Tuesday 31 December 2019

A Decade Portrayed



The year had run out of days
Which ended in parties and plays
Lots of drinking and eating
Justified every meeting
Then declaring a changing of ways

New Year a promise from day one
That a dry month had truly begun
Teas and coffees galore
Allowed oneself to restore
One’s kidneys and liver for fun

The old year passed far and away
Looking back on so much to say
All the ups and the downs 
Misgivings and frowns
Cheer up have a great New Year Day

Oh! Two O Two O



Ring out the lusty midnight bells
Hear the cheers of expectation
Chanting loud as a football crowd
Another New Year incantation

Every wish and possibility
In swarms of laughing groups
Making every promise earnestly
Prepared to jump through hoops

Gathered packed out for the moment
A choir of joyous counting down
When the launch of bright incendiary 
Brings out the New year on the town


Saturday 28 December 2019

Around About


When waiting at the station
Without a watch or platform clock
Our sense of hours and intervals
Far from steady as a rock

For the drift between arrivals
Where expected trips begin
Can’t be guessed or estimated
If when started from within

Many dangers in a guessing game
Where what is what is where its at
Whether early on-time overdue
Demands a Station Master’s hat

Wednesday 25 December 2019

Ever Fessing



As always he would always write
Always typing black on white
Always wondering if for once this one
Would always be the best he’d done

As always he would write too much
Always ending up as double-dutch
Always busy with his studying
Would always work his inborn clutch

As always when the words went stale
Always looking at a grander scale
Always knowing that was not for now
Would always ponder when or how

As always someway is a finite ride
Always hoping not to be denied
Always come what may the fogginess
Would always let the lines digress

As always that is how it is
Always working on the writer’s quiz
Always testing out the many ways
Would always to his end of days

Tuesday 24 December 2019

In Attendance



Masses gather in a sing-song mood
It’s what the time of year dictates
Gathered round the picky bits
Peanuts truffles sticky dates

Hearing cheers from smile veneers
Strutting out in winter wear
Slapping backs and lyric wax
With all and sundry there

Meet and greet and share the heat
Time to join the winter habit
Even though you may be out of it
Feeling weather worn and wabbit

Oxford Dictionaries

Monday 23 December 2019

I’ll See You In My Screen





Busy, busy loads of doing
No time left for being
Must do this must do that
Rapid hurried fleeing

No sitting staring standing still
Step and fetch it right away
No time now for present time
Just looking forward to that day

Waiting vexed for one more text
Existence up on trial
Too much to do no time for you
I’ll send a picture of a smile

Rooms packed full of no one there
Drifting in and out of space
They come they go on screens that show
A wishful made up face

Sunday 22 December 2019

Neolithic Prototypic



Here again It’s solstice time
To decorate ourselves like plants
Celebrating how it won’t be long
Before the fertile festive dance

This shortest of the winter phase
We hope it can’t get any worse
Looking to those light filled days
And sleep away the murky curse

Apologies to those who need
A super nature hyper fix
Fancy dress up have a party
Be inspired by complex tricks

The sun is there and everywhere
Our tilted planet turns and spins
Mathematically its twice a year
Where it ends and then begins

Saturday 21 December 2019

Taking Sides



I have a double-sided mirror
Which looks on many sides
The future past and present
Where the in between resides

As I pass by and peep at now
I’m in the present and the past
With the future on the other side
Which without a doubt comes last

The past and now are my beginnings
A mirror image I can share
Whilst I wonder if the other side
Will allow a chance to stare

On the other side of here I fear
Where the future changes fast
I sneak a look and there I find
Me looking once more from the past


Thursday 19 December 2019

Poles Apart



It seems our North magnetic pole
Is changing its criteria
From where it was now shifted
In the region of Siberia

Since 1830’s when discovered
It’s moved on 1400 miles
No wonder that when rambling
I get confused locating stiles

Way passed the Greenwich highpoint
Veering wildly off the line
We check our matches in the meantime
Whilst all our readings redefine

You’re still there and we’re still here
As we affirm recalibrate
Trusting senses of directions planned
Arriving somewhere near the date

Wednesday 18 December 2019

Reminiscence



The past now locked in picture frames
To be wondered at and guessed
By future eyes who might apprise
On reminiscing days when pressed

Strange it is how once they sat 
Their faded faces strain to speak
A look that says I passed this way
Now just a portrait posed antique 

Snapshots more than twists of fate
Abundant treasures proving worth
They let you share a wistful while
In storylines a past rebirth





Tuesday 17 December 2019

Modicum



What is little what is small
What is teeny weeny tiny
More minor than the miniscule
Precisely pointed even spiny

Slighter than the most reduced
Lesser than the itsy minnow
If you’re thinking less than minor
You’re down there in the winnow

Deep below the shallow end
The lowest point of guarantee
At the edge of our quintessence
Are our roots in quantity

Oxford Dictionaries

A nanometre

A millionth of a millimetre

A billionth of a metre

or to put it more simply 

One thousand-millionth of a metre.

Sunday 15 December 2019

Who Won It?



Here we are inhaling dust
Fall-out from the winds of quarrel
Nothing more to say right now
No olive branch or perfumed laurel

No good spitting blood right now
We need a slow transfusion
We’ll have to stare until the aftermath
Becomes transition or confusion

Weak until the springtime comes
Far too cold for more hot air
It won’t be long before the change of tune
Becomes delight or deep despair

It’s clear the mandate given
Is a blank cheque from us guys
Beneath the microscope of worth
We trust there are many less lies

Thursday 12 December 2019

Out of Cash



The money man with abacus eyes
Has a hole in the wall expression
Change credit to needy interest
At cash point flow in close precision

Fast transactions all so easily done
To the tallyman’s satisfaction
Swift recompense high street expense
A threshold chain-linked sealed transaction

When your wallet is a cash strapped bag
Laid bare by front end pressure
The emptiness screams hunger raw
Takes all your worth that they can measure

Wednesday 11 December 2019

Fluff In The Turnups




You can write your stuff in colour
Flowery sweet and nice
With Asian lilts of contemplation
Herbal flavoured oils and rice

You can swim around deep meanings
Take in air as best you can
Become a model of the masterpiece
Forget you’re only one more man

You can reach beyond the atmosphere
Climb the highest mountain peaks
But in the end you must come down
To face the heated needs of freaks

You can give the giving up a try
Pretend it wasn’t worth the strain
Never mind it’s what compulsion does
For those acknowledging their pain 


Tuesday 10 December 2019

For Good and All

Its All Good Emoji GIF

Debating what’s good
is a good thing to do
It depends on 
results understood
Outcomes not always 
too good to be true
And may sometimes 
be misunderstood
Goodness alone 
lacks meat on the bone
For delight adds
more to the good
Being good 
at your fun 
adds a giggle or two
In the jungle 
I’m sure that it would
You’d better be good 
is all she said
In fact much better 
than that
Wearing good clothes 
may of course help
On your head 
fit a very good hat
How will I know
if I’m good enough yet
Even when I do all 
that I can
Trying hard to define
whoever I’m mine
A good deal 
much more than I am

Monday 9 December 2019

Rhymeatism Revisited

Back then they said I looked like Topol.
But, I'm not a rich man.


He had to rhyme he thought about it
He had a host of words around it
He knew somehow he had unwound it
He was sure at first he had found it
He sought evidence to surround it
He felt a rewrite might have crowned it
He watched a flood of words that drowned it
He hesitated to expound it
He felt shameful to propound it
He thought they would confound it
He even offered to redound it
He feared society would impound it
He knew to date no one had found it
He dreaded publishers would rebound it




Saturday 7 December 2019

Living In The Present Time



In this merry month of giving
Singing melancholy songs
To rise above the winter misery
With aims of righting all our wrongs

Sending peace and goodwill wishes
To each and all and everyone
Partaking in a festive brew
Serving supplements homespun

Gathered snugly from the icy chill
Accepting all fine fare  together
In deep commune yet hoping soon
To fly afar in better weather

Thursday 5 December 2019

Seize On All Greetings

Picture by: lottie murphy https://lottie-murphy.com

Toby a Turkey 
in fine dress preferred
To be seen in large gatherings
Such a genial bird
Dressing for dinner
In fine  feather wear
With a hat for the season
Quite a dish debonair
When the family sat
Around the table to share
Cooing eminent praises
Though he now unaware

Tuesday 3 December 2019

Septimontium


Here is the month of final chances
To make out something of the year
Looking backwards looking forwards
Where the winter mist holds dear

Tipping out our bags of promises
Burn the logs of sad regrets
For now we walk the burial march
December’s ghostly silhouettes

Prepare yourself for nowhere time
Attend the wake of last year’s loss
Play the music loud for singing with
Pick up the heft of next year’s cross

Sunday 1 December 2019

On The Lookout




Looking down the plothole
Dismayed by too much draught
Not a valid word for many a day
From cousin Mary who just laughed

You'll need a block and tackle boy
To continue with your draft
Then the light of inspiration came
Offering rescue on a raft

The raft was full of someone’s notes
Pinned upon the central shaft
Fluttering like winking eyes
Which at once revived his craft

The plothole now was filling up
A dance of phrases choreographed
Proving all will come eventually
From the plothole telegraphed

Based on a tweet from David Catchpoole @Hopcatchy

Saturday 30 November 2019

On The Last Day of November


Saturday sitting by my steaming cup
Letting my mind drift free
Enjoying the morning freshness
Downing my first of three

It’s good when Saturdays like this
Allow the time to pass by me
No fuss no rush at my own pace
Quiet movements by degree

On icy morning Saturdays
Patterned window art debris
Begins to trickle and evaporate
With aftertaste of my last tea 





Friday 29 November 2019

Seven Deadly Rhymes



So proud of what they are for sure
Riding high and looking smug
Out in front and overbearing
As stragglers struggle chug and lug

Collecting grand essentials
For a stash down in the crypt
On the lookout for that one more thing
Ensuring fortunes tightly gripped

They hanker for the brightest lights
Crave domination’s grand desire
Bestowed with mighty accolades 
The one and only they admire

That’s not for you it doesn’t suit
Look at us we’ll show you how
Our sense of style and fashion guile
Tell us you lack that sense of wow

Is that the best that you can do
Is that all you aim to give me
A paltry plate of which you make us wait
We need much more you will agree

Can’t you see how much you madden us
Never do what you are told
We’ll return you to that nasty place
For daring ever to be bold

All in all no need for us to rush
We take our time as we demure
Our measured pace will interlace
And let the desperate endure

Thursday 28 November 2019

Everything Must Go



How glad we are to be here
Making sense on where we stand
Forcing permanence on transience
We strain to gain the upper hand

In-spite of all things failing
Meeting entropy’s demand
We can enjoy the little time we have
Before we disappear as planned

Right now there is much energy
Hot to trot along one feels
Until the steam becomes a stream
Wrapped in the solid freeze ideal


Tuesday 26 November 2019

I’m In Bits

Billions of cells continually replace and yet?


Me and my collective
Many trillions of cells
Working well at being who I am
Ringing all my selfish bells

Thankfully I do not need
To do a headcount on who’s there
As I take myself for granted
Accepting all within my share

Fifty billion new ones
Inducted every new-born day
Keeps my state of me updated
Instructed on our parts to play

So who I find myself to be
All my benchmarks hold the line
Every seven years I’m all renewed
How do they know they’re mine

Sunday 24 November 2019

Ask Yourself Who Cares?




Study hard to work long hours
You are the stock of modern slaves
Be grateful for the little things
Aim for free will serfdom craves

You are a tiny cog in life’s machine
With rationed back-ups should you fail
Your opinion may be all you have
To help your future world prevail

It is the way of things for those on top
To pay no heed to those below
Not see the need nor hear them plead
Leave them no place else to go

The time for change has passed you by
Those iron pledges rusted tat
Just one more chance to think again
To scrape suppression off your mat


Saturday 23 November 2019

Climate Changing Blues



Weather here is wet right through
Incessantly it falls
We’d like to hang our washing out
We’re running out of smalls

The local folk are looking glum
Puddle tramping to and fro
Heading back to indoor spaces
Because there’s nowhere else to go

Far too much of sad about
Although we know it could be worse
But speaking as we find ourselves
Too much temptation goads reverse



Friday 22 November 2019

Ineluctable Stuff




It seems there's too much stuff about
Too much stuff we're stuff amused
Adding stuff we're sure we need
The stuff of which is hardly used

The stuff of dreams builds our desire
We fantasise all kinds of stuff
Finding stuff that speaks of us
We just can't seem to get enough

Our lives are bubbling full of stuff
We have a fondness for collecting
Parasympathetic overload
All kinds of stuff we seek connecting

Gadget stuff along with dressy stuff
Myriads of stuff about
Stuffed with fleeting satisfaction
Too much stuff to do without


Wednesday 20 November 2019

Death Throes UK

The bones of British politics

Shame on politicians
Who blithely blather chaff
Circumventing every question
As they wallow in the naff

The game is up for honesty
As the ‘grinning lie’ abounds
Inuendo snide crescendo 
On the doorstep void of grounds

Whatever your persuasion is
One needs to use an open mind
Which politician has validity
We truly need the valid kind

What went wrong with statesmanship
We now have scallywags galore
Prepared to fiddle scam and cheat
Circumnavigate the law



Sunday 17 November 2019

Quantamania


Reflecting on reality 
And what I really see
observing stuff entangled
Not the same to you or me

The macro tries to be it
But the micro plays a game
Spinning coins with outcomes
Where neither answer is the same

What about my place in time
How many places can there be
Universes multiverses
Nothing here that proves I’m me

Quantum physics: our study suggests objective reality doesn’t exist