Poetry Blog by Stephen W Atkinson
Tags from last 12 months
Something's Creeping...
Something comes creeping
Through the dark night
I look from my window
But it's just out of sight!
Something comes knocking
Knocking at my door
I slowly turn the handle
But, it's there no more!
Something comes crawling
Crawling so slow
Shall I turn to look?
I no longer know!
Something is breathing
Under my bed!
I dare not look
'case it loo...
Friday 5th March 2021 7:54 pm
Little Dickie's Poo-Pot
Two little dickie birds
Sittin' on a pot
One did a poo
The other
Did not…
...yes, my WOL friends, that's the grand total of poetry I'm able to summons this week
Not quite up to Hugh standard 😂
I think the title may be one of my best though 😆
Wednesday 3rd March 2021 6:25 pm
Strange Old Day
I ate some strange old mushrooms
Got chased off a shark
It jumped outta my beer bottle
And began to bark
I ran through a dying mist
And into a wall
Then into the deepest sleep
I began to fall.
Into strawberry Fields
With lemon drizzle streams
And coconut shells
Full of incoherent dreams
Oh
What a strange
Old day
Making conversations...
Saturday 27th February 2021 12:55 pm
The Misted Pane
I passed by a window
Where an old man smiled
and misted up the dirty pane
Behind his eyes the sadness showed
of every steep & rocky road
He'd had to climb
Next day I thought I'd call on him
And out he came
So pale and thin
-but with that smile
And graceful guile
He said
Son,
in my mind,
I'm as free as a summer breeze
A...
Tuesday 23rd February 2021 12:09 pm
The Unsettled Man
(re-edit)
I came upon a man, unsettled
Wandering a barren land
He'd lost his hope and joy somewhere
So, I took his trembling hand
I told him I had lost my heart
And my soul had flown away
But, together, perhaps, we could find
A better place to stray
We came across a weeping girl
With skin of obsidian black
Her flesh was torn and gaping red
Where the wh...
Tuesday 16th February 2021 10:52 pm
A Reflection
The man in the mirror
No longer looks like me
His best years are behind him
There's nothing more to see
His daughter is now a woman
With family of her own
The years now seem to fade away
Into the bleak unknown
Although I'll keep on dreamin'
Of better things to come
Sometimes I feel like runnin' free
Into the rising sun
A slither of a silhouette
Against...
Tuesday 9th February 2021 10:48 pm
The Rhythm of My Heart
I dream of idle chatter
In a bar where nothing matters
Where sweet vibrations beat
In rhythm with my feet
And laughter comes so easy
Conversations light & breezy
Like a languid summers day
Where your mind can drift away
And eyes are full of winks
And lips are full with smiles
And beer flows like nectar
As we dance in different styles:
Some without rhythm
...Tuesday 2nd February 2021 6:47 am
A Love Song (forever)
A Love Song
(forever)
There was a time
When love defined
All of the things
life could show
So undermined
By routine & time
Upon our own tide
we ebb and we flow
A fork in the road
A different abode
What would these old eyes
Of mine now see?
Perhaps without love
Perhaps then I could
Get over how much
You mean to me
...Sunday 31st January 2021 11:38 am
A Better Life
The car jolted.
Her weary eyes
opened slowly
Like mechanical shutters
Flickering through trees,
the dying sunlight
stabbed at her sight
with golden shards.
Mouth dry
Limbs weak
Clothes damp
Daddy?
A stench of sweat
Lingered in tobacco air
Made her cough
Made her gag
Where's Daddy?
she croaked
Muffled laughter
Gon...
Thursday 28th January 2021 12:00 pm
Who?
Who am I?
Who knows? not I !
Perhaps, I'll find out
when I die
When in the ground
cross armed I lie
and become
the congregation spy
Will friends & family
sincerely cry
Or, perhaps pretend
and also lie?
Will I hear truths
I now deny?
Or, will they say
'Oh! What a guy!'
Will happy thoughts
of times gone by
Just turn to thoughts
of ...
Sunday 24th January 2021 11:31 am
Mr Rhubarb
(Song for politicians)
There's a...
Great view from my Ivory Tower
The window is frosted, but I still feel the power.
Got my...
Savile suite so I feel the part
But I like to pretend I got it straight from Primark
I feed my…
Flock through the magical lense
My sincere smile upon your telly transcends
And I'm…
Fully trained not to give a ...
Thursday 21st January 2021 6:57 am
Night-time Serenade
The dusk turns to dark
As I look to the sky
With starlight reflected
in the blue of my eyes
And, softly, into focus
come the heroes of old
Each golden cluster
a tale to be told:
The Hunter & his Hounds
search the night sky
For dragons & serpents
and horses that fly
While Perseus gives Andromeda the eye
And grabs her a moonbeam
as one passes by
Thi...
Sunday 17th January 2021 12:29 pm
A Cadenza
A Cadenza
A melody drifted through the sky
All who heard, could not deny
The feeling of joy within its sway
As we sang & danced the night away
The song broke free upon the wind
And all indifference did rescind
It came from mouths like blossom freed
Unchaining hearts of every creed
We danced until our hearts were clean
And thoughts ran clear as crystal ...
Thursday 14th January 2021 8:33 pm
We!
Something wicked this way comes
For Dante's Inferno fills God's lungs
Heave o' heave! The mortal tide
Stitch & weave his ruined pride
Or, too late fall
Into the gaping wound
Until the time of man
Has been consumed
This world is of our making
Its resources slowly breaking
Yet, we continue to prod & poke
Though, it is ourselves we slowly choke.
If Nature...
Tuesday 12th January 2021 3:55 pm
Broken Friends
(Originally song lyrics for a friend, wrote after the tragic suicide of Chester Bennington)
Broken friends
In the backstreets of my mind
I kicked a ball against a wall
It bounced into a neighbours yard,
Where, I cut my hand upon a shard
of glass that glittered in the sun,
Into my mind again I'd run
And wake within this broken life
Upon my wrist I held a kni...
Saturday 9th January 2021 2:26 pm
Nectar
She danced under the moonlight
Deep, deep into the trees
Until the morning mist
Made her the dew upon the leaves
She dripped unto the fertile soil
Where fragrant flowers bloomed
Then bees refined her into honey
And your eager mouth consumed
Your sticky lips, like summer, shone
As you sowed your field of corn
And the innocence of restless youth
Lik...
Wednesday 6th January 2021 12:49 pm
A New Breath
He flung the rope
over a branch of a tree
And fluttering down
came a few dead leaves
He watched them rest
upon the cold, crisp earth
And cursed his mother
For his wasted birth
This year of pandemic
Had him stripped to the bone
Made him jobless & useless
A bear in his home
Frustration begat anger
And anger begat fear
Unable to provide
For...
Friday 1st January 2021 1:24 pm
It's Christmaaaaas!
Last shift done
On the home run
Nice iced bun
an' a cuppa tea
Merry Christmas to me! 😋
Aw, go on then:
And to you
The WOL crew xx ❤️
A strange year indeed
But, poetry took the lead
To conjure smiles & debate
And relieve a little weight
All the best, time to rest 🎉
Steve xx
Wednesday 23rd December 2020 6:24 pm
The Falling of Snow
It takes me back to a boy;
the falling of snow
To a fluffy, white street
under a streetlight's dull glow:
Where an old man trudges through
Each foot now a plough
Eyes squinting to see
The here and the now
I watch from a window
My youthful eyes wide
Thinking: move to the road
Then you can slide!
But he carries on trudging
As I shake my youn...
Monday 21st December 2020 4:19 pm
A Silhouette in Time
On cold winter nights like these
When silhouetted flames of orange and red
flicker and sway upon the walls
of a darkened room
The past can find its way back
Seeping out of cracks, long-since filled
Through floorboards, long-since replaced
Soft and hushed,
ingrained in the periphery
The flames luring memories from shadows
to join in perfect ambience
...
Tuesday 15th December 2020 5:28 pm
A Ghost Of Christmas Past
Granda's slouched
In his fave comfy chair
A Christmas cracker party hat
Hides his four strands of hair
His wife always said:
'Get the buggers cut!'
But he wasn't quite ready
To be a total baldy nut!
He wishes she was here now
Nagging at full pelt:
'If ye eat or drink one more thing,
yer gonna burst your belt!'
And Sophie's eyes sparkle
L...
Friday 11th December 2020 2:22 pm
The Nasty Little Snowman
The nasty little snowman
Wasn't made of all things nice
They'd patted him together
With, mostly, dirty ice
He had rusty bolts for eyes
And a beer bottle nose
A frozen dog turd mouth
And a piece of garden hose
shoved up his frozen arse.
The kids found this so funny
But, when he opened his dogshit mouth
They all ran home to mummy!
Such expletives he...
Wednesday 9th December 2020 5:17 pm
A Winter Escape
(a re-post, but it seems more appropriate now! ⛄)
Like comets we slid through the crisp, white grass
In our wake billowed a powder-puff mass
It floated and swirled and twinkled with light
Like low-hanging stars broke free of the night
And in snow-laden fields angels were made
A concertina of limbs in the snow where we lay
We rolled and we frolicked and snowballs were...
Sunday 6th December 2020 10:32 am
Infinitum spes
The shadow strewn floor
revealed nothing but
the caricature of her outer lie
Inside was far, far darker
Shadows of shadow
The precipice to a great, voracious hollow
into which I fell
Where bone-fused gondolas
upon icey streams
surged ripples to my slowly decaying heart
But while it still pulsed
There was hope
And all we really have, in a worl...
Saturday 5th December 2020 5:18 pm
Me v The Moon
Nestled upon a pillow of cloud
The moon sat, big and fat
As I watched it from my garden
In a cul-de-sac
It didn't really do much
Just illuminate the sky
But, then I thought: that alone
Makes it a greater thing than I !
Tuesday 1st December 2020 1:31 pm
Starlight
On a cold winter's night
They sat, hand in hand
Ravaged by time
Old in design
Two dinosaurs
In a digital age
Still in analogue love
Upon a wireless hub
Sitting on a park bench
Beneath a full moon
At the end of their time
Bodies poised to resign
As frost gathers around
They glisten as one
Hands intertwined
Old parchment defined
...Thursday 19th November 2020 3:49 pm
To Bloom
Sometimes
Life is like the smallest flower
Stretching for some sun
When all the bigger ones devour
All it could become
Sunday 15th November 2020 1:30 pm
A Place Where Mushrooms Grow
Roses were never within her
Just the cloying fragrance of Lilies
Emanating from every pore and ethereal breath
Moss befriending her like an earthly blanket
Comforting her cold, dead bones
Flesh decaying to fertilizer
for sprouting fungi:
Tempting flavoursome morsels of meaty bouquet
Take one, whispers the breeze
Persuaded by gentle winds that prickle sk...
Thursday 12th November 2020 6:00 pm
The Old Garden Gate
A WWI remembrance poem
(First published online for Northern Life magazine 2018)
It creaked as he left:
The old garden gate
He’d promised to fix it
But now it was too late
Tearful in the doorway
His mother cries out,
‘Do it when you’re back, Billy!’
And of this she has no doubt
He waves,
And off to glory are the swathes
Of boys, and men in their pr...
Friday 6th November 2020 6:57 am
Nirvana
I struggle without hands
Have no mouth, to speak of
And my eyes avert.
I itch and blotch,
And the radiance of the sky
Illuminates my sheer loneliness.
Darkness can't come soon enough
'Though I fear my blanket will
one day
become the soil of my grave.
Wednesday 4th November 2020 12:49 pm
The Crimson Queen!
(Happy Halloween everyone!)
She rides upon a crimson horse
Its eyes as black as tar
Pray not to hear her whispered name
For she'll come to where you are
Her skin: as white as fresh-laid snow
And twice as cold to touch
Her hair: as black as night itself
Hold your breath now, hush!
For if you hear the galloping hooves
Coming to your door
Run with all ...
Friday 30th October 2020 7:04 pm
Oh come to me!
From the windswept clifftop
She could see below
Far below into the cove
Where lay, a body upon the sand
And, dragged by tide,
A waving hand
It swayed like the branch
Of a wind-laden tree
Come to me
Oh come to me!
A breath of chill
Now, caressed her skin
Whilst staring down at the cove
And the figure within
And upon her grasped
Su...
Wednesday 28th October 2020 5:37 pm
Dryad
She shivered in the misty morn
Her shoulders hunched, her face forlorn
She sat upon a fallen tree
At what she stared, he could not see
Into the woods, she stared so hard
At something she could not discard
Tom, sat beside her, said 'Hello'
But no emotion did she show
'What do you see, out in the trees?'
Her hissed reply made his blood freeze:
'THE DEMON! It watches, and eats up my bre...
Sunday 25th October 2020 11:35 am
Such Dreams as Stuff are made on...
Dreams are such strange creatures
Presenting vivid or
amorphic features
They steep your mind
in make-believe
Where past & present
Interweave
I'm in the woods
'neath a gnarly tree
Where friends of old
run wild & free
Friends who now rest
as soil or ash
Or who simply faded
into time's elapse
But, I'm standing there
Fully gro...
Friday 23rd October 2020 5:04 pm
Cooking Pot!
Come look inside my cooking pot
It's full of children you forgot
Upon the streets, so cold & wet
I steal away their rancid breath
Then grind them down to fit my pot
And heat it up so very hot
Then feed them to the homeless ones
Who gobble them up with such aplomb!
My good deed done, I crawl back home
And slither upon my thorny throne
And there I wait wi...
Monday 19th October 2020 8:56 pm
Head Space
One day I looked
inside my head
And there I found
words left unsaid:
Make haste
No time
Forbid
Hate love
Always shout
Never listen
So, I put haste in the waste
Told No to go!
Put a lid on bid
Locked hate in a crate
Gave shout a clout (until it ran out)
And
Got rid of never, forever
I'd like to think
That what remained
In all of us
Is preordained:
Mak...
Friday 16th October 2020 5:53 pm
The Darkness And The Light
I
and I alone
upon my bed of cobbled stone
Ponder
As my flesh weeps into gravel sheets
I ponder what it must be like
to be whole again
To feel I had a soul again
This dessicated shell
crumbles like mountain scree
down, down to the hungry, black sea
lapping and licking at the feet of my bed
dragging out, with the tide,
such meagre light from my hea...
Monday 12th October 2020 8:28 pm
Bed Of Bones
Come sit atop my bed of bones
With crimson hue
And darkened tones
Discard your flesh
Come join the rabble
For ecstasy waits
For those who dabble
I've cleared a space
Atop my bed
To lay your bones
When you are dead
I'll pick them clean
And hold them dear
Just so you know
'Tis only I to fear!
Friday 9th October 2020 11:33 pm
Above The Clouds
(wrote back in March, which now seems an age ago)
The reluctant tears of morning dew
hang from foliage of vivid green.
A global pandemic is mentioned.
Ears barely prick
Minds drift like snow:
Mmm what's for tea?
The dew becomes gas and floats
Ribbons of wispy white melt into the blue high above.
Lockdown
Feet burn upon newly laid decking under an early summer sun...
Thursday 8th October 2020 8:59 am
Seven Little Girls...
Seven little girls went too deep
Into the forest where shadows creep.
They found a path, which was never there
And wandered down without a care
In a clearing they heard a song;
A haunting tune to sing-along
It got right in their flesh & bones
A lullaby of dulcet tones
Within their minds, there grew a cyst
Where danced the oldest, darkest witch
Who humm...
Sunday 4th October 2020 12:21 pm
Ethereal Streaming
Your hand unfurled
Revealing stars
You'd captured while out dreaming
They drifted skyward:
Little wisps of hope
Reaching out like ethereal streaming
I breathed them in
As dawn brightened
The stirring sea
And downloaded all the wonders
Of what you and I
Could, one day, grow to be.
NB.
(Ethereal Streaming is not available via Netflix)
Thursday 1st October 2020 10:59 am
Your Scar
(for the little girl who haunts my dreams still)
Dear Daddy,
Not that you'd care, but
All that I wanted was to make you proud
But, I was too stupid
Too fat
Too loud
All you ever did was bring me down
I was your scar
Your permanent frown
I was your verbal punchbag
In your whiskey fuelled state
Never felt I was your child
Just a vessel for...
Sunday 27th September 2020 9:53 pm
How free are we?
How free, flows the raging river
How free, float the clouds
How free, sways the luscious grass
How free, stand trees so proud
How free, swirls the playful wind
How free, tides ebb and flow
How free, the sunlight bathes the earth
How free, wild flowers grow
How free, the stars prick night with gold
How free, the moon that shimmers
How free, roam creatures of ...
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 12:25 pm
How it should bee...
(A lament)
Ssssh
Listen…
Modern world blocking the transmission?
Too much traffic?
A world too erratic
Does the whispering grass still play a tune
Or has brick and mortar brought it to ruin?
This world is so fast!
Take me back to the past!
It makes such a din!
I don't know where to begin!
And cars,
bloody cars everywhere!
If I had any left,
I'd pull out my hair!
In...
Saturday 19th September 2020 6:41 pm
Political Irrigation!
(Wrote during the post Brexit
vote debacle)
Ahh democracy!
What a wonderful thing!
The freedom of a vote that counts
Makes my lickle heart sing!
The Magna Carta, the 2nd Reform
The start of our foundations
The principles of all free worlds
The lifeblood of our nation
The Suffragettes - great heroines
Spilled blood to earn the right
They would not bow or break or bend
Or fade...
Friday 18th September 2020 5:28 pm
Her Last Dance
The fading embers of her mind
Drift away to a long-ago time
To shrouded visions of some young girl
A time of wonder, a world to unfurl
Through fields she would dance humming a tune
Losing herself amidst the sweet scent of bloom
A fragrant-filled-feast for her lungs to consume
Within the wonderful freedom of nature's playroom
And as the shimmering Sun went down
She would dance throug...
Thursday 17th September 2020 12:17 pm
The Thief of Breath and Hugs (part 1)
She'd been told with much conviction
How the window was a shield.
For outside there lurked a wicked thief
And her breath this thief would steal
But, her family stood beyond the pane
A daughter, granddaughter & son
Who'd send out smiles like rays of light
And through the glass they'd come
She blows them kisses, and shakes her fist
In case this thief's about
...Tuesday 15th September 2020 10:45 pm
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