but few folk were concerned,

But wiser minds stocked grates with logs - not to be "twice burned".

There was a lull and smug smiles came - and just as quickly went,

As Mother Nature took a breath and then gave it full vent!

The ...

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I've just received an emailed Amazon Prime promotion headed "Amazon's hit car show" - promoting the return

of that TV motoring show staring Clarkson, May and the other fella.  It is a salutary lesson that in its hurry to

grab our attention, the colour-highlighted line immediately above the images of the three stars blazed out the

following -

#amazonshitcarshow.

Oops.  Did they reall...

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I once knew a guy you'd never call shy

From the way that he acted and dressed;

He'd say "It's no shock when the world wants to mock...

I've been called the worst things by the best".

Then there was this gal who was more than a pal,

By nature most generously blessed.

I'd buy her a drink and she'd say with a wink -

"I've been called the worst things by the best".

Ju...

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Life can be a treasure hunt

For when love comes along

With people grabbing what they can

Hoping they're not wrong.

Love can be an auction house

Where you pay the seller's fee

Bid high or low - it's best to know

That nothing's ever free.

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My heart leaps up when I behold

The Concorde in the sky:

So was it when my youth began;

So is it now I am a man;

So let it be when I grow old,

And let me fly!

This 'plane goes faster than a bullet can

And I would wish its days to be

Boundless - each graced by its high-flying "V"

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Can I be alone - impatient with this modern obsession for "holidays"?

Participants in a procession following some "fun and folly" craze!.

Personally, I see these vacations as parting "lolly from a wally" ways

In this age of food banks I marvel as the flash of "cash to dash" pays.

And just you wait - on their return from these various visitations

You can be sure they'll bring back so...

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In South Norfolk you'll find Diss

A place with a poeticial connection

How odd then to discover this

Brings new meaning to "Diss-affection"!

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