St Margaret’s Bay,the lighthouse,the green grass
,The Kentish light,the avenues of glass
See across the Channel where they hide
Drowning migrants rolling on the tide.
Who are they,we say in cruel tone ?
Jesus lived in Bethlehem, not Rome
Higher climbs the butterfly in sun .
Disappearing, burnt to Kingdom come
Why should we want to wear a certain kind of clothing just because some famous person wears it?
Perhaps you don’t have any ideas of your own about what you’d like to wear. But these people may not have chosen the clothes themselves. They may be being paid to wear them by some firm or designer. They may not even like them
So stop looking at other people Do you not know what you like?
You may like to think about a few relevant possibilities.
For myself I like to wear colours that appeal to me I like blue. I used to like very bright colours and I still do up to a point. Does colour matter to you you?
Then wear muted colours such as grey especially if you are going out. Initial muted colour
Do you like to be inconspicuous in the street?
If it does not you could dress ini black or another neutral colour. Some people do this anyway because it makes life simpler. Other people wear just two or three colours like beige black and light cream.
Restricting the colours to two or three means that you will never have a problem matching clothes together
Similarly do you like prints and patterns or plain colours? It’s much easier if you leave out prints. You can get a scarf which has several colours in if you feel that would be fun to wear.
You need some shoes. You will probably already have got these but they should not clash with your clothing colours
Di you u fancy wearing bright red shoes and you know that’s what you want regardless of what other people wear ? Choose what you want
If you are are living on a small income you may not be able to wear exactly what you want but you can get near it.
If you have got clothes and you hate them, sell them on eBay or give them for charity
Save the money I’m sure you’ll find something you like later.
You don’t have to dress in avway that is dictated to you.
It’s better to enjoy your own choices f you have no interest in clothes just buy things in one colour and forget about it
Or go to charity shops and see if you can find something more interesting add to your very simple and plain outfits
We should try to enjoy as much of life as we can whether it is having good friends finding a job that we like or simply having fun bwith our clothing.
When I was going to university my mother walked to the station with me and she said to me I don’t think your landlady will boil a handkerchief for you so you have to use tissues.
I had never seen a tissue then.
I bought a box the next day and unsure of how many to use I restricted myself to one a day because I couldn’t spend a lot Of course if you had a cold you would need more than one I think.
During the covid-19 epidemic it was really important to use tissues and to dispose of them safely so as not to spread infection.
However they are quite expensive and we had a shortage in the iUnited Kingdom as well ;so what else could you do do?
Well you could buy some handkerchiefs instead and we used to boil ours in a pan on the coal fire in the evening.
I expect you could wash them in the washing machine on a very hot wash when you’re doing towels and sheets.
But I would not recommend this when you have a cold flu or any other infection.
At one time women had to used towels when they were menstruating that is pieces of towelling which were fastened to their knickers with safety pins.
This was not very comfortable and even if you’re short of money it seems to be too extreme because also it’s not very safe and the blood can easily leak onto your clothing.
There are things like menstrual cups made of plastic that you can use which I imagine would save money in the long run but that’s up to any individual woman.
What a surprise after all these years dl to bevwondering whether one can afford to use tissues to blow one’s nose or wipe ones lips etc
It is also better for the planet if we are careful with using paper or cardboard so that we do not ruin in the world by lack of thought and it will save a little money for anyone.
You go out for coffee or a meal and if you have paper napkin provided then if you don’t use it you could take that home and cut it in half and useb each half as a substitute for a paper hanky
If you save 50p a day letting £180 in the year.
0r it is £3.50 a week which will still pay for a large cappuccino.
Please don’t stop using toilet paper. Unless you are a homeless person and in that case you may be able to use a public comlnvenience where there should be toilet paper.
The fewer our possessions are, the better.
If you have no bread you need no butter.
Turn away from Envy Use your will.
If there is no illness there’s no pill
Comparisons are painful to the weak
If you and rhey persist the outlook’s bleak.
Be grateful you can see and feel and taste
The wonders of perception go to waste.
When we lose a sense we realise
Nothing can replace our ears and eyes.
Adding more possessions makes more work.
In the maze of choice do not get stuck
In the empty space perception grows
Lots of weeds or just a single rose
I’d like to stroke your head to soothe your pain
I’d like to hold you while you rest again
Does my fantasy seem much too sweet
Can the heart enjoy such sweet deceit?
I’d like you in pyjamas. by the fire
Feelng cosy though you might be tired
Looking at a Bergman film with me
I do know you like them we will see
Then we could have a fight about my cat
It bit your head off when it lost the rat
I’d make some cocoa read your palm in bed
My eyes are weak so we might kiss instead
The earth would rock the stars crash in the sky
When I sang a dreamy lullaby
I can’t pass the written English exam for immigrants because I rarely use punctuation marks.They annoy me
But it you were born here it is alright.Is that fair?
There’s many a comma twixt failure and success
If you don’t know, you will just have to guess
You may get it right, you may get it wrong.
Put that new comma right where it belongs
The tree is stretching upwards to the sun
Soon its fruiting year will have begun
One friend became an atheist till her grandson got cancer
Then she prayed
Let him get Better and I will start going to church again
Do we think God needs us to go to church?
He needs us to help the poor starving, suffering, lonely
Going to Church is for the Church
Power.
Did Jesus plan to build a Church?
It is ridiculous
I saw you struggling with your walking frame
Guessed that you must suffer too much pain
I smiled because you caught my sidewards glance
Then your face too by smiling was enhanced
So often older people are ignored
Lost and lonely hidden at the core
Once this man fought in a major war
I hope by some fine friend he was restored
I saw him disappearing down the road
His posture more erect, his back less bowed
And in my heart I felt the smiling too
Enchanted by the essence , by the cue.
I got on a bus, ignored my phone,
Smiling still I pushed the door key home
In the sun the branches look quite red
Yet in the . winter rain they looked near dead
Hope can spring up like the holy sap
Bring life again and cross the fearsome gap.
With our courage let us walk ahead
Until the sacred river and our bed
The sun is bright and golden though it’s low
To the dead it cannot life bestow
But seeds are resting in the fertile earth
Waiting for the moment of new
birth
In the near dead time of winter chill
Have faith and hope but also we need will
After virtue comes the longed for Fall
Man can sin and noone is appalled
Faith of any kind is hard to find
Decisions founder in the deeps of mind.
Proud in self esteem we boast and preen
Caesar smiles then vomits on the Queen
Cold from storming rain and full of mud
The river Lea in winter turns to flood
Across the Abbey Meadows rings the bell
Brings back the ghosts, bring back the holy spell
King Harald lost his crown and all his land
The Norman Vikings, men with bloody hands
In three November weeks the red leaves died
No more to flaunt their glory and their pride
They turned a dinghy brown as they each dried
Now they fall to earth down there to hide
When my love lies and break my woman’s heart
. When life seems grey and rocks bestrew my path
. Then, shall I my life of evil start
And on the world shall I bestow my wrath?
For I have love’s own child inside my soul
And I shall tend her till at last she’s whole
An old bunch of flowers floats down the river
A cat watches from the bank, its claws milk the grass
The sun is shining
Peace
K
I shall fill the river Lea with tears
Washing out the shadows of my fears
Panic hit me like a heavy blow
Where I go to nobody can know
The sun shines on the river and it gleams
Sparkling water,bouncing golden beams
Two ducks float without much will or hope
Let them find it some pleasure as they mope
I wish I were a wild wild goose
And I could fly and seek
Looking for my lost lost love .
With eyes that cannot weep.
What is my life when I love none
And noone loveth me
When all are fled when all are gone
Take me to the sea
I saw the hills I saw the lakes
I saw the mighty ocean
What is beauty what is joy
When my true love is broken
I peck my breast I shed my blood
The pure white goose would die
Take me to the cold. cold earth
Under a cruel white sky
I am feeling for the many roots that curve beneath the soil
Where insects scuttle silently, where kindly beetles toil.
Roots keep huge trees from falling down,an anchor and a friend
They feed the trees and crops and flowers in spring when life expands.
I place my feelers out to learn
what other life forms know.
Everywhere the mind can think
imagination goes
We became like children once again
Rolling down a grassy bank in glee
Gone was all our worry and the pain
Though we never sought to flee.
For a while we felt like little lambs
Leaping in the Pennines lower parts .
Confident we trusted in God’s hands
For noone human fully undrstands
Now I see you at the be very end
In the grace that love had kindly lent
My boundaries broken, leaks my soul to earth
Disdained by helpers out flies my own worth
My door won’t close,my body is unsafe
Being cleaned by others seems like rape
No time is free for they come when they will
Losing one’s autonomy can kill
To break into the sacred heart brings death
Destroying or debasing with cold wrath
The trees are still summer full
Heavy leaves block the waning light
Sun looks like a moon on vacation
Looking for a man
Made of green cheese
S
On Sunday we would stroll to old Deane Road
My brother used to speak in. Code
My baby sister in her pram so bold
Now both have died and passed away
I can’t forget the golden rods and Mum’s coat frayed
The cemetery where we used to pray
Now Mum is dead will there be room for me
I prefer to lie beneath my tree
I hope I shall be eaten like the Host
Though I am no Saviour I have done my best
And crave the peace of nature and her rest.
The church bells ring again in harmony
Asking for some peace and charity
I rode on Daddy s shoulders held his ears
He sang and whistled I wished he was still here
Do not wear a bin bag in the snow
You need sheepskin boots on an ice flow
Better think of summer and bright lights
The sun will rise and set but not at night
Blakeny is in Norfolk which we love
Air,sky sea will mingle for our good
On Sunday we would stroll to old Deane Road
My brother used to speak in.his own code
My baby sister in her pram so bold
Now both have died and passed away
I can’t forget the golden rods and Mum’s coat frayed
The cemetery where we used to pray
Now Mum is dead will there be room for me
I prefer to lie beneath my own
I hope I shall be eaten like the Host
Though I am no Saviour I have done my best
And crave the peace of nature and her rest.
The church bells ring again in harmony
Asking for some peace and charity
I rode on Daddy s shoulders held his ears
He sang and whistled I wished he was still here
The fatal equilibrium of death
The lonely people pondering on their wrath
The dancers on the ice maintain their flow
Discipline and time love to bestow
When we speak but do not look upon
The person we address, we are undone
We miss the tiny signs, the looks, the lines
We treat them as mere object we define
We treat them like a post of wood or stone
As if we cannot hurt nor cause them shame
We hit them with sharp words or thoughtless rot
And on and on until hate is begot
All want to be acknowleged,seen and heard
But must approach each other with great care
For most of us are thin skinned, nervous beasts
Who fear they are not asked to the great Feast
And in a thousand gestures we declare
We are not speaking merely to thin air
How my heart sings 