How Does It Look? (A polite rhyme for children)

When asked to give opinion

One might not rush to speak

Think twice considers end results

Not always welcoming critique

Honest answers need a special skill

Phrased with care and some regard

For words that pack a heavyweight

May leave a fragile ego scarred

Understanding there are differences

Between respectful and offence

Helps maintain a balanced state of play

Keeping warmth from heat intense

Careless words when spoken loosely

May cause a grudge so don’t forget

Whilst wickedness was never meant

Bluntly put brings much regret

What did they mean when asking that

A rule of thumb to bear in mind

How power in your calm response

Gains so much more if not unkind

Could Be I Suppose

Looking into all those certain traits

Detached from personal opinion

Fair game for testing everything

Extending way beyond a billion

Reconsidering simultaneous

On tracks of one thing then another

Ideas we dreamed up yesterday

Released much more to yet uncover

Impressions gained from odd experience

Something heard in unknown sound

Was nothing more than my perception

Whilst keeping both feet off the ground

You’ll Never Guess

Semantic ever-changing speaks

Cropped and clipped abbreviated

Half said words with cartoon smiles

In conversations understated

Plastic news in bite-sized chunks

Flipped overhead in thoughtless sprays

Sentence trims in acronyms

Initialised in speak trimmed phrase

Pursuing likes and trite approvals

In made up schemes and famous groups

What once was human intellect

Hung out to dry in left out of loops

Anyway To Always

Immortality a lifetime race

An out there place forever winning

Will not allow the trespasser

Who had a starter block beginning

For eternal is the always was

Before and after in the now

No need for struggle or progression

Nor endure the sweaty brow

To be caught in perpetuity 

Stuck in the permanent position

Finds one static in a vacuum tank

Without a sign of competition

Too Easy I Know

I don’t believe in J S Bach

Mozart or Beethoven 

Though I love the love

Their music brings

Interlaced and woven

I don’t believe in godliness 

Ghosts or any spooky things

Though I love the love

Of soulful song

A human dream of angels brings

I don’t believe in violence

Savagery or strife

Though I love the love

Of truth in friendship found

Where we share a happy life

Bad Weather Day 'Sod it!'

Cup of tea?

Tapping hopeful laptop buttons

To find what’s hidden at my tips

A secret so astounding good

Like one can make with paper clips

Fiddling is my favourite hobbyhorse

A strip down way to find solutions

It’s the way I write that I find out

My language lacking executions

I’ve spent my life ignoring negatives

Like counting every day that rains

By getting on with must do tedium 

To where I find my greatest gains

So that’s what tapping did today

Twelve lines of me explained

How fixing is my bedrock base

To keep me quietly entertained

Our Lips Are Sealed Honest They Are

Our promise that we make to you

About your data that we store

Protecting rights to privacy

A pledge we make to reassure

We’ll improve our anti-virus checks

Renew our gateways paths and tracks

To guard addresses secret passwords

Which find much favour from the hacks

So all your personal information

You once assumed was held in trust

Data streams that could be bought and sold

Or by word of mouth discussed

Starting from this moment on

You can depend that we won't send

Hand out deal out or distribute 

With fingers crossed the rules can’t bend

We’re sending reams of mail to you

To vow protection best by far

And trust you will remain on side

With ‘Honest Joe’s’ G D P R

Michael Row Your Boat Some More

Sky News Story Link - A Lazy boy learns to march

He’s thirty and he lives at home

Without concern for contribution

Chores are bores he cash ignores

For him a live-in sweet solution

Not one who stoops to working hard

Nor ever known for working light

Living easy off his Ma and Pa

Sleeping sound in bed at night

They’ve sent eviction messages

He feels his terms are compromised

He argues that their home is his

His right of passages surmised

The Judge has made his ruling clear

Outrageous scrounging gets you gone

Time to pack a bag and clear the deck

To pastures new you’d better move on

Your Seat Reserved Sir

Alien travellers have been seen near here

I’ve heard the rumour once or twice

Beings from a place in outer space

In need of down to earth advice

Speciously no way with words

Conversing telepathically

For those who think in interstellar ways

Converting code with clarity

To have travelled all that way to us

Suggesting astronomic convolution

Taking shortcuts at the speed of  ‘C’

A bouncing mass of distribution

Take my advice when looking out for them

Together speaking not a word

Unless you’re down and deep in thought

The act of listening is absurd

If aliens are visiting our planet of the apes

I’ll share with you my secret hunch

If something whispers sweet things in your head

You may well be next for lunch

Missing Presumed Lost

If the weather brings on cloudy

And the skies scream black and blue

When birds have taken to the trees

I’ll write my letters home to you

When the storm winds rap my window

I’ll put some driftwood on my fire

Watching movies in those ember screens

Devouring thorn tips on the brier

I'll keep writing ‘til the fading light

Has drained the colours from the day

Then sleep the downpour into dreams
Until the sun brings more to say

I wrote this in July 2017 on my blog Arhythmytic Poem Link
Sometimes people are far away or need to escape to reflect on things. It's not like running away as one does not intend to cut oneself off. I am also influenced by the Sandy Denny lyrics of "Who knows where the time goes"

Keepsake

A pop-up memory copyright crownjewelscondoms.co.uk

STORY LINK CLICK HERE

Collectables notoriously

A favoured trivial pursuit

Many flags of Jolly Roger’s

Bags for sacks containing fruit

Shiny memories now shady

Containers filled not kept

Reminders of those fire-nights

When flaring passion never slept

Discarded secrets wrapped in packets

Majestic packaging lampoon

Display a come and go scenario

A regal marital festoon

Bed Bugged

Tired and weary overused

My pillow talk has gone to ground

Sleepy thoughts are struggling

My nightwear padding sound is drowned

Laying on this lumpy bumpy mass

I put my pillowcase on trial

Removing what has languished there

A worn out wasted wadding pile

When it comes to talking pillows

One must wallet wedge uncork

Ensuring price on best investments

Recovers sweet dreams pillow talk

Dapper Wrapper

She is a paramour of parcelling

Tied up and tightly taped

The expert scheme of cut and paste

Every item dressed and draped

Each end precisely tucked away

Labels levelly aligned

Weighed and stamped at speed decamped

First Class delivery consigned

Making ways to destinations

Far and wide and overseas

Each article is definite

Arriving perfectly to please

Seen In The Scene

Two months since the mirror cracked

Slicing picture strips edgewise

Jagged patterns telling awkward truths

A witness statement in disguise

Image questions crudely asking 

Picasso postures fill in shapes

Saying beauty can be found in here

Between the lines where love escapes

In the passageway still hanging there

A portrait prison stalks the wall

To catch the hopeful passerby

Pretending not to look at all

Fleet Of Feet

My plates of meat supporting me

Everywhere I choose to be

I take for granted when I’m travelling

On Terra Firma fancy-free

Intrepidly they’ve taken me

By slipper shoe or mountain boot

Through countryside and cityscape

In backpack gear or whistle and flute

To plod along on stepping bones

Trip the light fantastic trot

Until my knees call "give up please"

We find a restful foot-spa slot

Doubled Up In Holland

I went to sleep on Friday Night

Then re-awoke the day before

Which meant a replay of those hours

A double time of two days more

I thought I had the upper hand

In these hours yet uncompleted

That I might do things differently

But my free will had depleted

Throughout those days repeated

I could predict each new event

To me they were not new at all

But set in stone like hard cement

Second thoughts I might have altered

In trying to change the replay game

But there are rules when you revisit days

They must in truth end up the same

Mercy Motivated

I need one word

Mercy was a worthy girl
Who understood the bottom line
Courageous with her ways and means
Brave enough to disincline

Blessed with gifts bestowed on her
Much admired by all around
A most medicinal hearty laugh
Her smile mysteriously profound

Mercy was a maiden warrior
Withstanding every ardent stare
Would seek a most exacting soul
Her faith in more than her fair share

She knew how time was hers to live
To ride the clouds on borrowed bliss
Enjoyed the loops of highs and lows
Dismal days she would dismiss 

Mercy played on serendipity
Spurred on by moments to create
Sharing love with natural packages
Which on balance would equate 

Letting It Go

Putting on my Friday hat

Tying up my this and that

High five and a team back pat

Then off we go to where its at

A local bar a hair down jar

Chat and banter friendly spar

This day of days the best by far

Home by train a 1^stclass car

Relaxed at ease my laidback chair

No deadline drivers anywhere

At last I find some time to spare

To wear that smile of devil may care

Trouble Wears A Heavy Boot

The once upon a time of it

So many things were different then

People saw with undecided eyes

A world not ever seen again

Most folk lived their local lives

Spending time just getting by

Smiling crying sometimes sighing

Looking out with weathered eye

And when the peace was over

War reminders filled the air

Peace is no more than a prelude

As victors steal away our share

Power brokers lusting savagely

Swamped the breath from love and laughter

Full of pledges never made to keep

In mobs not happy ever after

Letting Out Your Rhyme

It’s funny how a rhyme turns up 

On a page when least expected

Making sense of past or present tense

Each end of  line connected

Some think that rhyme is hard to write

Though all you need is pen and paper

For rhyme has a knack in taking up slack

A stream of steam like vapour

I often feel when writing rhyme

Are there Genies on my shelf

Sitting there no rhyme in mind

I find a rhyme has written itself

Give it a go seeing bywords that flow

Bopping and dancing in time

Open your cage let them jump on page

Before you know it you’ve written a rhyme

Written after listening to BBC Radio 3 The Verb Click here for the link and the marvellous mind of Pam Ayres discussing her love of rhyme

Touch Tones

In the corridor where passers-by

See no one passing by

The swish of shoulders sweeping

Never meeting eye to eye

Bare air bereft of atmosphere

Not even hello gets a mention

Contact has no place in here

Denying touch or intervention

Voices held in secret council

Speak in phrases short and sweet

Sent encrypted in absentia

Insisting on a read receipt 

After The War

Their mother did her motherly best

For dad her distant lad

The kids were such a childish trial

For two parents feeling sad

Mother stuck at home each day

Father further down the way

Found the family’s stifling stress

A frightening noise of simple play

Year by year they struggled on

With very little to sustain

Although the seasons rang the changes

Their roof was letting in the rain

No time to think outside the square

When dire surroundings have you wrapped

Submerged in getting on with it

No one admitting they were trapped

Pique-Nique

When Saturdays are sunny days

The span surrounding me is spick

Neat and sharp bright splinter new

Of weekend choice my favourite pick

These Saturdays like this are keen

My fervour up I’m ready heady

A day designed for take away

Outward bound and backpack steady

Making up Alfresco banquet treats

Including favourite things for all

With one or more surprising lovelies

Our super hamper will enthral

Then off we go with kit and tackle

Out in the wilderness fresh air

The hike we like on nature trails

To mooch and mosey anywhere

Somewhat

My curve is on the upward side

A sign that things are looking up

Framing how I look at life

In a filled to brimming cup

Everything around me 

Seems more perpetual in notion

Ideas are floating on my page

Awash with ocean-going motion

It's not that I’ve been languishing

In a thoughtless place in time

Being hampered by my cluelessness

Doing nothing else but rhyme

So for now I’ll take the higher road

With the peak not yet in sight

On steeper sides I’m more inclined

To choose and pick with all my might

Tonight

Drizzle me a glass of wine

Play a song to sing along

Light candles make some atmosphere

This combination can’t go wrong

Together in simplicity

We sit in friendliness in touch

Sharing something nice to nibble

Enjoying being here so much

And I would write a love song

To these moments shared so sweet

A melody that takes us elsewhere

In calm serenity complete

A Moving Story

We’ve packed our lives
in cardboard boxes

That is what’s left
Of so much gear

There’s still a load
We might not take
between the two of us yet to clear

I’ll not throw that
It could be useful still

I’ve wondered where
It was mislaid

So many times
I could have done with it

Had it been more visibly displayed

It seems an awful lot of rigmarole

Upping sticks to pastures new

To readjust upset our memory dust

Our book of pages we unglue

But there we are
Approaching nowhere land

That in between
Our many changes

Embracing unknowns
In our hopefulness

As our unravel rearranges

Unfamiliar Traces

Free thinking sitting anyplace

Nothing concrete on my mind

Summarising possibilities

Unimportant tiresome bind

Grabbing clues from latent sources

All my thoughtful sorting sifting

I hope to trip up inspiration

So shift my drift into uplifting

Watching out from other windows

Closing curtains on distraction

To find a picture on blank canvass

Not be content with satisfaction

I first posted this in July 2017 on the Arhythmytic blog

OK Aroma (Agrarian Plights)

For those who worry about their food

Protesting rights for sentient beings

Research on complex cultures finds

The vegetation world has feelings

Not at all the way that animals do

Their information messages scent

A Wood World Web of earthy Internet

Their network underground air vent

We animals with blood and brains

Have the nerves to scream fair play

Ignoring rights of plants and trees

We desecrate devour and slay

STORY LINK CLICK HERE

On One Hand Or The Other

Amid the scheduled and spontaneous

Within the narrow lane confines

Accepting rough before the smooth

Pot-holed flats and loose inclines

Where taken with a pinch of salt

Outlines uncertain states of play

Officials speak on subject matters

Care not to give too much away

Fanfare blasts salute the powerful

Please multitudes that all is well 

Smothering doubt with slanted shout

That strikes a far-off tolling bell

Walkies

Millie

Walking with a human

The dog is quite content

Tasty places everywhere

Flavoured air and sediment

The dog is getting latest posts

The human pauses walking

Pointless chat on where it’s at

The dogs and humans talking

How proud they are the humans

How glad they are the dogs

To meet greet and share the meat

Maybe a fireside reading logs

They give each other special time

Leaving nothing placed above

A plain forgiving of acceptance

Two companions share the love

Midweek Rhyme

Today is one of those two-way days

In the middle of any week

Just right for sitting on fences

A sense of something up the creek

A two-mind day of indecision

Two more days to put off too

Stuck in the middle of a can’t do riddle

Weighing up what next to do

On days like this I look both ways

Passing time in neutral mood

Doing busy nearly finished things

Until my Wednesday ways conclude

Foreign Bodies

 

We are electric bodies

Rechargeable machines

Receiving cosmic signals

Vibrating in our genes

Twisting up and firing off

A burst of sparkling dash

Radiating and reflecting

In our planetary mash

Emitting our eternal vibes

In universal code

Visualised in colour brushes

We paint our load on open road