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
