Thursday 31 October 2019

Stop A Wail



They tread a trail in single file
A ghostly walk without a sound
Passing headstones of the long lost
Where stories wait a distant sound

Crunching leaves and snapping twigs
A cold air evening gasp
Proposing deals as now congeals
Its auguring guttural rasp

Iciness on Jack Frost fingers
A rising shadow night completes
Moonlight shade a muddy glade
Making choices trick or treat


Wednesday 30 October 2019

Trench Foot In Mouth



On the side of a road in a ditch
Where the dew on a cold morning blue
Leaves unacceptable promises undone
In a ditchwater blur shining through

It is here where dead pledges fester
To no more be heard of again
As the squeak of a creak a Halloween freak
Is a ditch full of something insane

The time is too late for denials
They’ll be digging a new kind of ditch
Somewhere to hold new promises bold
On the nod with a wink and twitch 


Tuesday 29 October 2019

Bizarre by Far



Looking deep to find reality
Finding nothing’s as it seems
All our estimates not adding up
In pristine strings of novel schemes

With a plot of calculations
Down a quantum rabid hole
In a true or false conundrum
Sliding down an abstract pole

Likelihood is what we work toward
On certainties we can depend
Switching light on Daliesque effects
Declaring answers that contend

Monday 28 October 2019

Having Said That


I like to write what’s on my mind
That’s when my mind allows
I like to call it my opinion
On the why’s and where’s and how’s

It pleases me when words make sense
In the way they sometimes fall
To do this I will write  at speed
Then readjust them all

Who can tell the way words gel
If a phrase will strike a chord
So let a reader delve inside
On those lines I once explored

Saturday 26 October 2019

Back From 2 a.m.



Tomorrow night the clocks fall back
Too much weather in the sky
An extra hour beneath the sheets
Last hopes of Autumn hurry by

Backward days and longer nights
Bring on boots and overcoats
Crystal dawns dust icy lawns
Coughing sneezes and sore throats

We’ll heed disaster warnings
Take other roads on longer routes
Traffic crams and headlight jams
Triple time on work commutes

Thursday 24 October 2019

You Aren't There

Britain's got a brand-new bag

“Halt who goes there,” said the guard
“We are citizens of Europe” they replied
“Stand and deliver your documents
For without, you must be denied”

Making strangers of neighbours and friends
Misunderstanding the way of the world
Where two-way streets in freedom meet
With joyful flags unfurled

Where once they stood together as one
Now split by a custom-made wall
No longer deciding the way of the game
They had dropped their part in the ball

“Halt who goes there,” said the guard
“We are citizens of Europe” they replied
Made to look small in spite of their size
They returned to their prosperous side

Well that’s how it turned in the end
Where the little gave greatness away
No longer the banner or part of a planner
Small island that once won the day



Wednesday 23 October 2019

The Cunning Clan



In the land of ‘Whisper-Mumbles’

Where the double barrels lurk

Writing scripts of right palavers

That sent the audience berserk

 

Lord Conniver of Blue Measly

Snitch finder General on the prowl

Holding undercover rulings

With a condemnatory scowl

 

Traitors gate is beckoning

For those who overplayed their hand

To rot inside a stonewall wilderness

In a far-off reckless land

Monday 21 October 2019

Out Of Date



Looking through my simple microscope
At a micro-managed scene
Taking in the sights of fairyland
At perfect parts in our machine

Everything is highly programmed
To do exactly what it must
In its ocean swell contributing
In a choreograph of thrust

A splitting image house of mirrors
Where each reflection waits its turn
To be looked at then interpreted
As something new we need to learn

But those beyond the microscope
Have bigger pictures now for sale
Leaving little things for other times
Climb smaller hillsides lest they fail

Saturday 19 October 2019

Glimmers



Funny how the moments go
With no way to rein them in
They ran as fast as they began
A fleeting race we could not win

They took with them a picture book
That may be partially recalled
A fuddled view of distant aftermaths
Which once delighted or appalled

So many instants visit in a life
If we’re smart we’ll make a note
Keeping details as reminders
A sea of moments kept afloat



Based on a tweet by Mad Hatter Tea: "I can't go back to yesterday I've lost the directions"

Lewis Carroll:

"I charm in vain: for never again"

“It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,” the Queen remarked.
“What sort of things do YOU remember best?” Alice ventured to ask.
“Oh, things that happened the week after next,” the Queen replied in a careless tone.

BBC Future Link


Friday 18 October 2019

Rules is Rules



In a game of more or less
Exactitude can have no place
At the end who wins is anyone's guess
A now and then a two-faced case

Nothing anywhere is permanent
A tug of war cannot explain
Putting pressure on the covenant
Where even keel is no one's gain

It comes down to high and mightiness
Who can make the loudest noise
Where hidden costs inflicting less
Are gifts exposed as second-hand toys

Wednesday 16 October 2019

Mind Over Muster



Brain upgrades are being trialled
Just for now for on Monkey nuts 
Implants stuck inside the brain
To boost appendage uppercuts

Improving Monkey puzzle outcomes
On higher branches smarter swings
Where the chimpanzee Endymion
Presents the moon with brighter things

In a library filled with Jungle books
The ‘Grade A’ ape will then evolve
Overcoming woodland hurdles
Now twigging stuff they couldn’t solve

Once their camps become a campus
In a thicket line fast-track 
We can rearrange the human head
And cut the monkey mind some slack



Sunday 13 October 2019

Thoughtful Sunday


Today is thoughtful Sunday
So speak inside your head
Decide what time you might get up
Or think the whole day in your bed

Shun those tedious tiresome thinks
They’ll just send you back to sleep
Then make you restless fidgety
Far too shallow hard to keep

Then when your Sunday dawns on you
As you rise and feel revived
Pull the curtains and go back to bed
Avoiding anything connived 

Friday 11 October 2019

A Parlay Finale



They didn’t listen
Ignored the flack
In the middle
Of the mess
Risked everything 
by changing tack
Though in then the end
They would confess
Not noticing
The severed slack
The random whip
Of chance attack
Destroying choices
Leaving less than less
Their clawback jaws
Proclaimed success
But no one heard
Them coming back
With victory
They would profess
On sidings of
Another track
No longer rescued
By the second guess
Just empty bags
To not unpack

Wednesday 9 October 2019

Some of the Time



Depending on your point of view
There it goes or here it comes
Time is what you need to take
When you consider all the sums

Looking for those future hints
You need to know which way to see
When making sound appointments
You’ll need the locals to agree

If what we see when looking up
Is in the past yet still not here
Then the future that we left behind
Passed us by before next year

So hang on to your relatives
Imagine all of them are real
Or alternately you can have a go
At reinventing time’s big wheel

Monday 7 October 2019

Monday Sad and Bad



Someone said it's Monday
It gave me quite a jolt
So much so I gulped my coffee
As though I'd swilled a thunderbolt

Monday morning feelings can
Pour darkness on my gloom
Send me back to front my demons
Beneath the sheets in my bedroom

I know I can get over it
I am a Monday morning Brave
Five more cups of coffee
Then maybe surf the seasick wave

Friday 4 October 2019

Imagined



So here I am imagining
Imaginary things
A sort of seagull screaming
With imaginary wings
I imagine what it's howling at
Although I know that it’s unreal
I imagine it must have a tale
Imagined years ago I feel
I’m imagining some imagery 
A picture image cool and clear
Then suddenly a voice gets through
To make my image disappear

Wednesday 2 October 2019

Winterfylleth



The golden glow of autumn moon
Unlocks a frosted winter gate  
The silent fall of fading leaves
On carpet forest floors sedate

A million farewells softly sing
Echoes drift in rolling mist
Lullaby’s of cover warms the soul
In dreams of long nights kissed

Soak the fruits and salt the meats
We’ll be together in the deep
A celebration time to be reborn
In our middle winter keep