All’s Well That Ascends Well.
All’s hell that pretends swell
As You Make of It
As you strike it
Comedy of Terrors
Comedy of Worriers Love’s Labour costs
Love names the cost
Leisure for treasure
Merchants who Menace
Merry Lives rinsed here Midsummer Night’s Schemes
Much to do about Laughing
The Taming of the Crew
The blaming of Doctor Who
The Hen Pissed
The Hens kissed
Gay hens play The Twelfth Delight
Two Gentlemen who keep roaming
Winter Failed again
Winter trialed again
MYSTERIES
Henry IV, Farts 1 and True
Henry Jived!
Henry Returns
Henry comes again Henry VI keeps coming
Henry goes Straight
Kings Gone
Chariot Keys
Richard came too
Richard Revived.
Richard got blurred.
Kings Reunited
TRAVESTY
Scant on in my pantry.
Hoary old anus.
Corio Lane is Us
Symbols and dreams
Symptoms are schemes.
Symbols have means
Jam tartlet
Sam startled
Julius teased her,
Julius pleased her.
Julius Wheezer
Bling Here
Fling here.
MacDeath
Homeo and crueller yet
Simon who baffles.
Simon who deafens.
Timon and again
Tight arses anonymous
Toilets are blessed for her.
Men all get kissed by her
King Dear.
Kings’ Tears.
Cling here
Fling Beer.
This is interesting but I don’t think she is right because many years ago I had a friend who had just done a degree in a modern language art Oxford and she had a breakdown and spent a whole year in a psychiatric unit but she told me that she was cured over depression after reading a book called born to win by Muriel James and someone else.
But also there’s something odd about buying hundreds of self-help books. If you read several and they don’t help you then it’s pretty plain that the rest are not going to help you either.
It’s terrible going through severe emotional suffering so anything that helps at all is very useful. But like bereavement these things have to be suffered and borne until they go away of their own accord
But like bereavement emotional traumas never go away but you learn how to live with them.
It’s like a journey through a horrible place that you just have to keep going on until you get through.
My friend called and asked for hot tea. I said,dearest it’s alright by me. You ought to drink brandy In gin mixed with shandy… but unethical tea is quite free
I like to know people’s desires.. Some like to collect copper wires; some collect wool and others tease bulls… I soon will try playing with fire
Did you know that nude shoes are the fashion Kate Middleton wears them with passion but the Times says, go flat. Your shoes not your hat. A ball gown and trainers looks dashin’
Catholics must not enjoy sex… Whatever will the Pope think of next? Recreation with balls, is not for us all.. I so do feel angry and vexed
St Augustine thought babies had sinned As they came out of the vagina not in. They might never know but it’s wicked even so….. A pity they are not sent out in a tin.
God can’t make any tinned goods. Like leopards cannot chew the cud. Ravines don’t rave Nor canyons’s behave…. and hearth stones will never give blood
When I looked to the list of my Gmail accounts I thought someone had hacked me because there was a name at the bottom of the list which I did not recognise.
I felt rather nervous about this wondering what to do
On further study I discovered that it said Choose another account
but in Indonesian so it looked like a person’s name
Why it was Indonesian I do not know although I have another blog on blogger which is read a lot by somebody in Indonesia.
It proves that if you can it’s better to try to find out about what’s worrying you rather than trying to forget about it and there was relieved to discover the meaning of this phrase
I’m sorry it is so long since I’ve written but I couldn’t find any ink to put in my pen
Then when I found some quink I couldn’t unscrew the top. I stood it in some very hot water upside down for half an hour and now I have one is to open it
Why am I so out of date as to write with a pen?
To me it’s rather like drawing and I also used to love looking at handwriting on envelopes when I got birthday cards or letters etc because every person’s handwriting is unique m
At the moment I’m looking through the window at an elderberry tree. I believe that there is a bird nesting in it and I’m hoping to see it flying in and out but so far I have had no success except that it’s very nice just looking at it all the time through this French window
The beautiful big flowers have a lovely perfume though I’ve never seen it in a shop or pharmacy.
Mysteriously my neighbours tcats that used to frequent my patio have disappeared. Perhaos staying indoors because of the heat?
They are very large with thick coats
My great niecw is only one year old and she’s already able to run
To think that she is running where others crawl it makes me wonder what she will become in adult life? Perhaps it’s dangerous to be so different from the norm.
Yesterday I was having trouble with my front door as the bolt on one side seemed to be very stiff
I have discovered the truth of the maxim
Two heads are better than one
Last night I couldn’t think what to do until I rang my friend and she didn’t know what to do but just a very fact that she was there made me feel more confident that I managed to do what was necessary and then today it was the other way round when she was trying to bolt the door and she couldn’t do it until I went stood next to her
It adds to my belief that it’s not natural for us to be alone all the time or even a lot of the time but if you’re in a good mood and relaxed it’s very nice to sit looking through the window at the garden in tll full bloom with the sun shining or even to sit outside and eat one’s meal in the fresh air.
We’ve already had quite a lot of hot weather this year I hope you were experiencing the same in Ireland.
Of course when you’re working full-time and sharing your home with someone then being alone can seem a luxury that’s hard for you to achieve but equally the other way alround one might long to have another person here who loves you or at least cares about you or is it interested in you in some way.
There is another saying which is
A problem shared is a problem halved
And although I don’t believe in vomiting out all our life story or problems onto anyone nearby it certainly true that talking to someone who listens (not as common as you might imagine) yes indeed sharing a problem can put it into I absolutely sure about is that if someone especially one of your children or young relatives confides in you you should never tell your friends what they have said. If they find out which is very painful that the secret itself shared with you is now going around the gossip in your street or in your family
Well I’m afraid this letter is not very exciting but I’m hopeful when my health improves I will get more energy to write something more interesting as even when you’re restricted to a small part of the world there are a lot of things that you can observe and participate in.
Mary was sweeping the floor with her new Shark cordless electric carpet sweeper just replaced by Lakeland Plastics, that store beloved of British women.Emile was watching her from the lid of the old gramophone where he sat surveying the sitting room.
Leave that spider alone,he called to Mary
Why? she asked kindly,are you planning a date with it?
No,it’s a good thing to keep them as they may catch flies and other nasty things.
Mary turned and gazed at Emile.She was wearing some blue Tencel jeans and a bright pink top with embroidery round the neck.Her thoughtful face w as covered in Radiant Glow foundation as her friend Annie was trying to make her look more attractive to men.Which men was a puzzle as Mary liked to spend time alone or going out with her female colleagues to search for books on Dirac’s owl,Schrodinger’s cat or Godel’s ants.
Her male colleagues were mainly very conceited or shyer than rabbits brought up in the cliffs at Lyme Regis.
However Annie wanted Mary to marry again, as she saw her own vocation in life as being a mistress to a bright and intelligent retired man whose wife worked full time or was in the Library studying the Babylonian number system or other esoteric topics
.So she could help Mary and herself at the same time.
Shall we have a party,she chuckled to Mary as she came in through the ever unlocked back door.
What sort of party,Mary asked nervously.
I want you to meet some men,Annie reminded her.
I believe that like bombs falling on London in WW2,that if a man has your number on him he will find you,Mary teased.
Maybe your phone number,Annie retorted.Why don’t you get a spare mobile and I can put some posters with that number on the trees down the side roads saying you are looking for a new partner.
I thought I had made it clear that as some Orthodox Jews believe that Zion will only come when God wants it to do,so a man will turn up when it is God’s will.
That’s a bit much.Do you think you are God’s chosen person? Is God interested in finding you a new husband? Annie shouted.
Well,it may seem strange to you ,but even seeming trivia like me being married to some new man can have deep consequences for the whole world… a bit like the butterfly’s wings If I am happy it spreads around me and makes others happier too.Or if God wishes me to write a book and I need a man to cook for me then one will turn up,Mary responded in her low and musical Tyneside accent.
On the other hand, God may wish me to lead a contemplative life,she carried on.
Annie was puzzled.Why do you think God has all these plans for you,she enquired.
It’s not just me,said Mary.It’s everybody but that does lead into difficulties as we look at the world around us.Does God want all. these refugees to drown or for Britain to stay in the EU or leave and please Florenc Tonson? It reminded the women of their convent school classes where they had studied a simplified version of the writings of Aquinas and his proofs of the existence of God.
It was this book which had given Mary her first doubts about religion and, being somewhat dim in the tact department. she had shared her misgivings with the headmistress, who was not happy to be questioned even in front of mere school girls.
Emile,she cried,I wish I were a cat.My schooldays were so terrible
It’s your own fault, said Annie.I just pretended to believe it and kept quiet by fantasising about my new lingerie and how my boyfriend would like it
How remarkable it is that girls and boys can be so different in their personalities and ways of coping with puberty.
It was like a prison,Mary said.Still it made later life seem happier.
How did you afford new underwear so often,she asked Annie
I wore my mother’s! this dear friend informed her.
My mother didn’t have that sort of underwear,Mary told her.And see how something seemingly so trivial can affect one’s personal development so much.Still I was fed and allowed to study and play the piano and do my homework to the sound of Horace Wagner and Richard Straussbumt.
Did it help you to concentrate,Annie asked in a puzzled way.
No, it allowed my brother to dominate me and otherwise he might have hit me or knocked over the folding table where I kept my exercise books ,and pen ready to write essays on Twelfth Night and the periodic table.
Annie burst out laughing.Sorry,Mary,I am not laughing because you were bullied but it just sounded as if tables had periods,the way you said it.
Imagine how hard it was dealing with all that in a tiny house with the loo in the back yard.It was taboo so had to be concealed.When we went to Dublin for 2 weeks my three sisters and I all had our periods and we brought back all the blood stained cloths in our suitcases.Luckily the customs man did not look inside.
Was there nobody who could have burned them for you?
The landlady never mentioned it so neither did we.
No wonder I am so peculiar.
Well,I like you,said Annie.You are so kind and sympathetic and good to talk to.And you are always coming up with new ideas and interesting books.
I suppose we complement each other.Mary said shyly.Maybe we should get married and forget about men.
Annie’s eyes opened wide.
I think I’d better ring 999.she screamed.
And so say all of u
When Mary got home,she took off her coat and put the kettle on the fire!
She got the tea caddy out and put some tea into the pot.Suddenly the door burst open and Annie her exuberant neighbour fell into the kitchen like a teenager Are you ok,Mary asked her gently.
Those 4 inch heels are rather dangerous.
Annie was wearing a sky blue track suit,red stilettos and a big green pashmina. Her make up had melted all down her face as she was so warm with running
She had some waterproof make up but had the feeling it might be dangerous to clog the pores.
Where have you been?she asked curiously.You were ages.
I forgot to get off the bus as I fell into a reverie,Mary told her
That sounds like a black hole!Annie cried
I was daydreaming so I ended up by the river and a policeman asked me for a date,sort of.
Did you have any dates with you?
No,I only had Stan in my bag,alas.
Where is he?Have you put him into the wardrobe?
It’s already full.He’s still in the bag at the moment.
The two women fell into a sad mutual silence realising Stan would never now teach Emile to swim in the bath nor return his overdue library books.
Am I liable for his fines,Mary wondered.
I can pay if you like,Annie,said generously.She got out some home made biscuits and gave one to Mary who was wearing a long black dress from Lands End which resembled a defunct nun’s habit.
Are you thinking of retiring to the cloister soon ,she continued.
No,I don’t believe in Christianity any more.Christ.yes,Christianity ,no.
What about Xmas?Will you celebrate?
I shall pray and do out the kitchen cupboards.
Are they that bad,asked Annie curiously, twiddling a ringlet with her fingers.
Possibly,Mary giggled!They didn’t teach domestic science at Oxford!
And Mother was always busy cooking and cleaning the grate after she got home from work.
Talking about grates,I’d better look at the kettle.She lifted it off the fire and held it up in the air.It was very black on one side,just like the one Mary’s mother had had so many years ago.
Why don’t I make some tea,she asked.
I don’t know,said Annie.Is this the Xmas quiz?
No,you don’t understand.It’s a rhetorical question.
Oh,do stop showing off,Annie told her.I only went to Knittingham Polytechnic and we never did Greek,just Aramaic.I have forgotten it now.
Mary poured out the tea into two pint sized mugs and the women sat silently warming their hands on the mugs and meditating on the wilful backwardness of the local poly which now only taught Latin,Hebrew and chemical engineering.The latter was an error as the professors thought that was what Wittgenstein had studied before finding Bertrand Russell more attractive. How to be more precise it was Russell’s ideas that he found attractive to start with until he saw the errors Russell had made
Russell’s paradox had haunted Annie ever since those happy student days.
Though she would have preferred Russell to his paradox if she had been given the choice.
Inside my mind I dream of pearls, Caterpillars,snails with whorls. I dream contented, all enwrapped; With reverie and dream I’m lapped. The inner seas will comfort me, While gods open my eyes to see
Oh,sweeter than confectionery Is my Oxford diction’ry. The words whirl round then fall to shape The sentences which my world make. This furnishing is rich and strange And magically self arranged.
Oh,sweeter than the love of man Is reading works of poets long gone; Feeling deeply their dark tides . Upon which our boat may glide. The sea infinite we float upon Is the same warm sea the ancients swam..
Sweeter still is the spring air And the blossom spreading fair. We’ll drown our selves in grassy fields To the gods of poetry yield. We’ll rise again and spring up tall To grow more rich until we fall
And yet so much of our communication today is defined by a rather ungenerous unwillingness to listen coupled with a compulsion to speak.
“Words,” Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in her abiding meditation on the magic of real human communication, “transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.” But what happens in a cultural ecosystem where the hearer has gone extinct and the speaker gone rampant? Where do transformation and understanding go? What made, for instance, James Baldwin and Margaret Mead’s superb 1970 dialogue about race and identity so powerful and so enduringly insightful is precisely the fact that it was a dialogue — not the ping-pong of opinions and co-reactivity that passes for dialogue today, but a commitment to mutual contemplation of viewpoints and considered response. That commitment is the reason why they were able to address questions we continue to confront with tenfold more depth and nuance than we are capable of today. And the dearth of this commitment in our present culture is the reason why we continue to find ourselves sundered by confrontation and paralyzed by the divisiveness of “us vs. them” narratives. “To bother to engage with problematic culture, and problematic people within that culture, is an act of love,” wrote the poet Elizabeth Alexander in contemplating power and possibility. Krista Tippett calls such engagement generous listening. And yet so much of our communication today is defined by a rather ungenerous unwillingness to listen coupled with a compulsion to speak.
Stan was sweeping the garden path.He had a stiff broom with a small head that was useful for cleaning the edges of the steps.Emile, his beautiful cat was sitting in the old apple tree gazing down on Stan.
“Is it time for coffee yet,”Stan asked himself.He had forgotten to put on his watch.
Suddenly he heard a shriek.He peered through a hole in the fence.His neighbour Annie was lying on her back in some mud.
“Hang on,I’ll come round!” he called.
There was a gate in the old fence which was rarely locked
since Annie loved to drop in on Stan.
“Oh,Annie,how are you feeling?” he asked her anxiously.
“Bloody annoyed.I’ve only just bought these,”Not your daughter’s jeans” and now I’ve torn them,” she replied politely.
“But you don’t have a daughter!” he informed her loudly.
“I know that.It’s just they are better cut for the mature figure.”
“Your figure is not mature.You are quite slender.my dear,” he murmured lovingly.
“Well,I never feel happy with it!” she said mutinously.
“Whereas I am very happy feeling it,” he responded romantically. Tears came into her green eyes lined with purple eye shadow.Alas,it was not waterproof and purple rivulets ran down her cheeks across the peach blusher with which she had valiantly decorated herself earlier.
“Can you get up?” he asked tenderly.
“Yes, but it would be nice if you picked me up.”
He leaned over her and licked the purple streams of tears off her cheeks.
“I hope it’s not poisonous,” she murmured.
Then with the aid of Emile,he lifted her to her feet and helped her into her large trendy kitchen.
The kettle switched itself on as they entered and a robotic voice asked if they’d like coffee.
“God in heaven,what the hell is that?” he cried confusedly.
“It’s my new computerised hot drink maker.After that fall I think a double espresso would be good.”
Emile ran in and asked for coffee too.
“Emile,you usually have milk,”Stan reminded him softly.
“Well,coffee is a new taste for me but I like a little.”
the cat whispered sweetly.
“I’ll give you some of mine in a saucer,” Stan replied.
Emile began to sob.
“Why Emile,whatever is wrong?”
“I want a cup and saucer just like you” the cat howled.
But you have no hands,Emile,” Stan reminded him. The poor cat was crying loudly now.So Stan rang 999.
“Can you please send the emergency ambulance round.the cat’s crying and all his hankies are in the wash.”#
Soon Dave,the transvestite paramedic appeared.
“I love your light teal kitchen,” he informed Annie,
“And your eyes look like two deep pools in a coal mine.”
She slapped his cheek naughtily.
“Have a look at Emile” she ordered him sweetly.
He turned to the cat who was sitting on the dark pine table.
“Here,Emile,I got you some Kleenex for Cats in Sainsburys.” he said gaily.
“I want a real hanky,”cried Emile.Dave took a clean hanky from his own pocket and dried the cats tears.
“What made you cry.Are you feeling bad.”
“Yes,I want to go to Cafe Nero,” Emile mioawed.
“Who told you about that?”
“Another cat down the road has been and he said it’s lovely for people watching.”
“The town is not safe for cats like you,Emile.”
Dave urbanely replied,
“But when summer come I’ll take you to the out of town Marks and Spencers.They have a cat’s coffee corner upstairs.”
“Wow,isn’t it amazing,”Stan wondered out loud.
So Dave poured out the coffee and they all sat down and discussed Ray Monk’s Life of Wittgenstein.
Ray has discovered that Wittgenstein liked cats but as he moved around quite a bit,he never owned his own cat
though Elizabeth Anscombe let him play with her three cats now and then.
We may all be different but most of us value the love of a good cat.Even boiling their hankies and ironing them is very nice.We all have this problem though.
Where can a cat carry his own hanky?
Do cats need shoulder bags?
What would Wittgenstein say?
Mary was admiring her curtains :;what a wonderful sense of colour this woman had. It was the one thing which her mother had praised her for . She had not been praised for becoming top of the class at the convent school not for getting a degree. No Mary realised that her mother has a sense of colour because it will be useful when Mary got married and had to make her own curtains.
What a nuisance Mary was no good with the sewing machine. In fact she was afraid of it. That’s one sure way of getting out of a task. Be afraid of the sewing machine clumsy with the knitting needles and when asked to make a cake always put the oven at the wrong temperature so this is either burnt or it is not ready when the visitors come.
And if people know you’re good at making cakes you will get more and more visitors and you won’t have time to read the Oxford dictionary of abstract words or the Oxford dictionary of new words. It is be very hard if we had to spend all the time making cakes and not being allowed to read a book.
Mary was no good at making her own clothes. She had to get a science degree so she could earn her own money. She was terrified of being on the dole and did not want to go on the game as ehe was a virgin. That’s her version of it
When Mary got married to Stan she told him that she did not make cakes and she did not make curtains. Fortunately they could afford to choose the fabric and then get someone else to make it into curtains,
It’s very important to learn about colour unless you go to art school it’s not often discussed in school. Colourcan help you to recover from illness…….
Be obedient only when absolutely essential, be obedient to this particularp person
Children need to be obedient because they don’t understand danger but not everybody is your parents and even if they are your parent there may be wrong when you are adults to try to control you
Mary went upstairs to the bathroom to wash her dirty hands after she had been repotting two spider plants. When she looked at the pale blue sink, she could see a bar of soap but she could not see the nail brush. Mary felt cross because Stan did not like nail brushes and he would hide the nail brush in different places so that Mary could not find it In fact they now had 13 nail brushes but despite that, Stan had managed to hide all of them.. Stan himself did not care if his nails were clean or dirty, although Mary cared a great deal .He could not seem to understand the connection between using a brush and having clean nails Of course there are other ways of getting clean nails; for example handwashing your underwear in detergent or shampoo would also get the nails clean at the same time. however Stan did not wash clothes by hand very frequently. In fact the whole subject of washing and cleaning seems alien to his mind He said to Mary one day, “my jumpers smell funny” That is why we have a washing machine, she told him kindly All clothes get dirty either from sweat and bodily fluids or from dropping tomato sauce onto one’s lap while dining. She could have said “if your jumpers smell funny, why don’t you laugh ?” but she was no longer a school girl unfortunately. We may not like being school girls, but when we look back we realise that playing with balls and mercury in the physics lab was better than cleaning the kitchen floor or even one’s nails. If you are a school girl you’ll probably have someone at home who will make your dinner for you and maybe wash your blouse while you concentrate on writing an essay on the uses of the past irrational tense in Hamlet ,that great play by William Shakespeare. Mary looked round the bathroom, where is the nail brush she cried to Emile her cat Why, Mother, it’s on the window sill next to your deodorant My deodorant ; how do you know that’s what it is, can you read? Not yet purred Emile but I saw you putting it underneath your arms I mean in your armpit mother I don’t think that you should come into the bathroom when I am getting washed, Mary told Emile in a kindly tone of voice. Why I never even knew you would have heard of deodorant Actually I have also heard of antiperspirants, Emile told heer graciously but I would not like to use an antiperspirant because the sweat or the odour from our bodies is what attracts other cats to us for mating ;well actually, it’s usually a female smells lovely and then the male cat is attracted by this beautiful scent and with a bit of luck they might mate and a produce a family of kittens So see what you are missing ,mother I don’t want to smell beautiful and then have 6 kittens to look after. No you would have human babies to look after But would I have to have 6 said Mary I don’t think my body is big enough to carry 6 innocent babies. Well you seem we cats are superior because we can have 6 or even 8 kittens at once and we can soon build up a large colony of cats in any neighbourhood and it’s all down to sweat, really That is fascinating muttered Mary as she took the nail brush and put it under the hot tap before getting the soap and applying it to her fingernails Can cats have nail brushes? the cat asked her What, you don’t have nails! Could we have claw brushes? I suggest that when Stan comes home you ask him to give you a bath and put some fairy snow into the bath and then your talons or claws will be cleaned as you soak without you exerting any effort I want to make an effort, cried the cat ,I want to look very good tonight Why asked Mary ,it will be dark when you go out so the female cats will not be able to see your claws I’s a bit like you cleaning your teeth before you go out in the evening I know it’s not just for hygiene it’s in case you want to kiss somebody and you don’t want them to taste your Weetabix from your teeth Good heavens, are you into French kissing, Emile? I’ve never heard of it ,he said. I didn’t know there more than one way of kissing. You see cats don’t kiss very much so we don’t know a lot about it You should consider yourself lucky said Mary as there are very unpleasant men who will offer me a lift home in their car after a meeting and then before I can get out they plump their large and ugly lips on my lips and seem to think I will enjoy it Yes it must be very difficult so then especially as you can’t scratch them because they will probably call the police I doubt it now ,muttered Mary they will be afraid of being accused of sexual harassment My goodness that’s another thing that cats don’t have, we don’t have much choice really our Feelings come over us and if there’s a willing lady cat nearby then we will enjoy ourselves no wonder there are so many cats in Knittingham how many of them are you the father of? I have no idea Just think that if I walk down the street and see 6 cats they could all be your children Mary told him And on the other hand, they could be the children of any tom cat within 5 miles Yes you are right said Mary it’s a pity that you can’t write and keep a diary so that you would know roughly how many female cats you may have impregnated in the last 6 months Why, is that what you put in your diary, the cat asked her with a naughty expression in his eyes You know perfectly well what I put in my diary
went to the dentist with a broken tooth
went to the chemist to buy a nail brush
Went in coffee shop and had a cup of tea
struggle to the bus stop and onto the bus
crossed on the zebra crossing
came home and burst into tears
Yes I do understand this,mewed Emile,lt is very difficult for you now with all the pain you suffer but you are very brave and you don’t complain a lot but when Stan comes home I shall tell him and ask him to buy you a beautiful silk scarf and a necklace from the Royal Academy gift shop like he used to do in Times Gone By.He must have forgotten lately
So he must , murmured Mary
What a very lovely man Stanley is.
Yes but we haven’t seen him for a while ;has he gone on holiday?
Well that’s one way of describing it. Mary said
. We never know whether he might be on his way home or if there’s someone else who has a prior claim on him
The geese have moved their flight path to the East
I miss the gladness of their graceful wings
And wish I were a bird and not a beast
In the river, they have had their feast
While the sparrows watched and gently sang The geese are gone, their flight path’s to the East
Seeing their grace at sunset gave me peace
The natural world such beauty to us brings The wish I were a bird and not a beast
North East London’s cut up by the Lea
No bridge destroys its power, its currents sing The geese have moved their flight path further East
The geese do not make nests in a tall tree
But dwell upon the water like the swans I wish I were a bird or honey bee.
As the infant wisely grabs and clings
So the geese will fight if threat descends The geese have moved their flight path to the East Oh, to fly at sunset with the least
(however good or bad my poetry has been or is now it has been a marvelous experience writing it.)
Autumn’s coming,geese fly by, Autumn,rust,red,gold,so gay Drystone walls edging fields. Apples gathered,holly berries Flash so brightly,look like flowers Sun shines sideways,shadows long Of trees appear.I dwell among Woods where gentle beeches sing Swaying with the sideward wind
See their roots, all intertwined. Feel their geometry in your mind. Look up now into the sky, See the V formation high.
Geese fly home at end of day.
My heart is moved by patterned dance In this peace and great silence My mind widens like the sky And in this moment I would die, So I could stay with this still vision Of geese set out on autumn mission.
Snails in rain pools slither near My feet upon the terrace here Yet how swiftly life’s destroyed When blind foot steps into the void.
I learned a hymn in our old chapel
I realized then God ate that apple
Eve took the guilt and asked no, Whys.
Since then all women need to cty
Yet we went to church and we all sang.
The organ played and the big bells rang.
But we never heard the answer then
till a strange loud voice called out,”Ah! Men!”
I’m not sure if we were made to sing.
Yet, what but joy can we each bring?
The psalms will comfort us at night.
And in the dawn we see the Light.
Then we rise up and our songs float out.
The cats miaow as they run about.
The dogs join in to bark and growl.
And from the sky we hear God howl!
I have walked the silent paths of grief Sunless,dreary,cold and all alone.
I have slept on beds of winter leaves.
I know that death’s a greedy starving thie
Although my heart weeps and my joy has gone. I have never felt I was deceived.
I have learned that human life is brief. I have learned by sorrow we’re undone. I have sifted earth and what’s beneath.
I have felt the dark emotions seethe I’ve felt cruelly burned by glaring sun. I have learned the geography of grief.
I wait in sorrow for this life to cease Yet some are never loved by anyone I have dreamed in beds of winter leaves
Unconsoled grief can make us dumb Into our hearts, we drag the ice that numbs I have walked the silent paths of grief I have made my bed on winter leaves
When Mary joined her art class she found there was a very interesting man called Brian who came from Burnley. Brian’s work was excellent although none of the students had ventured beyond Constable in their paintings. But then who could go beyond Constable?
But why should dear old people be made to confront modern and post modern thoughts and feelings? Even Gustav Munch was really beyond the pale. Was he trying to warn us?
I suppose that people like to retain the idea of the world as in some sense orderly and beautiful with patterns that can be discovered by scientists or artists. The idea that these patterns are not real that they may be imposed by us and that now we no longer have the strength or faith to do that is a subject for discussion Mary decided.
These people had lived through world war II and had served their country like Brian who had worked on radar in the Edison light bulb factory in Eastern Enfield.
The Germans were not totally deceived by it being called a light bulb factory and the area was bombed heavily; fortunately Brian’s landlady had a very strong house with a cellar so fortunately the dear man had been saved
Mary was nervous because unlike the other students she had only taken up art when she was almost 60 years old. But anyone who does that is very brave she told herself sensitively.
But it’s not always a bad thing to be nervous.. perhaps it’s essential to be so every time you start a fresh creation
After spending half an hour looking at the blank sheet of drawing paper Mary took up pencil and began to sketch the seabird made of wood that she had taken with her to the class that morning.
Ate we meant to put the shadows in she asked Deli the art teacher
Yes do. Shadows as re what make things real as Jung certainly saido maybe in a different language. No not Chinese,Margaret.
Actually once Mary started it wasn’t as frightening as she had imagined. And soon it was time for the coffee break
In the kitchen of the ancient and beautiful house the student sat round a large pine table to drink their instant coffee. Mary had never realised before how much she hated it as a drink and so she thought she would pour it over some plants in pots when nobody was looking rather than waste it completely m
Brian told everyone that he had been to Morrison’s and to his surprise he found a bottle of wine there exactly so was one he had bought at an expensive wine tasting experience he had gone to in Central London
Millicent and Mimie two old friends who lived near the Catholic church in Holbrook Green 🍏 seem to feel scandalised
Did you buy any send Millicent
Of course I did said Brian. I bought three.
You should have seen the expression on Millicent’s first she was utterly critical as of unmarried or widowed older men buying wine.
Will Mary said,Wine is very useful when you are entertaining.
And heard Brian murmur quietly.
Especially when you are entertaining yourself
He had a little grin on his
Was very handsome thin bony and handsome face. In the sun his hair almost looked like fuse wire. Perhaps Millicent was trying to hide her attraction towards him as no doubt he was the best losing man in the art class which wasn’t difficult because there was only one other one there the rest of the students were all female.)
What’s a lovely sense of humour he had
Then they heard a little voice saying
I’d like to try some of that wine Brian.
They looked tound but they could not see anybody Was this the still small voice that Elijah heard on the mountain?
Then they look down the room and saw a little black cat smiling. They had never seen a cat previously but then life can be very surprising sometimes thank goodness
Emile cried Mary what on earth are you doing here?
You forgot to take your senior citizens bus pass so I thought I would come on the bus with it to meet you down here.
I’m surprised that they let you use my bus pass when you were not a human being
Well they’re so used to The madness of the current era and our government in particular that they don’t seem to notice now whether we’re people animals or even spirits from the next world.
I came in a cab, Mary revealed,because I had to carry my art materials with me.
Oh said Emile, I don’t mind going in a cab.
Millicent and Mimi were looking at Mary as if she was a complete lunatic. The truth was revealed to all
Well some people bring their partner to the art class but not many bring their cat. And a talking cat is a very rare phenomenon in Britain ell
Have you brought your art materials Emile?
Mary has not bought me any art materials but if you let me have some of your paint I can make a picture using my paws.
No said Deli. We can’t risk getting pains on these wonderful old floors.
Don’t worr I’ve got some.socks since I can put on after I finished the painting
Or I had borrow some pastels
Mary already had a stramge reputation among the old folks so now they’re thought she was completely bonkers but the truth was that Emile was worried that Mary was falling in love with Brian and Emile did not want Mary to find a new partner unless he was absolutely certain this man would accept him as an equal in the houshould
I hate to say this said the art teacher to Mary but your cat is better at art than you are!!
Well it certainly looks post modern Mary answered. Do you think that people would buy these?
Saatchi maybe? Or maybe the king would like to buy one?
Well you never know do you?
It takes all sorts to make a world
And so say all of us
Was anyone buy emiles picture?
You have to wait 10 years for the next exciting instalment to be published. Why not write it yourself so that you can put your own experience in as you may have an even more strain story than Mary’s
How my heart sings 