September 2014
019: AT THE BLUE LIZARD CAFÉ
Poor sad sod sat in the corner,
singing blues songs, unheard by
the munching, chattering hopefuls
- with companions of opportunity -
everybody planning to get laid.
‘I get those blues when it rai…
Discussion
019: AT THE BLUE LIZARD CAFÉ
2 Likes
018: STRATHFIELD IN THE RAIN - REVISITED
Times change, the demographic broadens... but memories of 'how it was' remains.'
Steamy, silent streets of Strathfield
wake and shimmer in morning rain.
Praiseworthy wives frying bacon,
sunny-si…
Discussion
018: STRATHFIELD IN THE RAIN - REVISITED
1 Like
August 2014
013: THAT VOICE
For William Carlos Williams...
On the paper-white slim screen
I watch the weaving of waves
and listen, tortured, as the words
fall upon my long suffering ears.
I am distressed by this nasal tone,
r…
Discussion
013: THAT VOICE
1 Like
011: POETRY WORKSHOP
Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.
Robert Frost [1874-1963].
They gave him a very hard time,
your poems, they said, they all rhyme,
the verses are all the same length.
Pre…
Discussion
011: POETRY WORKSHOP
1 Like
BOSTON 1919
I still walk through the sticky goo,A pallid apparition meanderingAround the old rail yards, Where the decrepit tank blew!We all knew that one day she wouldThe metal creaked and groaned,Laden with th…
Discussion
BOSTON 1919
2 Likes
010: FOR SOMEONE I KNOW
It's the end of the world, today, she said,
tears in her eyes, shaking her head,
whatever I had, I know I've lost,
nobody knows but me.
Hoped for a year, lived for the day,
murde…
Discussion
010: FOR SOMEONE I KNOW
1 Like
006: FROM MY GARDEN GATE
I can see the old familiar hills from here, mottled green and blue, with bramble-berried slopes, they rise beyond a patchwork quilt of cottage roofs, enshrining chemical waste and long forgotten hop…
Discussion
006: FROM MY GARDEN GATE
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007-104: ENCHANTED STUDIO REVISITED
I wrote the much shorter original version of ‘Enchanted Studio’ in Paris some years ago. Over the intervening years it has grown, became more focused and, of course, more and more self-revealing. Th…
Discussion
007-104: ENCHANTED STUDIO REVISITED
1 Like
005: A GRAVE EXPERIENCE
I stood near his simple grey stone marker
and wondered what attitude I should adopt.
He was after all a famous and loved poet.
Should reverence or admiration rule here?
The rude gravestone is mod…
Discussion
005: A GRAVE EXPERIENCE
1 Like
004: HOME THOUGHTS
For David Idris [Taffy] Williams
Why do pretentious new-wave Bardic evangelists,
rage about the travails of ancient heroes ad nauseam?
Why do they spout in woeful and wearisome Welsh?
Did they do…
Discussion
004: HOME THOUGHTS
1 Like
July 2014
108: A FRIEND TO US ALL
The story of the limerick, the carrier of much folklore, may itself be folklore. Although some researchers assert that this form of rhyme was in use in the golden Grecian years, 448 to 380BC. The…
Blog
108: A FRIEND TO US ALL
1 Like
June 2014
107: IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD…
The severing of heads in moments of heightened excitement plays an intriguing…
Blog
107: IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD…
1 Like
May 2014
106: CITY OF LIGHT
I met him for the first time in the early summer of 1963. I was walking, guitar case in hand, to my appointed busking position. I was in no great hurry. Respectable…
Blog
106: CITY OF LIGHT
1 Like
April 2014
105: PAGANS SMILE FROM THE SHADOWS
Easter is a period packed with custom and ritual. How could it not be so? It is, after all, another one of those marvellous pagan revels, snitched from the 'Old Religions' and put to…
Blog
105: PAGANS SMILE FROM THE SHADOWS
1 Like
February 2014
104: COALFACE POET
There was a time when I travelled the valleys of South Wales quite extensively. I have clear, sometimes dramatic, memories of battling both the roads and the elements. I remember Rhymney,…
Blog
104: COALFACE POET
1 Like
January 2014
103: MEMORIES CLEAR – IMAGES OF HOLMFIRTH
I wrote ‘Memories Clear – Images of Holmfirth’ as a result of researching ‘Questions In Time’ a journal article for the magazine ‘Open Writing’. The focus of the article being…
Blog
103: MEMORIES CLEAR – IMAGES OF HOLMFIRTH
1 Like
Sky gaze of the Cinema’s shoal
Sky gaze of the Cinema’s shoal
Whale clouds are sea deep in the light that is leaving,
Silence passing, they breach the blind ordinary street,
Rise above the wires and watch fading petticoat girls
Re…
Discussion
Sky gaze of the Cinema’s shoal
4 Likes
November 2013
A sunday full of couch
My backside is numb like a drunken teenager, it's been
Hard pressed against a Sunday full of couch, I've pulled
The pin on the promise I made about a day outside in spite
Of the seamless sun drenched…
Discussion
A sunday full of couch
2 Likes
102: NEWPORT FIFTY YEARS ON
Somewhere in the inspirational past an erudite lecturer of economics introduced me and my fellow inebriates to the maxim ‘there are lies, damned lies and statistics’, it has…
Blog
102: NEWPORT FIFTY YEARS ON
2 Likes
September 2013
101: VOTE FOR US RAP
With the coming of every election, confusion reigns supreme at poling booths all over the country. Each party's dedicated faithful hand out a form of instant litter known as 'how to vote…
Blog
101: VOTE FOR US RAP
1 Like
April 2013
Is Anybody Home?
Knock Knock! Hello, anybody home?
Where are they? Have they all moved?
I don’t think they will return
The cobwebs are entrenched
Does anyone know where have they gone?
They used to fish here,
tell…
Discussion
Is Anybody Home?
2 Likes
