A Fleet Retreat

In the middle of a muddled maze

Where the rules are out of kilter

Where no one knows or can suppose

To give bad news a soothing filter

We find ourselves in glints of light

In fragile states of passing through

Discovering how strange it is

If no one knows what’s next to do

So on we go with let’s pretend

Believing every going’s good

Down a narrow-minded corridor

Left with hopes misunderstood

My Kind of Frown

or hold your horses

Rammed crammed traffic jammed

Barely creeping nose to tail

Exhausted by the puffing clouds

On the slithering driving trail

Flow is backed and volume-packed

A roadside hustle lacking bustle

Getting nowhere super-fast

In standstill state of cramping muscle

Sitting tight and feeling out of sight

Changing lanes without remorse

Surprised each day by road delay

You drive the simmering seething course

Camp Zero

Walking on the ups and downs

Using both sides of the road

Not looking where the end point is

Where once good neighbours overflowed

Mulling over where the future went

To absent air that no one breathes

A void of empty ricochets

Far too dispossessed for thieves

When the final living memory dies

Will careworn pictures melt away

A heavy blanket of amnesia

Proclaims there’s nothing left to say  

The Last Saturday in January

Sitting idle by the table

Staring blankly in the air

Maybe waiting for the sun

Or the morning to declare

Perhaps a model for a picture

Allowing passing viewers eyes

Who look away and ponder

At something stirring otherwise

In shadow pattern on the wall

A teasing movement turns

A teapot theme of kettle steam

No other worries or concerns

Write A Simple Rhyme

Creating rhyme needs preparation

Like a mood board full of words

Happy words or gloomy words

Words that fly like birds

Dwelling on the mood you’re in

Maybe pensive fearful cheerful

Sulking best avoided

It can leave you lonely tearful

Find words to use that light a fuse

Burst meaning off the page

Don’t bother what the critics say

Unless you’re writing for a wage

If you wonder why words come along

They’re part of everywhere you’ve been

Each word that ever struck a chord

Every blinding light you’ve seen

Finding  words in books and essays

Show many ways to build a phrase

Release the words in waiting

In your field where meanings graze

‘THE’ Rhyme

I’m playing with ‘THE’ rhyme idea

The challenge feels worthwhile

The writing is without ‘THE’ piece

Strolling down ‘THE’ definite aisle

The confidence I get from ‘THE’

Sends me bouncing through my leaves

So inviting is ‘THE’ fresh clean sheet

Good use of ‘THE’ my block relieves

The thing is as I’m prone to say

Allows my story  in ‘THE’ section

Prompts the paragraph on my behalf

Disproves or proves my ‘THE’ selection

Based on a Michael Rosen Tweet

Throne Off

Decorum may have had its day

Etiquette and 'good form rules'

Too much ritual ineffectual 

Around displays of dripping jewels

The game is up the curtain calls

A fractured Humpty Dumpty scene

No Queen of Hearts removing parts

Old Duke of York halfway between

Toast the wealth of barking spectacle

Where pompous circumstances gather

To bow and scrape and wear the cape

Whilst quaffing in amongst the blather

They Made It Up

STORY LINK

The average Joe not in the know

With little knowledge of the facts

Must rely on why? To prove a lie

And stop the evident in its tracks

Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists

Who fight to win a Nobel prize

Would condescend to must defend

From those who can’t believe their eyes

Conspiracy theories hovering

In pubs and clubs and coffee houses

Led by “did you know?” to those who don’t

When the well-researched espouses

They’ve heard it said that truth is dead

From the nets on worldwide writing

When once again the end is nigh 

With hogwash stories more exciting

Did the US land men on the moon

It seems the world agrees its real

But not the Bull who pulls the wool

By claiming opposites reveal

Wordly

Thinking of a brilliant word

Helpful short and sweet

Not too many letters long

To keep one’s writing neat

Described in simple sentences

In vivid ways that let you know

How too much complication

May end above or well below

In those days of early learning

Reading words and writing letters

Using hammer pounding grammar

When aspiring to ones betters

Sunday Again

Sunday sort of sidles up

With no particular point of view

Allowing sleep pretenders

Thinking nothing much to do

Blanket snuggled on a pillow pressed

Now the dreaming all but done

As wishful thinking surfaces 

We let the urgent bladder run

Staggering back to Sunday sleep

After stirring dared to shake

Half-hearted senses irritate

Breakfast thoughts now wide awake

The Dumb Disciples

In two minds about this year

As far as humdrum days go by

Too many new ingredients

In this sweet and savoury pie

The crazy tricks of politics

A form of undercover barter 

To never answer anything

Saying nothing is much smarter

Crisis is the latest must do drug

A perfect way to stifle hope

Using change to rearrange the light

So choking oppositions scope

In Relation To

STORY LINK

They tell me that simplicity

Delivers writing loud and clear

Describing what is really meant

A drifting message most sincere

Does it matter what the matter is

What is sleepless in a dream

How are deeper things describable

When we don’t know what we mean

Questions spin out of a Catherine wheel

Spear spacious glints in open air

They illuminate a heated picture show

Conscious of their finite share

Everything at levels self-aware

In different ponds and lakes and seas

Along with land-locked entities

Where one-day consciousness agrees

Attitudes to what is truly real

By partition chains unwind

As we seek our commonalities

In the theory of the mind

Asteria

Something overcame Asteria

Whilst on her infiltrating find

On the lookout for a neighbourhood

When we leave this one behind

Two hundred years was all it took

For us to make our homestead ill

Scouring and devouring

Destructive poisoning at will

Maybe a far-off alien life

Who came and looked at us down here

Said “that’s enough they’re far too rough

We must ensure they don’t come near

Spies living here among us

In deepest seas or forests spread

Sending dire warning messages

“Beware creators of the dead”

Tally Ho and On We Go

1

Seeds that sew ideas that grow

Much expanding over time

Here's ‘verse one’ I’ve written as

My never-ending rhyme

2

What is it all about you ask

When never-ending is not so

Well that’s the point of writing this

To be unfinished as I go

3

Will it hide a hidden meaning

To be deciphered or assumed

Unravelled like enigma codes

Or just an answer game presumed

4

Five verses here to set you off

Then one a day to help uncover

Each section I have numbered thus

As a mental progress shover

5

As you browse it take your time

From this verse on, the trail commences

Town and country walks on streams

Climbing styles but never fences

6

When travelling on a line of words

 One must keep a few as spare

The pace of pages take down heaps

To leave you slumped in your armchair

7

Great ideas come flashing by

Can disappear in tiresome strings

Hit dead-end drawn out paragraphs

Return dressed up as burrowings

8

So much is quite remarkable

Don’t take so much for granted

For when its gone it won’t be long

As when we all will be supplanted

9

Here’s a big one for the sake of it

Not on any other basis

Survival beats catastrophe

But you won’t know where your place is

10

Hold your ground defy the storm

Build a shelter firm and strong

Let the lightning strike discharge

Only you can sing your song

11

She bought herself a handed watch

Not Left but Right on time

To be sure to keep her promises

When arriving down the line

12

Art emerges from the chaos

It struggles to be known

Deep among the cluttering

Sending messages full blown

13

No early signs of playfulness

The cost of change begins to creep

Regretful silence loudly speaks

Now all they have are tears to weep

14
When the crying times arrive
Where only solace can recover
Stormy seas subside in quiet lea's
With loving memories of each other
15
So tally ho and on we go
Let hope lead us on in strength
We'll not give in to giving in
Astride those weary ways at length

Are You Up Yet?

January one as it appeared

Seemed aimless and lacklustre 

Filthy trays and grub dismays

Took all the effort I could muster

I rinsed the clag as best I could

Filled the sink with soapy suds

And set about my New Year’s day

Attacking grimy slimy cruds

At round about the midday hour

Tranquillity showed up

I boiled a kettle grabbed a bag

Brewed myself a peaceful cup

The old year now no longer here

Apart from scattered evidence

A garden full of spent surprise

Branded circles on my fence

Weighing up the cold light costs

I spread out my credit means

A hand of cards not worth a light

A bowl of nuts and tangerines

No Hi-De-Hi’s on days like this

It seems the world is fast asleep

The New Year can’t be faced today

Just resolutions left to keep