Poetry Blog by M.C. Newberry

While reading about Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance" I was intrigued to find 

information about the subject of piracy in general, not least the slave-taking activities of the infamous 

Barbary Coast pirate mob from North Africa, essentially based in the ports of Tunis, Algiers andTripoli. 

Throughout the 17th century and beyond, they marauded around the seas. Sai...

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You learn something every day, it seems, and a word previously unknown to me - coined by an American

philosopher - entered my existence the other day, chiming with much of what I note around me these days.

That word is "emotivism".  It describes a state of mind that views things when a need or wish to see them a

certain way takes precedence of fact.  The personal moral choice of what an i...

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I've long been in love with my bed!

You might say I'm easily led,

But it's a lifelong affair

That both of us share,

And we remain happily wed.

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After World War Two in a ration-ridden rubble strewn land

The baby-boomers arppeared and quickly made their stand..

With a parental generation that had shown the world the best,

They in turn showed their intention to be up to the crucial  test

To drag this nation up by its bootstraps to prosper once again

And see a land that was on its knees stand on its feet and obtain

A future ...

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Does it help to be a woman?

Or bring awareness if you're black?

Just be wise and make the most of both

The world has got your back!  

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Here it is, at last - the novel for the age.  From the home of great life-changing social literary masterpeices

that stand the test of time, In the footsteps of the likes of "Persuasion", "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility", its publishers are proud to present the great novel for today -

GUILT AND GULLIBILITY by Morris Oxford

A nail-biter from start to finish - The Turns Lit...

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Be still, this heart, this  breath, this mind,

Be still and leave all grief behind.

Be still beyond this mortal air,

Be still in God's immortal care.

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Racist ! some would say of me,

For the English and England are all to me.

Roots of centuries in the blood

From English seed and English bud.

To both of these I stay steadfast,

My present formed by ages past.

Let others be what they must be -

Secure in their identity.

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A poet is a composer, orchestrator and arranger,

Performer and promoter who knows creative danger;

Solo artist on the page and on the platform too,

The poet sings out loud and proud

And needs no back-up crew!.

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I am a potted plant

I need a lot of pot

To help me thrive

And stay alive

Pot support is what I've got.

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The April page of my annual Foot and Mouth Painters Society calendar display the words -

"You do not find the happy life.  You make it".  For me, an appropriate consideration as Easter arrives.

Surely food for thought at this and every other time in our lives, not least when there is so much retreating

into excuse and its companion - justification for failure   Has there been any other er...

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I'm on what's called an agenda bender -

I head unasked to join the action;

I'll be your ready and able attender

At any display of dissatisfaction

The media are fans of fakery

They're ready to make up stories

They'd see meat in a bakery!

(And they love to blame the Tories).

I watch the daily mainstream news

For the expected biased depiction

Of who did what - ...

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I find myself pondering whether there's any cure

For the poet who persists in being obscure?

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I confess to a morbid curiosity about what is judged to require "moderating" by those employed at WOL for 

the job, not least because I've had that experience myself.  Perhaps there could be an X-cert. WOL archive

of moderated entries, obtainable via a password and age-verification indicating maturity of outlook and  

resistance to taking offence?  That would surely provide much material ...

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I think I'd rather be six feet in the ground

Than put up with a poem trying hard to be profound.

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I'm so grateful for the white brilliance

That emerges day upon day;

Creative in it radiance,

Illuminating our way.

I rejoice in its recurring presence

That sheds an embracing glow

To benefit existence,

As on through life we go.

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The following is the lyric of my song of the same title - posted for today and every other such day.

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...

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A well-received recent birthday gift was a collection of poems chosen by Clive James in a book of the above

title.  The author was signing off on a distinguished career that managed a perfect balance of literary

intellect and wry humour that made (and makes) his writing so appealing.  The book also contains comments

about each poem selected by him plus advice on giving public performances...

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Did you know poor Sarah Everard? You didn't?  No, nor did I.

But no worries, let's go graze on Clapham Common and have a collective cry.

There's sure to be many others willing to ignore Covid pleas

Who'll turn up just like us and be dismissive about disease..

Oh, I know that grief's a private thing and somehow I suspect

There will be a lot of unmasked others careless who they infect

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Life is the party which everyone eventually gets to leave to go home.

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Hope is the power that drives us on

When despair descends to dwell upon

Our days to bring pain into life,

Each cut as sharp as a butcher's knife

Hope is the force that sees us fight

Our way from darkness to the light.

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A slave to time, Colston set old Bristol up,

Now new Bristol has torn him down;

Displacing history in righteous rage

They dragged him off to drown. 

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Throughout life I worked for my pay

To please I often went out of my way

If I disagreed I let others have their say

And was fair to females. come what may

Rarely ever saying nay

Always ensuring sleeping dogs lay

So that happy times would stay

So, now I propose (ladies, if that's OK?)

We celebrate "Long-suffering Men's Day"

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There's something about recycling

That provides a rich reward;

Washing out those bottles and tins

And slicing up cardboard.

Peeling off the plastic bag

From its council-issue provision

And filling it with content

That demands domestic precision.

Sometimes one - or two tied  together

Get carried down to the street

To wait like weekly offerings

To the detritus deity ...

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No matter what you seek to say

Your eyes always give you away.

No matter how you play your role

Your eyes are the window to your soul.

Maybe you should avoid my gaze

When you involve me in your plays

Of make-believe and innocence -

In shadow-sway of sweet pretence.

Even when you lower your lashes

I seem to see those deceitful flashes;

So now sense says that we should ...

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A modern trend that plays fast and loose

Is the ready way people find excuse

For actions and attitudes than can hurt

Mind and body and serve to divert

Attention from the need to prevent

The sort of scourge that life can present

To inflict disease and death in its path

Like some vicious vengeful form of wrath...

Payback for all the vain pretences

That pretend deeds have n...

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Nigel Farage

Endured a hate-filled barrage

From those who sought his exit

But instead got Brexit.

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Reg Dwight

Thought his name wasn't right

And decided upon

The name Elton John

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Elton John

Has been and gone

Like a moth that's pinned

Or a candle in the wind

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Comment allowed - if you agree to agree

I'll do you proud if you suck up to me;

But if you take a different or questioning view

Then it's comment deleted - and goodbye to you!

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These lines were seen as a comment elsewhere - and duly acknowledged for their relevance in life.

Hard times create strong men,

Strong men create easy times.

Easy times create weak men,

Weak men create hard times,

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Tracey Emin

Was the guilty 'fem' in

That unmade bed

Where true art lay dead

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Morecambe and Wise

Appeared average size

But when appearing on TV

Were as big as could be

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David Croft and Jimmy Perry

Created their version of Tommy and Jerry

The BBC bosses thought them barmy

But the viewers knew better and loved "Dad's Army"

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Donald J.Trump

Gave Democrats the hump

Now they seek retribution

By misusing the Constitution.

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President Joe Biden

Seems on course to widen

The deep division in the community

Whilst espousing unity.

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It;s been this way right from the start - 

This distance that keeps us apart;

But it's still about giving

To make sure you keep living

And retain your place in my heart.

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I'll never fall in love again

You won't find me like other men

A hopeless sucker from the start 

When it comes to affairs of the heart

The same old story since lord knows when.

I'll never smile again and say

I'm yours forever and a day

A stronger man is what I'll be

There'll be a complete change in me

I'm headed another way.

Love may lead other men on a danc...

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Life can be full of surprises and today I was the recipient of one such example via an email from a

lady in South Devon who was using "lockdown" to clear out stuff.  In the process she says she found 

a poem I had left pinned to a post at the entrance to a coast walk near her home in Kingswear.  She had 

copied it and had just re-discovered it.  That pleased her enough to "Google" me and ...

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Equality is an invented word

An idea of life that is preferred -

But how to make the word a fact

Takes more than presumption to enact

In day to day or year to year,

Its fallacy is frighteningly clear.

Questions asked about how to obtain it

Go unanswered  - for there's no way gain it.

Am I equal to an Einstein in intellect?

Or a Soros or Bezos - to any effect 

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The title recalls words from UK P.M Harold MacMillan when asked about what could affect political aims.  

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Come January the twentieth it's unlikely we'll see

A United America singing "A Biden with Me"!

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Hurrah - let's welcome January the First

If nothing else - it's not the worst

Of New Year Days that's ever been

Looking back at what this world has seen.

Twenty twenty saw lots of plenty

But not the sort the cognoscenti

Of healthy living would have chosen -

An invader that lingered as if frozen

In time that seemed interminable

To become something abominable

...

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