Is evil de rigeur?

Why should we do evil if we care
Care about the world and humankind?
What is evil, what is good, what’s fair?

To feel we’re God, implacable our stare
Igniting terror in a human mind
Why should we do that if we do care?

Some do evil deeds to show they dare,
Making their own heart a place malign
What is evil, what is good, what’s fair?

The truly strong are anxious and aware
Letting their love flow in reason’s time
Why should we do that if we don’t care?

The good are like the tortoise not the hare
Slowly with perception ,impulse reined,
Acquainted with the evil ,good prefer

The true mind is the one refined by pain
Seeking no revenge,but to so learn
Why should we do evil if we care?
There is evil, is it de rigeur?

Try better

Would you like a waiter?
No, thanks .I am a vegetarian

I’d like water
Mine or from the river?

Would you like your tea in a pot?
i’d prefer it sitting on my chair

Can tea sit?
No, but it can lie
Lie!
On your food


Do you want milk in your tea?
Who is this Milk?

Did you learn Greek at school?
I just picked it up.Is there a vaccine?

Was it ancient ?
It seemed fresh to me.But the ancient is safer

Why did you give up history?
It seemed like nonsense
Now everything seems like that
Well,I can’t give up Everything.

Can I hold your hand?
Act like a man.On second thoughts, No.
Why not, since I adore you
You don’t even know me
Make the most of that
I do try.
Try better

Why do women have their toes sucked?
They like a man at their feet
I think it’s very common
Indeed, vulgar.
Do you like it?
I can’t lift my foot to my mouth
Can I help?
No, my joints won’t bend
The only answer is to cut yout feet off.
I’d rather bite my nails
Very wise.
Be off or I’ll bite yours.

Are you British?
I sadly admit I am
It’s not your fault Boris’s great grandfather was Turkish
Did they come in a dinghy?
No, on an inflatable mattress
It’s still illegal
Was it illegal then?
A magic carpet is better
For what?


Going to church

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Daddy went to Mass at 12 oclock
I followed him and crossed the busy road
I was wearing my best Sunday frock
I was only three,I knew no code.

I went down Melbourne Road and saw the church
I saw the trees. a robin and a wren
Mothers went to early Mass in thirst
Taking holy wafers now and then

Daddy disappeared and so I cried
The verger knew my family by sight
He lifted me above the gentlemen
I saw Daddy smile at me again

He carried me on his own shoulders home
Mammy said,I wondered where you’d gone

My grate art

drawing genrleman.jpgHow much does it cost to get a hair cut?
Sorry, we don’t do  just  one hair.

How much is a shampoo and set?
Ten pounds more than you expect.

How much is a blow dry?
Sorry, I am out of breath.

Can you dye my hair?
I can dye it but I shan’t

Would red hair suit me?
For what?

Will a perm attract men?
No,  they are too impatient.

How shall I look when I’m dressed up?
The same.

Am I overweight?
No, under-height.

Do you like my new coat?
Stop phishing for compliments.

Shall I have a full body massage?
No, get married again

I can’t get married again
Why not?
I have never been married

Can I date on the Internet?
In theory.

Do you have to pay for joining Soul Mates
You’ll pay with your heart

Why are pronouns important?
To or for whom?
I see

Never store your water in a shoe

Can we change our point of view alone?
What can give perspective to a poem?
Shall I outline what we ought to do?
Shall I sketch the patterns,are you blue?
Move your eyes and you will move your soul
Looking at the men queue for the dole
Do you want to mix the colours first
Oh,I drank the water, what a thirst
I shall use my tea and this gouache
Let the colours wander as they splash
Women nursing babies need good food
If you have no children, do not brood
When Hitler went to Munich in a rage
We got a new perspective of the age
I didn’t go myself for I was framed
I was just encrypted ,it’s no shame
Never use a rubber when you’re wrong
Never kill a blackbird while it sings
Never go to bed with any one
Make it two or three, we need some fun
Never use art pastels on your cheeks
Never use a water jar that leaks
You must be spontaneous as a rule
To produce cartoons, you must be cruel
You must learn techniques and then forget
Never tell the Universe we met.
Remember every line I draw for you
Never store your water in a shoe


Do not ask



Astounded by love’s impact, my tears fell
As if a door was opened up by you
The reservoir of grief, the flooded bell,
The marble on the shore, the hidden view.

I stayed still and by you I was held
In your golden cloud, I felt embraced
You covered me with warmth,I was your child
A candle in the gale,a shining face

I was silent,I was even dumb
They who see a face can not unknow
Love is not a method nor a sum
Nor can logic point the way to go

Do not ask for knowledge or belief
Do not ask reprieve from human grief

A metaphor

There is a green hill far away
There are hundreds, let’s make hay
We don’t mow our hills for grass
They have heather tops alas
No local birds do a fly past
As the Pennines are so vast
I took a test I never passed
in the Lord I put my trust

If the lower fields are green
There are worms at work unseen
From Winter Hill we saw North Wales
The hills aren’t green, they’re hit by hail
They have snow and they have rain
The Irish Sea must take the blame
The Atlantic is so strong
Never admit that you are wrong


The green hill is a metaphor
Blessed is the God who saw

Oh,mother

Oh,mother dear wherever have you been
To leave a cat all day is very mean
Emile,I need my freedom now and then
I can’t love Dave but I would like a man
I must go out to buy a handsome coat
Cognac is the colour I love most

Emile cried, whatever do you think
I saw some frogs a-courting in the sink
I was on the draining rack up there
They asked me to avert my amber stare

Are frogs faithful, don’t they just leave spawn?
They are cold towards tadpoles unborn
We saw them by Moss Bank in shallow pools
Mary wonders if all frogs are cruel

Stan came in with his angels right behind
They are tired of heaven, they’ve resigned
Here’s a pin upon which they can dance
Mary was delighted and entranced

Do you need a dinner now you’ve died?
I wouldn’t mind a steak, the old man sighed
Some buttered new potatoes and a fool
Rhubarb or vanilla would be cool

I have done no shopping, Mary cried
I have no money for the food you like
Shall I get a pizza, fish and chips
That will put some colour in your lips

I am only joking, Stanley said
I shall merely visit you in bed
Emile wept with joy to see his Dad
What a spirit, is he going mad?

In came Annie in her long green coat
Her eyes were black and scratched was her throat
I fell into the Croal when eating chips
See the bruises on my purple lips

Never walk on water,Mary screeched
Even when you cross all Southport Beach
Stay away from danger,I’ll ring Dave
He will dress your bruises with his gauze

Annie did not tell them all the truth
She had fallen off the sloping roof

With good will

At last my one ambition is fulfilled
I have a desk where I may write at will
No more the dining table or a board
A two desk family is safely moored
Men must have their study if they write
Though grandad was a coalminer at night
And Father was a writer in gold paint
Embellishing the Churches with quotes quaint
He also did The Stations of the Cross
Then he died, what torment ,oh what loss.
We went to see his grave and said a prayer
Jesus was so quiet, hardly there.
But I believe in love and always will
Now I’ll write my poems with a quill

The valued sin

If you need to find the perfect man
Find one who’s a good companion
For as we age we are not acrobats
Preferring to dance slowly as we chat
If you can go further, keep it quiet
Or all your lonely neighbours may cause riots
Very few lack a last faint desire
Eying others in the Oldies’ Choir
But when at home we like to read and talk
Take the cat out for his daily walk
Only jealousy revives the beast
So with a married women flirt at least
There is value in all kinds of sin
Whatever life you choose, you’ll always win

Keep a cat

The writer told me psychopaths love dogs
Those who murder rarely keep a cat
I wonder if a thief might love a frog!
The author told me psychopaths love dogs
Cookbook writers might go the whole hog;
Sad ghouls enjoy the company of bats
The writer told me psychopaths keep dogs
Those who murder never love a cat

Thieves

The thieves took only one of my blue mugs
Spode, I think,from Holt where cars break down
I still keep my wildflowers in the jug
The thieves took only one thing, sweet blue mug
My husband gave me China.so he browsed
All Spode, I think,in Holt where we broke down
The car was large but caused frustrated howls
The thieves took only one thing, a blue mug
My gifts from Holt, the bed ,the wedding gown

The Sun Sinks

The sun sinks but it burns like a  great fire;
All the sky’s aflame with  fierce intent;
Who thinks of death as weakness, is a liar
Before the end  our glory must be spent.

The  graphics of the branches look Chinese
As  blackened brush is drawn across red silk
Infinite yet countable  my days
Running like a river without silt

Thus I am not transcendent in myself
But joined to all that lives I feel I am.
So in conjunction we will find our health
Ambivalence contains both lion and lamb.

The fire of  orange leaves me with a glow
As into night I with all creatures go

Amber eyed

Amber eyed, the cats hunt in the night
The smallest creatures shiver, try to hide
Eyes like ours can’t see the quivering grass
Set to music by the mouse that passed

In the day time,slumped on cushioned chair,
Jeremiah breathed the heated air
Slept all day while we worked for the cash
To feed this cat with more than mere green grass

I went to post a card, the winter dark
Miah followed me, oh, cruel car
That struck the headlong beast, without a pat
Gone the much loved animal, my cat

Remember cats will follow where you walk
The cars kill more than hunters from the Ark

She tried to smother me


I dreamed she tried to smother me one night
I had had suspicions with deep roots
I screamed ad yelled and kicked her, as one might

Then she tortured me with brilliant light
As her minions climbed down from the roof
I dreamed she tried to smother me, alive

She looked so ugly, she gave demons fright
I wished I were a donkey kicking hoof
I screamed and yelled,confused ten megabytes

Her muscles strong, her grip was over tight
I tried to crash her laptop, no re- boot
I dreamed she tried to smother me last night

I wished I were a tiger with cruel bite
Or God whose name to angels was a proof
I screamed and shouted 999, please write

She was more sadistic than astute
She gave me pain, this action her debut
I dreamed she tried to cut me off last night
The two pint flask saved tea, my perfect right

The warp and the weft

I used to teach maths to those willing
They already knew weights and billing
I liked them to solve all my problems
Without making use of odd goblins

My problems were many and varied
By men I was too often harried
I tried to look plain and demented
And rarely was I ever scented

I feared I would bore myself speaking
The same age old problems repeating
So I never prepared for my classes
I made errors, correct, for the masses

I don’t know why we did complex numbers
More severe than the Ferry cross the Humber
We also did groups,rings and fields
Gambled and stuffed jellied eels

So why am I here writing poems
Or collecting gold one pound coins?
I have no idea, my reader
But I have got no faith in our leader

Be wary of viruses merry
Eat raw tomatoes and cherries
Spend all the time you have left
Discerning the warp and the weft

And their prayers

My heart and guts were stolen by a thief
All I was became a frame for grief
Extremities of bony hands and feet
The shrinking brain now denser.distressed heat

Umoving in this lethargy, I stared
My head and body felt like they weren’t there
A headless chicken runs though it be dead
Motion in itself does not fool dread

I gently felt my hands,I let them be
My eyes were still closed to humanity
My feet were trembling as they lay so flat
I saw the slivers of the shattered glass

The glass had cut my skin,I felt despair
Bring me stained glass windows and their prayers


Melancholy

https://www.penwellgabeltopeka.com/Blog/6245/Melancoliesculpture

Statue

Melancholy, the emptiness that incapacitates us through grief

Melancholy, a sculpture created by Albert Gyorgy, portrays the void that grief leaves us with. The sculpture depicts a figure made of copper sitting on a bench slumped over, with a giant hole in the center of it. This hole represents the massive void that we all feel when we lose someone dear to us, and many people have expressed their appreciation for this sculpture for it portraying the exact emotions they feel, but perhaps haven’t been able to quite put into words.
Albert Gyorgy felt intense sadness and isolation with the loss of his wife and went on to create this beautiful piece of artwork as a way to cope. A photo of this sculpture has been shared on Facebook over 200,000 times by various people who’ve suffered a loss in their life. Strangers have united to share their unfortunate experiences with loss, and have expressed words of sympathy to one another. .
Many people feel they can relate to this piece of artwork in various ways, through grief, but also through mental illness. The void in this art can represent a multitude of emotions that we all face. It is relatable as we have all likely felt lost and empty at some point in our lives, and it brings people together knowing they’re not facing these hardships alone.
As dark as this artwork may be, it serves as some sort of comfort to those who’ve experienced a loss, as they feel they identify with this sculpture. This famous sculpture can be found at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, and proves to be a popular tourist attraction. If you find yourself on a European vacation, consider paying a visit to this beautiful sculpture and grasping the deep meaning it portrays.

See the original Facebook post here.

No new disgrace

Trapped in home made offices , we work
Reading from our screens, no space for thought
As we type ,our tender fingers hurt
Not the copperplate that I was taught

No commuting, no more fraught deceit
Harder are affairs, no private door
No more kisses unless they are quite fleet
Just daydreams, which will come to be no more

No walking to the station at sunrise
No hour alone to read or look without
All is known, where is the grand surprise?
Where the room for thoughtlessness or doubt?

Work from home but keep some private space
Do not harm your friends, keep from disgrace



Human sacrifice

The sacrifice of humans, slain by will
The death instinct, no accident, the kill
Now it’s done more subtly than with fire
We need the help of cunning and of liars
Propaganda,adverts, image, word
Overwhelm our minds till life’s absurd
Inhabited by ghosts of adverts seen
Saturated minds, for soul no room
Who is in and who is out today?
Mainly white and Western on display
I was born without a screen to hand
The radio was old and had a stand
Little drawers where Mother kept her songs
Sonatas,Mozart,Schumann, was it wrong?
We read each other’s faces and our books
Heard Mother playing as we fell asleep
Time and space and peace, a slowed down age
Now we’re full of data and of rage
Father lost so long ago,we weep
Civil discourse takes a lengthy sleep



of overwhelming people with adverts ad cheap credit in Western Socie



The personality of trees

Trees lean over,watchful as we meet
The tall ones do not shiver in the breeze
Trees can hear the torment in our speech

We have flowering cherry in our street
But mine died like my lover with great ease
Trees lean over listening as we meet

The tree won’t bend too close, it will not reach
As panic,worry, horror,nightmares squeeze
Trees discern the music in our squeaks

Alas, no tree has mastered human speech
But when they can, they coax the honey bees
Trees lean over sweetly as we meet

The leaves will rustle,wrestle and may tease
Smile for selfies,what’s the word, it’s cheese
Trees lean over, wonder, and conceive
Yet trees hate noone, nor do they believe

Is A & E having worse problems because we are getting more stupid?

2012-01-22

It seems from today’s paper that A & E is overused because younger people want treatment immediately so they are unwilling to wait for their GP to open and never realise the pharmacist can treat simple conditions and are easier to talk to Do not go to A & E with the following complaints especially at night

Your false nails won’t come off

You broke a finger nail

You have a  cold.

Your hair roller has got stuck in your bushy hair.

You  have run out  of elastoplast or aspirins.

You feel bored.

You like that tea they sell in robotic machines.

Your toe nails are dirty and you lost the nail brush.

You   have no stamps and you need to post a letter

You want a pregnancy test.

You have no condoms at home.

You have lost your nail file or comb.

Your cat is ill and the vet is shut

You like eying up nurse.. remember a  lot are now men,anyway… so ladies…No!

You had a row with your wife and are trying to frighten her by pretending to have chest pains.

It’s a cheap day out [ but not for the NHS]

Remember it’s for EMERGENCIES

It costs  on average £1400 per person per visit

The axe attacks

The heart is struck a blow, can we live on?
The pain, the blood, the wound can’t be undone
Lying in the rocks, so grey, so doomed
Death is waiting in the sitting room

Imperceptibly our minds are changed
The contents we examine, rearrange
No energy for living and new games
Like a worn out puma,limping, lame

The animal, our being, our poor flesh
Wishes for relief or even death
Yet as the sun burns through the maple leaves
Who can tell what else we may perceive?

Life and death, those twins walk on white cliffs
I stumbled once,I froze,I turned from death.
Then I found the wild rose and its thorns
The pain of grasping love, the treasure shown

The future is yet fiction,I’ll be damned.
Come to me and hold my cold, thin hand

And my mind

When I came in from my flu jab,
I put my red zipped bag onto a cardboard box
Which is full of kitchen towels and de facto is a table
I put the lights on
I put the kettle on
I took my coat off
I took my little phone bag off
I changed my spectacles
And my mind
So now I am writing it down
I write my name and “Diary Private
Then another is “Diary Public” but so not a convenience
I there, I have a lover and another lover
Five divorced partners
And the names of my fantasy cats
Whom I have never seen
I make some tea
I pass no water without testing it
With my left foot
I look out of the window
See the light of the sun
I sit down with the Radio Times
The tea
My dreams
My conscience
My unconscious
My lips open
I drink the tea
I pass water but do not swim

As curves the sun


Remember standing, peering through the glass
Wondering why these people are well off
Admiring the fine shoes that women love
Later, after tragedy, the glass
Descended on me like a stoney mask
Remember living cut off from the mass
Yet in the suffering ,came that Heart above
That took me in and opened me to trust
Letting in emotions, feelings, love
Evoking through the rituals and the Mass
A Consecration deeper for my tasks
Remembering prayer, removing broken glass
As curves the sun, as flies the holy dove
Every human lives with change and loss
Suffering wounds when bare the heart for love
As we walk we see the ages past
Until we reach that Place we seek at last
No more staring through a darkened glass
No peering in the gloom, we meet our Love