Day Twenty-Two

DAY TWENTY-TWO

FORGIVE ME

They hit you for six with

or without hockey sticks

dig up the dirt hurt you the

way that they've been hurt

Forgive me God for being so naïve

I only want to believe the best

if you fight you fall love conquers all

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Day Twenty-One

DAY TWENTY-ONE

POKING THROUGH THE RADIO

Cloudy Celsius versus Fahrenheit alright it's not so hot today but we're going to Looe anyway the sun is cracking the hard baked clouds and there's a bit of blue sky poking through the radio keeps asking us for money that we've not got they're more important than us of course they need our support fifty pounds or a hundred pounds would keep their station going for another fifteen minutes of shame pity we can't help them but there's always another channel to tune tunnel vision steadfast brand loyalty and all that jazz not on this show it's all pop goes the weasel what's the difference between a whistle and a whistle and flute it's all semantics or is it just slang re-tune the tranny but don't tell granny that the radio's on 210418

Day Twenty

DAY TWENTY

BIG BIG SUN

High and low clouds sandwich

the Dartmoor hilltops sweet

floating hills in a multi-coloured sky

Our Isambard might well have seen

the same sight from Saltash too

building bridges the only thing to do

Thick as thieves the unseen gold

that paves the mythical streets

at their feet the missing rainbow crows

The sun still waiting to breakthrough

to break another record all time high

for April since nineteen forty-nine

Then when the sun arrives to dominate the sky

the hills and clouds turn yellow tainted blue

big big sun big big sky blue sky

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Day Nineteen

DAY NINETEEN

AS DAY BITES

Orange streaks across the

sky blue city sky

in broken lines

The hill tops behind

still dark and not quite dawn

Putty cats and China

dolls on Dartmoor

If only chalk could talk

without those hands...

Christian Mill and will

this weekend bring a bitter pill

It's sunshine Daffs and Daisies now

and at Crownhill as day bites

the crazy orange streaks

have turned to white

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Day Eighteen

DAY EIGHTEEN

LATE AGAIN!

It's not just waiting for (buses) it's waiting on buses too

Just when you think you can get an early bath

(laugh) they stop at Tesco or Asda and make you wait

Late again! You just can't win the bus lottery

When you're three (buses) down and stuck outside Home Park

You might as well get a season ticket and call it a draw

Then you'll really suffer like all the other barbers there

Up the Pilgrims! - Argyle argie and all that razzmatazz

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Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN

EMBLAZONED ON THE YELLOW FLASH

Standing here waiting at the cold stop for the bus

you end up hating every car that passes by

Who took the public out of transport?

Who took the ting out of waiting (for the bus)?

Lifting one foot in front of the other

it's often easier to walk

Talking about brick walls and falling on deaf ears

shouting the odds don't/won't get you to work on time

Ting – it's my stop next – if the barber lets me off...

The thing (ting) perhaps about Plymouth buses is that

they/I/we don't understand what they mean by

the statement emblazoned on the Yellow Flash

Up to every fifteen minutes! What does that mean?

They only run every thirty minutes at the crucial time

when people are trying to get to and from work and...

I have to get three buses with a fifteen minute wait

between each one – ha! Maybe that's what they mean!

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Day Sixteen

DAY SIXTEEN

DON'T ASK HARRY

Barking like a Bandish Harry

he's yelling on somebody else's corner now

selling the same stuff but mixed down plenty

twenty going on forty-five fifteen years inside

plenty of candy immoral as Mandy

bubble gum he's not and it ain't much fun

aniseed for the munchy minded crunchy

Slowly giving Mutley a bad name

one wrap and Harry's got you hooked

cooked up on a silver platter

stitched up like a kipper nippers beware

if it sounds too good to be true

it almost definitely is don't ask Harry

there's no such thing as a free lunch...

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Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

We don't know much about what the future holds

but the future holds more than we don't know now

revelation is progressive some say repressive

but they're the great unwashed...

Those that continue to hope in a brighter better future

will be rewarded with a greater sense of fulfilment a

heightened sense of awareness and a love

that empowers all things...

150418/DN

Day Fourteen

DAY FOURTEEN

SIXTEEN THINGS

You can dream a little loving

moving on to a hot lips kiss

Miss little Miss Understood

moody as Monday come home

me and my shadow are waiting

Wait hold on someone's here

there you go I knew it would work

park the motor and come on over

very nice to have you in town

nowt like folks to get yer back up

Super duper every time you lose

lost like this for a little while

mile after mile you trust in them

hem it up easy as you go along

song to sing or you can plan solid

I sold it so you can too

007 trust in the man from MI6

sixteen things that won't go wrong

song for singers sinners on song

wrong on right or right on wrong

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Day Thirteen

DAY THIRTEEN

PURPLE HAZE

He beats and bangs her drums until she comes

And flaps his wings and flies around the room

His winkle-pickers tapping to the tune

He introduces her to rock 'n' roll

He strips and bares his soul and starts to sing

Some people do seem to have such strange ways

When she begins to weep his guitar plays

Some people say this world is just a maze

He tells her that there's nothing much to do

And we're all living in a purple haze

Don't listen to the things that people say

It's Friday like any other Friday but

It's Friday the thirteenth and that means that

Strange things happen even stranger things are

Forecast ask Hitchcock and Castro et al

And all the different ones born on that day

He beats and bangs her drums until she comes

And flaps his wings and flies around the room

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Day Twelve

DAY TWELVE

REALLY?

at the top of the tallest tree where the squirrel and the Magpie meet............ zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 120418

Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN

SUPERMARKETFICIALITY

It's all in the mind or is it - what is it anyway about codology all those pieces of information ironed out on scraps of paper - I cause a commotion every time I pop to the local shops - when they say do

you want a plastic bag I say no thank you give me a brown paper bag please – then they throw a wobbler – it's all cobblers hold the shoes throw the boot in – but don't use those self service tills whatever you do – how many jobs have been lost so far and how many more people will lose their jobs – think about it if you need a part time job at the supermarket you're not going to get one any time soon because some mad robot has already got it - every one of those self service thingies represents at least three jobs lost forever – another pet hate of mine is buy two for the price of one I just really don't like the up-selling mentality on the chicken thigh shelf – and who are the winners and the losers in all of this supermarketficiality – it's all in the mind or is it? PS I'm making deliveries with the Milkman's Horse the Pony Express it's not but at least it knows the doors – I'm coughing like forty a day waking up every fourth minute and falling back to sleep – bulimic I'm not pneumonia next stop confused now certainly she put three chickens against the wall and told me to take my chops

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Day Ten

DAY TEN

CHUCKLE HOCK

Chuckle hock like you're not going to stop

Pop goes the weasel (and stoat) till next week

Seek and you will - find out - what you can do

Candorous as the pawn shop barber is

Isabel doesn't ride her trike no more

Ore iron ore any old iron Ron

Ronaldo I buy anything (dot) com

Come on those days have long long gone come on

Come on City it's time to do your stuff

Stuff the Mickey's tonight make me happy

Happy as Larry and up with the lark

Barking for England a walk in the park

Dark as a daffodil - a daffodil?

A daffodil? - That's daft - like chuckle hock

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Day Nine

DAY NINE

MAYFLOWER OR ARMADA

Overheard at Royal Parade

On the back of the forty three

Alright John? Alright Tom?

Who's harder Mayflower or Armada?

What about the Southway bruiser?

Ernie (will) settle with West Park

If they still want to fight tonight

Never mind the winner who's the loser?

Back to school tomorrow John

Back to school tomorrow Tom

Who's harder Mayflower or Armada?

Dream on John dream on Tom

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Day Eight

DAY EIGHT

TO BUDSHEAD CREEK

The angry Troglodyte motorbike gangs

with their flailing chains of steel

Pull wheelies on the forest track outback

and slip slide towards the creek

They live in caves on the housing estate

not a million miles away

On sunny days we walk along the path

to Tamerton Lake and watch

The little boats that only seem to

go bobbing on the ebb and flow

At the bottom of the garden the forest

dips down to Budshead Creek

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Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

CONFINED

Sitting here confined by the flu listening to radio five live

'Cos I won't pay Sky there's not a lot that I can do to change the score

I've heard them say it's just a game but what do they know they're just a bore

070418

Day Six

DAY SIX

FRIDAY MORNING

(NEAR TAMERTON LAKE)

The weekend starts here and the neighbours are up with the lark out in the garden mowing the grass trimming the hedge painting the fence cleaning the pool they must have nothing better to do – and I'm up in bed with a contagious bout of the flu sweating streams one minute and shivering like a troglodyte the next and now that I've started to cough my throat is really getting sore – the neighbours are at it again they've just come back from the tidal creek with fish and foraged mushrooms and fallen tree branches to fuel their barbecue tonight it's not even a sunny day but they're out there shouting the odds the radio blaring and the dogs barking and the kids crying what am I going to do?

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Day Five

DAY FIVE

THE SECOND SUN

The sunsets in the west every night the second sun sets right behind the first - one night three red flashes appeared to come from the second sun then a flash of red lightening streaked across the darkening sky

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Day Four

DAY FOUR

STANDING HERE WAITING

Waiting here at daft o'clock crazy

for the bus 'cos I love my Baby

To the factory gate to earn some dollar

it's better than being out of collar

A drop of rain on my swede don't faze me

some of the things you do amaze me

So I'll keep on taking those purple pills

'cos the Doctor says they ward off ills

I love the City buses but I hate the hills

you couldn't walk far like Jack and Jill

It's a pity that they always hang a trout

to make me late for any shout

Swizzles not Matlow but I mop the decks

on the factory floor of Dick's and Beck's

Love hearts for my Baby 'cos she's so sweet

everything I do's to give my lover a treat

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Day Three

DAY THREE

BEFORE DAWN

I just looked up when I saw her peeping

(at me) through the clouds what a wonderful

way to start the day with the face of the

moon smiling at me before dawn –

then over the Hoe the sunlight burst through -

they saw it in Devonport too...

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Day Two 2018

DAY TWO

IF ONLY

Monday comes like a bolt out of the blue – the blue skies have turned to shades of grey - and they say that there's more snow on the way - the beast from the east is relentless - and the bus to Plymouth takes longer than the flight from Dubai - stuck in Birmingham and I'm not talking Alabama hot - Georgia it's not - more clowns than circuses and Brum's got a lot - Bristol next stop and then Home Park - up the Pilgrims - you could make the Premiership in two years time with the right investment - if only if - if only...

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Day One 2018

DAY ONE 2018

AFTER THE WAR

They built this street a hundred years before

And rebuilt it sometime after the war

A farmers field in eighteen thirty three

The Victorians changed all that you see

Throwing up new houses and building roads

In nineteen twenty something art deco

Those metal frames with little panes of glass

replaced the sash cord windows of the past

But Hitler's bombs put paid to idle dreams

When the war was over - new housing schemes

Although somehow this terrace row still stands

The sunburst plasterwork replaced by hand

And all those little panes put back in place

Then double glazing came and changed the face

On and on into this new century

They say it takes a special eye to see

What was once there and oh who really cares

I know I change the mood – I want to share

That's it that's all I really have to say

About bits of St Budeaux on this day

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Introduction 2018 30 Poems in 30 days

INTRODUCTION 2018


Hi, this is my tenth year doing the NaPoWriMo challenge of thirty poems in thirty days. I know from past experience that only a small percentage of the pieces will be up to scratch, but it is always worth the effort of taking the challenge because one or two of the poems will shine and make it all worthwhile. So, may I take this opportunity to wish everybody taking part this year a successful NaPoWriMo.

My Sweet Lord...

MY SWEET LORD

I worship you in every single way

sing praises to your name day after day

Oh thank you thank you thank you My Sweet Lord

thank you that my salvation is assured

Forgive me Lord each time I go astray

forgive me when I fail you each day

I pray Sweet Lord that others will be saved

that they will no longer be enslaved

I pray that I can share your word each day

and know that you're the truth the life the way

090917/1

Bless The Lord...

BLESS THE LORD

Bless the Lord and worship Him for sure

praise His holy name for ever more

Forgive us Lord for failing you each day

for failing you in every single way

Thank you Father for giving us your son

to die to save us each and every one

We pray this wicked world will hear the call

and many will be saved despite the fall

We ask in Jesus Name that you will bless

everything we do when we confess

090917  

Blackpool Blues...

LIKE A MAD THING

Drifting off kaleidoscoping into dreams

with ever increasing decreasing patterns

The orchids wave gently in the artificial air

Waking from a deep sleep I start to communicate

like a mad thing my eyes the size of saucers

My dentures clamped tightly to my tongue

After dark my teeth begin to chatter

By the next day there’s no stopping me

I’m talking for Blackpool barking up the tower
Signing copies of someone else’s book

230517

NaPoWriMo 2017 Conclusion

CONCLUSION

Well, what can I say? First of all congratulations to all my fellow challengers and poetic friends for completing yet another NaPoWriMo. This was my ninth year, and I probably produced some of my worst work ever. It is always difficult to produce something fresh and new on a daily basis, and this April was particularly hard for me. Many thanks for reading my posts this year. I will leave you with my May Day Poem: 

AND ANYTHING BIGGER THAN RHINOCEROS

Attributes distribution retribution and anything bigger than Rhinoceros

The city grows exponentially as the mean number of poor people increase

Nobody knows the fine art of devaluation like the corrupt official

Bent as a nine bob note he goes straight for the proverbial jugular

Dollars and cents were never this important before the great wall of Chihuahua

All these self important people running around chasing their own tails

They’ll tell you anything they think you want to hear like it or not sideways

We’re both doing the same thing in different back yards digging doesn’t help

When the balloon goes up everybody gets burnt not just those that play with fire

We all try to make our mark sometimes too casually perhaps maybe someday…

Be careful what you wish for she’s got a ball and chain welded to that railing

Her smile is deadly and her voice will mesmerise you if you let it happen

Love is just out of reach just beyond the fence that you can’t jump over

But different cities will flash through your memory as you tune back in

Who are you and how often do you come to this great place to pray?

He walks out of the cathedral blinking in the warm sunlight outside

Everybody’s a number now they have all been fish chipped and tattooed

She thinks I’m looking for her following her in the rain with a broken umbrella

He went to the tailors bought a new suit had it altered smart as a Munchkin

Miss-jointed disappointed un-anointed and anything bigger than Rhinoceros  

010517

You can read the Nairobics version of this piece on my Dream Genie blog.

NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Thirty

DAY THIRTY

CARROT CAKE

Carrot cake she wants to bake it

Scream /Shout it from the chandeliers

For him football was the big hit

Fizzy stuff champers bubbly cheers

She only wants to treat her man

With a folding bed that’s broken

Rock ‘n ‘roll in the caravan

Water gas electric tokens

It’ll be alright on the night

Who’s joking who now - don’t you know?

Joshua beat Klitschko in the fight

One summer day it starts to snow

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Nine

DAY TWENTY NINE

TOOTHPASTE ISN’T

MADE FOR TASTE

Lovin'

you’s

what

set

me

free…

Nothing else was meant to be

You know that as well as me

Some

say

love

was

meant

to

hurt…

Different strokes for girls than boys

Don’t go making all that noise

Haste

post-

haste

you

set

me

free…

Surely love was meant to be

For my love as well as me

I

really

didn’t

mean

to

hurt…

It’s just that we seem such a waste

And toothpaste isn’t made for taste

290417

NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Eight

DAY TWENTY EIGHT

THE RHYMES GET WORSE

Eating my way back into your life

Said Oversize Lisa Mabel

As she stuck the machete deep

Into the cheesecake on the table

The sands of time shifted sideways

And covered a multitude of sins

He was blind in the one eye

With telescopic vision in his shins

The asphalt stars are made from stone

The chewing gum scars the pavement clone

The cycle lanes stream like rivulets

With cyclists screaming down the phone

The rhymes get worse than Oscar’s ballad

So stick that in your chicken stew

Cucumber sandwiches all round

And another round or two too few

Bicyclettes and Penny Farthings

All the old bikes made for romancing

Like the ballroom in the tower

Roll on the happy hour dancing

Loving this the way it goes

Eating cake under her nose forever

The prison mentality

Sitting outside on the street together

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Seven

DAY TWENTY SEVEN

BINGALOO – WAITING FOR THE NEW DAWN

Bingaloo who do you think you’re talking to - move over out my way

Say what and talk for anywhere that starts with Saint - not Helier though

Some of us have lived a charmed life forgotten more than most others know

Jersey was like that – stay there long enough the whole world would come to you

Don’t you just love Islands especially when the sun shines the whole day through           

Sitting on the beach whiling the day away - waiting for the new dawn

Bingaloo who do you think you’re talking to - move over out my way

Say what you must about the situation that you find yourself in

Some of us ought to know better by now - sixty’s the new forty five

Jersey was is and always will be my favourite place in the world

Don’t you know that something is happening to us both right here right now

Some people will never know what we believe or where we are going…

Bingaloo who do you think you’re talking to - move over out my way

Bingaloo who do you think you’re talking to - move over out my way

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Six

DAY TWENTY SIX

LOOKING FOR A LOVER

Happy as Larry I think we’ve said that before sometime somehow when?

She searches the internet looking for the perfect partner skew whiff

Online dating dotty as Daisy she drives herself crazy looking

She finds him eventually draws him in sucks him up knocks him sideways

He like her is just such a fool no one can win in this dating game

She goes to the gym and lives on protein shakes looking for a lover

You can’t buy peace of mind no matter how proactive you are Shirley

It’s been a while, so glad you contacted me, I knew you would one day

Trouble is the roubles I had have been devalued now like beetroot

Everybody’s in the same boat stuck up the creek without a paddle

Floating with the tide no control over the direction it takes them

All rivers lead to the sea all roads lead to Rome my heart leads to thee

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Five

DAY TWENTY FIVE

RETROSPECTIVE?

Disillusioned this time there’s no going back 

and it’s all downhill now

As cold as a refrigerator - colder - as cold as a freezer

I bury my head in the sands of time 

she sits inside the fridge freezing 

She was hot once just for a moment 

it must have been something I said

Although she should take a butcher’s in the mirror 

it must be my fault

I can only blame myself now 

sometimes it has to be down to me                                           

One has to take responsibility 

can’t blame her for hating me

No one hates anyone life is not like that - 

sometimes it’s just perspective

Retrospective? no not me - 

I’m forward looking as can be - et vous?

She puts all the names in a hat and shakes them - 

mine falls out - hits the floor

Trodden underfoot like the pub quiz crib sheet - 

nobody can win now

The headaches are coming thick and fast - 

quick quick slow - breathe another breath

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Four

DAY TWENTY FOUR

CAPICHE?

Idiotic as yesterday was I can’t help myself anymore…

One word follows the next becomes a sentence and so the story grows

I get entangled dangling there like a lemon in an orange tree

The words you speak are from a different language - talk to me full on

Tell me something exciting about yourself (if you want to) maybe

Semantics are as romantic as fishing in a rusty old tub

There’s nothing funny about talking to someone you don’t know at all

Hey how old are you? perish the thought, you really look ten years younger!

Hold the full stops period and exclamation marks dot dot dot ker pow!

Corned beef hash sweet potato mash and a dirty great big plate of chips

Eating yourself to death bursting out of your triple fm size shirt

Here I am throwing maggots for you /at you as you fish in the tub

We’ve been ‘dating’ for three whole paragraphs now - where do we go from here?

Your beach or mine red or white wine coca cola would be fine capiche?

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NaPoWriMo 2017 Day Twenty Three

DAY TWENTY THREE

SINKING IN CANDY FLOSS

Talking crazy to crazy fools and cool

Life’s a hustle - hustle bustle - trouble

and strife but that’s life in the big city

Just

      when

you

      think

that

      you

know

      what

she

      wants…

All hell breaks loose and the dirt hits the fan

Wonderful as a non-beach holiday

Sitting in a caravan by the lake

Sinking in candy floss to the armpits

Just keeping your head above the water

Who really cares about the future now

Which way is up when everything is flat

Is she still whispering sweet nothings phew

Never knew – 

                      didn’t understand - 

she cared

You’re too late baby blue you’re much too late

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