This is not my husband

img_20200303_194858835

 

When we got married we could only afford a single bed

Did we

a] take turns on the floor
b] use double sheets and blankets
c] sell the bed and sleep on a rug
d] lose weight so we fitted onto the bed
e] fall out of bed while consummating our marriage
f] get a divorce
g]. none of the above

I wanted an elliptical dining table but we had not  got  enough money
Did my husband

a’] buy a round one and saw some parts off
b] tell me a rectangular one was better
c] ignore me and buy a comic section
d] just not listen
e] tell me  it was better to make love in a wood and forget about this table
f] none  of the  above?

 

My first attempt: wind and eye

An ancient one roomed building was  once home
Lit and warmed by fire,heat upward flowed
The smoke escaped  through one small  hole or “eye”
The winter wind  would fight to get inside.

Like a human eye, it was a breach
The bones of head and face allow this reach
We must see out and not live all within
Wolves, those metaphors. might  bite our skin

Enclosed spaces need  selected gaps
Few would enjoy choking in a trap.
We need a way to breath, to see, to touch
Sophisticated means, this eye  to watch

Sitting round the fire we hear  Wind howl
Through the eye, we see the moon,our jewel

 

Is writing therapeutic?

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We hear now of more and more ways of living healthy lives.But I think it’s important to live a life of worth.What does it mean,to be of worth ? We must live first of all in a way that suits our nature and since we are part of a whole we must also live in ways that do not harm others and hopefully helps some of them.One problem is increasing in the affluent West and the USA and similar countries.This is the well known fact that more and more of us suffer from stress,worry and depression.Maybe the more serious psychic disturbances are also increasing.This can lead to violence

I have heard my friends say that writing poetry or keeping a journal is therapeutic.But is it not true that some forms of talking or conversing are therapeutic and some are harmful or maybe just pointless? A good friend whom we trust is a person with whom conversing may be beneficial,whereas “dumping” your problems on someone  may give only momentary relief.I feel real friend listens and may comment,may even criticize.Someone you  know less well  may react badly.You must not blame them for you are ignorant of their personal life and difficulties.
Conversation of course has the advantage that you are with the person to whom you talk and can stop or adapt your talking in the light of their nonverbal responses.To a lesser extent it is also true on the phone if you know someone well.

Just as gazing into the lighted front window of a large home filled with people and pictures and lovely furniture may make you envious so may your fantasied views of others around you.And yet it is likely they feel pain just like you ;we operate often from a view of life which is a poor fit with reality [whatever that is]
Since conversation may be good,bad or meaningless so it is with writing.
Writing comes from .your experience but must convey it in a manner by which others can feel the truth of what you are saying.As with music, poetry can say certain things not possible in other ways.And as in music there are forms developed down the centuries in which others have expressed their feelings. I have read that writing poetry in a structured form is therapeutic,But writing in free verse may not be.In either case poetry can stir up deep feelings.

Fiona Sampson, author of,The Expert Guide to writing poetry, advises that you keep the phone number of the Samaritans near when writing poetry but prose may be less stirring

I read about the value of structured writing in an article about Sylvia Plath.I am sorry I cannot find the reference as yet.Some people say writing prolonged her life,others that the kind of writing she got into at the end may have precipitated her suicide.We cannot know the answer but we should be aware that it may not be “letting it all out” that helps but the shaping and sculpting of the material into a form which pleases us and others
Alternatively writing about Nature ,other people,love, may turn our minds in a new direction away from our mind’s idle chatter

Machine wash softly

 

 

woman in grey long sleeved dress sitting on window
Photo by Daria Shevtsova on Pexels.com

Your garment is the best we have
You can’t buy better
We make our dresses with much love
Come see our letters
No angst shall bring us down
No study make us brown
This dress will wear and wear
Machine wash softly

If you fall down in the mud
Fear no disaster
And if you spill some blood
Noone will mutter
No stain shall  wreck this dress
No liquid leave a mess
This dress is yours for aye
Machine wash softly

My news

pinkcatandsun
Dear All

Well, I don’t write a  letter very often, but after finding a replica of my old pen on E bay I decided to do a Round Robin.
First of all, none of my children have got into Oxford or Cambridge nor have my grandchildren.They are all on the dim side but that is how I like them.I think IQ is very over rated and as mine is 65 you realise I am a mere imbecile and so my ten children take after me.
They all got degrees from places I’d never heard of like Chester, Bolton, Ormskirk, and Hendon.However, as I once lost a job offer from a well known university because I wore an engagement ring I kind of thought being a low flyer might be better.
My brother is very kind.He is changed very much since we were adolescents when he was too put it mildly a pain.He has now told me I am in the top 1% of intelligence in the world.Imagine 99% of the world’s population has an IQ of 64 or less.Don’t expect an imbecile to explain that
I can believe it about our delightful politicians,  Horace Yawnsome and their ilk.
My children have done well.One is a violinist in Berlin.As I never go there I cannot be sure if she is lying but she does speak good German or for all I know it might be Yiddish as my great aunt was familiar with that old tongue.
Perhaps my daughter is really playing the Jewish harp in a liberal Synagogue.And believe me, it would have to be very liberal to let that flame haired temptress near any married man.Is it her fault she is so attractive?After all, she is my daughter and blew dry every hair daily as a teen
My eldest son  had to  fail an exam before he was accepted at Ormskirk Dental School.You see with 21 GCSE’s grade A star they wanted him to go to Cambridge but he  knew his own limits.He preferred being near the great Nature  Reserves of the estuary of the Mersey and Nature and its exploration has kept him busy.Why he even spends whole days in the Mersey Tunnel.
He said he wants to find the Universiy of New Brighton but he is still in the tunnel.I said I’d buy him a van but he prefers walking everywhere and camping on the verges of the road maybe giving relief to a few virgins en passant.Being a virgin nowadays is very hard socially.But as a Spanish waiter once said to me ” One virgin is very hard to find” Maybe two is easier.
My second daughter is married and lives in Poole. She often walks around the Isle of Purbeck with the triplets in her back pack.How her husband stands her I cannot get.She is lazy and unable to cook even frozen chips.However, the babies are still on the breast and there is a McDonald#s nearby.Her Ph.D was on “Cats in Modern Physics”.She had a wonderful tutor at Wigan University.Why, he married her! Then he got a job in Bournemouth.How she snagged him I do not know but her thesis was the first of its kind.Now everyone is doing animals in abstract mathematics.
Well, it’s time for me to warm my frozen pizza on the fire so I’ll leave the rest for next time.
Au  revoir
Kristy Krasse

 

Engagement with fidelity

Being married means  using larger sheets  on the same bed
Being a widow means  losing engagement with reality
Getting married again is  cheaper than before,You can even make money from selling  one set of cutlery to anyone who knows what it is.Not to mention  learning how to lie with a straight face while he tickles your  fancy.
Can one have an imaginary partner and use a real engaement ring?
Engagement ring, engagement wrong.Why do it again?
Being able to listen enhances  many  marriages whilst being a shock treatment for the rest.
Would I marry again? I’m at  a loss.
Would I have been better as a spinster? The  useless question. 

A parrot, well brought up, can mimic chat

I went  into your study, found a cat
Black with shining fur and amber eyes
She ran with startling speed ,near knocked me flat

I found your weekend bag and your sun hat
A tear ran down my face, then multiplied
I went  into your study, found a cat

I wondered who composed  the “tit for tat”
And whether any animal could lie.
Puss ran with startling speed ,near knocked me flat

A parrot well brought up can mimic chat
Some live parrots  love to rise and fly.
I went  into your study, found a cat

My previous cat would try to catch a gnat
There is no flesh on gnats,I used to say.
Puss ran with startling speed ,near knocked me flat

I kneel down  here and wonder how to pray
I shall not see my spouse on earth again
I went  into your study, found a cat
Who shot with startling speed across the mat

 

After 30 minutes have past I get panes in my gut

aa

 

Photo by Anni Roenkae on Pexels.com

While I sniff at my lily of the valley soap from Yardley, I am thinking of  the spelling mistakes I am reading

M & S tell me

After 30 minutes have past you cannot change your order
Surely it is passed? Minutes pass.. pass is a verb.

Top Newspapers
Yesterday a journalist wrote  about putting someone  in a straightjacket

I think it should be straitjacket  and  probably is derived from Strait
If someone has a good degree, you’d expect them to know but
I find myself  making spelling mistakes when typing but not when using a pen

A strait is a naturally formed, narrow, typically navigable waterway that connects two larger bodies of water. Most commonly it is a channel of water that lies between two land masses.

Strait - Wikipedia

Some I made up

She suffers stomach panes
Can you see inside her?

He had a paned expression
Flat and made of glass?

I find love is full of panes
Draw the curtains!

She  past out  when she  took too much GNT

Where is your husband?
Oh, he has past
Past  history?
No,I mean he’s dead,passed on, passed over, passed by

I never knew your son had past history
He passed geography as well
But he’s been in jail
Not because he passed geography?
No,  because he stole a hearse
Difficult to get away with that
He hid in the coffin
Lucky he was not cremated!

I like strait skirts on slim ladies
Is it bondage?

You must stand up  strait.
That is hard when chained,

We sailed straight through Dover
You mean the Straits of Dover,I guess.

I past all my exams
Except English, they saw you hiding

Widen oh my eye, let colour play

From the Knott, we see this Morecambe Bay
We  eye the gentle  meadows where sheep roam
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills arrayed

From  a   town of mills to this display
The joy of beauty on  this scale unknown
From the Knott,hypnotic Morecambe Bay

Widen oh my eye, let colour play
The  green, the blue, the purple, white the foam
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills arrayed

The River Kent pours out its water,sighs
The viaduct excites the child with charm
From the Knott, we see grand  Morecambe Bay

At last we understand  true life  divine
From the train, we see the sea alarmed
Across the  Bay the Langdale Pikes align

For a while, forget the world, its harms
Let the air and water be our balm
From the Knott, we see vast Morecambe Bay
Across the sea the Lakeland Hills survey

 

Su doku for adults

In  any case,arrest the folk who’ve erred
Let them catch corona from a goat
A crossword can include four letter words

When you see fonts coming, you can swerve
Or fling yourself into the nearest boat
To think Su Doku’s vulgar is absurd

Keep your outline covered by a coat
Play your flute while all go out to vote
A crossword might include four letter words
To think Su doku adult is absurd

 

Boris Johnson raised  up from the dead

The Tower of Babel fell down in the night
The people spoke but noone could reply
We  cried out but noone listened then
Nor did we salvage much  from wrecked Big Ben

Boris Johnson raised  up from the dead
His pleasures once , pre- flu,  lay in the bed
He spread his seed about  so it’s no boast
To  bear his child nor feed him Sunday roast

He will lead the country out of sin
His  brilliant way:  to  stop  us logging in
No more one click books  or   toys for sex
No more screws and curtain rails to fix.

Ah now enjoy the peace  of empty space
Yet we  grieve for lack of an embrace

Embrace the silent peace

Underneath the silence there is peace
A stratum clear ;a different way of life
With music ‘s just discernible relief

In the calm we find a pure release
Love can heal the wounds of a sharp knife
We embrace the silence ,welcome peace

The self may break ,may shake in disbelief
Render us to fragments,soul denied
Does music give discernible relief?

Do not bury loss and hide your grief
We mourn what’s gone and those who have late died
Company in silence brings us peace

Did you see your body lying creased
On the bed below your hiding place?
Play with music, pray for some relief

I find myself lie broken in a box
A jigsaw needing time beyond the clocks
Underneath the silence there is peace
I pray the silent music brings relief

What I learned at school

white and gray cat in brown woven basket
Photo by Buenosia Carol on Pexels.com

And,furthermore,never begin a sentence with  but or and
Mary woke up from her recurring dream of  being back at school.This teacher had not spoken,she had just written it on the blackboard.Mary could see it in her mind’s eye
What is annoying about such dreams is that we forget what led up to the statement
Did she mean but or butt,Mary thought.How do I interpret my dream?
She kicked her partner on the butt… is that ungrammatical
Similary, is it wrong to say let’s shake  hands?
It may be morally wrong during a pandemic ,but that is not to do with punctuation
Mary told herself ironically
Emile ran in and mewed loudly.
I have been up all night, he cried
Up what,Mary asked?
Up the red maple tree
How did you get down?
I closed my eyes and fell onto the hawthorne hedge
How fortunate we have no Statue or War Memorial here,Mary thought
Well, before you climb up anything, check whether you can get down without risk
That could be applied to  our PM who caught Covid-19 to get a rest from politics but he might have died.If you are  not comfortable with leadership, do not seek it,Mary whispered.
Cats don’t suffer from those problems,Emile informed her.
I wish I were a cat then we could move out together into the woods and fields,Mary murmured
Too cold,Emile said politely
I had an odd dream, she told him.
“Odd ” as in “numbers?”
No “odd” as in “peculiar”
What?
About grammar, she replied.Oxford commas, spliced commas,where to put question marks
Well,I don’r know how the human race has survived

Nor do all of us

 

Entertainment,sadism, power

On a hilltop not so far from Rhyl
Mother took us to the Zoo as Mothers will
The wind was strong and cold, the air was harsh
Although it was in August, not in March

Vultures  in enclosures   chained by leg
Like convicts in a prison   full of dread
When they vainly  tried to  get away
I felt their faith and hope dismayed

Who had chosen birds like these to show?
Even God himself would never know
Entertainment,sadism, power
Making people pay  and  children cower

When we got back  to the station I was sick
What cruel minds  played such a trick?

Are commas?

He sent me a fragment, of my sentence.
Thirty,I cannot speak.
Is it days or years?Let’s split the infin-itive.
I never knew Oxford was full of, commas
Did you?
Yes,of course.
A spliced comma is like a rope
Used for tying up boats.
The strands are inter-linked to for a new whole.
That is the theory or ,more correctly, the image or metaphor..
Can a theory be  a simile?
I do not mean smilie.
Though I do, like a smile,
Cheer you up
If you can see
The Oxford Comma is taught in New Zealand but not in Oxford.

Like an oboe singing as I pray

Precisely when we fell in love’s unclear
I knew your humour and  your eager ways
I  can’t imagine  when you were not dear

The deeper is the love, the more the fear
That one  must go, the other one must  stay
Exactly when we fell in love’s unclear

All alone, it is your voice I hear
Like an oboe singing as I pray
I  can’t imagine  when you were not dear

I see you in the room I know you’re here
I must not look, or I shall have to pay
Exactly when we fell in love’s unclear

I see your head  lean onto mine so near
From my reverie I must not stray
I  can’t imagine  when you were not dear

As we ambled, wandered on  our way
I did not know the ending of our Play
Precisely when we fell in love’s unclear
From this world’s creation, you were dear

 

 

The waistland

The Waistland by T S Telescope
The Long Waist of Time by W H Audacity
A Waste of Honey by A, Jung-Lady 
Look Whinger on this Hire Land Now by  A.Writespeare
A Good Figure Brooks No Waste by Colbert Arnstein

Where is the my waist. doctor ?
I can’t feel anything
Neither can I.

You are too  fat
It’s for when Brexit happens
You can live off it?
In more than one way.
I see, you are a mathematician
How did you guess?
Did you not study Probability?
Probably.
It’s hard to discern the meaning here, or is  it my grammar?
Don’t be afraid to have more than two   possibilities
How many is ideal?
Three
Is that the Trinity
A Trinity
This theology is getting me down
Nearer the ground where the worms and beetles live
Is  that good?
Probably
I see a photon
You can’t see them but do you see with them?
I wish I could buy some
They are not spectacles, you know
Well,  are they fireworks?
Or Watches for the Blind  and Radios for the Dead
Do you mean deaf?
Pardon?

Strange things I’ve done over the years

Lincoln - Battlements of Lincoln cathedral - The Green Guide Michelin

 

I fell to the ground when I saw  through a hotel window,Lincoln Cathedral floodlit at Easter rime
And also when I saw a Picasso drawing.
Put elastoplast on a broken tooth [ no use]
Cut my sister’s hair so short, it looked like she had nits.I was trying to get both sides even and we didn’t go to  a hairdresser
Went to the public library twice a day [ as a child]
Stopped correcting a colleague’s lack of  absolute  precision in his maths lectures in fronr of the students
Wore a skirt I bought for 6d [2.5  pence in modern money] to go out for dinner.
I got it in a jumble sale
Lacking knowledge of how to dress wore dresses miles to big for me to go out with my boyfriends on the principle, if you can get into it, then it’s ok.I had no idea of sizing etc as
my mother made our clothes.I was so thin that almost everything was too big
including a horrible grey men’s duffelcoat [very warm]
Went to church daily to tell God I hated him.No answer!Gave up
Climbed up a cliff like structure near Ilkley and could not get down.A kind man helped me
Asked my mother if I could go to University when I was five ….

A bit more grammar

Dirac portrait (1)

Should have vs Should of

This is traditional grammar but as time goes by grammar changes a little
I should think so!

Should have vs Should of

    


Obsessions,time and space and Einstein’s  power.

Nightmares full of clocks without their dials
Obsessions,time and space and Einstein’s errors
Feeling I will soon  face scornful trials
As armed police arrive to scan my files
Nightmares full of useless clocks undialled
Without the face there is no plangent smile
Eyeless as in Gaza,   flung by  terror
Nightmares full of clocks without their dials
Obsessions,time and space and Einstein’s  power.

Moderation is a pleasant state



We  keep ourselves  afloat by  simple rules

Each country keeps a common time and date

Forget this and they’ll feel you are a fool


We need our clocks, we need a brief schedule

We need a phone or watch so we’re not late

We  keep ourselves  afloat by  simple rules




However  we may get obsessed and cruel

Moderation is a pleasant state

Forget this and you’ll feel you are a fool




We do not live in prison,unlike school

We need our inch of freedom,life’s not fate

We  keep ourselves  afloat by  simple rules


Don’t  be a wooden puppet or a tool

The frame, the rules allow us to create

Forget this and you’ll feel you are a fool




Flex the rules, it;s easy to stagnate

Ask for pardon,  love will be your mate

We  keep ourselves  afloat by  simple rules

Ignore this and you’ll learn you are a fool


 

	


	



			
				


			

			
I feel you near
		
	
	

		






Fritillaria-White-2020Pamianthe-peruviana_2020-2




The pattern of your speech is in my ear

 Although I do not hear you speak out loud

 Shall I say ear or is it heart that bears 

The form that made your speech have its right sound? 


Wherever in myself I find your trace

 I long to keep it even when I grieve. 

As though, because I do not see your face,

 I never wish by sound to be deceived. 


And at the end you did not speak at all 

Like the baby while inside its nest.

 Yet with your eyes you made a final call 

As contented as a baby joined to breast. 


 Too soon you went, but left your patterns here

. With  prosody, I feel you  very near



	


	



			
				


			

			
How punctuation can alter meaning
		
	
	

		
rosa-alchemys_2020t


https://words-cat.com/2020/07/10/the-hate-that-freesthe-love-that-too-close-binds/https://words-cat.com/2020/07/10/the-hate-that-freesthe-love-that-too-close-binds/


I’d like to know what you think about what I have written below.


“I have never dwelt in realms of gold;

But there are many stories never told.

Suffering our own sentences we find

A home that welcomes, our more liberal minds”


If you examine the last sentence, you will see that the comma makes a big difference


Without a comma, we already have more liberal minds but need a home for them.

With the comma,  in finding a welcoming home we will then be able to discover our more liberal minds.I

If we don’t feel safe then  our minds will  become narrower, more defensive.This seems to be what has happened in British politics since the Referendum

On the other hand, just in my little street we are helping each other and it is so good  to feel neighbours will help me get food or Prescriptions.Trouble can draw us together

We have a page for our street and some photos like  our last Street Party.Try to set one up in your street.


 

	


	



			
				


			

			
Love as if  today’s your last
		
	
	

		
Broken teeth and feet of clay

Sunday now so let us pray

Lord we’re lost and ruled by knaves

Yet they tell us we are saved

Pray for peace and pray for aid

Pray for drowning emigres

How can  the rich toy with  young girls

Deny they’ve sinned,deny they erred

Why are people still so poor

Making clothes for us to wear

Better by a million  times

Was saving up  and playing games

 I bought  my satchel, bought my pen

Then  my life  of  rhymes began

Come back neighbours, come back care

We are here and   we will dare

Love as if  today’s your last

Life goes by,  let’s be our best




 

	


	



			
				


			

			
Drinking lemonade and eating beer
		
	
	

		
Feel so happy, you are with me here

Drinking lemonade and eating beer

Sucking roast potatoes,blasting meat 

Waiting for the chocolate  and the tweets


I  have total liberty from fear

Though panic rode its horses through the mere

I  stood by the gatepost  with a gun

Why shoot horses when they want to run?


I should wear tweed trousers  and a hat

Can tweed be washed  with soap  while lying flat?

Can I have some shoes that leak and swell?

I want to get arthritis in my dell


I see my erstwhile lover in the sun

If there is  a climax  life can stun

	


	



			
				


			

			
Sitting on a tin opener and other notions
		
	
	

		
two gray frying pans hanging on wall
Photo by Niki Nagy on Pexels.com


person holding ladle
Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Pexels.com


I  meant to write earlier but as I was sitting here  musing,i heard a strange noise.I could not figure out what it was at all

Until I discovered I had been sitting on  a battery operated tin opener

During the night,I  thought I heard a sound like siren but  quieter

I walked about  but could not locate it.I went back to bed but still heard

After a while I thought it must be 8.00 am but it was only 6 am

So I decided lying down was better for my knees……..

So you understand  why I am a bit behind schedule…. as I also  found my account book and lost it again when it was next to me on a little table.

I deccided I hate  Noam Chomsky.I have no reason for that except he seems to be productive despite being  rather aged.Why should I have a reason?Well, we can’t go round hating people for no reason.Maybe they  remind us of some relative who was often cruel, maybe it’s something from before we learned language… an atmosphere?

So if we hate someone, it’s more about us than them

That is all I can say  don’t drop a battery operated tooth brush into the bath  or someone will think a bomb is going off