Author: Katherine

Poetry writer and author

Harm churner

  • oxford2016-1Bank has fit
  • Baptism by liars
  • Spare buns?
  • Hare faced  cryer
  • Large pun
  • Larking lad
  • Parking up the wrong tree again?
  • Harm churner
    A  warren of  grief
  • Casket base,
  • Biased hack words,
  • Cats  have eyelids
  • Sat the  radio underground,
  • Baited Wrath,
  •  Tax pats  for the wealthy.

All right then I stole my wife’s purse.

Pray Father, give me your blessing

To my peccadilloes, I am now confessing.

Please name them in rank,

From a  theft to a wank.

Or Jesus won’t half you en- spank.

 

Beg pardon, dear Father,I’m shocked

To hear the Lord’s name being mocked.

Well, we’re now up to date

So got on with it, mate.

Or who knows what will be your fate!

 

All right then  I stole my wife’s purse.

I also indulged in a curse.

Why, where is your own money?

I have not got any!

I work hard  but I buy myself honey,

 

Is honey a euphemism then?

No I buy the Manuka  when

I get bronchitis

Or bad tonsillitis

Surely that is never a sin?

 

Well all in proportion, dear friend

You need to earn more than you spend.

I see that is logical,

Almost a thimbleful

.But applying it sent me round the bend

 

But how about priests like yourself?

They are not meant to accrue any wealth.

Well that is the theory

But, cripes,holy Mary.

Some of us do it by stealth.

 

Well, how about absolving me now?

I do repent   fully and how!

Your penance is this:

Give Facebook a miss.

And earn more money somehow.

 

 

 

 

 

The face that was familiar is no more

 

The face that was familiar is no more
Yet in my dreams ,he is alive again
If ,by a chance, his life could be restored
It would affect me like the hidden chord
Which played, my own life force would go.
That one must live and one must die is plain
The face that was familiar is no more.
Yet in my dreams ,he is alive again

Stan feels the world owes him

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A few weeks after Annie moved into the house next door to Stan,he met her when he was  seeing his wife off to work.
Why does your wife not have a car? she enquired suspiciously.
She is trying to keep slim,Stan told her.
Well,she’s not been very successful,Annie said scientifically.
She might be much fatter than she is now if she drove a car,he stated ponderously
That’s true,muttered Annie meditatively
I am your new next door neighbor.she continued melodiously
Yes, my dear, said Stan,I have seen you sunbathing in the garden in your bikinis.
How come? she asked scientifically.
There’s a big hole in the fence.
Is it legal to look at women through a hole in the fence?
asked Annie curiously>I know it’s illegal to look into their bedroom windows.
Is it really,asked Stan nervously,I had no idea.
How about women looking at men through a round hole?
Oh,they  can’t be  bothered to do that,she told him charmingly.
Well,said Stan,clearing his throat,I think I owe it to myself to tell you that I love you.
Wow,you’re quick off the mark,the lady said saucily.
What do you mean,you owe it to yourself? Why are you owed anything?
I don’t really,said Stan tepidly,I could not think how to word it.I mean I wish to unselfishly love you and admire your ripe body and your cute sense of color.I love your teal trouser suit.And you sing so well in the bath.
You didn’t mean you owe it to yourself to take advantage of me? she continued fluently
Not unless you want me to take advantage of you,the gallant old man informed her.
And you can take advantage of me.I make cakes and biscuits,wholemeal bread and I am training my cat, Emile, to do statistics on an i pad.
How extraordinary,Annie whispered.I didn’t know cats had an “I.” let alone pads.
Well,they have pads on their paws,he informed her intelligently.
True,she said,but where are their I’s?
Where are our I’s ?he responded in a manner to rejoice the heart of Mary Midgley or Susanne Langer two of Stan’s favourite writers on philosophy,logic,symbols and ethics.
Not that he practiced the Ethics but he liked to know what he was doing wron
A man who seduces women merrily one after the other may have no idea it might be wrong.Neither might the women.Why is it wrong?Surely it’s better than killing people or leaving the lid off the jam all night so the wasps get into the jar?
Still,not many men get the chances that Stan got.No-one suspected this kindly,handsome practicing Catholic was a womanizer despite his blue beard,green eyes,white skin and red hair.And his slim yet strong figure clad in navy trousers and white shirts all the year round.Maybe his wife did but she preferred to read Aristotle in bed and dream about mercury… those little silver balls,so cute!
Well,as we know,Stan is about to make Annie his mistress but in such a cold wet summer,where can he take her to do the deed?
The shed?The public library? Cafe Nero?
I owe it to you not to tell you yet.That will give you time to think of a solution for this sweet old man and his naughty but nice neighbor.
Like,how about the confessional in the local Church?
Whatever next?I owe it to myself to keep it secret as you may come along and spoil the fun.
Stan went indoors and washed up in the boiling hot water he kept by him constantly as he owed it to himself to be ready to make a hot drink at any moment he fancied and by gum,he did fancy like no man has ever fancied before.So his daemon tells me.
Next time:Why did God create Stan and why does it matter?

Guide to what not to say to very ill people

Paper flowers
Paper flowers

 

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-things-you-should-not-say-to-someone-when-they-are-very-ill

 

  • Respect their boundaries.   Let them decide how much help and input they want to receive from you.  It is exhausting to be sick and be expected to gratefully receive a parade of people.   The parade actually feels predatory because you get people who want to snap “last photos” with you, see you for the “last time”, and hold you hostage with religious speeches that make them feel better while you feel worse.   If they don’t want the hassle of dealing with anyone but immediate family, respect that.   If they will see you but are running low on energy, meet with them briefly. If you were never touchy-feely with them before, don’t start now unless they initiate physical contact.   Follow their lead.
Magdalena Augeneder, It’s all about communication.

I saw a hearse

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I need to be assertive and to  curse
For even  on the  radio people swear.
I am out of date and what is worse?

If I lose my handbag or my purse
I feel I can’t survive with feelings bare
I need to be enchanted by some mirth

I did not swear when   outside stood the hearse
I felt so numb I did not feint  with care
I was  up to date and what is worse?

I really don’t know why I’m writing this
I feel like hiding in a  fox’s lair
I need to be assertive and to  curse

I’d rather watch  the cat take a   long piss
I seem to  travel  though I know not where
I am fast  to sin and that is worse.

I need to wash my face and  curl my hair
I  wonder of my beauty is quite fair
I  try to be assertive  and  get cursed
I am  nearly late ;I’ve lost my purse.!

Finding time to write

sausdiag
More free time doesn’t mean you’ll use the time to write—you’ll do everything but write.
img_0042img_0039
http://nybookeditors.com/2016/06/balance-day-job-writing-passion/?inf_contact_key=2622d7e642f193a3873be454e6be59b94821257d9a9d7bf272b507f4e5d7d949

Instead, you must make writing one of your top to-do’s, wedged right between your weekly grocery trip and your dry cleaning drop off.

You may think, that doesn’t sound very romantic. And it’s not. But most of writing isn’t romantic at all. It’s you staring at a screen and willing words to materialize. Or you staring at a notebook and doing the same thing. Or you just staring, full stop.

Here’s the good news: Writing requires just as much discipline as it does creativity. This means you can learn how to make writing a daily habit. It doesn’t have to compete with your day job. Below, let’s discuss the top tips for balancing what you have to do with what you want to do—and that’s write.

Be sure to grab our list of inspiration from fellow writers that you can print and post near your computer.
CLICK HERE

But First, Remember You’re in Good Company

Be encouraged. You don’t have to quit your day job to contribute a wonderful work of art to humanity. Many writers, from Bram Stoker to Lewis Carroll, managed to write unforgettable pieces of literature while working full time. Here’s a partial list to inspire you:

Anne Rice

Anton Chekhov

Frank McCourt

Franz Kafka

Harper Lee

Herman Melville

J.K. Rowling

Jorge Luis Borges

Philip Larkin

Toni Morrison

T. S. Eliot

Wallace Stevens

William Carlos Williams

Virginia Woolf

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Remember that all the time you have is right now. Don’t wait for someday when the conditions are just right to write. They’ll never be just right. They’ll always be another distraction—if not work, it’ll be something else. Make writing a priority and tell the story that only you can tell. Good luck!

When I cannot tell you how I feel

2012-01-221

When I cannot tell you how I feel
When I want to see you ,not  to speak,
I talk about the weather like a  fool

Sometimes when I’m tired I feel unreal
Or life seems lost and  meaning seems to leak
Then I  can not  tell you how I feel.

Some months have their winds to make misrule
Winds to  throttle  throats and freeze the cheeks
I talk about the weather ,as its cool.

We must keep moving or our blood congeals
So sheep must  on moorland  frosty, bleak
I don’t want to  lie for  life is real

When winter mocks our age I find it cruel
Yet you are old and for amusement look
I talk about  the sunshine like a  fool

Oh,happy   snowfalls keeping us from school
As on the ice we tumbled with loud shrieks
When I  cannor   tell you how I feel
The weather  stands for  what  I   have concealed

Mary misses her man

Dotty cats 2

 

Mary, now going out again after grieving for her dear old man, was invited to  a birthday  party at Knittingham Cricket Club.The name reminded her of many happy hours on a marsh by the sea in Suffolk where it was quiet enough to hear crickets and smell the fresh sea air and fall down into the mud now and then
She was told by her best friend Annie  to dress smart casual but when she arrived in the venue everyone else was dressed up in their best clothes.She shrank into her khaki trousers and over sized Windsmoor top which hung from her like a  cheap and flimsy nylon  sheet on the washing line in the backstreet where she had grown up.
All the other women were wearing  lovely flowered  dresses , necklaces and jewelled rings.Annie had betrayed her as she wore a  sweet  long dress from Monsoon and some amber jewellery with a huge matching  ring on her hand
Well, at least I got here, Mary consoled herself kindly.And nobody will  envy me.
She sat talking to a very friendly lady who told her a what was clearly a very exciting story.Unfortunately Mary could not hear a  single  word.She just varied her expression to match Jean’s.The noise was immense  as if ten rock bands were playing music from the Rolling Stones  at once ..
Luckily there was plenty of food and drink.
Oh,Jean cried,here is my grandson,Adam.He likes mathematics.Can you speak to him please
I am very sorry,Adam I have forgotten everything except transcendental numbers and uncountable infinity.
But those are the hardest things,Adam’s father cried.
They stay in mind because I feel that starting from counting animals  mankind developed  the ideas  of many new types of number, pi being  one which was used to build Solomon’s temple.They used 3 as an approximation as the Egyptians did
Adam said he was going to do complex numbers next year.But you can’t use them in cash machines his brother informed him
Well,hope you enjoy that,Adam she said brightly,wondering how she had forgotten so much so rapidly.Well it was deliberate.She had grown tired of it all and preferred gazing at trees all day since Stan had gone on to his new abode in heaven or perhaps  in hell with naughty ladies to love him
So smart casual,what does it really mean?And should Mary care?Would Emile her cat care? Did she want to attract another man?She has cut off her hair with the pinking shears to save time but men  prefer long  hair and also they don’t like to spend a party time talking about surreal numbers nor post modernism.They can discuss those things with men
Smart casual means looking good but without effort.An impossible paradox

And so pray all of us.For she’s a jolly good yeller.
And let’s pray with no fuss.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley




I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Who am I to question any soul?

Who are you that loved me from afar
Yet did forsake me when the night  was long?
Who are you that loved a distant star
Impossible to ever   touch with hand or song?

Who am I to question any soul
When I have done bad deeds when overwhelmed?
Who am I to seek another whole
When I have  lingered long in sorrow’s realms?

Who is God that he should seek us out
When we’ve ignored his  messengers and saints?
Who is God and why do  we have doubts?
The world’s  his canvas  which our evil taints.

Should we not seek   leaders of more  worth?
Instead  we fall to  savagery  and curse

 

 

Symbols in literature

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http://www.thehypertexts.com/Best%20Symbols%20in%20Poetry%20and%20Literature.htm
Excerpts from “More Poems”
by A. E. Housman

XXIII

Crossing alone the nighted ferry
With the one coin for fee,
Whom, on the wharf of Lethe waiting,
Count you to find? Not me.

The brisk fond lackey to fetch and carry,
The true, sick-hearted slave,
Expect him not in the just city
And free land of the grave.

Charon’s ferry symbolizes the transition from life to death, or dying. The “one coin” is the obulus, which symbolizes death: the ultimate cost of mortal life. The river Lethe symbolizes forgetfulness, oblivion and concealment, as the dead are concealed from the living, and vice versa. The grave is also symbolic of death. In this poem the river Styx symbolizes death; although it is not explicitly named, we can infer it. In Greek mythology, Charon’s ferry carried the newly dead from the land of the living across the River Styx to Hades, the realm of the dead. It may interest Christians to know that Hades was not “hell,” as Hades incorporated heavenly regions such as the Elysian Fields and the Blessed Isles. Y

 
Sonnet 147
by William Shakespeare

My love is as a fever, longing still [1]
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest.
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are, [11]
At random from the truth vainly expressed,
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as Hell, as dark as night. [14]

This is one of Shakespeare’s famous “Dark Lady” sonnets. It employs simile, a type of metaphor in which comparisons are introduced by “like” or “as” (please refer to lines one, eleven and fourteen).

FGM in white Christian America

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/12/06/in-white-america-girls-clitorises-were-cut-off-because-christian-parents-feared-masturbation/?utm_source=%5B!%5D%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NL%20Best%20of%20Patheos%20%20%5BFinal%20Combo%5D&utm_content=2695

Surrealism explained

Women and Bird in the Moonlight 1949 by Joan Mir? 1893-1983

Miro from the article below by the Tate

http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/surrealism

 

Extract from above:

Surrealism was a movement which began in the 1920s of writers and artists (including Salvador Dalí and René Magritte), who experimented with ways of unleashing the subconscious imagination

Some think love’s a letter we can’t type.

A symbol is a well  where  we must dig
To find the deeper meaning hid below
On our human knees we need to beg
To gain admittance to the daily show.

Life is but an apple we must bite
Our teeth may break and so we suffer pain
But from our  human ills we cannot fly
But suffer learning,digging, once again

Love’s a cherry with a lively stone
Which desires to live itself when time is ripe
Some see love as meat gnawed from a bone
Some think love’s a letter we can’t type.

Love or   hate ,a fruit will have its pips
Which choke  us while its flesh is on our lips

 

So look not into God or you shall die.

Poetic justice    found in Shakespeare’s play
Dictates that those who sin must  be rebuked
The good rewarded  in remaining days
The bad   must suffer,ills not overlooked.

In real life there is no simple match
The evil may  succeed  in  violent theft
The good ask why God let their child be snatched
The bad  may trample  those  who are bereft.

We cannot  understand the human state
God is not a kindly  father   here
He is  force and fire and strength  and fate
We not children on his lap in tears.

The redness of the sun can burn our eyes
So look not into God or you shall die.