https://www.gale.com/intl/databases-explored/literature/joseph-conrad#:~:text=The%20life%20of%20Joseph%20Conrad,and%20complex%20as%20his%20writing.

He was born in what was then the part of the Ukraine nearest to Poland. But it was then part of Russia.

When the weather began to improve and the sun was getting high in the sky, Mary and Annie decided to go for a holiday on the East coast

I would really like to take Emile with us Mary told Annie.

He’s had a hard time during the last few years and it would do him good to have a change.

But do you think it’s safe to take him?

Do you think he should have a collar and lead?

No I think that we will get a rucksack made of leather and we can put a soft wool cardigan in the bottom and it must be quite shallow so that if he wants to he can sit up and put his head out of the top even though he’s on my back.He should be able to hear the sound and smell the tang of the sea.

So Mary said to Emile

We’re thinking of going on holiday to some quiet Hamlet on the East coast. We thought you might like to come with us.

Oh mother I would really love to come with you. Can I go in your handbag? I can put my head off of the top and if anybody who comes near you I can bite them with my teeth.I’ll make sure that my sheet teeth are very sharp before we leave home

We will talk about that when we’re near the time because Annie and I have got to choose our clothes shoes and get some makeup and sun protection cream not to mention having our hair cut blow dried

Oh you women cried Emile.

The wind will blow dry your hair when you walk along the beach.

Oh,my hair is is thin enough already without being bblown off by the wind.

Well, I like it said Emile manfully.

Thank you so much, Mary told him. What a courteous cat you are

And so say all of us

I hope that one day I will have another cat just like Emile

We do not allow men and women to share beds in the Cardiac Unit
[That’s good.I am homosexual. or neuter]
{ Now, you might think it would save money if we all chose a partner  on the ward]
We do not allow patients to open the windows
[Are you afraid  the people in another ward might want to climb in?}
You must  not complain about the food
{Where is it?}
We keep you here until WE decide.[Not the Royal Sea Hospital where we had your angiograms]
We change the sheets every day.
{That’s the only benefit of being in hospital]
The nurses are all overworked
{So is everyone, including the patient]
Do not get washed in front of the Consultant
[We wait till he turns round then ?]
That bowl of water is not a cup of tea
[Wittgenstein, thou should be living at this hour]
Please do not watch porn on your iphone as it may be stolen.Buy a cheap one before you come in here.Be prepared and always keep it to hand
Remember actual sex is forbidden except in the bathroom.And it is unwise there.
{ What’s this, a convent?}
No,matron I was just feeling itchy.
[They believe anything]
If you can do that, you can go home.
[But I won’t have an audience at home.]
Would you believe some people have heart attacks just to get into a Cardiac Unit?
{Me neither.  unless I was an asylum seeker]
We are always able to make you a cup of tea.
{But are you willing?}
The last rule is pray hard and keep smiling
Oh, to be beguiling

• Stan was wearing his best suit,topped by a denim apron, and wad polishing the big windows with a microfibre cloth ,as he waited breathlessly for his stunning wife
  .Mary entered the room wearing a long purple and mauve dress which clung somewhat tightly to the curvaceous contours of her beautifully rounded body.
  On her feet she had some smart pewter ballet slippers and in her elegant hand she carried a huge pewter clutch bag which contained some of her many medications.She addressed Stan,
  “I think I can leave my handbag behind if I put my mouth spray into my bra.”
  “That somehow detracts from the romance of the evening.” Stan pronounced openly.
  “Well,you know,I never had a cleavage until lately and I fell I ought to make the most of it.”
  “Surely I should be the one make the most of it,” he riposted jocosely.
  “Of course you may, my angel,but not in the restaurant,”she answered back sweetly
  “I’ll put your spray in my pocket then,shall I?”
  Suddenly the doorbell rang.
  ”Who’s this?”
  It was Annie,their next door neighbour.
  She was wearing a coral velvet track suit with matching Reeboks and sun hat.
  “Hi,I just came in with a little prezzie,”She declaimed.In her hand was a huge box of chocolates.
  “Gosh,Mary you look lovely in that beautiful long dress but you’re not
  going on your bike,are you?”
  “No,we are having a cab,but it’s not come as yet.”
  “Well,never mind.I’ll ring 999 and get them to send an emergency ambulance for you!”
  Fortunately,as luck would have it the minicab appeared and it was only as they were entering the restaurant that Stan realised he was still wearing his old denim apron.
  “Shall I take it off?” he pondered.
  On the pro side I will look smarter on the con side I might spill some soup down my front.I wish I’d done more logic at college.
  So he kept it on.Mary didn’t seem to notice.She just took him for granted.~
  If he stood on his head and sang”Jerusalem” she probably wouldn’t pay any attention.
  Then he noticed that Mary was wearing an apron too.It was the same colour as her dress.What a brilliant idea,he thought.
  “There may be money in this.” He could start a small business,
  “Aprons R You” selling lovely aprons in all colours of the rainbow.
  Suddenly he heard noises;he awoke and heard Mary shouting
  “How can you go to sleep when you are out with me?”
  “Would you prefer me to recite the Periodic Table?” he snapped gently.
  “I’d prefer a poem,” she cried…
  All right,Petal,I’ll think of one soon.In the meantime would you like a fool?”
  “No.I’ve got you,” she responded handsomely.
  “I mean for a pudding?”
  “Oh,yes please.A Rubik fool would be lovely.It will pass the time.You know I get so bored.”
  “Well,I do my best but it’s hard keeping up with you.would you like to read a few truth tables whilst I finish my mea.?”
  He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small leather bound book.
  “Truth tables and levitation for geniuses,” by Bertha Russell.
  “Oh,Stan,this looks interesting .I’ve always wanted to fly like an angel or an owl.”
  “It’s never too late to say never.” he responded.
  “Whatever do you mean?”
  “I don’t know.Just because a sentence is grammatically correct doesn’t imply that it means something.”
  “Yes, quite right.And conversely a sentence can mean something even when it’s not grammatically correct.”“Isn’t thinking exciting!”
  “Yes,indeed.I was thinking how exciting it will be to go to bed with you.”
  “Wow,good grammar and full of meaning.I am yours.I am like a ripe plum ready to drop off the tree.I am a cat ready to mate.I am a song waiting to be sung.”
  “Gosh,are metaphors your bete noir?”
  “Je ne parle pas Francais.”
  “Aimez vous ein Nederlander?”
  “Sprechen sie Deutsche?”
  Ist sein mutter immer krank?”
  Lehitraot, auf weidersehen,au revoir,
  Je suis un parallel line

https://blog.bayada.com/be-healthy/dos-and-donts-for-communicating-with-someone-who-has-dementia#:~:text=Don%27t%20yell%20or%20raise,of%20you%20to%20remain%20calm.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amorphous#:~:text=%3A%20having%20no%20definite%20form%20%3A%20shapeless,%3A%20lacking%20organization%20or%20unity

https://www.healthawareness.co.uk/bones-and-joints/its-been-a-struggle-to-remain-being-me-miriam-margolyes/

From time and place and season I am lost,
Disorientated ,missing tracks well worn.
Do not suppose I’m unaware of cost,
Nor label me with epithets of scorn.
For usual paths lead to the usual place.
The safest way to live and perhaps to die,
But wandering through the woods I find new space
and in wild grasses with the fox I lie.
Through distant trees, I see a way to go
As narrow as a slit in pale limestone.
I pass in silence as if in deep,deep snow.
My courage rises even as I groan.

Remember when we’re lost ,we may then find
Another way,a place,another mind.

Would you like to be my friend?
No, I’d rather be myself

Would you like to fall in love?
I’d rather swim through it

Would you like a new car?
I’ve not got an old one

What is your name.
No, it’s not, it’s Nat

What shall we eat tonight?
I can chew my nails after putting mango chutney on them

I don’t like to eat snails but neccessity is the mother of invention
Will you saute them in olive oil?
No, I’ll stuff them into a tomato
You need a big one
I’ll crush them
How cruel cookery can be
But not as bad as Goering,Stalin,Hitler or Nero.
Snails won’t know that
But we know

Where are the children?
I didn’t know we had any

Why are we in bed?
Because we are married
Since when?
Gosh, you’ve got dementia already
Well, we do live in a Care Home
Wow, only 29 and in a Care Home
We run it

A human sacrifice, malignant in intent

Industrial scale pollution of the mind

Psychosis,losing on the Russian front

The madness of revenge was well designed

The ground of logic must be strong and true

Was Jesus death an error in the plan

So good to kill the Christ, he was a Jew.

Then the logic of the mad began

Christ had died, it seemed that was too few.

They balked at counting people one by one

So they put a star upon each Jew

Now Europe’s in decline we have not paid

Logic is the enemy disturbed

https://sites.northwestern.edu/thesafe/2018/07/24/your-old-computer-is-a-security-risk/

An unexpected visitor came by

A welcome guest, a vision to my eye

A need I had unsatisfied had come

While my lips themselves had been quite dumb

A welcome guest, my heart was well surprised

I knew her lips were alien to a lie

Though she was a stranger,love seemed right

A conversation brief but just enough

Led to the lifting of an ancient curse

Mary felt extremely tired when she woke up.

She lay there in her Per Una nightdress and cried because she was having her persistent dream.Stan had died but in the dream he was alive and holding hrr hand as he pulled her urgently along the street and then wanted her to run faster an faster.

She recognised the road because it was the place she had gone to register his death. Because he had not died near their home

Stan cried

Hurry hurry the car park’s around that corner but when they got to the corner there was another corner and round that one there was another corner as if there were an infinite number them. Sometimes it’s a great handicap to be a mathematician.

Stan said we’ve got to find the car otherwise we can’t ever go home again1 They passed a new coffee shop but Stan didn’t want to go in. They were both out of breath then all of a sudden Mary woke up but she was not holding the Stans hand. She was holding Emile’s tail

Emil turned around and bit her hand.

Ouch Mary cried. Why are you biting the hand that feeds you?

Welk you keep pulling my tail. I can’t escape you’ve been holding my tail for two hours.

Thank you Emil I didn’t know that I was doing this so I am sorry about it but Stan was trying to make me run and he was holding my hand and pulling me along.

Well it’s nice to dream about him maybe but I was afraid that my tail would come off completely.

I just saw something in the newspaper about awoman who went round to the house of a man that she fancied and when his wife answered the door she got hold of her hair and pulled hm to the ground and some hair came right out and her head was bleeding.

That seems rather stupid, Mary commented. Did she think a man would fall in love with her and leave his wife because she pull his wife hair out?

If I were he I would be afraid that she would pull my hair out and that’s not conducive to sexual relations for most of us

If anyone pulled out my fur I would feel very cold said Emile and I would be angry.

I wonder how long it would take to pull out all your hair Emile?

I don’t want to even think about that.

St Mary fell asleep again and had exactly the same dream. Do people stay around after they have died trying to get their loved ones to pull them back to earth or hit me like a wishful fantasy on the part of the surviving spouse? Mary thinks she better call Annie to get her opinion on the matter.

And so do all of us

Another branch has broken from the tree
For nine short months, it weakened and grew dry.
It fell to earth with solemn gravity

Is comparing us to trees good simile?
I’d find a better if I’d guts to try
Another branch is sundered from the tree

The tree grieves not, for it likes to be free
Its main desire is stature, to be high.
Dead branches fall to earth by gravity

Some compare life to a drunken sea;
Or to the sky where dance wild nuclei
Yet one most ancient symbol is the tree

The strong hang on in their tenacity
Even as their leaves and berries fly
Weaker branches fall with gravity

Death comes so much harder to the high
This is no truth but neither is it lie
Another branch has broken from the tree
It disconnected all its twigs; lay down in lea.

By the bowling green my Dad and I would talk

In 1952 he still could walk

We spent the afternoon in Willows Park

At least there were some sparrows

life was stark

He wore a jacket made of thinning tweed

He smoked cheap cigarettes I love their smell

Though they killed you Daddy I know well.

I did not understand that God was frail

I prayed for you but all to no avail.

The Jews in Auschwitz must have prayed at first

Then singing Kaddish stumbled to their deaths

God cannot be judged though humans can.

Everyones6 a person like I am

Every person is another world

In its Imagination Europe failed

Could Daddy have been saved for ten more years?

Does even the best neighbour really care?

Few will help us mourn the ones we lost

Ourhearts ignoble will not pay the cost.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research

Why did Jesus cross the road?
To look back with anger.

For what did Jesus save us?
Because his 64 GB SD card was empty.

Why did Jesus curse that fig tree?
It stopped him seeing across the road.

Why did Jesus not use a bus?
He said it was unfair to asses and donkeys

Why did Noah leave the Ark?
Because the two animals had become twenty two.

Did Noah read books?
No he just scrolled.

Why do roads have two sides?
Because they are flat.

What is an enigma?
Ah,if only I could explain it!

Why did ancient people believe in salvation?
Because they couldn’t solve Fermat’s Last Theorem

Why did the Pope sell indulgencies?
Because there was a market.

When we say we repent,how do we know we mean it?
I’m stumped.

If I go to Confession,will it be private?
As long as you don’t tweet it later.

Where may I receive Communion?
Is she Spanish?

Leonard Cohen

The widespread scattering of the Jewish genes
Caused by pogroms cruel and holocaust
A Russian mother, Father, German seems
Now all of them, have turned to earth and dust.

Then the city French called Montreal
Safe home to refugees of every sort
Here Leonard found his path, he heard the call
And learned to bear the suffering of the heart.

Where some men leave this world by their own choice,
The isolating loneliness, the fear
Instead, he struggled, strained, gave us his voice
Even after death, we feel him near.

A man descended from Aaron, the priest,
The same people that gave us G-d and Christ

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/apprehensive#:~:text=Apprehensive%20is%20from%20a%20Latin,which%20suggests%20a%20more%20general

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-better-poetry

Someone in my family has done a DNA test and we are only 11% English. 89% Celtic but not Welsh

https://www.etymonline.com/word/impinge

1530s, “fasten or fix forcibly,” from Latin impingere “drive into, strike against,” from assimilated form of in- “into, in, on, upon” (from PIE root *en “in”) + pangere “to fix, fasten” (from PIE root *pag- “to fasten”). Sense of “encroach, infringe” first recorded 1738. Related: Impinged; impinging; impingent.

There were three of us on this motorbike,
Father Dan with me,
And he had Jesus in his bag.
That makes the total three.

Transubstantiation, oh my Lord
I looked at his black bag.
Is Jesus inside there, I thought?
Should it have a tag?

It’s a secret never told
Father Dan gave it me to hold.
So I had Jesus in my lap,
No wonder now I feel a gap.

We zoomed off up an unmade road
As fast as Dan could go.
I felt bewildered and bemused,
I loved my Daddy so.

Father Dan took back his bag,
And went inside our house.
I got my marbles out to roll,
I feared I’d see a mouse.

So Three of had taken a ride
And after that, my Dad had died.
Father Dan said Mass today
Still with Jesus, so I cried.

https://www.olivetree.com/blog/heretics-and-christian-thinkers/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/infringe-encroach-impinge-usage-difference

Fragments of people,feel like splintered glass,

Impinge upon my heart and do not pass

Unike a sword or dagger they do not kill

Yet do not have a collective single will.

Like tiny phrases put into few words

They pierce my skin like beaks of sharp eyed birds

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impinge%20on%2Fupon

Standing close together,but not looking

We lean forward touching foreheads lightly against each other

Eyes closed

Tenderly we graze

On the other?s smell,skin,softness.

I feel your heart beating

As it it were mine.

We lean for a few more moments like this.

Wordless.But everything else speaks

Holding the broken places,with love.

Then we turn and walk away

Yet those moments last forever.

Foreheads touching,

Skin on skin..

Our boundaries.

You are another subjectivity

A real person

Wanting nothing but everything

I see your smile.

You were with me

And now we go our ways

On our own journey.

One meeting of souls

Remains a blessing forever

May you be blessed

May the fire not burn you

Nor the water drown you

May the Lord keep you always near him.

Forever blessed.

I release you.