Thursday 31 May 2018

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

Tuesday 29 May 2018

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

Monday 28 May 2018

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



Sunday 27 May 2018

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

Saturday 26 May 2018

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

Friday 25 May 2018

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

Thursday 24 May 2018

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

Wednesday 23 May 2018

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

Tuesday 22 May 2018

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

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

Monday 21 May 2018

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

Sunday 20 May 2018

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

Saturday 19 May 2018

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

Friday 18 May 2018

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 1stclass 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

Tuesday 15 May 2018

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

Monday 14 May 2018

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 

Sunday 13 May 2018

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

Saturday 12 May 2018

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

Friday 11 May 2018

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

Thursday 10 May 2018

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

Wednesday 9 May 2018

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

Tuesday 8 May 2018

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

Monday 7 May 2018

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

Thursday 3 May 2018

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

Wednesday 2 May 2018

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

Tuesday 1 May 2018

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