A wild bird’s cry

October 28, 2019
Walking on the long white shore with you
The perfect sands, the sky and sea so blue
The rippling waves made patterns on our shoes
Oh,come back,sweetheart ,I can’t bear your loss

The church at Old Hunstanton has a pond
Ducks and geese were waiting for more food
The silence was enormous, like the sky
Interrupted by a wild bird’s cry

At Brancaster we nearly met our deaths
Cut off by a wave behind our backs
Young and green ,we knew no panic then
But now I feel it as I walk alone

Without my anchor I may float away
A little speck of dust in that wide bay

Sermon of the week

If you ever bring yourself to clear out a lot of your possessions you may if you do it slowly and properly you may come to love the empty spaces in your home and you enjoy the freedom from having to organise and sort out your possessions.

The rich young man was sad when Jesus told him to sell his possessions and I think the reason why Jesus did that was not because it’is inherently wrong  but it is a burden when caring for your possessions takes up most of you spare time.

Spiritual growth needs time to reflect on your life and if that is too painful for you you may feel your life with objects or even having more children simply to fill your up and not to feel the dreadful pain of the emptiness. So it’s clearly going to be difficult to do this but you will get rewards of space and time. You can’t buy those with money

Astonishing life

To fulminate against the hands of fate
To vent our anger on sweet beloved friends
Will not repair our ills and our mistakes
But may bring friendships to a bitter end.
For who are we to know what is the best?
Who are we to choose when loved ones die?
And do not think this is a needed test.
As if on us God wastes his time to spy.
Once we were a joining of two cells
The lively sperm, a salmon riding high.
The egg awaiting without a need for bells
Is fertilised and grows that which shall die.
Astonishing that we should live at all.
Unsurprising, that a loved one falls

For someone non existent God has power

For someone non-existent God has power
To wreck the world he learns from every hour.
He is not here or there or where at all
And yet we do have evidence of Fall.

Why must men be angry as they boast,
They can prove there is no Holy Ghost?
No benediction, blessing, nothing good
No meaning, nothing sacred, never Love.

For who is zero, who’s in the empty set?
God seems ever harder to forget
Men argue with red cheeks and suffer strokes
While God sits back, enjoys an evening smoke.

While Nothing shall remain and nausea sighs
Let’s enjoy the madness and the lies.

Come again?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

1

Please make your will before leaving the restaurant.

Are the gunmen just outside the door?

2

I can’t wait to get married. Paying bills, worrying about the mortgage or rent. Doing the washing and ironing men shirts. Wondering if we can afford hot water. Ditto children.

Being too worried to feel desire lust or greed I need to see a psychotherapist. Is there an open air zoo where I can see them in their natural habitat ?

3

I would like to seek asylum

Where are all those old mental hospitals that you could live in for years free of charge and that’s what you’ll be like after you have had ECT. It doesn’t charge you up.

Don’t leave me all alone

Ancient drawing by Katherine

December 7, 2015
Come back to me,my sweetheart

Don’t leave me all alone.

Come back to me,my darling

I can’t believe you’ve gone.

I’m crying ‘cos I’m feeling blue again.

I’m crying’ cos I’m falling like a stone.

Oh, let me tempt you with my beauty

And my voice forever young.

Let me tempt you with my spirit

My laughter and my songs.

I’m crying ‘cos I never did you wrong.

I’m crying ‘cos with you I still belong.

I thought maybe I’d follow,

To see where you have gone

But there’s a hand upon this tiller

That is not mine alone.

I’m crying ‘cos I wrote this old blue song.

I’m crying, I’ve not seen you for so long

The hand upon my tiller

The mystery of the dark

The unknown one who lives in me

And sings like a skylark.

I’m singing ‘cos I wrote you a new song.

I’m singing ‘cos the cat ain’t got my tongue.

The stern angels

The stern angels smile, they are happy 

Trapped in the stone sculpturez seek to escape

Sometimes I see a hint of movement

They must be strong to break out of the ossification.

Come now, angels.

This is your time.

Beat very hard with your wings

Leave it all behind

What glee

Please play before parking your car
Don’t go home without your dripping
Please use a different credit marred
Please be police to other passengers on this plane
Do as you would be stunned by
Don’t be anti-specific in this Motel
Keep Britain Pernicious
Are you a Fascist? Free tuition in the UK
Please drive your car to the Brexit gate before decaying
Keep your seat polished in Church
Don’t leave the IOU today
Johnson said, “what EU” to my cat
The Sermon on our doubt
Are you racist about God?
What a Gnostic! It’s Greek to me.Gnow,gnow.
The Church of England is praying in Europe this week
Leave the memories be kind
My sister likes to pray on her piano every day
What’s on the TV? Just the cat I’m afraid.
Income Tax goes out!
You can’t fool glee.

The words the music and the song

One day I might write a villanelle.

I like the name the music and the song

But when that day shall come no one can tell.

Like à frog that sings upon a well

No one tells me melodies are wrong

One day I might write a villanelle.

Shut down all the phones and ring the bells.

The wasps are gathering for the human sting.

When that day shall come no one can tell.

How do we know if life is heaven or hell?

People used to laygh1 when men were hanged

One day someone wrote a villanelle.

I like my Poetry plane without a frillm

Can we make without creative dung?

When that day will come no one will tell

Everyone needs somewhere to belong.

Home is where they take you in and sing

One day soon I’ll write a villanelle

If you know my secrets don’t you tell m

The crucifix uncrossed

The ghosts of failures past make tears flow down
They run inside the wrinkles of my skin
The faces of the old and savaged ones.

The child teased for her foreign accent frowns.
Does she have the strength of mind within?
The ghost of failure now makes tears flow down

We thought the old were wiser, never conned.
Yet we ourselves feel bombed by thinner skin.
Our faces old and ravaged, tortured ones.

For the poor in money, loss abounds
They blame themselves, they did not ever win
The ghost of failure past makes tears flow down

The poor in spirit to their Lord will run
Is this world of terror caused by sin?
Their sorry faces traumatised, undone

The crucifix will be uncrossed again.
The Holocaust in nuclear fires may come
The salt of failure’s cost make tears run on
The faces of the living, savaged ones

Hoo art thee?

Wurt’zmicat= where is my cat
Wurzmidinner= where is my dinner
Midadsmokes= my father smokes
Deyelikekippers= are you a maths teacher?

Avityeroanway= have it your own way
Amgointechurch =I am going to church
Yecanseesatanin’t mirror= one can see Satan in the mirror
Izzitrainin= is it raining?
adoantwant t’ gotoskool=I am menstruating
pizeanirrationalnumber=I am going to Confession
Izzgodtranscendental= can we pay the rent?
Amgoint’etbuzzstop=I am leaving home
Alostmibuzzfairmam=I am a thief

Lincoln cathedral

From the miles of flatness and the fens
Comes . the hill where this Cathedral stands
Everyone can see this floodlit site
When the moon is out and there is night.
I saw it through the window as I turned
It’ struck me down with beauty never learnt.
As I lay surprised upon the stair
I absorbed the beauty I saw there
Should we worship beauty such as this?
It strikes us with a hammer not a kiss

Children on the sands

Even love is subject to finance.

Children need their food, theit little bed

When we’re cold and hungry we can’t dance

Hoping for true love by happenstance?

Children may be born but are they bred?;

Even love is subject to finance

Do we need the lightness of romance?

Be like little children, one man said

When we’re cold and hungry, there’s no chance

But money by itself lacks elegance.

Tell us more about what some man said

Children’s hands reach out,as if entranced.

Be a slave to love but not finance.

The heart is wise, but reason writhes,is dead

I follow links but somehow lose the thread

Love itself has died on bloody sands

Why should the wounded fearful try to dance?

From Langdale to the sea

We saw the view from Langdale to the sea
Windermere, a riddle ten miles long
Coniston a question of degree
Old Man standing like a God to sing

The risky climb, the tough hand that saved me
The energy of youth and the unknown
The boldest child, the future poetry
By the shape of hills ,I’m overthrown

The shock of beauty and the cliffs of rock
The slope as sheer as ecstasy, the poem
The sturdy heart that startled with its knock
The pensive soul that brought these wishes home

On the highest peak’s edge, we lay down~
Closed our eyes to hear the sheep bells sound

Total inattention

I wonder why laptops are usually black or grey or silver.

I would like mine to be blue,

Do you think I could have it spray painted?

Similarly why are raincoats beige? I’d like one in blue and red stripes but please don’t make it the Union Jack as a shan’t feel safe going out in that.

Nationalism, fascism,war and civil war.

It’s not very amusing at the moment is it?

Why can’t we have civil love?

Why can’t we have civil arguments?

Why can’t we listen to each other?

We have our neurotic defense mechanisms which is Which actually make us selectively deaf or .blind

This is quite worrying how different people perceptions are of an event.

Recently I have some visits from a physiotherapist. The first time he came he said I will not give you any exercises to do because walking about the house and up the stairs is enough exercise for you. With certain conditions too much exercise is worse than too little.

When he came the second time he said, you told me last week that you don’t want to do any exercises

I was very surprised that he had a memory so different from mine. And this is a non-contentious topic.

No wonder there are wars.

I didn’t argue with him because I could not see any purpose in it but I was very interested that he had such a different recollection of what was said the previous time.

However he did say that they were amazed at what I have achieved

I hope that if I see him again he will not say

I tell you that we were very disappointed in your lack of progress m

This is quite possible so in future I shall write down everything such people say to me. Even then they may not believe it.

Fortunately the man who came to put a handrail in my porch remembered exactly what I wanted.

This brings me to the final defense

Selective inattention

Beware

The poorest are kindest to the weak

The least men are the kindest to the weak

The driver of the bus lives far away
His home is mobile,but not smart like our phones
He lives in a small caravan, he says
Yet of all the drivers he’s the one.

He always waits till I ,crippled, sit down
Advised me to sit until he stops
He has a smile and rarely makes a frown
Though sometimes in his words some anger’s wrapped.

Alas, he unsurprisingly believes
That all the money goes to foreign folk
By the tabloid press he is deceived
Yet due to pain, his hidden fires must smoke

The least men are the kindest to the weak
Believe me,I know well what I here speak

Tea with Emile

Mary was washing her rug on the patio watched by Emile who had pondered over the notion of leaping into the warm water in the big bowl.Fortunately, he had seen Mary was using biological detergent,
What will happen to my fur if that gets onto it? he asked his human mother
It will kill all those bacteria on it, she replied.And if you lick it then it will taste nasty,
Mary’s new boyfriend was coming for tea and she wanted the house to look clean.
I will give you a bath too Emile as Ron wears linen trousers.He will be angry if you leave footprints on him.
I am not interested in Ron , Emile replied.I wanted a lady cat to canoodle with.
I am sorry Emile but there are no websites for love deprived cats.You will have to run around the town until you find another lady friend.You are very handsome and your amber eyes are a true beauty to behold
Emile sobbed.I miss Stan, he cried.
So do I, Mary murmured, but we have to move on
How can you have found another man so soon.You are still grieving
Well, it’s just chance, Ron fell over a brick on the pavement and landed in my arms.I didn’t know about the brick and thought he was an acrobat like Norman Wisdom.I imagined he must like me and invited him to have coffee in the Mathematical Symbols Cafe otherwise known as the Pie Shop.
Ahaha, went Emile.That’s a good one.Who paid the bill?
The manager was so pleased to see me look happy he didn’t charge us a penny
That is unusual, Emile purred.I bet he was not English
I believe they are Turkish, Mary told him.They are very kind and polite
And how about Ronald? Did he like them?
He thought making pies was unusual for Turks.He has been all over that area and seen the wonders of the world.
The doorbell rang.It was some secret Catholic missionaries asking Mary if she read the Bible.
Of course not, she said, Catholics like me can’t read the Bible.It’s full of sex.
Is it really, an elderly red faced man exclaimed.Can you give me the references?
Try the Song of Songs she said and then look up Sodom and Gomorrah
I’d want something easier, he told her.I am still a virgin.
Well, that is a surprise.Did you never get married?
Being married does not always lead to sex, he informed shyly.My wife was very timid
Why did she marry you then, Mary said anxiously
I am very rich, he said and she liked my car
That is a silly reason for getting married.Did you never cuddle or canoodle on the sofa?
No, her mother always came with her wherever we went
Did that not tell you there was something odd about her?
I didn’t know what to think.
I hope her mother did not share your bed?That would be a sure way of making sure you were both virgins.Although her mother was obviously not one.She sounds what we call ” Intrusive”.If you marry again, make sure her mother is dead first!
You seem a very charming lady.Are you married?
I am not but I have a boyfriend.
Are you engaged?
Do people bother now?
Yes, he cried as he knelt down and offered her a large diamond ring he had in a little box
Will you marry me?You have such beautiful eyes.
You don’t even know my name, Mary shrieked.
Does it matter, he responded hopefully
Just then Ron arrived with a big bunch of red roses.
What is going on, he asked Mary plaintively
This gentleman wants me to become Catholic, she said politely
Do they give everyone a diamond ring? Ron enquired softly
Well, actually I am Jewish, the man told them.But my mother never arranged a marriage though I did marry once and it was annulled.We never consummated it, you see.
You seem to have left it late, Ron said nicely
Do you think you might be gay?You can get married now if you find the right man who might be the love of your life.
I might annoy the Rabbi, the man said.We Jews are keen to increase in numbers after the Shoah
Did you know there are only 13 million Jews alive now?If we compare that to the number in the Roman Empire, then proportionately there would be 200 million He began to sob.
You’d better come in, Mary said.What’s your name?
Sol, he replied
Well Ron, bring Sol through and I will make the tea.
As Emile had been listening he ran into the drawing room and jumped onto Sol’s knee
What’s your name, asked Sol impudently?
Emile Tangent-Turnip, the cat replied.
Wow, a talking cat.What next?
Annie, Stan’s former mistress came in.She pushed Emile off Sol’s knee and sat there herself.
What do you think of transcendental numbers, she piped up?
I never heard of them but if you like them I will like them as well.Tell me about them,he demanded ardently
I am afraid I don’t know, said Annie.I am a complete idiot.I thought men preferred that
No, most Jewish men like educated, intelligent women, he solemnly informed her.
But do you like large bosoms and makeup?
I think you are getting impertinent, he screamed. into her ear.Most men like bosoms but we don’t like women who talk this way.
Oh, dear, said Annie.I’m terribly sorry.You see I am a virgin and don’t know how to deal with men.
Do the two things always go together, he enquired.
It’s not being a virgin that stops you talking to men, it’s not knowing how to talk to men that keeps you a virgin.Though no man likes women who talk too much.
Ron laughed.Who defines what is too much , he asked, like a professor of logic? Surely it depends on the topic.He winked at Mary who was carrying a large iced chocolate cake into the room.
Emile ate a piece of cake as he watched the humans talk.Now if they were cats, he thought they would not all still be virgins at the age of 108.So being human stops people enjoying their bodies because they think Adam would still be a virgin if Eve had not offered him the apple.Then where would we all be?Nowhere, that is the answer.
Ron got up and said he was going to ring 999 because Sol was looking peculiar,
Do you mean he is looking at you peculiarly or he looks unwell or mad, asked Annie nervously?
Do you want to go to A and E, she asked Sol.
Why not?It will make a day out,he replied wildly.
The thing is,once you get there you could be there for hours,Mary said.
I once was there with Stan and at midnight the nurse asked me if I wanted to be admitted.He was still lying there with his eye bleeding,his nose broken and feeling weak owing to lack of food.He had passed out because of low blood sugar but they gave him no food.Very odd.I am not going to come with you.
Sol looked anxious.I thought you might like caring for me, he told her petulantly
Do you really think women like serving men all the time?Well, we only do it for men we love and as I’ve only known you for an hour in a non-biblical sense it seems a bit much to expect.Why don’t we play a game instead?
Ron came in, what sort of game?
Consequences,Annie cried!
Too out of date.
I think I’ll go to bed,said Mary
And so say all of us.Except Ron.He doesn’t know what to do.Like the old lady in the shoe.What do you advise?

Patterns

A villanelle is like a cable knit
The lines repeated twist ,make strong ,make warm
My mind is held by pattern as I sit

How can we find a subject that is fit
To spend our time to make this unique form?
A villanelle is like a cable knit

1 and 3 repeat while 2 rhymes with
1 and 3 make strong the cabled arm
My mind is held by pattern as I sit

For few escape the glimpsed abyss
Patterns,repetitions, keep us calm
A villanelle is like a holy knit

Who hurts whom and why did Judas kiss?
King David knew the darkness ,wrote his psalms
My mind flows with the patterns as I sit

From life and death and injured pride we learn
That noone who repents will suffer harm
A villanelle from chosen words is knit
My mind dwells in the pattern and the wit.

What to do when you’re bored

I made this from a photograph

1 Apply for another credit card

2. Return something that you recently bought from a large online store if you have not used it and please don’t be dishonest

3. Do something that you don’t like to do but it’s important that someone should do it

It could be the washing up or it could be writing an email to someone to whom you owe one but for some reason you are rather lethargic about doing anything

4. Get some playing cards and play Patience.

5. Pay a bill.

6. Phone an elderly neighbour to see if they would like you to visit them or get them some shopping

7. If you can walk go to the public library.

8. See is there any eBooks on a special offer. Not everybody can get to the library.

9. Do some exercises to strengthen your leg or arm muscles which is very important when you’re getting older.

10. Stand up go to the kitchen and try a new recipe if you are able to do this.

11. Why not change the sheets on your bed?

12. Write down five experiences that you remember from your childhood as being either very sad or very happy. Then meditation on this and see whether you can do any of these now.

13

Read your favourite book again. I find Nicholas Freeling very re- readable

Try The Dresden Green

Try Lake Isle

Earth may burn and human hearts may freeze

Earth may burn and human hearts may freeze

Before you send that email,stop and muse
Do not shoot the arrow poison tipped
Why gravely hurt a friend with differing views?

The vulnerable, the lonely,those we choose
To pass the suffering on, in words encrypt
Before you send that email,stop and muse.

When we do evil, we our virtue lose.
See mouths down-turned with narrow tensed up lips.
Why gravely hurt someone with differing views?

You may have a match,don’t light the fuse.
Might you be more gentle, less abrupt?
Before you send that email,stop and muse.

Earth may burn and politicians freeze
Does that mean that we must be corrupt?
We’ll stretch our minds instead to hear all views

For our dear heart,our own sin will corrupt
We will suffer from our own descent
Before you send that email,stop and muse.
Why gravely hurt yourself when you can choose?

Wool in winter

Merino wool caresses lover like

When we are alone and have no mate.

Even wool cannot converse with man

As useless as that bold great copper pan

Conversation, narrative our skills

Stories can be kept to aid the will.

Wrapped in wool of sheep we shall survive

Stories are what keep the soul alive

Ills of the body.

Dandruff, menstruation ,acne , scent
Posted on September 23,
Dandruff, menstruation ,acne , scent
Deodorants,shampoo and strange new thoughts
The anxious adolescent in torment

Tampons,towels. skin care and defence
Confession, absolution, count for naught
Dandruff, menstruation ,acne , scent

Wet and dry the dreams are wryly bent
We wake confused from what we never sought
The anxious adolescent in torment

The virtues and the vices must be learnt
The will and the desire cannot be bought
Dandruff, menstruation ,acne , scent

Parents’ words our own strength can augment
But for the nervous, it is much too late
The anxious adolescent, the torment

“Civilised”. we might just kiss a date
Until we lose our heads and challenge fate
Dandruff, menstruation ,acne , scent
Poor adolescent in this crazed torment

Alone

I slept right the centre of our bed
Instead of in that mouldy sleeping bag
I slept so near the edge it wore away
And I slid to the floor one night last May

In the middle all alone the space seemed large
No-one there to hold me in their arms
I did not read a book,I was worn out
Pondering on the means and on the doubts

I’ve been lonely like a little child
That mother sent to Office in a file
Waiting for the “open now” command
Will I get to heaven or be condemned?

The file is cold,the Word has little shame
Not guilty of my lack of love and name
I got Office 35678
I can ‘t make attachments , it’s too late

The world collapsed upon me like a cliff
I fell down this dirty yellow rift
Nobody could hear my screams and yells
Perhaps being truly dead may be less hell.

I crawled into my bed as into arms
Solid reassuring, warm and calm
I lay there in the middle , tried to pray
I can’t believe you’ve really gone away

I pray for all my family by name
My sister, brothers,cousins and the lame
I pray for readers who send notes to me
And for that random apple on the tree

I pray for friends who don’t believe in God
I pray for others ,mentally down-trod
Then I feel at loss and dream of you
Polishing my old black boots anew

Still I feel the emptiness inside
When I wake I think I feel your smile
Yet it’s not the same as being enrobed
In the arms of one who has great love

I guess we change but slowly and with pain
Like the folk who marched, their hope Remains

It’s not just that I’m lonely

I didn’t know I’d love you
With both my heart and mind
Every love is different
Each is a special kind

Yet all human lovers
Must part and go their ways.
Some may die and fall to dust
Some may go astray

When we feel this lonely
No-one else will do
It’s not just that I’m lonely.
I’m lonely, just for you.

Political fires

It seemed the fires of Grenfell Tower had spread
A hear oppressive like the fires of hell
London smothered in air dull and dead.

Flames that slobbered with a passion red
Water that the sun burned up too well
It seemed the fire of Grenfell Tower had spread

God permitted Satan with his dread
Britain quarrelled, split , prepared to kill.
London smothered in air dull and dead.

A referendum showed us all ill-bred.
Neighbours spoke in words that I call vile.
It seemed the fire of Grenfell Tower had spread

By what person is our nation led
who fills our stomach with acidic bile?
The PM spoke in words both dull and dead.

Tempers raged like fires all fresh and wild
Evil was to emptiness beguiled
It seemed the fire of Grenfell Tower had spread
People smothered in the fire lie dead