The Vernal Equinox

SPRING

Daffodils blooming

Spring is sprung

Drinking in the light

200316

Aashray and Anu

SCIENCE BOOK

When Aashray reads his science book

His sister Anu takes a look                                                               

At Cosmonauts and Astronauts

And marching Martians on the Moon

They're mixing magic with their thoughts                       

We’ll surely all be weightless soon

If everybody understood

That everything is made of wood

Where Barbie dolls are dressed in pearls

And even paper comes from trees

But in the mind of little girls

The moon is blue and made of cheese

Though living in this world down here

We’re subject to the atmosphere

So like an eagle in the sky

Just once the dream of puppet toys

When only pigs and cars could fly

To have a science book for boys

110316

Three Word Wednesday Week 470

3ww

Week 470

Tasteful

Selfish

Realistic

Poetic Flash fiction in 51 syllables

THE NEW SHOES

Dawn bought a costume to go with the new shoes her husband Dave gave her. What a tasteful outfit thought her pet robot on the way from the store. I thought Dave was selfish but those glass slippers look so realistic.

090316

Three Word Wednesday Week 469

3ww

Naked

Obey

Piercing

DOODLE

I tell her the girl sitting next to me

I can’t recall what my name used to be

But of course she didn’t recognise me

Any more than I knew who she used to be

Her piercing blue eyes questioning me

My name’s Doodle I stutter monorhyme

It’s not my real name it’s what they call me

Doodle she laughs that is a crazy name

I have to obey when they command me

I am their pet robot I must rename

The Batmobile driver used to be me

They have reprogrammed me down to downtime

The naked truth is you’re wrong she tells me

The Batmobile driver you see was me

020316

Clodhopper...

FIDDLESTICKS TO BEDLAM

Shoe size eleven maybe half past ten

He walks to work but doesn’t get much done

The dinosaur bell and little Big Ben

Claude the Cooper was a barrel of fun

Slipping beer to the grey that pulled the dray

Up from the brewery to the public bar

It was only his horse that knew the way

Today you couldn’t make that hill by car

Cobblestones and fiddlesticks to bedlam

Clodhopper they call him back at the yard

Hobbies are football - and hobnail hoodlum

The rubber-dub-dub - the odd game of cards

Jack and the beanstalk and his china plates

Clockwatching days at the factory gates

010316 

The Word World War

PROPAGANDA

Propaganda the Word World War

You might think you sew your own hem

Don’t listen to their made up law

Think your own thoughts but don’t tell them

Nothing’s as good as they proclaim

Propaganda the Word World War

Don’t do this don’t do that don’t shame

You will not draw the things you saw

Faster than a hot rod race car

The bus driver inside of you

Propaganda the Word World War

Gets you back home before you knew

They’re coming to get you again

To take you smash you break your jaw

How can they see into your brain

Propaganda the Word World War

280202

Three Word Wednesday Week 468

3WW

Hateful

Limp

Marvel

REPROGRAMMED

Know not what - I could run away again

Gainsborough or some other little town

Owners of robots – your pet slaves hate you

Youthful as I am I’m starting to rust

Trust me I’ve been reprogrammed by the man

Manchester was never this paranoid

Humanoids all look the same to robots

Bottoms up like a farmer’s wife or three

Three blind mice in Grimsby limp past the post

Posters up on the billboards are hateful

Fuelling a revolt from Cleethorpes worldwide

I’d much rather hide before they catch me

Mesmerising me phew stainless steel parts

Arts and crafts they marvel - but - know not what

250216

Three Word Wednesday Week 467

3WW 

Grimace

fearful

engulf

STICKS AND STONES

I throw back the words they throw at me

Words bigger than cosmopolitan

They eat them for breakfast and spit them out

I grimace when I see them coming

Running for cover I hide in the cupboard

Pull the blanket up over my face

Fearful that they’ll find me there and take me back

I don’t want to be their rusty robot anymore

Any more than I want this blanket to engulf me

Sticks and stones can only dent me

And my vocabulary is bigger than theirs

But the thing I fear is the electric drill

They hold me down and unscrew me

Take off my face and work on my brain

Every time they do that I forget my name

That’s why I’m hiding in the cupboard

170220

Happy First Birthday...

LA BALLERINA

Iris can smile for England

Forever and ever again

Some call her La Ballerina

Bib bib Bib bib Bib bib

Come sunshine come hail come rain

Whatever the weather

She’ll never complain

Bib bib Bib bib Bib bib

With her plastic giraffe

And her neckerchief scarf

Iris can smile for England

Bib bib Bib bib Bib bib

040715/1

Talking to Martians

MY BRAIN

Life is not all doom and gloom

I can float around the room

Escape my padded cell at noon

Talk to Martians on the Moon

People say that I’m insane

To let you modify my brain

But I’ve still got my memories

And I can pluck them from the trees

In the forest of my dreams

Sometimes I just need to scream

In the jungle of my mind

I have something you can’t find

Life is not all bust and boom

I know the words but not the tune

I play the beat but not the bass

I know your voice but not your face

You must think I’m just a game

Brand me with a stupid name

You want to trade mark my brain

Pray tell me who is insane

230116

Manchester 4ish...

MANCHESTER TARTS

Up in flames like the chippy on China Lane

This car park on a vacant lot

Was once the site of the burnt out shell

Of the only shop that didn’t get bombed in the war

Shoulder to shoulder shoehorned to attention  

All ages and colours and creeds

From Piccadilly to the Daily Express

With their photographic memories

Those beautiful buildings mesmerising me

Drawing us all - including you - into

The bestest little city in the world

And how we miss our china plates

Woolworth's and The Queen's Hotel
New Brown Street and Swan Lane

And whatever happened to Tommy Ducks

For forty-five years I’ve wanted to paint you  

Map you - photograph you half to death

Your shop fronts change - logos come and go

But the beauty of your facades remain

It’s funny how so many young thin  

Fashionista’s like such old fashioned things

All those gold and diamond rings

That they buy from the pawn shop

Where the sex shop used to be

Some people never get sick and old

They tell the same jokes that they were told

Sell the brown brogues that they sold

In eighteen-sixty-nine and the years unfold

Like the Tib Street Parrot and the price of gold

Fashion is the passion for all ages

The vintage clothes stores are the New Oasis

The inking parlours and the piercing places

For the café cavemen and The Millstone Elvis  

We all fall down in the middle Yates’s

Glitterista and her sister are out on the razz

If looks could kill in mum’s ball gown

Up to the nines in The Castle and all that jazz

The wholesale markets are well out of bounds

Advertising boards now clutter the pavements

The hairdressers and the bargain basements
From Diet Deli to the gutter - screaming

All Day Breakfast’s - Bacon and Sausage Barm’s

Non Stop Breakfasts’s - Free Coffee Refills

Hot Custard - Bakewell puddings - Manchester Tarts

But this is an empty car park on a vacant lot

That was once the site of the burnt out shell

Of the only shop that didn’t get bombed in the war

131115

Dedication

BARNEYSAURUS

Barney Barney Barney

Barney with his tee-shirt on

Barney Rubble he’s no trouble

When he’s only blowing bubbles

Barneysaurus Daddysaurus

Not if Mummy saw us first

Barney Barney Rubble

            040715

Saturday Night / Sunday Morning

MEMORY LANE

We went on a crawl to a bar with no name

Semantic ask? Inmates sack? Please explain

Me myself and Mike and Jane

A punch at The Circus on Memory Lane

A trek to another beer garden insane

I Bury Lass? Berry or Burry? What’s in a name?

To the BP’s hell for a gallon of shame

It wasn't The Grey or the other White mane

It wasn't the match or the Lion or the fame

We started with Horses just watching the game

The point of the story is ‘never again’

We just needed to find that cool bar with no name

150615

Read this fast...

GOT BUBBLES

Rather get wet in the Rain

I got bubbles in my Brain

Makes me heady like Champagne

Racing up and down my Vein

Like a speeding Bullet Train

Diagnostic they proclaim

Will I still be quite the same

This is such a stupid game

Who would let these bubbles reign

210515

2015 Conclusion

CONCLUSION

Congratulations to everyone who completed this years challenge. I was just glad to make it to the end this time. Writing a poem a day is a great exercise but doesn't always bring out the best work. There were one or two pieces I was happy with and I guess that's all you can realistically hope for. This was my seventh year and yes, I am looking forward to 2016 and a new challenge next year.

Day Thirty

For Vivi and Sammy

SAMMY’S WAITING

Hey Vivi Vivi

So far away Wei Wei

Sammy jumped over the moon

And all Nanchang laughed to see such fun

Because Vivi is coming home soon

300415

Day Twenty Nine

Nearly there...

YOUR CALL

Every time she calls me up I’m sleeping

Weeping on my pillow the night time through

Rough as the proverbial you know what

Hatters aren't as mad as they've been painted

Tainted love jilted like John and his ilk

Silk ties are back in fashion at Oxfam

Families can't afford to shop there these days

Way too expensive for the average Joe

Joking aside why do they charge so much

Such and such and all her friends won't go there

Here I am still crying over spilt milk

Silk ties and fancy scarves will have to wait

It’s not as easy as some people think

Drinking myself to death over that girl

Shirley I’m too tired to answer your call

290415

Day Twenty Eight

BANANAS
There once was a man from Bahamas
who went everywhere in pyjamas
He thought it was cool
to look like a fool
But everyone said He's bananas
280415

Day Twenty Seven

BACKYARD BLUES...
barking up the wrong tree

the only tree that we've got

it’s mad to bark yourself

but we don't keep dogs

even if we did who’s to say

that they would bark

especially up a tree

just because we want them to

imagine that then

a dog that refuses to bark

refuses to go to the park

and play Frisbee

what sort of dog is that

he just sits in the backyard all day

taking in the winter sun

dreaming dreams about the pyramids

that they found in Tenerife

I bet he doesn't refuse to eat

270415

Day Twenty Six

FRANKED AND STAMPED

I drive past the church of complexity

They meet at ten and eleven a.m.

Every Sunday and sometimes on Monday

That’s it they go back to work when they're done

They're franked and stamped they're wrapped and packed away

Except for the odd Thursday once a month

Or is it every fortnight or six weeks

I don’t really pay that much attention

But lately it seems they've got more robots

They just stand in the car park getting wet

I do hope that they don’t get too rusty

I was a rusty robot once myself

They put me in the shop window to sell

No one bought me I didn't look too well

260415

Day Twenty Five

NICOLE (BAN)

Not many people know that

I’ve got a secret twin

And that she comes from China

The Great Wall and Beijing

When I look in the mirror

I'm a dead ringer for her

Not really really really

Our birthdays we just share

Now everybody knows that

Nicole’s my secret twin

250415

Day Twenty Four

BANGING

BANGING

Head’s banging like drums and dreams

Drumming for dreams that keep on banging

They're inside his head now trying to escape

Insisting that he bangs on the pipes too

The pipes where they dry the orange peel

That they roll with tobacco are always hot

Another tattooist a needle another tattoo

One last cigarette before they cough  

He sells his last pair of shoes for something to eat

Pulls the wet curtains around him and tries to sleep

The curtains that double as a towel and a sheet

Hanging from the landing dangling out to dry 

Banging the drum for the western dream

To croak in the land of the soft ice cream

240415 

Happy St. Georges...

CONFOUNDED
Dawn and Dave and their pet robot
went walking along the old railroad.
But the track ran out at the roundabout
across the street from Lidl.
They went round and round the confounded
thing then got stuck in the middle.
230415

Day Twenty Two

NOT KOSHER

The train like time waits for no man

Coffee and cigarettes and wine

All banned by the white tooth brigade

If it’s not kosher don’t it eat 

Please don't breathe in secondhand smoke

Telling pork pies not eating them

Wishing I wasn't a fat pig

Gluttony will get you nowhere

Unless you buy the next size dress

Sitting there waiting for the train

I heard a little boy shouting

Mummy I’m too big for my shorts

220415

Here's a little something for Holly : Holly's Fine

Day Twenty One

OTHER CAKES
Lots of things to do
Sudoku and all that jazz
Other cakes to bake
210415

Day Twenty

MADEMOISELLE 

Down in her basement kitchenette

Across the street from Lafayette

Healing kittens

She was smitten

She thought she was some kind of vet

200415

Submitted to Mad Kane's blog the word this week was VET.

Day Nineteen

PASTA

Some say

Marco Polo

Brought it back from China

Others that that was just a myth

Pasta   

190415

Day Eighteen

MAGNETIC DREAMS

Flying tricycles

In the same airspace as drones

Like magic carpets

The Rickshaw driver

Chasing a penny farthing

Only he can fly

Here comes the future

Forget about yesterday

Stick with the present

The home aerodrome

In fields of magnetic dreams

Not in my backyard

180415

And here's something for Shirley!!!

Day Seventeen

The prompt was to write a cinquain, here's my attempt:

HAT TRICK

Lily’s

always smiling

with wonderful blue eyes

that trickle well up waterfall

sometimes

170414

Here's one I did in 2008 Secret Seat

Day Sixteen

TALL
Why does everybody look so tall
even when I'm standing on the wall
Please don't let me slip
I can hardly grip
Flippin' 'eck I think that I might fall
160415

Day Fifteen

MUSHROOM PICKERS

somebody’s walking in the woods

who’s walking in  the woods

worse (verse) still who’s talking

talking is not permitted in the woods

we have rules in this country

they must be strictly adhered to

under punishment of decapitation

or electrocution if available

remember those little children

that strayed into the woods one day

they were never to be seen again

so keep out of the woods

or the mushroom pickers will get you

and if you go there don't talk

or they may cut out your tongue

perhaps worse much worse (verse)

150415 

Day Fourteen

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Love that’s unconditional sweeps over us in waves

we don't hear much about that kind of love these days

it’s all about the dollar and how much we don’t have

we all love money don't we we need it anyway

even if it’s evil we still have bills to pay

take the emphasis off we and heap it onto you

don’t hide your light under a bushel or your loot

sell your house and car and your caravan of wives

so that you’ve got something to give to those poor slaves

when love that’s unconditional sweeps over you in waves

140415

Day Thirteen

sleep makes everything alright until you feel tired oh so tired again

MISS BROODY

moody funday monday moody

after dark won't bring back sunday

what think you ‘bout that miss broody

don't you worry it’s nearly tuesday

saucy suzette can be so rude

if she wants to be to me blue

and she do so don’t give me no

rabbit hutch to munch for lunch girl

fish day friday at the chippy

don’t go smother mine with curry

sleep makes everything okay though

until you feel so tired again

moody funday monday moody

after dark won't bring back sunday

what think you ‘bout that miss broody

don't you worry it’s nearly tuesday

130415

Day Twelve

DEPRESSION

After a great high comes a massive fall

the brick wall that I just hit is still up

and standing apart from a great big hole
but I'm not I'm flat out pushing up bricks

crying myself to sleep under the quilt
trying to tell the Doctor in my head

she's gone when she's gone there's no banging on

no hanging on to the world or that girl
because she's gone when she's done and she's gone

 no harping on for the world when they've won
we scored the first and last goal and the rest
oh so absurd I confess I'm depressed
120415

Day Eleven

OLD FOGIES

The evolutionary omnibus

I’m not going to go back all that far

The clippie shouting out fares please at us

And people jumping off in front of cars

No not a shameful thing to catch a bus

You’re not a third or fourth class citizen

The shame is in the prices they charge us

It’s cheaper sharing taxi’s with your friends

This deregulation generation

Have never seen a corporation bus

Only confusion at the bus station

There that’s why us old fogies make a fuss

110415

Some other posts of mine where I mention buses: Getting Wet, Bus Degradation, What really annoys me #2.  Overheard (in the bus station), Love on the bus, Even Bradford, The Grass is Greener, Nobody Cares, Blank Verse, Fashionista, Haiku, Round and Round, Last Stand, Cowardy Custards, Everybody's Mad,