NOVEMBER THE SIXTH
National Poetry Day 2025
HELLO AM I EVEN ALLOWED
They don't tell me things until it's too late
What's going on where did I go so wrong
If we meet in the park is that a date
I missed dinner I didn't hear the gong
I looked at the map but I couldn't find you
All of those stations and nowhere to go
Then if I do catch a train or a tram
The real life Adams family will turn up
Nightmare on a Saturday afternoon
Everybody else is going somewhere
Hello am I even allowed to go
No I'm stuck here waiting for my tablets
02102025
MAY ONE
NaPoWriMo 2025
CONCLUSION
You can read all of my entries from this years April Challenge and sixteen previous years of NaPoWriMo on my StraightTalkingStreetTalkingSweet bloggage at SEWINA.BLOGSPOT.COM
Okay, congratulations to all who have completed or even attempted this years April Challenge.
I've been doing this for a few years now and as ever I'm not very happy with the result of my effort. However, I have managed to write one or two pieces towards collections of poetry that I started many moons ago. Perhaps, I will never be able to finish them, but any progress is valuable. What you must realise is that whatever you write, on a poem-a-day basis is only ever going to qualify as a rough first draft, unless you are very lucky or extremely skilful. On that basis I am fairly happy with the work I have produced and I know that I can improve upon each poetic slice in the future.
Finally I will now publish my conclusion poem below:
SOONER OR LATER
Pedestrian as a Zebra crossing
Jaywalking on a Scalextric chicane
Drinking for England but not to get high
Don't wait for the last bus get this one home
Football was never like this in the park
Drunk and disorderly for beginners
Cricket wickets down for goalposts again
Up in court not for the first time surely
Who told you that everything is okay
Sooner or later you will know the truth
Upsetting as it may be to tell you
Nothing is going to change very soon
01052025
APRIL THIRTY
DIGGING FOR GOLD
Iconoclast least of the last
don't you know which way is sideways
You've been there for the longest time
subtle changes don't do much
How I wish I had been there too
those days can never be re-made
What you did in the past stays there
unless you reinvent yourself
Of course nobody knows you now
incognito shout it out loud
The crime of couplets that don't rhyme
little songs that no one can sing
Hands of cards that never seem right
aces hidden up someone's sleeve
Hearts and diamonds as good as gold
clubs you should never trust to dig
Mutton dressed as lamb for one night
what the Eccles cakes does that mean
You think that everything is fine
all that Argan perfume and stuff
Agadir smelly such an' such
splash it on all over lady
Camels fighting for the next thing
digging for gold that isn't theirs
Nobody really knows what's what
the more you pay the more you lose
No one will tell you the best deal
ask and you shall receive something
30042025
APRIL TWENTY NINE
GAMBLER
Nothing's fine shoe shine
Once before I talked to you
Maybe twice or more
The one arm bandit
At the amusement store
Took all your money
You're a gambler
You'll wager your vehicle
Your mortgage or rent
What's what Pearly Queen
Done that gave it all away
Up the Frog and Toad
The gee gees the dogs
Every dollar every cent
Dominoes or cards
The more that they bet
The more that they lose for sure
There is no safe bet
All their candy spent
They're addicted to the core
but they still want more
29042025
APRIL TWENTY EIGHT
THE SEMI FINAL (ON TV)
Watching the FA Cup semi final and some of the pundits must have been at a different game City were two nil up and Forest couldn't hit a barn door if they were standing on the latch they hit the bar and the post but unless it hits the back of the net you might as well have stayed at home but what worried me was the bias from the TV commentators before during and even after the game they not only fancied Forest to win but against every statistic in the book they claimed that the mediocre side from Nottinghamshire should have won if only they had done such and such and not missed this or that regardless of the yellow cards that each side received they wanted to send Grealish off for a high kick however the Forest manager conceded after the match that the best team won
28042025/150
APRIL TWENTY SEVEN
One of the NaPoWriMo prompts was to write a poem using the end line rhymes of a Shakespeare sonnet. I have done a few of these over the years and had a go at his sonnet 148 today, I hope I haven't made too much of a mess of it.
Here's mine:
APRIL TWENTY SIX
HOSPITAL
I went into hospital for my third operation in four months
I had had a benign tumour removed and something had gone quite wrong
I think I first knew when they made a mess of taking out my stitches
The second procedure was as lengthy and scary as the first one
When it came to Christmas and I couldn't walk I was rushed in again
This time they said that I had a blood clot on the brain which they removed
I was left with a six inch concave scar right on the top of my head
The Doctor said I could have another operation to fix it
He wanted to install a titanium plate to normalise me
26042025
APRIL TWENTY FIVE
SALE PARK
At the Broad Road entrance to Worthington park there were two bowling greens
Then there was an almost circular field of grass where the trees are now
We played most of our five a side football there in the school holidays
There were lawn tennis courts there in those days also a golf putting range
Then there was the famous lion of course that every child sat on
Near the playground with the witches hat and swings there was an aviary
Remember the Roly-poly field at Sale Park we played football there
We would put down coats and jumpers or sometimes cricket stumps for goalposts
The other game we played was our version of one kick in the bandstand
25042025
APRIL TWENTY FOUR
THE SCOOT
The budget backstreet scooter skids off the road
Kids these days the car driver mutters and drives on
The electric scooter and a teenager left bungled into the thicket
trapped like a wild animal caught by its horns
Mum will kill me thinks the lad and Dad will confiscate the scoot
what will I do he wails how will I get to school or anywhere now
I hate going on the bus and walking is out of the question these days
with all those gangs out to get your phone your money and your life
The kid drags his badly damaged scooter out from the hedge
brushes himself down and starts to walk back home
dragging the tangled wreck of an electric machine behind him
a useless piece of equipment now surplus to requirements
My pride and joy he thinks the thing that I saved up for for so long
hoping against hope that someone can repair it for him quickly
24042025
APRIL TWENTY THREE
HELLO AM I EVEN SOBER
Yesterday was the old fogies trip to Blackpool
I went along on the rickety old Chara
simply to make up the numbers on the bus
we went the long way round via Lytham St Annes
where we stopped for the breakfast cabaret
complete with comedians and lady boys
and a couple of early door pints of extra strong cider
On reaching Blackpool it was straight off to the beach
then the Pleasure Beach and all the rides and side shows
not that I can remember much about them
Some lady I don't know who she was gave me my meds
everything seemed okay for a bit until we went to the pub
where I had another couple of pints of some sort of beer
then it was off on a tram to North Pier and up the Tower
standing on that glass floor at the top I was giddy and dizzy
After a large dinner of fish chips and very mushy peas
it was time to meet up with the old fogies at The Waterloo
for more drinks and another dodgy cabaret before leaving
Hello am I even sober I remember thinking before waking up
23042025
APRIL TWENTY TWO
HELLO AM I EVEN
HAVING BREAKFAST
Has thee had thy breakfast Bonny Lad
I think so I tell her then ask if it's Wednesday
Thursday she informs me Blood Pressure day
Oh no not again I hate it when they do that to me
I know I had my breakfast on Wednesday because
it was BEST Bacon Egg Sausage and Tomato
my favourite day I like Wednesday and simple things
but for the life of me I cannot recall what I had today
Memories of long ago things come and go to and fro
my brain works when it wants to but often goes blank
hello am I even having breakfast today or what
I think I know the answer but quickly forget
22042025
APRIL TWENTY ONE
SPARE LETTERS
The lines are getting longer than the queue for bread in nineteen forty two every single letter printed on the page becomes swallowed up inside a world of words producing a sentence then a paragraph or three page after page until the chapters engage the reader with thoughts he never knew before take it or leave it tickle me pink with your pen and ink but don't go sketch me with your quill or scratch me from your will and his portrait hangs in the gallery where the party people hang about drumming up trade for the man we never knew that's banging the drum when every other day is long the longest day turns and runs you can hardly tell that to the trees or to the birds and bees that the wind is blowing it all at all and we're spectators like spare letters left on the page
21042025/150
APRIL TWENTY
ONLINE
He went to the computer shop
but the store wasn't there no more
it was just a warehouse now
with no one there to help him
Everything's online these days
you place an order and they despatch it
stand and deliver they rob you blind
but you can't kid a kidder can you
All he wanted was a screen for his laptop
no joke he sat on the old one and it broke
but the man in the warehouse told him no
you can't buy nothing here it's all online
20042025
APRIL NINETEEN
HELLO AM I EVEN
TAKING THE TABLETS
Hello am I even taking the tablets
if I rattled like that I wouldn't need them
Did you take your tablets today
she asks me for the third time
I finally tell her that I didn't and
that I won't be taking them again
I read the leaflet that came with the meds
I really don't want to take them yet
all those side effects that mess with your head
which I really really don't want to get
You need to take your medication
she informs me - seriously she says
the Doctor knows best doesn't he
they're for your own good you know
Yeah but - I start to explain to deaf ears
she doesn't want to hear what I have to say
it's more than her job's worth to listen
but I tell her my findings anyway
If I rattled like that I wouldn't need them
Hello am I even taking the tablets no
19042025
APRIL EIGHTEEN
GOOD FRIDAY
JESUS IS LORD
Jesus is Lord of my day
Jesus is Lord of my way
Jesus is Lord of my truth
Jesus is Lord of my life
Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord
Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord
Jesus is Lord of my life
Jesus is Lord of my truth
Jesus is Lord of my way
Jesus is Lord of my day
18042025
APRIL SEVENTEEN
WHAT THEY WANT
She must know it's going to happen soon
I'd put my mortgage on that
but still perhaps later than sooner
The stuff that dreams are made of
I asked her once but she couldn't decide
It's a safe bet that she likes it that way
She's trying to lose those extra pounds
her new outfit won't quite fit
but she'll squeeze into it if it kills her
Some women are like that sometimes
although they always know what they want
because summer only lasts for so long
17042025
APRIL SIXTEEN
THE MERMAID
Where the whales play with you I've got no beef
further out beyond the barrier reef
Don't leave me when the ships bell starts to ring
I first heard your voice from the rose garden
last time the nightingale started to sing
then the mermaid sang I beg your pardon
If only her imagination could
extend from the seashore up to the creek
Without her memories covered in blood
digging for buried treasure all this week
But to the pure of course all things are pure
ships and yachts and different kinds of sloops
Acrobatic society for sure
throwing themselves whooping through all those hoops
Further out beyond the barrier reef
where the whales play with you I've got no beef
16042025
APRIL FIFTEEN
THE GENIUS
Blowing hot and cold but never sky blue
she was the genius that we all knew
Dreams confuse me sometimes send me loopy
unwanted dreams wake me in the dark night
Why I really haven't got a Scooby
who needs that kind of nonsensical fight
Sweating I awake unable to sleep
not knowing where I am or what is what
They tell me that everything is so deep
this and that yeah but the rest is old hat
Writing for England she was always mint
now people use her titles for their stuff
She would have loved to see her work in print
of course she did sometimes but life is tough
She was the genius that we all knew
blowing hot and cold but never sky blue
15042025
APRIL FOURTEEN
FINDING GOLD
Dreaming like they were when they sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean like Thor Heyerdahl did on his way to Tenerife and perhaps Jason and the Argonauts hugging the North African coast heading down to Agadir others went before them the stuff that myths are made of Thor thought the ancient pyramid builders passed that way from Egypt en-route to South America stopping at Tenerife and throwing up a pyramid or two but when they were finally excavated it turned out they had been built on a rubbish tip for agricultural use no earlier than the nineteenth century but lets not upset the Freemasons and others who believed and still do that these drywall lava stone structures were strategically positioned to view the summer solstice like finding gold at the end of the rainbow perhaps Jason's Golden Fleece or the Templars Holy Grail
14042025/150
APRIL THIRTEEN
CHINATOWN
You were
with me in
Chinatown
Manchester
London
and
Manila
Do you
remember it
the way I do
I have the
photographs
to prove it
The videos
you put on
social media
to endorse it
Enforce it
if you will
13042025
APRIL TWELVE
CONFUSION
Madness comes in droves
goes around in circles
that much everybody knows
Ancient memories of time
we hardly feel much older
even when we're sixty nine
I thought ham and piccalilli
might just be a thing
or is that something silly
They talk about delusion
I don't know what to say
everything is confusion
Wacky as a loonatic
I stumble in the dark
up the apples to the attic
With no one else to blame
pickled as a cucumber
I thought that I was sane
12042025
NaPoWriMo 2025
APRIL ELEVEN
SHE'S MY PEARL
When we start dancing she's over the moon
The audience applaud some of them swoon
So I wrote this little song about you
Someone new with only flowers to bring
I didn't know that my dreams would come true
I thought that you had someone in the wings
Waiting off stage for you to reappear
Don't you know that you're the star of the show
Holding out my hand I wish she was near
But when she appeared we still came to blows
If I had it on my toes would she cry
I know that I for one would miss my girl
Till we met I didn't know I was shy
But she's my girly now yes she's my pearl
The audience applaud some of them swoon
When we start dancing she's over the moon
11042025
APRIL TEN
ONE HUMP OR TWO
I wasn't looking forward to the camel ride
hanging on for dear life as we trekked through
what looked to me like an abandoned land fill site
bits of discarded plastic rising up above the sand
The Dromedary walking slowly in single file
me clinging on wishing the two hour session would end
having to lean backwards or forward sometimes sideways
to try to keep my balance on this ship of the desert
Before the end of the tour we saw the pink flamingoes fly
and wild dogs swimming across the river
feral cats and dozens of kittens were sunbathing on the rocks
and a few men and a girl were fishing in the lake
Finally we were able to dismount and stagger to the cafe
the boss man there was a Berber and he served sweet tea
Would you like sugar he asked one hump or two
whilst he told us that Moroccan camels were called Dromedary
10042025
APRIL NINE
SOUND AS A POUND
No escape from Agadir and the Baghdad Brigand Hotel
the Hanging gardens of Babylon and the Tower of Babel
Caine and Abel Adam and Eve everybody knows somebody
who goes there sometime for a sunshine break by the sea
But there's no escape for the staff who work there live in
all found sound as a pound except that they don't get paid
A massive fortified wall surrounds the grounds and
nobody has broken through it as yet
Okay if the truth be known and I have all the goss and inside and
totally reliable information about the situation you see there are
actually two ways in and out of the hotel complex one being
the main entrance the other comprising of the exit to the beach
both of them are closely monitored by armed security guards
not to keep non residents out but to keep the staff from escaping
09042025/150
APRIL EIGHT
PURPLES BLUES AND GREYS
They think they know all my secrets now
now that they have access to my phone
much like the lovers that I never knew
my other lover said she loved me too
If New York is the apple of her eye
why does she persist in taunting me
she says she's only teasing really but
really she's being so unpleasant to me
She sorts my tablets into purples blues and greys
counting the morning ones once twice or thrice
keep away from children prisoners and other patients
it's only my helper that can distribute them to me
08042025
APRIL SEVEN
MAGIC CARPETS
Magic carpets don't come cheap
but they do take cash in the Kasbah
although I bet you won't be flying home
on one any time soon flapping in the wind
fighting the vultures and Aladdin and his boys
never mind the forty thieves from Baghdad
the Pirates of Penzance and anybody else
with a magic lamp three wishes and a Genie
up his sleeve of which they tell me there
are plenty of on the Agadir coast
07042025
APRIL SIX
NESTING
Love the sun love the sea love the skies
love the birds singing breaking the silence
I think the multitude of birds love it here too
they love it more than me because they've
found their paradise passport and visa free
they know that this place is their place and
there's a number of them nesting in the tree
right next to me right now
06042025
APRIL FIVE
THE EASY ONES
Scribbling this with my Sudoku pencil
it's nearly blunt and the rubber has almost worn away
I didn't think to bring a spare one or two
I should have because I bought a new puzzle book
for the flight here I've got it on the table with me now
I'm working my way through the easy ones
(they get progressively harder)
I didn't bring my laptop 'cos I broke the charger
the day before our trip to North Africa
So here I am relying on my mobile thing
ding a ling cell phone call it what you will bring bring
05042025
APRIL FOUR
UNDER THE PARASOL
Much too hot to go gallivanting along the sandy beach
so here I am sitting in the shade and still getting burnt
The infinity pool is hard work and my arms are already sore
Even though I'm wearing a daft sun hat my head is peeling
and I'm sweating like a first time tourist under the parasol
04042025
APRIL THREE
SCULPTURE
Love the way they trim the trees
at the garden beach hotel
sculpture almost
easy on the peepers
Then there's the lady on reception
talking nineteen to the dozen
in French German and English
to the only Irishman in Morocco from Cork
I said corks float don't they
They stop bottles as well he informed me
when I had a chat with him
over a bottle of Casablanca in the bar later on
03042025
APRIL TWO 2025
BREAKFAST
Breakfast for beginners
fromage omelette
olives green and black
two types of pancakes
with whipped butter
and runny honey
oranges grapes
figs and fiddle sticks
strong black coffee
and or peppermint tea
But don't drink the water
out of the tap
I guess that's why
we're sitting outside now
waiting for the bar to open
02042025
APRIL ONE 2025
SHE'S DEAD CLEVER
Sitting out in the blazing sun
talking about the nice weather as ever
Where does the sun go down she enquires
Over the sea I tell her
How do you know that she asks
Because the sea is on the west coast I inform her
It's like she doesn't know anything
but she's dead clever really
she can't rewire a plug or change a fuse
but she's a dab hand at ironing and not just clothes
She can sort things out like camel rides
and trips to the Kasbah and the Souk
even buying carpets in Marrakesh
01042025
INTRODUCTION
In recent times I have found myself to be away from home at the end of March until mid April. I have, however, always managed to write a poem a day for the Global/NaPoWriMo challenge. This year we are in North Africa, Morocco in fact, my wife has her heart set on riding a camel which she has already booked, not just for her but for me too. The stuff of adventure, I suppose. I'll probably tell you more about this later, maybe even write a poem, about hopefully not being thrown off one. Anyway, wishing every one of you a wonderful 2025 NaPoWriMo and may your god bless your muse.
FLYING
I'm in flight mode half way up the apples and pears
one step at a time when the dog 'n bone rings
I hate flying and I dislike fairground rides
we've got a plane to catch and everything's coming on top
Drone drone you could moan for England she tells me
the mobile thing is belting out a mad tune good style
and I'm still struggling with her suitcase on the stairs
I don't think we're going to make it to Morocco at this rate
Will we make it to the airport will the taxi ever arrive
of course it will and we'll be flying out of the UK
before you can say boo to a goose or a camel or two
Casablanca Marrakesh Agadir here we come
31032025
