Poetry Blog by Philipos
SLOTTING IT IN
It was those dreamy old songs on the Juke box
i remembered most – those flashbacks to the
past in smoke filled saloons – full of the South
London Docker types – hard drinkers who had
to stay out, what with a house full of kids and
bedtime not yet approached, and several pints
away before the missus let the old man home
to the dodgy stew dying in the pan – poor guy
caught b...
Tuesday 12th November 2019 7:58 pm
I SEE NO SHIPS
The world now seems unreal to me
Australia burns - the ice melt sea
comeuppance time it's bound to be
and shrouds will beckon to us then
beware your fate of Armageddon I
overhear from men who push the pen
as if they wish it all on everyone
begone, begone, begone, I say, our world
survives us everyone - so come what may
athough we need a prompt or two as cut
backs are ...
Monday 11th November 2019 10:15 pm
BUS RIDE SCENARIO
Mum and 2 cute Asian daughters
board the 91 bus at Woking
(the latter both under age 6)
both girls turn looking around.
The words: ‘Mummy, Mummy,’
speaks the eldest curious child
‘One of the girls at school said
something to me today, and she
called me names in the break’.
Oh did she, says mum continuing
to look out of the bus window but
withou...
Sunday 10th November 2019 8:41 pm
TEMPERANCE – 8.6.97
West Street Citadel where
Salvationists enjoy evensong
under Booths unifying logo
Bandsmen are attired in their
Corporate outfits espousing
Blood, Fire and Brimstone.
Musicians dress in white shirts
Navy serge, and various insignia.
Woodwinds harmonising with the
gathering of songsters. There is a
noticeable spirit-filled congregation
and nov...
Saturday 9th November 2019 11:35 pm
SEA LEGS
For those who’ve sailed the seven seas
and felt the breeze at forward bows
and listened to the old salt’s yarns
about the crow’s nest and the views
or heard the siren’s menacing wail
when storms clouds grew and thunder
hailed – as we looked upward to the
skies – remembering some who lived
or died, or knew their knots and spliced
the ropes to tie to bollards when we
d...
Tuesday 5th November 2019 9:26 pm
SEA LEGS
For those who’ve sailed the seven seas
and felt the breeze at forward bows
and listened to the old salt’s yarns
about the crow’s nest and the views
or heard the siren’s menacing wail
when storm clouds grew and thunder
hailed – as we looked upward to the
skies – remembering some who lived
or died, or knew their knots and spliced
the ropes to tie to bollards when we
do...
Tuesday 5th November 2019 9:26 pm
WANDERING THOUGHTS
How I wonder
when i wander
what Wanda is
up to – I knew she liked
Pandas at her local zoo.
I too liked the Pandas which
Wanda wandered up to but
the grime on the cage floor
turned off quite a few.
Sometimes I ponder
what Wanda gets up to
back in the swim of her native
Uganda, so I mumble away
like lost guys sometimes do.
So Wanda, dear Wanda -
you may ...
Sunday 3rd November 2019 5:36 pm
THE ALLERTON OAK
Since the Middle Ages
it has stood there and
morphed from an acorn
into majesty. It has shaded
many lovers beneath its leafy
boughs and listened to the
sounds of lowing cows and
perhaps a rowdy tiff was
overheard, or a plot to topple
leaders of the day. The Oak
wouldn’t spill the beans about
a thing, nor in fact anything
at all, but lets you stand there
takin...
Saturday 2nd November 2019 8:26 pm
UNCOMPASSIONATE LEAVE
Officer to squad sergeant - 'Ah Sgt Brown - have
just received a telegramme concerning recruit Smith's
mother who has recently passed away - please tell
the chap to take 2 weeks compassionate leave.'
'SIRRRRRRRR - SQUAD - SQUAD - SHUN - Smith
TAKE A FORTNIGHT'S COMPASSIONATE LEAVE
YER FATHER'S JUST KICKED THE BUCKET
- NOW DOUBLE AWAY SMARTLY - EFT -
- ITE - EFFFT - AND SW...
Thursday 31st October 2019 9:34 pm
GUILDFORD BY DAY
This is the Surrey town which
bustles during daytime hours
- the florists bloom, the Pound
shop thrives, and yet at darker
times out from the crevices and
corners come the needy folk
some who do it for a living at their
chosen spot, and woebegone the
pushers in who reek of gin or pin
their hopes on charity to get them
through the wintry nights when
fists get swung...
Wednesday 30th October 2019 6:58 pm
CANNED FLESH
Can’t shake the thoughts of it away
poor stowaways packed like sardines
in an un-aired tin – their sin to flee their
poverty and seek a better life abroad - most
even stumped a fare up front, to some
contemptuous graceless underworld figure.
God only knows what sort of life deviants
would have carved out for the girls and
younger men, headed for the dens of ...
Saturday 26th October 2019 5:21 pm
ROO PLUS TWO
When drivers on UK motorways
saw Roo in tow with Joeys (two)
they rubbed their eyes in
shocked surprise - not realising their
debunk from a zoo. One driver thought
of Foster's ads - those so popular
with older dads - while others wept
from broadcast news and thought
they'd been completely screwed, until
they heard it in the queues the sods had just
escaped the zoo - c...
Friday 25th October 2019 6:28 pm
BREWING UP
When Nellie put the
telly on she liked to
watch the World at One
until the fur began to fly
between the parties (my
oh my) you couldn’t make
this sort of nonsense up.
And so they schemed
and scowled and stewed
and used some words that
sounded rude and even blew
a raspberry too, whilst poor
old Junker (the President)
just wished these things were
never done...
Thursday 24th October 2019 9:25 pm
MIST
I saw a rather towering tree
which seemed at first to beckon
me, its branches stretched towards
the sunlit sea beyond a promenade
where folk indulged in tea and cakes
and chattered small talk happily. It
was a day when sunlight shone and
kids made castles out of sand and
oh that day was truly grand and on
the kiosks goods arrayed with hats
and things you’d normally th...
Wednesday 23rd October 2019 11:24 pm
ALL ABOUT NOW
The old man's head was like the blitz,
no trees were left for walking sticks.
He strayed into a burning field where
crops were charred with scanty yield
and saw their space craft shuttle off, as
fiercesome fires torched man and crop.
Some said the Martians had come back
but saw the ruins and hurried off, but
unashamed the old man wept, and silently
away he crept - acros...
Wednesday 16th October 2019 12:04 am
THE NUT HATCH
Desirable properties now
built on the former asylum
grounds where banged on
doors those patients then,
the men and girls whose world
view was a step or two away
from those who roamed the
streets they called normality.
Sometimes I sense their
presence hereabouts, their
ghosts that mingled in the mist
and humankind grew produce on
the former nursery site unless
...Monday 14th October 2019 6:58 pm
THE NUT HATCH
Desirable properties now
built on the former asylum
grounds where banged on
doors those patients then,
the men and girls whose world
view was a step or two away
from those who roamed the
streets they called normality.
Sometimes I sense their
presence hereabouts their
ghosts that mingled in the mist
and grew the produce on the
former nursery site unless they
w...
Monday 14th October 2019 12:24 am
COMINGS AND GOINGS
In - out
job done.
What do you
mean I'm too
quick - I always
bolt my food -
yet there you go
and you are still
chomping away.
I think I am going
to need a lie down.
Don't tell the wife
I popped in - that's all.
She doesn't trust ......
(Finishing line is open
to reader suggestions)
Sunday 13th October 2019 12:24 am
BOGGLE EYED
Even frogs like blogs
they bleat about them
in their alga bogs – it
isn’t like they have much
washing up to do they stew
around and take a dunk
or poo or catch a fly or two
with sticky tongues.
They like to croak a lot as
well and if near villages
they try to keep in tune
with chiming bells that
issue from the churches
tower – frogs don’t give a
hoot for ...
Thursday 10th October 2019 12:41 pm
FROM THE BOOK OF CHAUVIN
When she asked me
what I did in the army
i told her i was in a unit
called Movements -she
seemed to know about
the military because she
said, 'Were you anything
to do with a Logistics group?
I said No - I was a medic
and recommended prunes
if the guys got bunged up.
That's when she gave me a
funny look and scarpered. I
find this works every time if
they lo...
Sunday 6th October 2019 10:42 am
INNER SELVES
Bile rumbles in the jungle of my tum
what is the cause of it in the deeper
labyrinths of inwardness - no you
can't probe into my mind just like
that - you'd need a wizards hat or a
screwball stethoscope to poke around
Tuesday 1st October 2019 7:43 pm
ESCAPING JUNK MAIL
In the life span of an average
householder, assuming they
live to the ripe old age of 70,
each must send an opt out
form to the post office every 3
years using the householders
own paper and to request 'no
junk mail' be posted through the
senders letter box. (In other words
they hypothetically need to write
23 times in just one life time to
avoid stuff they immedia...
Monday 30th September 2019 11:41 am
BIT PARTS
The stones will speak of it
through phones that unclog
static sounds – and yet for
now the images of hungry
lions leashed upon the open
cells where wait inside the
half-starved men and woman
claiming Christ the only King.
I searched the sky to see if I
could find the answer there of
mortals doomed to die in what
they saw as valiant ways to lift
their souls to prophets of their
day and...
Friday 20th September 2019 7:03 pm
GOLDEN BOG ROBBERY
Pursuing the trail of the
the Golden bog – police
ask for help – if you’re out
for a jog – or you may find it
hidden behind a tree – when
out dog walking and must
spend a penny. It could be
disguised in a coat of shellac
but there’ll be no questions if
they get it back – and none
of those wise cracks from you
lot either – about the police
having nothing to go o...
Sunday 15th September 2019 9:19 pm
MEDITATION
It is my favoured walk – the
one that takes me from St John’s
towards the Mapledoram route
which I traverse on foot and wonder
at the scenic seasonal views – for
autumn now begins to stir and
berries line the brambled boughs in
thickets by the water’s edge and
jam makers appear with jars in
hand to crop the bounteous fare
which beckons all to share their
...Saturday 14th September 2019 6:32 pm
MEDITATION
It is my favoured walk – the
one that takes me from St John’s
towards the Mapledoram route
which I traverse on foot and wonder
at the scenic seasonal views – for
autumn now begins to stir and
berries line the brambled bows in
thickets by the water’s edge and
jam makers appear with jars in
hand to crop the bounteous fare
which beckons all to share their
...Saturday 14th September 2019 6:24 pm
BEASTLINESS
Thalia, Thalia, where for art thou Thalia?
I’m under the front wheels you Plonker
You just ran me over – while I squatted
by the clover. Oh, nothing serious then!
Mind if I grab my pen I’ve just got a few
ideas for me next poem – you know what
they get like on WOL – kick off over nowt.
Get me an ambulance, I think I’m in labour.
Never mind Luv the Tories are just as bad.
...Friday 13th September 2019 6:47 pm
MILITARY LINES
How silently they march
no barking orders here -
just sinuous lines of them
heading to their formicaries
fresh cut leaves conveyed.
Of course I stood amazed
who could not stand by and
watch this spectacle unfold.
For sure those were the days
gone by before the forest trees
were felled and not a tolling bell
was heard in what we called a
wilderness on post cards ...
Thursday 12th September 2019 7:23 pm
SPOT THAT TUNE
Our Brit MPs do it
well screw it – never
known a farce of how
they all blew it – they
screw it- we do the tab.
They dwell in two houses
make loud noises - never
give a stuff about us poor
losers - we cough up they
spend gigantic wads.
They plead that they’re
out-raged, earn their wage
couldn’t do consensus if
unfair – well at least they got
to oust the S...
Wednesday 11th September 2019 10:19 pm
DONNER UND BLITZEN
Is it enough
to sigh at the mess
they make of it – fat
cats we pay to have a
say on our behalf who
can’t make a decision
to save their sorry lives.
Strife they bring – and
sing of it with pride in
their crowing tones –
what will they come up
with next to have us
vexed – shizer all of them.
Saturday 7th September 2019 6:39 pm
ASCENSION
Climbing the steeple stairs is
not recommended for wimps
but once the upper level has
been reached the views across
our village are second to none.
Of course bells should not be rung
at times like these or curses might
become the operative words as
Lords and laymen cupola ears
and have the grounded folk give
spontaneity to added fears of all
who enter in the spirit...
Thursday 5th September 2019 10:32 pm
SANTIAGO DE CUBA
It was a memorable and
romantic scene as was
witnessed by the young
merchant sailor lad aboard
his motor vessel Crystal Gem.
This time they were forbidden
to step ashore as once before
Castro and his cahoots team
were kicking off with bombs.
And so he concentrated on
the previous trip when two
hearts skipped a beat – and
passions did what passions
tend to do ...
Tuesday 3rd September 2019 8:56 pm
THE TRY ON
A flash young male
seeing the older man
waiting at the bus stop
and without a bye your
leave, says: ‘Can I borrow
your phone mate?’ No. Was
the firm and adamant reply. Flash
Harry repeats again the brush
off word : ‘No’ as if in a mocked
surprise and rolls his shifty eyes.
The older man stands his ground,
the ‘try on’ sussed, and no doubt
the young guy only inwa...
Saturday 31st August 2019 6:12 pm
FORESHORE
Seagulls knew quite
well that Dad hung
low beneath his skimpy
summer shorts and
saw his manhood
two and fro – and
gulls, the little sods,
screeched out, because
it wasn’t easy take-away
or fast food grub, but
worked on schemes to
circumvent the problem
with aplomb and then
they tried to peck him
on the bum from spite.
Dad was having a bad
hair day on...
Wednesday 28th August 2019 10:55 am
REPENTING AT BRENT
One day – Dent and his
half-sister Pru – who’d
just been to the Lent
lunch at Brent – for those
who’d overspent, being
most anxious to repent -
Pru went back to Dent’s
new place making remarks
about all his spare space
Dent had the good grace
to talk things through with
Pru and said reflectively
For me it will do very
nicely thank you –...
Sunday 25th August 2019 10:32 pm
CURTAINS
I used to work with a guy called
Dent whose sister’s name was
Pru – she went off the rails when
she over spent which was hardly
very prudent. Dent went to Kent
whilst Pru cleaned the Gents to
pay off all the debt collectors.
Pru now lives in a caravan and
rues the very day her marbles
went – and Dent lives in a tent
somewhere near Brent – I guess
someti...
Saturday 24th August 2019 10:28 pm
BELLS
What are they like – these
draw-your-attention bells
hare bells – snow bells –
some with fragrance some
without – others have you
wondering such as the bells
chiming at the local church.
Or is it the mechanical bells
that hold most sway - an
ambulance perhaps come
to take you hastily to those
places where medics work
trying hard to patch you up.
Or is it the ...
Thursday 22nd August 2019 12:43 pm
DING-DING DING-DING
The Irish Sea, a most
unpleasant place to be
in raging storms when
waves - mast high - mask
out a sullen sky and send
the crewmen scudding over
tilting decks and grasping
nearest uprights to support
themselves – as on the bridge
bells chime out for watchmen
to report below and stow with
safer ties the shifting loads
loose in the vessel’s holds.
It is a timele...
Wednesday 21st August 2019 9:04 am
OPTING OUT
Some see me as a
Victor Meldrew type
having words with the
postie for dumping
junk mail through my
letter box and ignoring
the ‘please don’t signs’
I visit the local depot
all geared up for a few
words – the manager
looks perplexed – and
makes a confession –
we don’t like the stuff
either but have to do it
‘Have to do?’ I muse to a
more subdued self – s...
Monday 19th August 2019 7:51 pm
TRAMP SHIPS
The SS Tarva was a game old
boat registered in Tromso and
if ships could speak might tell
quite a few salty tales. I boarded
her in Liverpool having signed the
usual articles of seamanship and
off we chugged to foreign parts.
She twisted and turned through
the Bay of Biscay like all boats did
but I had my sea legs by then and
could do the bow legged walk and
grasp...
Sunday 18th August 2019 9:09 pm
LINES
If you peep at them now via
the distance of modernity
there is something rather
quaint about the old steam
boats that belched black smoke
through painted funnel tops – or
had salt-caked smoke stacks and
crews ate their hard tack biscuits
in more challenged times like war
Life-boat drills were moments for young
ones like me at the time, and meant scaling
down the lo...
Saturday 17th August 2019 7:17 pm
WOODBINES
It must have been quite a drag
all that business being in the mud
hanging around fields and asking
a wounded Tommy if he needed
a fag – or could he help them write
a letter before the stretcher bearers
came – even if they were likely to in
all this mud – he might even ask about
a sweetheart back in Blighty who by
now, after all this time – probably had
her nighty off...
Friday 16th August 2019 9:43 pm
SILENCE
How quietude helps us think
and drink inside the wider world.
Unfurl your thoughts inside the
sanctum of the mind – and find you
leave behind a trace of peace. Now
we have acquired - the golden goose
of almost everything - minus the bling.
It's when angels voices can be heard
without our feeling weird or afraid
Thursday 15th August 2019 5:42 pm
ALBATROSS
It happened quite a lot
back then – death at sea
is what I mean – it almost
happened to me after we’d
berthed offshore near a new
refinery port in Nigeria – it was
called Port Harcourt which is
somewhere I didn’t want to
end up on a stone cold slab.
Mosquitoes are far too bold
for their skimpy size and have
a lot to answer for – they bite
you in the...
Wednesday 14th August 2019 12:57 pm
LILYPADS
Even frogs are into blogs
they croak about them in
in their soggy alga bogs.
It isn’t like they have much
washing up to do – all they
seem to do is eat and poo
or take a dunk or too, or
catch on sticky tongues
their water hopping prey.
Besides Frogs like to croak
and frisk a lot. It is something
they do rather well by day,
or night, though flighty bugs
take ...
Monday 12th August 2019 7:55 pm
SCRIPTS
I’ve gone off reading all that stuff
about the Nag Hammadi scrolls –
you know the ones found by those
shepherds in an ancient cave when
they’d gone in there for a squat –
I mean all very interesting yes, but
half of them landed on a cooking
stove when other fuel ran out – so
what are we supposed to learn from
all of that papyrus - if anything at all
No what does int...
Saturday 10th August 2019 12:08 pm
HI TECH SOLUTIONS
The coffee menu showing
at Woking Wetherspoons
is down again – some tried
options work – others don’t.
Caffeine addicts queue with
tension growing at a pace.
The guy from behind the bar
wearing the black garb of
management status –
exits from behind the jump
giving the machine one
mighty thump – forget calling
the technical people – local
knowledge works a ...
Friday 9th August 2019 7:33 pm
GULLS
Something is a-foot
(or should I say a-wing), so
be well aware of seagulls
and their artful schemes
around the shores and other
inland haunts because they
know quite well how to
muck spread into our sun-
tanned faces and keep us
on our toes and our hands
primed for surprise attacks.
At first they sus you out
and look like butter wouldn’t
melt - hovering aroun...
Wednesday 7th August 2019 6:47 pm
Recent Comments
M.C. Newberry on I SEE NO SHIPS (1 day ago)
M.C. Newberry on SLOTTING IT IN (1 day ago)
poemagraphic on SLOTTING IT IN (1 day ago)
Tom on I SEE NO SHIPS (1 day ago)
M.C. Newberry on I SEE NO SHIPS (1 day ago)
Brian Maryon on (2 days ago)
M.C. Newberry on (2 days ago)
Martin Elder on (2 days ago)
Kate G on SEA LEGS (8 days ago)
poemagraphic on WANDERING THOUGHTS (10 days ago)