Napowrimo 26/1

 DAY ONE

ALL OF THE DOGS

Talking to strangers enlightening thoughts

who would believe that you could conceive

all of this knowledge in such a short time

Wednesday will prove what Tuesday could not do

She smiled but didn't say a word

until the aeroplane came in to land and then all hell broke loose

she started to scream and when she started to scream

all the babies on board began to cry

and when the babies decided to cry all of the dogs began to bark

and all of their owners began to shush them

and even the pilot couldn't hear himself think

I need a drink get me a drink the Captain screamed

at not one but everyone so the majority on that Trans Atlantic jetliner

started to make their way to the front with bottles of whiskey

bottles of gin bottles of vodka the plane began to tilt drunkenly

before I woke up

01042026

Napowrimo 2026

 INTRODUCTION

Who was it that said 'Time flies when you're having fun'? Well if like me, you enjoy writing poetry at any level, and are up for the challenge of writing thirty poems over the next thirty days of April then NaPoWriMo might well be the thing for you. If it is, the time is already here. I've been doing this for a few years now and it's always a fun challenge to write something each day and publish it on my blog. I won't be doing most of the prompts this year or chasing social media accounts for comments, but I'll try my best to write a little piece every day, one way or another.

My Introductory Poem

VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE

Phew is it really nearly April already

okay then watch this space

one of the things about being old

is that you can look back on your life

and remember people and incidents

that happened way back in the past

probably before most people alive today can remember

In my life I've met a number of very important people

(I didn't know that they were important at the time

but looking back I now realise that they were)

anyway one of these very important people told me

that the more you do in life the more you're asked to do

have you ever noticed that well I have

and at the moment I'm up to my eyeballs in projects

but a promise is a promise is a promise

so I'm back and I'll be writing more of this nonsense

and posting here on a regular basis so watch this space

31032026

Unlucky for some...

 

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH

Friday the thirteenth who would have thought it

not me of course but her and a million other

superstitious mothers will lose it all if they fall

and many more than you think most probably will

Bazillions of them crawling out of the proverbial woodwork

dicey as lice before their ship sinks without trace

like the Bismark and the Titanic before her

going down on the ocean bed to a watery grave

With their families still waiting for them back home

only who else could it happen to these days

when nobody loses and everyone's an after dinner winner

the last investigation that they want in all the world begins today

Therefore at the final hurdle everything will unfold

the things we have been told and not been told

the story of those poor men and women will be sold

that lost their lives on land or shipwrecked at sea

13032026

In various stages of undress...

 

WHAT SHE EXPECTS

She sends photographs of her boat race most days

Occasionally she poses in various stages of undress

Each picture accompanied by a threatening letter

Don't you dare look at another woman she writes

Sometimes her handwriting is hard to read

Especially when she scrawls her words in blood

I really don't know what she expects of me

I'm chained to a cold damp prison wall

Rats the size of Aussie Joeys bounce around my cell

I beg the Guards to stop giving me her letters

Ignoring me perhaps to torture me

The Screws continue to post them through the bars

11032026

Pancake Day 2026...

Here's a little thing I wrote in 2007 

and updated this time last year

PANCAKES

Do they still make 'em in Jamaica
Like me Mamma used to make hers?

Don't you just hate shopping
When you're out of food
Don't you just love cooking
When you're in the mood

Don't you just love pancakes
They're so quick to make
You just batter the pan and
Flip them when they take...

Like me Mamma used to make 'em
With sugar, rum, and bubble gum
Don't you know they're so yum yum
Making pancakes is so much fun

They're easy peasy lemon squeezy
Just like me Mamma used to make 'em... Burnt!
221107/Rewritten03032025

Happy New Year 2026

Reworked:

BATMAN AND CARRUTHERS

Who can tell what spell will unfold this New Year if we mistake it for something unpleasant will we even make it some of us won't that's for sure the way the clock trickles down like the toxic tears of a clown another season for all and sundry to live life to the full foolish as it may seem it's a dream for some of us what's your New Years resolution gonna be the same as last year I bet but you'll keep it this time or will you start on February the second like me so long as it's a Tuesday and the weekend is over I hear you say Carruthers and remember what you said about Christmas when I asked what day it was on you said I'm not all that bothered Batman as long as it's not Friday the thirteenth upstairs downstairs or in your ladies chamber

30122025/09012026/Reworked/150

Original piece:

BATMAN AND CARRUTHERS

Upstairs downstairs or in yer ladies chamber

who can tell what spell will or won't unfold

New Year-ness less we forsake it mistake it

for something or other unpleasant or not

Will we even make it some of us won't

that's for sure the way the clock trickles

like the toxic tears of a clown tic tock down

for another season another reason

for all and sundry to live life to the full

Foolish as it may or may not seem

it's a dream for some and a necessity for others

What's your New Years resolution gonna be

the same as last year but you'll keep it this time

or will you start on February the second like me

So long as it's a Tuesday and the weekend is over

and well and truly behind you Carruthers

Remember what you said about Christmas

when I asked you what day it was on

You said I'm not all that bothered Batman

as long as it's not Friday the thirteenth

Who can tell what spell will or won't unfold

Upstairs downstairs or in yer ladies chamber

30122025

Re-posted from my 1990 collection...

 NOVEMBER THE SIXTH

The firemen go past

here all the time.

Blue light flashing

siren sounding.

They reach their destination

drive round the block

radio in:

"It's another false alarm."

In the morning you walk

past an empty house.

The doors are charred

the glass in the window frames

has gone.

It smells like

November the sixth.

61190

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED IN MY PAMPHLET:

'COWARDY CUSTARDS LAST STAND IN SALFORD'

National Poetry Day 2025

 

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

Metro Manila One..

 

CAVEMAN (AT THE ZOO)

I went to see the Caveman at the zoo

I read about him in the papers 

it was all over the news

Neanderthals and Troglodytes were only fantasy



I went to see the Caveman at the zoo

but they told me that the only Caveman

that they've got looks just like me



I looked for ages in the cages

but the only thing I saw was a dinosaur

and that dinosaur looked just like you

and you're my clone



If the truth was known I was on my own

I was the only Caveman at the zoo

and all those creatures proud and poor were

locked up in that godforsaken place like me



I went to see the Caveman at the zoo

but they told me that the only Caveman

that they've got looks just like me



Neanderthals and Troglodytes were only fantasy

they had all escaped to a better place you see



Hold the front page

what about me

Napowrimo 2025/Conclusion

 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

Napowrimo 2025/30

 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

Napowrimo 2025/29

 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

Napowrimo 2025/28

 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

Napowrimo 2025/27

 

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:

SECRET LOVE
I seek your heart and pray that I will find.
My turtle dove, although I may be blind.

Who knows the thoughts that rattle in my head,
O what a night that was O what a sight!
After the first fight everybody fled,
Does no one want to put the world aright?

On you alone my sweet, my eyes do dote,
Who in this world can say that isn't so?
Apart from my love, nothing can denote
Your smile that only I can see, Oh no.

But why O why should only I be true,
Is secret love destined to end in tears?
Not if I have my way, this is my view;
No one can say until the dark sky clears.

My turtle dove, although I may be blind.
I seek your heart and pray that I will find.
27042025/SH148

Napowrimo 2025/26

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/25

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/24

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/23

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/22

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/21

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/20

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/19

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/18

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/17

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

Napowrimo 2025/16

 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

Napowrimo 2025/15

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

Napowrimo 2025/14

 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

Napowrimo 2025/13

 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

Napowrimo 2025/12

 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

www.sewina.blogspot.com

Napowrimo 2025/11

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/10

 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

Napowrimo 2025/9

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 

Napowrimo 2025/8

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/7

 

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

Napowrimo 2025/6

 

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