Poetry Blog by Tommy Carroll

Some time ago I invented a cocktail:

But -

1) you don't Know the spirit used

2) you don't Know the mixer

3) you don't know the container it comes in

4) you don't know the price

5) you have to drink it outside in the car park

I've named it

"The Brexit"

Words and foto. Tommy Carroll

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I stood and stared-

a long time seeking a

welcoming gaze

that returned my greeting.

The World stared back

then went its way,

perhaps to lunch, perhaps

to play.

My friend the Mirror-

a listener of sorts,

in silence watched

and kept its thoughts.

I turned to challange the

darkness of those thoughts

that hid the reflection

of the life I...

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We've each got different partners now
and we're having a real nice time
we both agreed to separate
Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme

We both were once so in love
now we just stay in touch
we cherish the time we once had
as we don't see each other much.

I once saw her on the bus
contacted her on the phone
we've sent each other a couple of  texts
from work and from home.
              ...

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I've just invented

a new cocktail:

But

1) You don't get to know the ingredients

2) You don't get to know the type of container it comes in.

3) The price is not displayed;

4) You get the bill as you leave:

I've named it

- The Brexit -

Words and foto  Tommy Carroll

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"A work of art

is never finished

but merely abandoned."*

Well this one is.

(excepting the copious re writes

of the checking of sources

and

clausal inference;

anyway-

I now think it done.)

As is.

Words and foto  Tommy Carroll

* Paul Valery

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 Also if chosen I would insist on the following that:                                             

1) Speakers have a full head of hair.

2) Speakers are under 30 years of age.

3) Speakers are are NOT allowed to put a finger in their ear.

4) Speakers are only allowed to give a recital when there are 50+ people in the room.

5) No group fotos are allowed.

6) No shirts outside t...

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We clap some Blacks, 

them entertaining Blacks, 

 on stage, in film and racing tracks 

tho' we mow the shacks 

and dish out smacks 

to those working blacks.    

We clap some Blacks

  and forget those whacks 

and the blistered backs 

of hands that buy 

the music tracks 

and then we clap them 

Blacks them stand-up Blacks   

  but not them bent over blacks 

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"Ignore the unfounded 

rumours of pus- 

in your milk 

and other stuff"

(which are also  quite scary)

said the white coated chap

with the clipboard and cap 

and the man who's in charge 

of the dairy. 

words and foto Tommy Carroll

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Faraged

by Tommy Carroll

"Conniving madness

 brimming rage

ever in the wings

now centre stage

strutting with a stick

with which to stir

a pot of bile

and fetid fear."

Words and photo  Tommy Carroll 

re-edit

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2008

Like my (gently) rubbing

of your wet face.

Like my brushing of your dry teeth:

I seem to prove an annoying

but improving

ex-foliating daily chore. 

2018

You stand aghast as I

rail down the 'phone

(on your behalf)

for those absent cheques.

You look askance as I query the bill

for the meal that you've just paid for;

(Or the life that I've arra...

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Poetry has many inspections

each line like thought re-touched.

We frown at fingered collections

of nouns and other stuff.

There are troublesome inflections

and bleeding wrung-out verbs

the wandering explications

of rhymes the metre serves.

There are stand alone conjunctions

in hope that it amazes,

where

in solitude it functions

in contrived schematic phrase...

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Don't you know
it's just a rage
a tempest brewed
from grape not sage-
in all the world
there's not a stage
not tread by feet already.

And so I bow
and bid me out
you cared for nought
nor gave a shout
as all that is
will come about
with out you being ready.

re-edit
words and foto T Carroll...

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I, myself Tommy that's me

...and my daughter ones-self

Tommy is thinking:

why do posters refer to themselves

in the third person?

I have tried to,

so has he himself.

He has no objection,

But I, myself have an objection to them-there preposterous constructions absolutely!

When speaking in the third person

he finds one asking him:

why?

Can two people co...

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The hatred of poetry

by Wolfgar

Friday 26th July 2019 7:26 pm

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Prolouge:

No need for air, for light,

just tilt your head backwards

and allow the past

to roll down your face.

Hold on to that.

Recollections:

Alexandra  shifted her weight

in time to the point

that she was making.

She sometime stood erect-

she was always

making a point.

Even with a potato peeler

there was an air

of menace-

she would m...

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Persephone lay tangled

In my bed-clothes.

I watched trapezoids

of summer light

make motes

alive in her warmth.

I leant against the wall

and counted her breaths:

Pale and shallow her rising.

Her hair webbed.

and

gripped to her belly

my gown

since last she bathed.

I lowered my case

and loved her more.

re-edit

Words and ...

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Place the valve
of  your lip's 
and your smile's 
breath against 
my cheek and
breathe a note
to inform me
of its lasting
arrangement
and gentle
proposition.

While sighing
from within
you play now
the music's 
pressed tone.

words and music  T Carroll

re-edit

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Was I now the only

one on the beach?

She had stood behind me                                                                                       

and I had waited

for a spoken conclusion.

But without words  

the  sound that

the soft tread of her

departure made

on the sand had

told me of her decision.

Sunsets care nothing for    

lengthening  sha...

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Can time shoulder

the weighted ticks

and tocks

of sadness?

as an unspoken sigh 

arrows its loss

in measured

wants and pulls,

I let the fingered

point of these

counted and now

lost moments

scribe my sorry shrug.

words and photos by Tommy Carroll

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Christianity and other myths

by Tommy Carroll

She said: ''You forget about

the fall back position

of Christianity: 

'Limbo' 

According to the Catholic church 

all 'souls' that had no faith

but were without sin- 

ended up there.

I envisage  

countless babies 

crawling around for eternity, 

crying for their mums!''

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wor...

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by Tommy Carroll

Thursday 17th December 2015 5:42 pm

We've each got different partners now
we're having a real nice time
we both agreed to separate
Parsley Sage, Rosemary and Time

We both were once so in love
now we just stay in touch
we cherish the time we once had
as we don't see each other much.

I once saw her pass on the bus
once commiserated on the phone
we've sen...

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by Tommy Carroll

Sunday 11th December 2011 1:40 pm (first posted Wednesday 12th October 2011 12:19 am)

She sat at the far end of her high ceilinged room. I sat on her prefered chair.

We stared at each other.

Hundreds of books were piled upon a just mopped black wooden floor.

What was that with the light? ahh yes, clean windows- she had gone and gotten herself a window clean...

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Touch

and upon touching,

let a wanton look

dress your skin,

pressing its wants-

as in a gentle grip-

shaping my tongue,

to press tales

of soft request,

and taste the very giving

response of that same skin,

adorned and- to touch

its naked candour.

words and foto Tommy Carroll

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Did you brush it from your hair?

by Tommy Carroll

Did you brush it from your hair?

or maybe from your teeth?...

your clothes?

Perhaps it was washed away from out of your blankets?...

or tights?...

or down the bath water?...

or flushed behind a closed toilet?

Maybe you strode away from it

or slept it out-dreamt it away-

lit-smoked- and coughed it up.

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Conflation (a work in progress)

by Tommy Carroll

A Paradox is a conflation of stigmata:

The absurdity of mathematics

and ones inability

to describe (in language)

what we experience.

This confusion is the point

at which motion obeys all laws.

A paradox owes more

to poetry than science.

A paradox is a conflation

of contradictory assertions.

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B rok e n  Ma son r y

Not for me another love

like choking fear

It will not budge

I dare not blink

for it now seems

by choosing drink

I dwell in dreams

I grind to bits

my words and teeth

when searching through

my history:

to lift above

what lay beneath

all that broken masonry.

...

wO rd s and fo to  T o mm y Ca rrol l

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'Languge merely pictures facts'

then changes his mind and retracts;

'It's more complex than I at first thought,

my Tractatus has all come to nought

for there's more to them cats on them mats'.

Words and foto  Thomas H Carroll

re-edit

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or

'tis context 

In The Friends of Voltaire, Evelyn Hall wrote the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Say whatever you want - but

prepare to be the subject

of reprisal.

There is NO such thing

as complete freedom,

not in life; art nor in postings.

So- as we are all subject

to discretion or com...

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I'm simple this way

this way leaning

Watching your want

this way fading.

You're always his way

his way gleaning.

I'm holding this loss

this way leaving.

When you leave

the conversation

before you've left

the company-

when I've left

your busy thoughts

after I've left

your sympathy-

with your touch

and cooling...

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test run for

blog entry comment disablement procedure.

.....hello......testing

THIS IS NOT A POEM- PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT

......testing......hello.....

(am I really doing this?...I should be poking sticks at the weather...)

......testing comment disablement procedure......

please enable the 'tick' should you

require comments to be posted......

(god I thought I had ti...

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The complainant's

complaint

is a constant refrain

Woe is me yes me -points-

they're all to blame!

I'm squeezed in the middle

by those with no name

pity me not them

they're all to blame!

why don't they just send 'em

all off to jail?

give to me not to them

coz they want the same,

give to me not to them

coz they're all to blame

them paki's and blacks

t...

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The value of forgiveness
is not forgotten.
nor does it wash away all hurt
from the memory within.

It is released from the vice
of resentment
but still it echoes with
the resonence of regret.

words and foto Tommy Carroll

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Reading  the statement
that you have just made,
in which there’s
nothing but nought,
you’re “unaware of  the details
the committee outlined,
and have yet to read its report.”

Moving-on, looking forward,
the time has now come,
for challenges
of a personal sort,
my time will surely
be put to test-
and a career
put to its sword

There is time for
a memoir and
columns to write,
ti...

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The penned letter

upon the page 

is made from strokes and swirls

not rage 

forget the colour of the ink

not its impression upon the reader 

let into reason those thoughts  do sink 

not the Editorial of its Leader.    

Words and Image:  Tommy Carroll

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Plausible deniability

Reading  the statement
that you have just made,
in which there’s
nothing but nought,
you’re “unaware of  the details
the committee outlined,
and have yet to read its report.”

Moving-on, looking forward,
the time has now come,
for challenges
of a personal sort,
my time will surely
be put to test-
and a career
put to its sword

There is time for
a memoir a...

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Jazz piano
Slow
in D minor

A note that's allowed
like the pain
that's caused
and delivered

the shadowed sound
from the speakers
is the sigh
that pulls me back
to that place
that she once held

but I wont respond
just keep 
the kerb 2 foot away-

no turning
back around
to hear her needs

my wants
are the rear-view
mirror
that cause the
eye's to blink
wet memories...

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If you have forgotten your password,

Email?

Password?

Words (no foto) Write Out Loud

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Love

a term I seldom use

Summer clothes

Packed in tight

Memories

A voice declares

"Doors closing"

Faces stilled

Such quiet

hushed phenomena 

What would our ancestors 

make of this crushing

closet?

Strangers allowing strangers

their Intimate space

Expelled air 

The body's breath

A nervous cough suppressed 

A weary sigh

eyes meeting 

...

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Why If I may ask

do you cry?

or crave the centre?

Just a little longer

and I may have helped

you.

Held your hand

a little tighter.

Perhaps a crossword

has the answer.

Yet still you cry.

Is it me or

what I stood in for.

Tears ache their

diamond hard response

too precious to mine.

Perhaps you lack

the pen to answer

the asking clues.

Words...

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'It's typical of a woman to complain about the generalizing of women'... Anon
 

How do I love my shoes?

Let me count the ways.
I love their comfort
and style and price

when my foot can slip in
when kicking out of sight
foolish Insults and remarks.

While quiet in their walking,
By sun and torch-light.
I love the comfort as men also
strive for Comfort.

I love their fashionabil...

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She played

Lana Del Rey

as she turned

to watch me pack.

It played as we

looked away from

each other's

agreement.

I knew it was

her pretence,

a playing hurt,

a joint loss.

Her humming

accompaniment

was knowing that

I knew the words,

That I knew its

finger was pointing away

pointing away from us,

from us both.

My si...

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Love

a term I seldom use

Summer clothes

Packed in tight

Memories

A voice declares

"Doors closing"

Faces stilled

Such quiet

hushed phenomena 

What would our ancestors 

make of this crushing

closet?

Strangers allowing strangers

their Intimate space

Expelled air 

The body's breath

A nervous cough suppressed 

A weary sigh

eyes mee...

Read and leave comments (0)

Love

a term I seldom use

Summer clothes

Packed in tight

Memories

A voice declares

"Doors closing"

Faces stilled

Such quiet

A hushed phenomena 

What would our ancestors 

make of this crushing

closet?

Strangers allowing strangers

their Intimate space

Expelled air 

The body's breath

A nervous cough suppressed 

A weary sigh

eyes m...

Read and leave comments (0)

Hard is the knock-knock

of a world bent and lent

against its self, gone awry-

The thinking strands

that cannot find their

ends to meet themself,

this self has ever yet

to mean it; prove it-

Yet all this squandered time,

these uncounted hours have

a time to thrill

a time to its own purpose-

I will post this warning:

(to a self)

I fear de...

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Jazz piano
Slow
in D minor

A note that's allowed
like
the pain
that's caused
and delivered

the shadowed sound
from the speakers
is the sigh
that pulls me back
to that place
that she once held

but I wont respond
just keep 
the kerb 2 foot away-

no turning
back around
to hear her needs

my wants
are the rear-view
mirror
that cause the
eye's to blink
wet mem...

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Not only time ticks 

but the felt tug

of sadness

ticks its loss

in the un-measured 

wants and aches

and costs.

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He quietly asks

''here- hold this''

he offers it to her

she holds out

her hand

''keep your fingers together''

he smiles

she sighs

holding her fingers apart

''try and grasp it''

he watches her

looking at him

she forgets her hand

it drops to the floor

he picks it up

and, again smiling,

he repeats

the votive offerin...

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I never sleep when

looking at you,

I never sleep when

counting your breaths,

I never sleep when

watching you dress,

when you serve a dish...

when you write a report...

or choosing wine...

I never sleep

when you're turning  a page...

when you're sitting astride...

when you're folding your arms and

pushing your toes into me.

I never sleep...

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Please do not turn me into 

rhyme

leave me out of your

schemata

leave my name and

broken

ways for some other

tongue

for some other days.

Just write about that

of which you know 

and

do not speculate

nor

pitch dramatic

verse into the space

I have left.

I've taken my books

from your dusty shelves

and

stepping over your

out-stre...

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