The rusty old dog

In our yard, we had a dog on wheels.

Its fur was almost gone,it was so worn

I sat upon its musty back,my steed.

I thought that he looked sad, he looked forlorn

In that house my grandma lived and died

My father was a child it was his dog

Rich as grass in meadows was its fur.

The rusty wheels were bright and pierced the fog

I see the yard the coal shed and the lav.

The green back gate my grandad coming in

The shed where bikes were piled up in a rush.

The cat jumped up so fast on the ash bin

Dad went off then grandad went off too.

I see them coming home in polished shoes

You might be poor but still you could look neat

A Sunday coat,best shoes on polished feet

God has been replaced by our machines

God has been replaced by our machines

We worship them all week, no Sabbath day

No need for leisure nor the fallow field

No unconscious mind, no grace, no play.

No wonder little children want their phones.

They need to worship like their parents do.

Unlike God, machines can be controlled

Everything is fine, till dogs miaow.

Before the metal and the wire bow down.

Clean your Lord with disinfectant blue.

Keep all his brethren clean no need to pray

Meditations just another clue

Give your washing one more spin tonight

Eventually you’ll see that glowing light

The cobbles in the road

My bonsai beech has blended with the yew
And in it little wrens have made a nest
A robin, so much bolder,passed by too
In late spring the birds make us feel blessed

As a child I had no garden home
The girls and boys with balls and ropes make play
I laugh to think we went out with no phones
The cobbles in the road held marbles stray

We had no trees,we had coal mines and mills
My aunties’ faces lined and worn still smiled
With their sugared tea were bitter pills
Each a single tear shed by the Christ

Arsenic and opium combined
Which will win the contest for our minds?

Twinkle now oh little car

Hello Katherine are you going to Mars on Sunday?

I was wondering about an evening bath.

Are you going listen to Beethoven’s trial in sombrero?

What about Mozart’s clarinet twin set?

I want to get a new sinful coat in the gales

Where is your mouse truncated?

He says who wants to paint your balls?

I hope he will change the sea lion.

What about the Hunt bore,

It’s illegal to count boxers.

Is your dog a large warrior?

Have you possibly exams on your whores?

I guess I was tight

What sort of fear do you like?

Who wrote about the finality of evil,?

Can I have my own Korea?

What do you think of speech to vexed in 5 words?

What do you think of a bird being banned?

Could the Red Sea divide again?

What about Solomon’s twinkle?

The crucial importance of poetry

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/why-teaching-poetry-is-so-important/360346/

Through the fields

More complex than our mind is nature green

The River Lea still murmurs as it flows

Waltham abbey, Eleanor her cross

In the sun, the kingfisher still glows.

Through the fields the river sings her song.

There are grassy banks where we once rolled.

Where is now our innocence of heart?

The shepherd guides the flock into the fold.

In the abbey crypt the sacred dwells

Near the yew trees and King Harold’s grave.

Once there would have been the sound of bells

And in-our hearts we felt that Jesus saved

Let the world receive the humble child.

Who can see the gods in,this world wild?

Coole Parke

https://poemanalysis.com/william-butler-yeats/coole-park-and-ballylee/

The wild swans at Coole

https://poemanalysis.com/william-butler-yeats/the-wild-swans-at-coole/#

A triolet?

The pure in heart shall see their God one day.

With love’s intention clear they offer prayer

Yet God will not talk big like Donald Trump

God will whisper what he has to say

Is no one listening for that voice today?

God is tramped on as the high priests pray.

The bombs to stop all future bombs are stumped

There is no future where no children play

In the land that dreams dwell in

In the land that dreams dwell in

where love and hate and life begin;

where swiftly the deep rivers flow

from those lost lands of long ago.

I wander through wild poppy fields

Underfoot the dark earth yields….

I see the flowering fruit trees start

Their blossoms gather round my heart…

I hear the sparrows sing with joy

And bees their busy wings employ.

In those lost lands I saw your face

And now I long for your embrace.

Are you real,am I deceived?

From this earth  we  all must leave.

Earth to earth and ash to ash

Glory,pride and boasting pass.

You have left me, dearest one

Soon I too will be called on.

Nothing lasts but truth is real

Keep your heart and your ideals..

Earth to earth, we rest in clay

We must give all self away

Yet softly on this earth I roam

Seeking still new love and home,

for until the very end

Love and kindnss may descend.

Soft as wings of butterflies

Tears well up and wet my eyes.

My heart has melted into yours

Thus we grow and die like flowers

Guilt in Eden

For three weeks I had a virus so could not exercise.I was concerned because my muscles are not in the ideal condition

I mentioned it to someone who said

But it’s not your fault

That is true but our muscles will get weaker if we don’t use them for ANY reason.Whether it is our fault or not

The body does not know why we don’t move It just reacts to how we use it

Oh for the happy days when we could fall over and get up again

With no injuries

Xmas 1946

I remember Xmas ’46.

the glowing coal,the sugar bag,the sticks

The boys had fairisle jumpers in pure wool

The golden cup of happiness was full

In the flames I saw bright dancing shapes

oh happy infant ,love, oh happy state.

on a Xmas tree were hung the chocolate coins

in the crib I saw Lord Jesus born

My sister too was soon to leave the Womb

Next time she would be there in the room

Her Celtic face was round her eyes were green

Rarely did she cry,Allanah, Queen

This was Eden,this was all our joy

Come back Love,do not our lives destroy.

People at Arnside preparing to walk to Grange over sands across the River Kent Estuary

Ice on the pavement

I could have spent much time in studying ice

The thin pools on the pavement froze like stars

Reflecting light from street lamps would suffice

I was late for school, it wasn’t far.

I knew each crack, the depth of pools, the shape

Like the mother’s body, studied, loved.

When the water froze my eyes would gape

Along would come my brothers with a shove.

I knew each brick each stone, each clean doorstep.

There was no time for me to stop and stare

I feared the rage of teachers and the priest

I neglected life, took no time to rest

Adults seemed much worse than ravenous beasts.

The little world is spoiled when they “know best’

Potential pleasure and the painter’s joy

Sacrificed to “learning”, love destroyed

What I thought they were saying in church when I was little

Ray Queer’s cat’s in parquet

Request cats get parts t’.

I forgive you your twins. But you must be a virgin when you can.

All unmarried versions please report to the press bitterly

Guardian angels leave heaven on sight.

Cheerio, Elaine’s son

Hail glorious St Hat Trick.
Lord, it’s hearsay.
Lord, I’m worser
Forgive all dear trespassers.
Blessed is the foot of thy broom.
Pay for us now and the whore at our death.
I believe in none,God.
The communion of tyrants

Criminals will be persecuted in rhyme
.
Jesus wants me for his angels.
The Ten Demanding Torments are here.
Have you paid for your wrecks yet?
For all the saints who laboured at their tests
For all the painted ghosts
Remember man my heart tart is frost
Ash to ash,dust if you must
Forgive us an hour’s trespassing and we shall be in heaven
Please do as you would have fun by.

Do you resent both your sins ?

You are not allowed any descent from the church.

Why do we have to start by saying

prey Father?

I have committed five mortal sinners to the asylum. They will be put on rhythm if they are bipolar magnets.

What does it mean?

Why can’t we use table salt instead of lithium?

Alternatively we could put lithium on the table instead of sea salt.

I say, I think that’s really disgusting.

I said you’ve got the wrong adjective.

How do you know when you’ve got the right one?

One by one they fall

The Northern Pennines taken by my brother-in-law

Like skittles struck by well aimed iron balls

One by one, my friends, my siblings fall

Who will be the last to meet their death?

The great wheels of the engine grind the path.

The young will not desire to meet the old

And so we lie down sick and grow more cold

Everything is taken every cell

I hope with gratitude I shall die well

Expand with happiness

Remember how our breathing slows right down

When we see a small bird close at hand

We want the happy moment to expand

To feel the greenness, and in that greeness drown

Our breathing is much faster in the town

Our hearts will beat as fast as Previn’s hands.

We lose our mind and body, their demands.

We walk through traffic like damned clowns

See the human faces as they frown

They each update their phone,a thousand pounds!

They will park and ride the underground.

To Mayfair with a credit card and crown.

We need to create new memories that last.

In Dedham Vale the wild geese still fly past

Rosa Felicia

Words can’t match the flowers so happy here.

Take love to your own heart,a souvenir

The poet can sing until you feel you’re real

The love of beauty helps the heart to heal

Lost

I saw my house uprooted like a tree

Great roots were severed, how I ached to see

And all was tossed without my love and care

Bits of earth fell from the roots. now bare.

Barbaric in its mad intensity

I wept the tears of grief for you, for me.

Our home attacked,destroyed and I lie here.

Putting out the flames with profuse tears

Lamenting for my love who died within

The collapsing of my world now with no sun

The house a symbol of our marriage true

Cannot stand without a me and you

So my vision passed and I am here

My memories are my only souvenir

I wish we were in Daisy Street again

Play cops and robbers, children’s games.

Skipping with a rope, reciting rhymes.

Rolling marbles, finding walls to climb

Going to the park,we liked

Marbles

Rolling marbles made of coloured glass
Skipping rope and learning ancient rhymes
Filling inkwells , polishing the brass
With dip-in pens we wrote upon the lines

Licking out the bowl where cakes were mixed
Running wild with brothers and their friends
Wonder at those fireworks Daddy fixed
Catherine wheels rotating, transcendent

Mother smiling in her flowery dress
Little rocking chairs where we placed dolls
Daddy saying,Good night and God Bless
Teddies with no fur left, ask our Paul

Little sisters, brothers’ cricket balls
Hot coal fires where kettles used to boil
Old gas cookers, scabbed knees from our falls
Fuses blowing, making light bulbs fail

In our bed , we whispered little tales
In the morning feeling warm and dazed
Love was in the air, the baby wailed
Dad so pleased with Mother’s happy face

I see the cobblestones all hot with sun
The Street Party , the Coronation

The magic of words